E5 Fort Frederica & Christ Church

Brief history of Fort Frederica and the odd and haunting history Of Christ Church.  If you have a story you'd like to have shared on the show please email me at [email protected]


IV, Lewis Powell. “‘There's a Light’-Christ Church, Frederica.” Southern Spirit Guide, 24 Dec. 2018, www.southernspiritguide.org/theres-a-light-christ-church-frederica/. 

Cox, Dale. Christ Church and Cemetery - St. Simons Island, Georgia, www.exploresouthernhistory.com/christchurch.html. 

Fort Frederica National Monument (U.S. National Park Service). www.nps.gov/fofr/index.htm. 

Did you know that in 1943, Georgia became the first date to change its voting age from 21 to 18? Georgia lawmakers heard the outcry from the young soldiers old enough to fight old enough to vote and adjusted its laws. It took the rest of the country 28 years to also grant this right to those old enough to fight.

Welcome to the Law of the South of the South.

Hey y'all. Welcome back to Lord the South with me, Kelly Crews. Back for round three. Feel like we're kind of getting into the swing of things around here. Are we sounding better? Good enough to leave a five star review, subscribe, follow, or download? All those things. Help to bring the Laura the South to more listeners.

If you can't do that, maybe just give us a share on social media or tell a friend about the show. Also, eventually I'd like to do a listener story. If you have a personal paranormal story or some family lore you'd like to share, send it to me at Lore of the [email protected]. Once we get enough stories sent in, we'll produce a special all about y'all.

I may even share one from my own childhood. My family and I had the chance to stay on St. Simon's Island a couple of years ago for a short little vacation. And that is where today's story takes place. If you give us a follow on social media, I'll even share some of our pictures from our trip. Today's story is kind of a twofer, as I like to call them, or maybe a two for one.

If you don't speak my brand to Southern, we're gonna have a little brief history of Fort Fred Rica, and that's the area of St. Simon's Island where Christ Church and its graveyard are located. Then two tales of devotion that lasted beyond the grave. So maybe that's more like a three for, anyway, on with the show.

Fort Fred Rica and the spirits of Christchurch graveyard only three years after the settlement of Savannah Georgia, the Honorable General James Oglethorpe has ordered the creation of two new fortified garrisons on the Southern barrier Islands off of the Georgia Coast in order to better protect his majesty's colonies from the Catholic threat to the south, the first of which will be known as Fort Freda.

Located at the north end of St. Simon's Island. Fort Fred Rica wasn't just a fortified garrison, but also a town, a quite sophisticated one sometimes compared to that of Williamsburg, Virginia. The main street running through the town was known as the Broad Street. Each business at home were built on equal sized plots and each were given a bit of green space for gardening, for Rica, grew all manners of fruits and vegetables.

From peaches to pomegranates, their plantings were quite diverse. The little military community thrived with the help from supplies from the English crown. But once the Spanish were defeated, Fort Fred Rica had served its purpose and the troops were disbanded. Without the support of the Garrison troops, the town slowly withered the final death Noll ring when wet remained of the town was destroyed by fire in 1758.

The lands on the island were then divided up and became large plantations, nearly all of whom would be served by Christchurch. The first churches were held by Reverend Charles and John Wesley in 1736. Upon the foundin

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