View source for Fort Frederica National Monument

{{Short description|Monument in Georgia, USA}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox protected area
| name = Fort Frederica National Monument 
| map = Georgia (U.S. state)#USA
| relief = 1
| map_caption = 
| location = [[St. Simons Island, Georgia]], [[United States|USA]]
| nearest_city = [[Brunswick, Georgia]]
| coordinates = {{coord|31.22384|N|81.39324|W|format=dms|display=inline, title}}
| area_acre = 284.49
| area_ref = <ref name="area">{{NPS area |year=2011 |accessdate=2012-05-13}}</ref>
| authorized = {{start date|1936|05|26}}
| visitation_num = 293,041
| visitation_year = 2011
| visitation_ref = <ref name="visits">{{NPS visitation |accessdate=2012-05-13}}</ref>
| governing_body = [[National Park Service]]
| website = [https://www.nps.gov/fofr/index.htm Fort Frederica National Monument]
| embedded1 = {{Infobox NRHP
| name            = <!-- same -->
| embed           = yes
| nrhp_type       = hd
| nocat           = yes
| image           = Cannon outside magazine at Frederica National Monument.jpg
| caption         = Fort Frederica in 2020
| nearest_city    = [[Brunswick, Georgia]]
| locmapin        =
| built           = {{start date|1736}}
| added           = October 15, 1966
| area            = {{convert|218|acre|ha|1}}
| increase        = July 23, 2020
| increase_refnum = 100005351
| refnum          = 66000065<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>
}} }}
'''Fort Frederica National Monument''', on [[St. Simons Island, Georgia]], preserves the archaeological remnants of a fort and town built by [[James Oglethorpe]] between 1736 and 1748 to protect the southern boundary of the British colony of [[Province of Georgia|Georgia]] from [[Spain|Spanish]] raids.<ref>[http://www.doi.gov/ocl/2004/HR1113.htm para.5, Testimony of NPS Deputy Director A.Durand Jones regarding HR. 1113.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081005030046/http://www.doi.gov/ocl/2004/HR1113.htm |date=2008-10-05 }}, Dept. of Interior, 2004, accessed 3 Sept 2008</ref>  About 630 British troops were stationed at the fort.

A town of up to 1,000 colonial residents had grown up outside the fort; it was laid out following principles of the [[The Oglethorpe Plan|Oglethorpe Plan]] for towns in the Georgia Colony.<ref>[https://www.nps.gov/fofr/index.htm#:~:text=Fort%20Frederica%20illustrates%20the%20story,people%20that%20once%20lived%20here. nps.gov]</ref> The town was named Frederica, after [[Frederick, Prince of Wales]], son of [[King George II of Great Britain|King George II]]. The monument was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] on October 15, 1966.

==History==
In the early 18th century, Europeans called the land lying between [[Province of South Carolina|British South Carolina]] and [[Spanish Florida]] the "Debatable Land". Today's state of Georgia was then the center of a centuries-old imperial conflict between Spain and Britain. After the [[philanthropist]] [[James Oglethorpe]] founded the colony of Georgia in 1733, to provide a place where poor debtors could settle, colonists from England and Scotland, and refugees from the [[Germany|German]] [[Electorate of the Palatinate]] built Fort Frederica in 1736 to defend their new territory. They named Frederica for [[Frederick, Prince of Wales]], (1707–1751).  The name was feminized to distinguish it from [[Fort Frederick Heritage Preserve|Fort Frederick]] in South Carolina.

In the 1742 [[Battle of Bloody Marsh|battles of Bloody Marsh]] and [[Battle of Gully Hole Creek|Gully Hole Creek]], forces under Oglethorpe successfully repulsed Spanish attempts to invade St. Simons Island.  Afterward the Spanish no longer threatened the colony; in 1749 the government disbanded the [[garrison]] at Frederica.  Soon the village fell into economic decline, and by 1755 it was mostly abandoned.  The town survived a fire in 1758, but after a few more years, it was abandoned.<ref>[http://www.doi.gov/ocl/2004/HR1113.htm para.6] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081005030046/http://www.doi.gov/ocl/2004/HR1113.htm |date=2008-10-05 }}, Dept. of Interior</ref>  Naturalist [[William Bartram]] visited the site in March, 1774.  Though it was in ruins he noted that there was still a small garrison there.<ref>T. B. BARTOW The Georgia Historical Quarterly Vol. 1, No. 4 (DECEMBER, 1917), pp. 347-349</ref>

Fort Frederica was documented and authorized as a [[U.S. National Monument|National Monument]] on May 26, 1936, under the [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] administration during the [[Great Depression]].<ref>[http://www.doi.gov/ocl/2004/HR1113.htm para.7] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081005030046/http://www.doi.gov/ocl/2004/HR1113.htm |date=2008-10-05 }}</ref> During this period, the [[Works Progress Administration]] (WPA) sponsored numerous surveys of historic areas and buildings across the country to identify, document and protect the resources for the future, as well as to provide employment.

Starting in 1947, the [[National Park Service]] and the Ft. Frederica Association, a citizens' interest group, sponsored a series of [[archaeological]] investigations at the Frederica site.  Using information from 18th-century maps and journals as guides, the archaeologists excavated sections of the fort and village.  By correlating the archaeological data with the historic documents and excavating remains of structures, the archaeologists have provided important insight into Frederica's past and colonial history, a complex time of international rivalries.

As a historic area under the National Park Service, the National Monument was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] on October 15, 1966.  Fort Frederica is open to the public and admission is free.

[[File:Fort Frederica, National Monument - DPLA - 0974b524bc8b123a8440f3099945c1c8.pdf|thumb|alt=Black-and-white pamphlet about Fort Frederica, published in 1960. Fort Frederica is a national park, and was a colonial site of a military base during the Anglo-Spanish struggle (1739-43), led by General Oglethorpe. Fort Frederica is located on St. Simons Island, Georgia. Ft. Frederica is a national monument and part of the national parks service. A map of the fort is printed on the back of the pamphlet.|"Fort Frederica, National Monument", a National Park Service pamphlet of 1960]]
[[File:Frederica - DPLA - 90fd841816f57d1ee5b2a42c7684428a.pdf|thumb|alt=A pamphlet detailing the history of Fort Frederica on St. Simon's Island.|"Frederica", a 1913 pamphlet detailing the history of the site]]

==Gallery==
<gallery widths="240" perrow="3">
File:Fort Frederica 1742.jpg|Historical layout of the colonial fort
File:FortFredMagazine.jpg|The [[Magazine (artillery)|magazine]] of Fort Frederica
File:FortFredBackside.jpg|Fort Frederica on riverfront
File:FortFredBarracks.jpg|Remains of Fort Frederica barracks
File:FredericaHomesite.jpg|Remains of Frederica house
File:StSimonsMap.jpg|Modern map of the area
File:Frederica, St. Simons Island, Georgia.jpg|Historical layout of the town
</gallery>

==Related sites==
{{Portal|Georgia (U.S. State)}}
* [[Fort Argyle]]
* [[Battle of Bloody Marsh]]
* [[Battle of Gully Hole Creek]]
* [[Castillo de San Marcos|Castillo de San Marcos National Monument]]
* [[Fort Caroline National Memorial]]
* [[Fort King George]]
* [[Fort Matanzas National Monument]]
* [[Fort Morris State Historic Site]]
* [[Wormsloe Historic Site]]
* [[Oglethorpe Plan]]
* [[List of national monuments of the United States]]

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* ''The National Parks: Index 2001–2003''. Washington: [[United States Department of the Interior|U.S. Department of the Interior]].

==External links==
* Official NPS website: [https://www.nps.gov/fofr/index.htm Fort Frederica National Monument]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060319230837/http://www.nps.gov/applications/parks/fofr/ppdocuments/OctNovDec05Web.pdf Archeology at Fort Frederica National Monument]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070713131417/http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/31frederica/31frederica.htm  ''"Frederica: An 18th-Century Planned Community"'', a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan]
* [http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/topics/historical_markers/county/glynn/fort-frederica Fort Frederica] historical marker
* {{Commons category-inline|Fort Frederica National Monument}}

{{Protected areas of Georgia (U.S. state)}}
{{National Monuments of the United States}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Government buildings completed in 1748]]
[[Category:Military installations established in 1748]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Forts in Georgia (U.S. state)|Frederica]]
[[Category:National Park Service national monuments in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:History of the Thirteen Colonies]]
[[Category:Military and war museums in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Museums in Glynn County, Georgia]]
[[Category:Archaeological museums in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Protected areas established in 1936]]
[[Category:British forts in the United States|Frederica]]
[[Category:Colonial forts in Georgia (U.S. state)|Frederica]]
[[Category:Protected areas of Glynn County, Georgia]]
[[Category:Forts on the National Register of Historic Places in Georgia (U.S. state)|Frederica]]
[[Category:1736 establishments in the Thirteen Colonies]]
[[Category:Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Glynn County, Georgia]]
[[Category:Former county seats in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:St. Simons, Georgia]]