Timeline: Sapelo Island and Chocolate Plantation
The list was created by Orion Scott Kroulek, using as a reference:
Early Days on the Georgia Tidewater, The Story of McIntosh County and
Sapelo, Buddy Sullivan , (Darien, Ga.: McIntosh County Board of Commissioners,
1995).
1597: San Jose Zapala founded on Sapelo by Franciscan (possibly
as early as 1568) pp 9
1680: English lead Yamassee Creek in attack on Santa Catalina
Mission, Spanish retreat to San Jose Zapala pp 9
1686: San Jose Zapala abandoned due to increased British
attacks pp9
1747: The Creek Chief Malache awarded Mary Musgrove, Oglethorpe’s
interpreter, Sapelo, St. Catherines, and Ossabaw pp 80
1752: Hurricane hit Georgia coast
1757: The Creeks ceded Sapelo to the English (Mugrove’s
claim was denied) pp 80
1760: Sapelo sold at public auction by Governor Henry Ellis
to Grey Elliot pp 80
1762: Elliot sold Sapelo to Patrick Mackay pp 80
1784: Sapelo was purchased at a sheriff’s auction
by John McQueen pp 80
1789: Sapelo was bought from McQueen (to pay off debts)
by the French noble Francis Marie Loys Domoussay Delavause, representing
the Sapelo Co. pp 80
1790: Chocolate was owned jointly by Villehuchet
and Grande Clos Mesle of the Sapelo Co. pp 81
1791: The Sapelo Co. buys Jekyll Island pp 82
1792: Villehuchet bought Sapelo at a tax sale and sold shares
back to the five investors of the Sapelo Company in order to evade taxes.
Domoussay sold all of his Sapelo holdings to other investors and then buys
all of Jekyll Island, supposedly because the five investors could not get
along. Pp 82
1793: Boisfeuillet (one of the investor’s uncles)
arrived and immediately began plantation activities on the north end of Sapelo.
Thomas Spaulding witnesses for the dissolution of the Sapelo Company in Savannah.
Sapelo and other holdings of the company are divvied out between investors.
pp 81-82
1794: Boisfeuillet indicted for the murder
of Chappedelaine (one of the five original Sapelo Co. investors) over Dumoussay’s
estate. Villehuchet was beheaded back in France (Chocolate falls to Mesle).
pp 83
1797: Lewis Harrington, an agent for the
Sapelo Company, bought Chocolate from Mesle (also earliest mention of the
name Chocolate among documents) pp 87
1800: Angelique Boisfeuillet inherited her father’s
Sapelo holdings on the north end pp 85
1801: Harrington sold Chocolate to Richard
Leake and Edward Swarbreck (who first built Chocolate as a plantation) pp
87
1802: Thomas Spaulding inherited Chocolate
from his father-in-law, Richard Leake. Spaulding also bought 80 slaves and
4000 acres on the south end from the Sapelo Company pp 87. A. Boisfeuillet
married John Montalet, who moved from Savannah to Sapelo. Pp 85
1804: Hurricane on Sept 8 1804- strong enough to tear out
trees and threaten buildings (pp 69)
1824: A September hurricane created a 6’ high wall
of water that killed several people and washed away crops, livestock, and
buildings (we should look for signs of this hydrologic event in strata profiles
for purposes of relative dating).
1827: Dr. Charles W. Rogers purchased some
of the Chocolate tract from Swarbreck pp 88-89
1830s: Rogers bought most of the north end, including rest
of Chocolate pp 88-89
1843: Spaulding bought the north end of
Sapelo from Rogers for his son, Rudolph, as a wedding gift. Pp 89
1853: House at Chocolate built by Rogers
burned down (not rebuilt); Rudolph Spalding & family living there at
the time pp 89
1862: Rudolph Spaulding died in Savannah pp 89
1866: Rudolph’s widow, Mary Bass
Spaulding, sold Chocolate to John Griswold (Chocolate later occupied by Hopkins
family while their residence is built on the south end) pp 89
1873: James Cassin buys north end, including
Chocolate (p 367 Sullivan)
1879: Cassin foreclosed Sapelo holdings
to Henry P. Townsend of New York pp 367
1881: The north end (including Chocolate)
was sold to Amos Sawyer of Massachusetts pp 367
1912: Howard Coffin of Detroit buys Sapelo
(including Chocolate, minus the 3 existing villages) pp 367 and 601, 605
1934: Sapelo was sold to RJ Reynolds pp
657
1969: State of Georgia purchased the north
end as the RJ Reynolds wildlife reserve
June 21, 2006
