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200 Years of Sawmilling Historical Marker
- 200 Years of Sawmilling State
Historical Marker
- Located at Fort King George State Park in Darien,
Ga.
(Text)
- 200 YEARS OF SAWMILLING
For nearly two centuries the story
of sawmilling in the Southeast was enacted on this point on the
Altamaha River. In the summer of 1721, men from South Carolina
sawed the 3-inch planks to build Fort King George. In 1736, indentured
servants of the Scottish Highlanders set up pit saws here and
sawed lumber for the permanent houses of Darien and for public
buildings in Savannah and Frederica. This was the first commercial
manufacture of lumber in Coastal Georgia. Through the years,
sawmilling continued on this site. In the latter part of the
18th century, a large water mill was constructed and used here,
operated by impounding tidal water in a basin on flood tide and
sawing with the ebb.
In 1818, the Darien Eastern Steam
Sawmill was built here. Designed by an engineer from London,
the mill have five gang saws. In use, with brief interruptions,
until about 1905, it was then dismantled because of lack of large
timber. A circular sawmill, built alongside the same basin, took
its place, to be used until the end of the sawmill era in Darien.
- 095-6B GEORGIA HISTORICAL
COMMISSION 1957
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