Horton House Historic Site

William Horton lived and worked on Jekyll Island until his death in 1748, improving the land with a flourishing homestead that included a kitchen garden, barns, a malt-house, a brew-house, and an overseer's home. About 1743 he completed the tabby house that survives today as his second home on the island after Spanish troops burned his original wooden house in 1742 following their defeat on St. Simons Island at the Battle of Bloody Marsh. The new house, built for Horton, his wife Rebecca, and their two children, closely resembled the earlier wooden home, with chimneys at both ends, two rooms on the first floor, two bedrooms on the second floor, and a balcony at the rear. Tabby, made by mixing oyster shells with sand, water, and lime, was a sturdier choice than wood and was widely used in coastal communities of South Carolina, Georgia, and northern Florida because oyster shell was readily available on Jekyll Island. In 1898 members of the Jekyll Island Club stabilized the building, rebuilding the north wall and recoating it with stucco, and in 2002 another preservation effort applied modern stucco whose orange color reflects the use of local sand and is expected to fade to a paler creamy color over time.

Jekyll Island, Georgia · United States