The island’s history was closely tied to the land, which was cultivated from the beginning of William Horton’s occupation, first by indentured servants and later under Christophe du Bignon’s ownership with slave labor. Horton played an important role in the militia at neighboring Fort Frederica and was vital in supporting the settlement’s civilian population, regularly providing corn and beef when supplies failed. His farm also produced cattle, barley, hay, cotton, indigo, and, according to a visitor, an orange grove near the house. Under the du Bignons, Jekyll Island became a true plantation, and by 1800, when Christophe du Bignon was permanently living there, he held 59 slaves. The primary crop was sea island cotton, which was in very high demand, while Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, and peas were also grown, likely to feed his family and the large enslaved population. Christophe du Bignon sometimes confided to friends about the difficulty of making a living on the barrier island, but those hardships did not compare to the trials of the people he enslaved there. On a cotton plantation, time was not a slave’s own, and the cash crop required difficult, labor-intensive work year round from sunup to sundown, from planting seeds in early March, to weeding cotton rows in July heat, to picking cotton from spiky pods from September through the next three months until fingers became stiff and bleeding.
