Fort Frederica was constructed on this site in 1736 by early settlers of the Colony of Georgia under General James Edward Oglethorpe. It was the strongest fortification built by Great Britain on American soil, intended to protect Georgia and the colonies to the north from the Spaniards already established in Florida. In 1742, more than 3,000 Spanish troops landed in 52 vessels at Gascoigne Bluff on St. Simons island, but British forces advanced to meet them and decisively defeated them in the Battle of Bloody Marsh, fulfilling the fort’s purpose and helping Georgia remain a British colony. After more than a century and a half of disuse and decay, the small remaining ruins were conveyed in 1903 to Mrs. Belle Stevens Taylor and to Mrs. Georgia Pace King Wilder, president of the Georgia Society of Colonial Dames of America, who sought to preserve and restore Fort Frederica. They were assisted by generous citizens of Georgia and other states who formed the Fort Frederica Association and contributed money, property, and services to make the land available for restoration. In 1945, those efforts were rewarded when the United States Government established Fort Frederica National Monument.
