Georgia Natural Wonder #51 - Ebenezer Creek Swamp. 891

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Georgia Natural Wonder #51 - Ebenezer Creek Swamp

We designate our next Georgia Natural Wonder with another National Natural Landmark that is quite spectacular and disturbingly historic at the same time. I have never been here but it is now certainly on my list to explore. The great state of Georgia continues to surprise. Here is the official National Natural Landmark designation.


Ebenezer Creek Swamp official NNL photo

Ebenezer Creek Swamp is the best remaining cypress-gum swamp forest in the Savannah River basin. It illustrates the relationship and interactions between river and creek; providing spawning grounds for the anadromous striped bass and habitat for the American alligator.

Location: Effingham County, GA

Year designated: 1976

Acres: 1,305

Ownership: Private

It can only be accessed by water and I found that several outfitters in Savannah will arrange a canoe or kayak trip. I present this from a personal adventure….

This trip follows Ebenezer Creek through a Cyprus forest straight out of Tolkien's Trilogy.



It looks like they floated in from downstream at the traditional exit point. Water directions from the Exit point: Travel north on the Savannah River about 0.1 miles. Enter the mouth of Ebenezer Creek on the left. The rest of the trip follows Ebenezer Creek as it winds through Ebenezer swamp.



A million Cyprus trees reach up to meet the Spanish moss like stalactites and stalagmites in a watery cave. This black water river flows so slowly you can paddle it in either direction with ease. The single best word to describe this place? Enchanting.

 

Ebenezer Creek Swamp was designated as a National Landmark in 1976 after a nomination by the Smithsonian Institution. It is the best remaining cypress-gum swamp forest in the Savannah River Basin.



Ebenezer was actually the first capitol of Georgia under the State's first governor, John Adam Treutlen, who was reared at the orphanage at Ebenezer. We learned from an earlier wonder post that Treutlen was killed in his front yard by a mob in front of his family.



The area is rich in Georgia history and boasts the oldest public building in the state, the Ebenezer Jerusalem Lutheran Church, built in 1769. The members were exiled from Salzburg, Austria, and were seeking freedom from religious persecution as followers of Martin Luther. They arrived in Savannah on March 12, 1734 and founded the town of Ebenezer on Ebenezer Creek in what is now Effingham County. More on that later in this post.



Ebenezer Creek's waters flow silently, and once you paddle beyond earshot of the traffic you can go hours without hearing anything but the incessant drumming of sapsuckers and the whispers of Civil War ghosts.



The tributary of the Savannah River is a black-water channel. When the water is down, it exposes the massive buttresses and knees of ancient cypress trees that line its banks.



Either way, as you glide across silent, inky water beneath drapes of Spanish moss, the only intrusion upon utter peacefulness is … well … a feeling that something sinister lurks, too. That is the magic of this place.



Ebenezer Creek is one of the most enchanting natural sights near Savannah. A black water tributary of the Savannah River, the creek winds its 13-mile path from Springfield, GA to its confluence with the main channel of the Savannah through old-growth cypress swamp and tupelo forests.



The trees’ enormous buttressed trunks and the deep, slow, tannin-stained (hence black) waters provide one of the most ethereal and distinctively “southern” landscapes of the Georgia coast.



Ebenezer Creek – named for the abandoned settlement of Ebenezer, founded by exiled Salzburgers in the first years of the Georgia colony – is also a significant historical site, not only for its pioneer history but as the scene of a notorious Civil War tragedy.

Salzburger Settlement

Ebenezer Creek is named for the abandoned historic settlements of Ebenezer and New Ebenezer, created in the earliest years of the Georgia colony by refugees from the city of Salzburg (in present-day Austria).



The Georgia Salzburgers, a group of German-speaking Protestant colonists, founded the town of Ebenezer in what is now Effingham County. Arriving in 1734, the group received support from King George II of England and the Georgia Trustees after they were expelled from their home in the Catholic principality of Salzburg (in present-day Austria). The Salzburgers survived extreme hardships in both Europe and Georgia to establish a prosperous and culturally unique community.

Protestant Expulsion

In 1731 Count Leopold von Firmian, the Catholic archbishop and prince of independent Salzburg, issued the Edict of Expulsion, forcing twenty thousand Protestants from their homes. He gave propertied subjects three months to dispose of their holdings and leave the country; non-propertied persons had but eight days to leave. A majority of these outcasts settled in East Prussia and Holland.



Pastor Samuel Urlsperger of Augsburg (in present-day Germany) and his organization, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, identified with the plight of the Salzburgers and asked King George II of England for help. George, a German duke and a Lutheran, sympathized with the Salzburgers and offered them a place in his Georgia colony. About 300 Salzburgers, under the leadership of pastors Johann Martin Boltzius and Israel Gronau, accepted the invitation.



The first group of Salzburgers sailed from England to Georgia in 1734, arriving in Charleston, South Carolina, on March 7, then proceeding to Savannah on March 12. They were met by James Oglethorpe, the founder of the Georgia colony, who assigned them a home about twenty-five miles upriver in a low-lying area on Ebenezer Creek. Subsequent ships brought the rest of the original exiled Salzburgers, as well as other European settlers from German-speaking nations who also became identified generically as Salzburgers.

Early Life in Georgia

Upon arrival, Boltzius established the Jerusalem Church (later Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church) and administered the settlement of Ebenezer with a strong religious element. Because of their harrowing experience in Europe and their level of religious devotion, the Salzburgers secured the admiration and financial support of English authorities, who idealized them as model colonists. Indeed, the qualities of piety, modesty, and industriousness were rooted in the Salzburgers' spiritual traditions, which emphasized personal conviction and community activities. Their fierce sense of independence, however, as well as a mistrust of secular authority isolated the Salzburgers from the rest of the Georgia colony.



This sketch of the early Ebenezer settlement was drawn in 1736 by Philip Georg Friedrich von Reck. That same year the Salzburger settlement moved to a location closer to the Savannah River, where conditions were better for farming.



After a false start at a swampy and disease-ridden inland settlement chosen for them by colony founder James Oglethorpe, the Salzburgers moved to a new site near the Savannah River. The original settlement of Ebenezer failed largely because of its poor location. It was too far inland, and no clear waterway existed to the Savannah River. An eight-mile journey on foot had to be made on an oft-flooded road to the Scottish settlement of Abercorn to procure provisions and supplies. Additionally, about thirty settlers died of dysentery in the damp conditions during the first two years of the settlement. Crops and livestock could not be sustained in the swamp. The Salzburgers' healthy alliance with the Trustees, especially on the issue of prohibiting slavery, assured them of further aid, however.

Prosperity and Decline at New Ebenezer

In early 1736 Oglethorpe gave the Salzburgers a new site on the high bluffs above the Savannah River. The settlers referred to the new settlement as New Ebenezer. There, they proved to be proficient and successful colonists, whose agricultural achievements eclipsed those of most of the English colonists at the main Savannah site. By the fall of 1737 many farmsteads had been established on the bluff. In 1740 the Salzburgers, with funding from the Trustees, built the first water-driven gristmill in the Georgia colony, and they built a second in 1751. Stamping mills for rice and barley stood beside two sawmills, as Ebenezer's lumber became a valuable commodity for the Georgia colony. Widows and orphans operated the first silk filature (a facility for reeling silk from cocoons) in Georgia. The Salzburgers also established the first Sunday school in Georgia in 1734 and the first orphanage in 1737. Their arrangements for the care of orphans were said to have inspired the creation of George Whitefield’s Bethesda orphanage.



By 1752 the Salzburgers had expanded north of Ebenezer Creek to establish the Bethany settlement, as well as three other minor settlements. Jerusalem Church thrived with a new red-brick edifice, which was completed in 1769. The increasingly multicultural community grew to around 1,200 people and covered about twenty-five square miles before the American Revolution (1775-83). Expansion came with a price, however, as the once-thriving traditions and solidarity of the Salzburgers began to fade. After the death of Boltzius in 1765, the community lacked a clear leader and further lost its cohesion.



The town of New Ebenezer was greatly damaged during the Revolutionary War. The War brought destruction and desertion to the area. British troops set up headquarters at Ebenezer, and soldiers plundered many houses and targeted them for cannon practice. They used the church as a hospital, and its pews as firewood.



Though American troops retook Ebenezer in 1782, naming it the capital of Georgia for two weeks, most Salzburgers deserted the area, seeking employment and fertile land in other locations.

Its fortunes declined thereafter until it was abandoned for good shortly before the Civil War. The Salzburger’s Church, however, survived and is still in active use. Completed in 1769, it is today the oldest continuously-used building in Georgia and together with its adjacent cemetery, the only remaining part of the former Salzburger settlement.



Salzburger Tradition Today

Jerusalem Church survived not only the revolution but also occupation by Union general William T. Sherman's troops during the Civil War (1861-65), as well as an 1886 earthquake. The church, which still stands, houses the oldest continuing Lutheran congregation in the United States to worship in its original building. A replica of the orphanage serves as a museum, and several monuments celebrating the Salzburgers have been erected in Effingham County and Savannah.

Many descendants of the Salzburgers still live in Effingham and Chatham counties, and a number of them are active in the Georgia Salzburger Society, an independently operating genealogical and archaeological organization founded in 1925.



The Georgia Salzburger Society operates a small museum next door to the church (at 2980 Ebenezer Road) at which you can further explore the history of the area. As the museum’s hours are very limited, it is advisable to call ahead to verify it will be open before making a special trip.





Addendum to original post. There is a cemetery to visit by the church also.





Clergyman Johann Martin Boltzius was born at Forst on the Elbe, Lower Lusatia, in what is now Germany, on December 15, 1703. Boltzius was a hard-working priest who, among his other duties, ministered to pupils in an orphanage – exhibiting excellent traits of organization, humanitarianism, and supervision. It was these traits that led him to be recommended to the Georgia Trustees as minister to the Salzburgers intent on migrating to Georgia. Boltzius dutifully accepted the challenge, though he spoke no English and little of the Salzburger dialect. But he was a quick learner and soon picked up both languages, corresponding frequently in each. The Salzburger settlement site, called Ebenezer, was on a sandy pine barren surrounded by swamps just north of Savannah. Crops could not grow there and Ebenezer Creek proved to be unnavigable; many settlers and virtually all children born there died in the first year of settlement. When these deficiencies became apparent, Boltzius convinced James Oglethorpe to allow the Salzburgers to move to another site. The new site – called New Ebenezer – proved to be successful, thanks largely to the work of Boltzius. Here, he ministered to his people, also assuming many secular duties – such as supervising purchases of materials, the distribution, clearing, and planting of land, construction of houses and other buildings, and the keeping of records. Boltzius was a vocal supporter of the Trustees’ ban on slavery, which angered many Georgians. The Salzburger site was one of the few examples the Trustees could point to that agriculture in Georgia could be successful using free labor. Boltzius remained the spiritual and secular leader of Ebenezer until his death on November 19, 1765.


This memorial to him was dedicated in 2009, 275 years later.

Now for the sad and sinister history …..

Ebenezer Creek is a tributary of the Savannah River in Effingham County, Georgia, about 20 miles north of the city of Savannah. During the American Civil War, an incident at the creek resulted in the drowning of a large number of freed slaves.

Background

Throughout Sherman's March to the Sea, thousands of freed slaves had attached themselves to the Union army's various infantry columns.



Most eventually turned back, but those that remained were looked on as "a growing encumbrance" as the army approached Savannah in December 1864. Complicating the situation, Confederate cavalry under General Joseph Wheeler were actively harassing the Federal rear guard during this period.

Abandonment at Ebenezer Creek

On December 8, 1864, the Union XIV Corps, under Brigadier General Jefferson C. Davis, reached the western bank of Ebenezer Creek. While Davis' engineers began assembling a pontoon bridge for the crossing, Wheeler's cavalry approached close enough to conduct sporadic shelling of the Union lines. By midnight the bridge was ready, and Davis's 14,000 men began their crossing. Over 600 freed slaves were anxious to cross with them, but Davis ordered his provost marshal to prevent this. The freedmen were told that they would be able to cross after a Confederate force in front had been dispersed. In reality, no such force existed. As the last Union soldiers reached the eastern bank on the morning of December 9, Davis's engineers abruptly cut the bridge loose and drew it up onto the shore.





On realizing their plight, a panic set in amongst the freedmen, who knew that Confederate cavalry were nearby. They "hesitated briefly, impacted by a surge of pressure from the rear, then stampeded with a rush into the icy water, old and young alike, men and women and children, swimmers and non-swimmers, determined not to be left behind." In the uncontrolled, terrified crush, many quickly drowned. On the eastern bank, some of Davis's soldiers made an effort to help those that they could reach, wading into the water as far as they dared. Others felled trees into the water. Several of the freedmen lashed logs together into a crude raft, which they used to rescue those they could and then to ferry others across the stream.



While these efforts were under way, scouts from Wheeler's cavalry arrived, fired briefly at the soldiers on the far bank, and left to summon Wheeler’s full force. Officers from the XIV Corps ordered their men to leave the scene, and the march was resumed.

The freedmen continued their frantic efforts to ferry as many as possible across the stream on the makeshift raft, but when Wheeler’s cavalry arrived in force, as the Confederate cavalrymen rode up in the rear of the gathered refugees, many of them panicked again, plunging themselves into the cold waters of the creek. It is estimated that hundreds of the probably several thousand people there – men, women and children – were drowned. Those refugees who had not made it to the eastern bank, or drowned in the attempt, were enslaved once more. 



Davis’s orders infuriated several of the Union men who witnessed the ensuing calamity, among them Major James A. Connolly and Chaplain John J. Hight. Connolly described the events in a letter to the Senate Military Commission, which found its way into the press.



Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton brought the incident up with Sherman and Davis during a visit to Savannah in January 1865. Davis defended his actions as a matter of military necessity, with Sherman's full support.


Brigadier General Jefferson C. Davis

At present, the site of the drownings, known as Ebenezer Crossing, is commemorated only by a historic marker. Plans to preserve Ebenezer Crossing as a park and improve access to the historic spot are underway, but current public access is exclusively by water.



Getting There

Projects are underway to preserve and better highlight the human heritage of Ebenezer Creek, but at present the area is primarily enjoyed as a paddling trail. An excursion by kayak or canoe, either guided or independent, is currently the best and easiest way to explore the swamp landscape around Ebenezer Creek, and its wildlife and historic sites.

(see the Springfield Ebenezer Greenway website for more information)



Ebenezer Creek is a peaceful and striking place to kayak, canoe or paddle-board, with beautiful scenery and an abundance of birds, fish and other wildlife. The slow, sheltered waters of the creek are an ideal spot for beginners.



The entire creek is around 13 miles long, and takes a full day to paddle. If you lack paddling experience and knowledge of the area, it is best to take a guided tour, as it is easy to get lost along the creek, especially when high waters allow access to the bordering swamp.



Advance reservations for these trips are usually required. Tour companies may be able to arrange transportation to the launch site from Savannah and its vicinity for an additional fee, please inquire directly.



Put In Directions: I-95 Exit 109, north on GA-21 8.1 miles to Rincon, Georgia, east on GA-275 (Ebenezer Rd) for 5.4 miles. The road ends at Ebenezer Landing on the banks of the Savannah River. This is the put in spot for paddling upstream. This is the take out paddling downstream.

Take Out Directions: I-95 Exit 109, north on GA-21 8.1 miles to Rincon,GA, east on GA-275 (Ebenezer Rd) for 2.4 miles. Left on Long Bridge Road (at Ebenezer Elementary School) for 1.1 miles to the bridge across Ebenezer Creek. There is a dirt and gravel pull-over at the bridge. (Another option is to make a round trip paddle from the Entry to the Exit and back again.)

When the water is high, trips can begin near Springfield at the GA 119 bridge. Farther downstream near Log Landing Road. This is the all downstream float I am going to prefer. Park a car or arrange a shuttle at Ebenezer Landing on the Savannah River.

Wow I love learning about new parts (to me) of Georgia. These National Landmarks are pretty intriguing. I break my boast about traveling north of I-20 (just barely) for the month tomorrow. Our Georgia Natural Wonder Gals for today from Effingham County Fair.


Last three queens.