First African Baptist Church (Cumberland Island)

The Settlement is the name given to an area at the northern end of Cumberland Island National Seashore that was settled by former slaves in the early 1890s. Before the Civil War, the largest plantation owner on Cumberland Island was Robert Stafford. He had an unorthodox way of managing his slaves. Work was done on a task system, which meant that slaves had a set amount of work to do each day and once finished they could spend time as they saw fit. This included hunting with guns provided by Stafford, raising vegetables, and even hiring themselves out to other plantation owners or doing work on the mainland at St. Marys. Any money they made they got to keep and spend as they wished. After the Civil War, this meant that Stafford’s former slaves were well ahead of the game when it came to freedom.

Before the Civil War, there was a hotel and resort business at the northern end of Cumberland Island. It was run by the Clubb family. They sold their hotel in 1881 to Martin Burbank. He ran it under the name High Point Hotel. In 1893, Burbank purchased a few acres west of the hotels. He had the idea of dividing it into small plots and selling it to the former slaves who were living in the area. This community would provide him and the other hoteliers on the island, of which there were a few by then, with a supply of labor. That community came to be called the Settlement. The most famous of the buildings on the Settlment is the First African Baptist Church. It was originally a log structure built when The Settlement was founded. The current structure is the log cabin’s replacement that the remaining community members built in 1937. 

The hotel business thrived until the Great Depression hit. Afterwards, most of the Black residents moved to the mainland. A few stayed on to work as servants for the wealthy home owners or in the logging and agriculture businesses that operated on the island. They remained at the Settlement for a few more decades. By the time the National Park Service took over the property only four buildings remained intact. Today only two remain today.

John F. Kennedy Jr. married Carolyn Bessette at the church on Sept. 21, 1996. Kennedy had been coming to Cumberland Island for years as a guest of some of the Carnegie descendants. He chose the island for his wedding because it was the only place where the paparazzi could not get to him. Anyone can get married in the church, but the National Park Service does not provide transportation.

The Settlement, National Park Planner. Accessed July 28th 2020. https://npplan.com/parks-by-state/georgia/cumberland-island-national-seashore-park-at-a-glance/cumberland-island-national-seashore-historical-sites/cumberland-island-national-seashore-the-settlement/.

On Island - Cumberland Island National Seashore, U.S. National Park Service. Accessed July 28th 2020. https://www.nps.gov/cuis/planyourvisit/on-island.htm.