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The Grange

Introduction

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The Grange is located southeast of the Dungeness ruins. Those ruins were once a mansion owned by the Carnegie family. This house was built in 1901 as a residence for William Page, tutor for the Carnegie sons and later estate manager. Page died in 1922, after which Carnegie daughter Florence used it as her residence until she died in 1962. Her death dissolved the trust Lucy Carnegie had created in her will which kept the island property intact until all children agreed to sell or until the last child passed away. Purchase of property by developers pushed family members to consider their options to protect the island from development. Plum Orchard and the 12 acres surrounding it were donated by the Johnston families to the National Park Foundation. The NPF then conveyed it to the National Park Service. Other properties were sold to the NPS for the formation of Cumberland Island National Seashore. In exchange for the Plum Orchard property, these families were given the Grange under a 40-year retained rights agreement. During this time, this was considered private property. This agreement ended in 2010 and the property is now public land.

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Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

At one point, the Carnegie family owned 90 percent of Cumberland Island. Although the island was considered the winter home of the Carnegies, it had the capacity for being a year-round residence. Living a life of such luxury required a large staff. As you walk east of Dungeness and the recreation building, you enter the service area of the estate known as the Grange, where many of the Carnegie’s 200-300 servants lived and worked.

In 1890, Lucy Carnegie hired a Harvard graduate named William Page as a tutor for her sons. Highly impressed with Page, she made him the manager of the entire Dungeness estate the next year. As manager, Mr. Page oversaw the day-to-day running of operations for the entire island. He was responsible to order supplies, hire and pay employees, and oversee the building of some of the other structures on the island.

To keep Page from wanting to leave, in 1895 she built two-story mansion known as The Grange for him and his family to live in. Page remained in service to the Carnegies until his death in 1922. At that time Florence Carnegie, one of Lucy’s three daughters, moved into the house. She died in 1962. From that time until 2010, the site was considered private property. Since 2010, the property is public land, part of the Cumberland Island National Seashore.

It is not yet open to the public, but for now you are welcome to walk around the property and look in the windows.

Sources

The Grange, 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-dungeness/cumberland-island-national-seashore-the-grange/.

The Grange, NPS Cumberland Island National Seashore. Accessed July 28th 2020. https://cuis.oncell.com/en/7-the-grange-71784.html.

Cumberland Island National Seashore, National Register of Historic Places. Accessed July 28th 2020. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/d6fe4b32-a6df-401d-bd3c-1d5afec7ea42.

Additional Information