Greene-Miller Cemetery

There have been three homes named Dungeness on Cumberland Island. The first home was built by James Oglethorpe, founder of the Georgia colony. Cumberland Island was given to General Nathanael Greene to repay the debts that he incurred in the Revolutionary War. Greene and his wife built the second Dungeness, a four-story tabby mansion on the site. His widow Catharine married Phineas Miller. This house was abandoned during the Civil War and burned in 1866. The third Dungeness was built by Thomas M. Carnegie, brother of Andrew Carnegie. The Carnegies moved out of Dungeness in 1925. In 1959, the Dungeness mansion was destroyed by fire, widely thought to be arson.

The Greene-Miller Cemetery, named for the families of Greene and Miller, is east of the house. It's the final resting place of Catharine Greene-Miller, her daughter Louisa and Louisa’s husband James Shaw. It's also possibly the final resting place of Catharine Greene-Miller's second husband Phineas Miller. If true, his grave is unmarked.

Catharine's first husband was American Revolutionary War General Nathanael Greene. Greene had acquired a large section of Cumberland Island after the war. He also had a plantation called Mulberry Grove in Savannah, Georgia, where Miller worked as the plantation manager and tutor for the Greene children. Greene died in 1786. He is buried in Savannah. She married Miller in 1796. The two ran the Mulberry Grove and Cumberland Island plantations. After financial hard times, the two sold Mulberry Grove and moved to Cumberland Island. Miller died in 1803. The cemetery was officially established in 1814, when Catharine died. 

The property remained in the family until it was sold to William Davis, first cousin of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. It is from Davis that the Carnegies bought the land in 1881. Bernard Davis, the son of William Davis, and his son George Davis are buried in the cemetery. George Davis died in a gunshot accident, and later Bernard Davis killed himself. This prompted Davis to sell. Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee, father of Robert E. Lee, was also buried in the cemetery for a while. He had died while visiting Dungeness. As the Revolutionary War hero was traveling north to Virginia, he stopped here to rest and regain his health to be able to continue home. After several weeks under the care of Louisa and James, he passed away. In 1913, his remains were removed, and he was reburied with the rest of the Lee family in Lexington, Virginia.

The two graves on the east side of this cemetery belong to Catherine Rikart and her husband John, both servants for the Carnegie family. Catherine worked as a housekeeper at Dungeness but also looked after the young Irish maids working in the house. Because they were unrelated to the Greene-Millers, they were buried outside the walls.

Greene-Miller Cemetery, NPS Cumberland Island National Seashore. Accessed July 28th 2020. https://cuis.oncell.com/en/9-greene-miller-cemetery-71786.html.

Greene-Miller Cemetery, FindAGrave. Accessed July 28th 2020. https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2378544/greene-miller-cemetery.

Greene-Miller Cemetery, 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-greene-miller-cemetery/.