In 1733, British General James Edward Oglethorpe established the colony of Georgia in the region between the British-ruled colony of South Carolina and the Spanish-ruled colony of Florida. Oglethorpe built Fort Frederica just three years later to protect this new colony from Spanish attack.

The brick fortress enclosed an entire 40-acre town on a strategic location in a bend in the Frederica River. After several battles, a regiment of British soldiers were able to successfully fight off a Spanish attack at the fort in 1741. But after Britain and Spain signed a peace treaty in 1748, many settlers left the fort, and the a fire in 1758 destroyed most of what remained. The national monument preserves archaeological remnants and foundations from the fort and the town.

(Photo by Judson McCranie, CC BY-SA 3.0.)

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