Facts About St. Simons Island, Georgia

St. Simons Island is one of Georgia's renowned Golden Isles (along with Sea Island, Jekyll Island, and Little St. Simons Island). It is also the largest of the Golden Isles. The town is a resort community and has many seasonal residents, as well as a steady base of year-round residents. Consequently, many of the residents are retired individuals from other parts of Georgia or the United States. Malcolm McKinnon Airport (IATA: SSI) is located on the island.

St. Simons Island is located in Glynn County, Georgia. According to the 2000 census, St. Simons Island had a population of 13,381.

History

Spanish Florida

During the 17th century, St. Simons Island was one of the most important settlements of the Mocama missionary province of Spanish Florida. After the founding of South Carolina in 1680, conflict between the English and Spanish wreaked havoc on the Sea Islands. James Moore of South Carolina led a combined land and sea invasion of Florida in 1702 which essentially destroyed the Spanish mission system on the islands. Surviving Indians were subjected to slave raids leaving the islands depopulated by the time the colony of Georgia was founded.


Photo: Fort Frederica

Fort Frederica

Fort Frederica, now Fort Frederica National Monument, was the military headquarters of the Province of Georgia during the early colonial period, and served as a buffer against Spanish incursion from Florida. Nearby is the site of the Battle of Gully Hole Creek and Battle of Bloody Marsh, where on July 7, 1742, the British ambushed Spanish troops marching single file through the marsh and routed them from the island, which marked the end of the Spanish efforts to invade Georgia during the War of Jenkins' Ear.[4]