Interpretive Signage Installed Near Gazebo in Oakridge 

The Antebellum Period on Skidaway Island is the focus of newly installed historic signage found just off the walking path by the gazebo in Oakridge. The sign is positioned facing the historic tabby-walled cemetery on Landings Club property, far enough from the golf course to allow residents and guests to safely linger at the sign. 

Following an archaeological dig at the cemetery in 2014, research revealed the lifestyle of the Cropp family who owned the land in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Additionally, more is known about who is buried here. 

This is the third historic sign to be installed within The Landings as part of a Skidaway Audubon project, Sustainable Skidaway. All three archaeological projects were managed by Blake Caldwell and conducted by Archaeologist Laura Seifert and her students, with help from Landings volunteers. 

Interpretive signs also are located at the Benedictine Monastery & Freedman School ruins on Priest Landing and Breckinridge Road (Marshwood) and at the Philip Delegal Cemetery adjacent to the Palmetto #13 green/Hoptree Cross (Midpoint). 

While the focus of each sign is about what was happening on Skidaway, each also has a timeline of historic events in Savannah and throughout Georgia that put the Skidaway history in a broader context. For residents from out of state who never studied Georgia history, or those who may have forgotten, the intent is to deepen understanding of where we live and help develop a sense of place. The Oakridge cemetery sign covers the years from the Treaty of Paris in 1783 until the election of Lincoln in 1860. 

To visit the signage in chronological order, begin with Delegal Cemetery (1732-1782), then Oakridge Cemetery (1783-1860), and Monastery Ruins & Freedman School (1856-1902). 

Funding for the production of the signs was made possible from generous grants from Landings Landlovers. 

Photo by Erik Carson