Golden Isles History

Josh Dukes is a local historian and co-author of the new book Brunswick: Past & Present , available locally this month from Arcadia Publishing.  These facts gathered from an 1897 Brunswick Times feature on Rev. Williams as he reached his 60 th  birthday.  Portrait of Rev. Williams published by The Brunswick News and restored by Josh Dukes.   Reverend John Williams, circa 1897. Photo restored by Josh Dukes John Williams was born into slavery on Christmas Day 1839 at Howell Point Plantation in Brunswick County, NC.  His mother Julia Ann Moore first named him John Moore, but Moore was her second husband’s name. John assumed his uncle Robert Williams' last name in adulthood.  Julia, young John, and her other 4 children were enslaved at Howell Point to Edward Morse, a pilot on the    Charleston Harbor bar.   Edward Morse's children taught young John to spell a single word – baker - and he prided himself in the early knowledge of that...

This article originally appeared in the January 2025 edition of Discover Downtown, a publication of The Brunswick News.  Story and photo colorizations by Josh Dukes I’ve written a few times about how much downtown Brunswick is hopping these days.  Inevitably someone mentions, “imagine if the Oglethorpe Hotel was still here – just think of what that could be used for now!”  That is of course true, but there are a few other landmarks that Newcastle lost to the wrecking ball as midcentury modern aesthetics took hold in the 1950s.  One jewel at the top of my list of favorite lost spaces is the National Bank of Brunswick building, which once stood at 1509 Newcastle Street.  Bank employees circa 1921. L to R- Myddleton Harris, James Oliver Taylor, John Ralston, E.V. Poole, Elisha Johnson, Harris S Evans, Edgar H Ware. Courtesy of Lisa Taylor The National Bank of Brunswick was organized in 1894, with H. W. Reed serving as the first president and prominent businessman C...

As we sit here readying ourselves for another tropical system (Debby, please be kind to us), I thought I'd do some digging into the one storm that beats all the others in Brunswick's long history. Let's keep it that way, shall we? The 1898 Georgia Hurricane was a major hurricane that made official landfall at Cumberland Island and to this day is the strongest on record in the state. It was first observed on Sept 29 and it maintained a general northwest track throughout its duration.  Peak winds hit 130 mph on Oct 2 as it made landfall on Cumberland Island, causing record storm surge flooding. The hurricane caused heavy damage throughout the region, and killed at least 179 people.    Newcastle Street looking south from Monck - Marshes of Glynn Libraries Special Collections The impact was most severe in Brunswick, where a 16 ft storm surge was recorded. This has sometimes been referred to (especially in old sources) as a "tidal wave," but storm surge is caused by th...

This story originally appeared in Discover Downtown Brunswick, a publication of The Brunswick News, in the October 2023 edition. Last month, we discussed Brunswick’s old town streets moving south from Gloucester. For this final installment (for now) of What’s In A Name, let’s move from Bay Street to the eastern boundary of the Oglethorpe Plan. The Duke of Newcastle by William Hoare, circa 1750   Bay is a universal name in many cities for a street running along the waterfront.   Charleston, for example, has an East Bay street on east side of the peninsula. Brunswick’s Bay Street is on the west.   It is important to note that the north part of the current Bay Street footprint overtook part of Oglethorpe Street.   A 1960s-era revitalization of rundown Bay Street storefronts, road widening, and Port enlargements were all at play here. The next street to the east is Oglethorpe Street, named for General James Edward Oglethorpe (1696-1785). Oglethorpe was the founder of t...

This article first appeared in Discover Downtown Brunswick, a publication of The Brunswick News, published in Brunswick, Georgia.  Story and photo restorations by Josh Dukes A new year is upon us again and there’s a vibrant pulse of redevelopment coursing through the veins of Brunswick's historic downtown core along Newcastle and Gloucester Streets.  The city is practically crackling with energy these days, and I'm soaking in every electrifying moment. As a historian it's impossible not to acknowledge that this dance of business development has played out many times before—a thrilling symphony of highs and lows in a place we all know is perpetually full of promise. As we leaf through the chapters of history, there's one standout character who leaps off the pages—a visionary who poured his heart and soul into a fledgling Brunswick. Urbanus Dart Urbanus Dart, Sr. was one of Brunswick’s pioneer citizens from its earliest days of development.  He was born in 1800 to Cyrus a...