Dungeness History

It seems that several people of importance to American History stopped at Cumberland Island.  James Oglethorpe, the founder of the great state of Georgia, a British soldier and a member of Parliament built a hunting lodge on Cumberland island.  He named the lodge Dungeness after a hamlet in England. 

Nathanael Greene, a revolutionary war hero received 11,000 acres on Cumberland to settle a debt.  His widow built a mansion here in 1803 built of tabby, again using the Dungeness name.  This mansion was occupied by the British during the War of 1812.  

The father of Robert E. Lee, Henry Lee, also known as “Lighthorse Harry” lived in the house of his former Commander until he died in 1818 while being cared for by Nathaniel Greene’s daughter Louisa.  Almost 50 years later the mansion had been abandoned during  Civil War and burned.  

Thomas Carnegie purchased the land in the 1880’s and began to build a Queen Anne style mansion with 59 rooms.  It would not be completed until 1886 after his death. Lucy Carnegie built homes for their children Plum Orchard, Greyfield, and Stafford Plantation.  The Carnegie family  moved out of Dungeness in 1925 and it burned in 1959.  The ruins are still impressive even though representing just a shell of the mansion that must have been magnificent at one time.

The Carnegie family is long gone but wild horses, deer, armadillo, turkey and other animals enjoy the grounds of Dungeness today as well as the occasional two-legged visitor.

Joy