Built in the decade or so before the First World War and now used
as administrative offices for Fort Pulaski National Monument, the
Quarantine Attendants' Quarters is the only historic structure
remaining from the quarantine station established by the City of
Savannah on Cockspur Island in 1889 and operated by the U. S.
Public Health Service after 1899. Although the building has
recently undergone extensive rehabilitation, this historic
structure report was commissioned "to guide park management and
staff in making the critical decisions concerning the
interpretation, protection, and preservation of this historic
resource." Historical research for this report began with a search
of the archival records of Savannah City Council, which included
"Minute Books, 1822-1864," held by the Georgia Historical Society,
and "Records of the Committee on Public Health, 1861-1932," and
"Quarantine Books, Quarantine Reports of Arrival of Vessels,
Quarantine Station Reports, Contracts 1852-1957," all held at the
City Hall Records Center. These and historic photographs in the
park's collection provided documentation that the present structure
is not the original residence constructed by the City of Savannah
in 1891, as had been previously believed. Analysis of numerous
historic maps, photographs, and NPS planning documents from the
late 1930s support dating the building's construction to the first
two decades of the twentieth century, most likely around 1912, but
additional historical research will be necessary to document its
construction more precisely. In particular, the records of the U.
S. Public Health Service in the Philadelphia branch of National
Archives would likely allow more precise dating of the building and
perhaps provide original plans and specifications. Additional
research in Navy records could document the extensive
rehabilitation that the building underwent in 1942 and 1943, the
results of which are now one of the building's more significant
features. The last building associated with the quarantine station
that operated on Cockspur Island from 1889 until 1937, the
Quarantine Attendants' Quarters also represents a long history of
non-military use of the island. Quarantine stations existed on
Cockspur Island or across the sound at Lazaretto Creek off and on
for most of two centuries, and lighthouse keepers came and went for
almost as long. While Fort Pulaski's significance is of paramount
importance, interpretation of other aspects of the island's
military history is also possible, with the Navy's adaptation of
the quarantine station during World War II changing the face of
Cockspur Island almost as much as construction of the fort had done
a hundred years earlier. Development of an historic resource study
that focused on the island's use for quarantine would be
particularly helpful in providing a context for understanding and
interpreting the present building.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
