Site of Fort Gaines Female College
In 1857, the Legislature authorized a lottery to complete this college, chartered in 1838 as Fort Gaines Female Institute. It was finished in 1859. Sereno Taylor was the first principal, followed by John W. Grant. The large college building was used for a "tax - in - kind" depot for storage of one-tenth of all food and wool raised - for the support of the Confederate soldiers distributed contents of this and two other local warehouse to families in this area before Federal troops arrived. Used for a lime as barracks for Federal soldiers, it became again an important educational center. The school closed after an epidemic of typhoid fever.
Plaque courtesy Lat34North.com.
Original page, with additional info, here.
Photo credit: Ken Moser.