Elijah Clarke (1742-1799)
In 1773, this area belonged to the Creeks and Cherokee Indian nations. After 1773, a treaty was signed with
Europe. Elijah Clarke and forty other
families settled in the area. He was a frontiersman,
a Continental Army Officer and Revolutionary War hero.
After the war, Clarke was elected to the Georgia legislature. In 1794, he organized the Trans-Oconee
Republic, several settlements in counties of Georgia in the traditional Creek
Territory. From there he attacked
several Creek villages, but was restrained by the Georgia government.
Houses built with dog-trot construction (a central open hallway divides the
rooms of the house) were common during this time. A newly renovated log cabin displays furniture and tools
dating back to 1780. The house had four rooms.
Two of the front rooms were paneled in maple, which was unusual for the
time. Windows were barred and also had
shutters for even more protection. Gun ports
were in every room through the outside walls.
Because it was hostile territory, Clarke knew he had to protect his
family. He also used the central hallway
to house cows and horses by stretching rope across each end to keep them safe. The cabin was known as Clarke’s Fort.
In the house, their beds had ropes under mattresses drawn tight in place of
springs we have today. The ropes were
kept tight for comfortable sleep. That
is where the expression “sleep tight” came from. If someone over-stayed their welcome, Hannah
would loosen the ropes to make for uncomfortable sleeping so the company would
leave. The mattresses were made from hay.
Expression “hit the hay” came from this.
The kitchen is in a separate house.
Hannah believed a real lady cooked inside and not over a campfire. Breakfast would be corn meal mush, apple
cider. Lunch was usually a stew made
from whatever meat the men killed. Last
meal of the day would be cold leftovers.
Clarke’s wife, Hannah, was a
Virginia lady, who followed her husband into the frontier. She made all their clothes. It was important to her that each of her
eight children have two complete sets of clothing—one to wear, one to
wash. On a loom, she produced linen for
two shirts for Elijah, which she was very proud of. When the Tories started over running the
settlements, she hid the linen shirts under the smoke house floor. When they got to their home, the Tories asked
the kids where all their treasures were hidden.
They led them to the shirts.
Hannah helped fight in several Indian attacks. Once, when Elijah was gone, the Tories took
over their home and burned it. Hannah
escaped with all eight kids.
Elijah Clarke died on December 15, 1799. He and his actions served as one of the sources for the
fictional character of Benjamin Martin in The
Patriot (a 2000 Mel Gibson film).
The park is also the site of the graves
of Elijah and Hannah Clarke.
Until next time,
Dolores
Very interesting post. I wonder if Elijah Clarke was as handsome as Mel? LOL
ReplyDeleteProbably not. LOL Hope Rachel is doing better. Give her a hug for me.
ReplyDelete