It's an Okefenokee Day: The Chesser Island Homestead

The Chesser Island
Homestead

We tread lightly at this

Archaeological Site.

The Chesser Family settled
in the Okefenokee Swamp
in the 1880s.

The house is bigger

than I expected.

The latch on the side gate

is made of wood.

Two of the seven Chesser children lived nearby and raised their families here.  One of the grandsons, Tom Chesser, built the home that has been preserved at the Chesser Homestead.

The homestead's well

Sugarcane was one of the crops grown here.  After harvesting, it was processed.

The Sugar Cane Mill

The Syrup Shed

The Corn Crib

The Chessers continued to live and work here after the US Fish and Wildlife Service acquired the land in 1937 and began work on the wildlife refuge.