Site of Fort Gaines Female College

Site of Fort Gaines Female College is a Georgia historical marker in Clay County, dedicated 1957.

On Jefferson Street in Fort Gaines.

Get directions ↗Start a road trip Historical trails

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 Army. At the close of the war, Confederate soldiers distributed contents of this and two other local warehouses to families in this area before Federal troops arrived. Used for a time as barracks for Federal soldiers, it became again an important educational center. The school closed after an epidemic of typhoid fever.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1831 · Georgia. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1837 · Southern States. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1838 · Georgia (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1841 · Alabama. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1842 · Georgia. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

Georgia, 1838, covering the location of Site of Fort Gaines Female College, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Georgia, 1838, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

Example

For example, one family's tree showed the Articles of Confederation marker in Pennsylvania standing under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s.

What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

From one family's 77-marker roster

Upload your family tree and TreeAlive finds the markers near where your own ancestors lived.

See your family's markers

Start with a tree file, a FamilySearch sign in, or a WikiTree ID.

Report a problem with this page

The marker isn't at this spotOur pin may be off. If you know where it stands, tell us.I couldn't find the markerWe record what the source recorded. We have not been to look.The sign reads differentlyThat would be an error, and we can pass it to the program.The historical map looks wrongThe period map behind the pin, not the marker itself.Something else

We may pass what you report to the state's marker program. Please don't include personal details.

This historical marker is part of the Georgia Historical Marker Program and was erected by the Georgia Historical Commission. Marker texts and locations come from the Society's own marker database.

More markers nearby

In the Confederacyunder 1 mi
Fort Gainesunder 1 mi
Historic Sitesunder 1 mi
Fort Gaines Guardsunder 1 mi