MEET ISLE OF HOPE’S PIONEERS
The history of Isle of Hope is the history of the people who created a community out of a sandy, buggy riverside forest over nearly three hundred years. They were loyal English colonists and malcontents, estate owners and American revolutionaries, farmers and fishermen, leading local merchants and terrapin herders. Read their stories here.
Major John Boog Gallie (1806-1863)
Major John Boog Gallie (1806-1863) was one of the original builders of one of Isle of Hope’s Bluff houses. Gallie built 3 Bluff Drive for his third wife, Janet Porcher Gallie, who later died of yellow fever. Gallie, a successful merchant and longtime Savannah militia man, enlisted in the Confederate army at the outset of the Civil War. He was killed by an exploding cannonball in 1863 while commanding artillerymen at Fort McCallister during an attack by a Union ironclad.
Dr. Stephen Frederick Dupon (1823-1893)
Dr. Stephen Frederick Dupon (1823-1893) was a leading member of the Isle of Hope community during the nineteenth century. Dr. Dupon was a second generation Isle of Hoper, born on the island to a French family who emigrated from Haiti. The Dupons were large land owners on Isle of Hope with their house at 25 Bluff Drive. This biography by Armstrong State University student Dennis Shippy surveys Dr. Dupon’s lifetime of contributions to Isle of Hope, including his gift of land to establish a Methodist church and a Catholic church on the island.
Dr. William Parker (1766-1838)
Dr. William Parker (1766-1838) was the grandson of Henry and Ann Parker, original settlers of the northern third of Isle of Hope. He was also a prominent physician in Savannah and an original member of the Georgia Medical Society. He was the owner of hundreds of acres on Isle of Hope that he later bequeathed to his seven nieces and nephews. This biography by Armstrong State University student Linda Leavitt provides an overview of Dr. Parker’s life and a genealogy of one of Isle of Hope’s first families.
Joseph Samuel Claghorn (1817-1879)
Joseph Samuel Claghorn (1817-1879) was a Connecticut Yankee who came to Savannah at age ten with his family. He grew to love the South, married a Savannah native, and served for over twenty years in the Chatham Artillery. During the Civil War, he commanded the Chatham Artillery at Fort Pulaski and later, when Confederate troops evacuated that post, he stationed his men at Camp Claghorn, his estate in Wymberley at Isle of Hope. Before and after the Civil War, he was a respected merchant and leading citizen. He died at his Isle of Hope home in 1879.