Hog Hammock community listed on most endangered historic places list

MCINTOSH COUNTY, Ga. (WTOC) - The Hog Hammock community on Sapelo Island was recently listed as one of the most endangered historic places in the state of Georgia.

This week, the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation released its ten places in peril for 2024 and Hog Hammock made the list.

The president and CEO of the organization says this list helps raise awareness about Georgia’s significant historic, archaeological, and cultural resources.

He said Hog Hammock is an important addition to this year’s list because it’s one of the last remaining Gullah Geechee communities in the United States.

Currently, he says the fabric of the community is being threatened by new zoning rules. He says he’s worried it could fit a sad historic pattern.

“What has historically happened to African American communities, and it can be done in a variety of ways, is a disturbing history where African Americans are forced out of their communities via zoning, via imminent domain, via coercive negotiation. It would be a real shame for this, for Hog Hammock to suffer the same fate of so many other African American communities,” The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation President and CEO Wright Mitchell said.

By placing Hog Hammock on this year’s list, Mitchell says he’s hoping more people will be aware of the issue he sees on Sapelo Island.

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