OUR STORY

Berrie Plantation, located on high bluffs overlooking a marsh on the Little Satilla River in the coastal region of Georgia, has been in the same family for over 175 years. Originally a plantation, which sprang from a Revolutionary War land grant, this virgin land features towering oaks, marsh grasses and two deep blue, spring-fed lakes.

Carved out of the original plantation, Berrie Bluffs is a unique community with a limited number of home sites available. Berrie Bluffs features secluded, waterfront, marsh front, marsh view, lakefront or interior sites.

At the entrance of the property is a beautiful wrought iron and stacked
stone entrance complete with the Berrie crest.

History of Berrie Bluffs

The land along the coastal region of Georgia, that includes Berrie Bluffs, was first discovered by Jean Ribault of France in May 1562, and described by him as “fairest, fruitfulest and pleasantest of all the world”.

The Spanish took over the area in 1565 and held it until the infamous battle of Bloody Marsh with the British at Brunswick in 1742. The area remained under British control until the Revolutionary War, 1775-1783.

Following the Revolutionary War, a land grant, Spring Bluff, was awarded to Aramintha Sowerby, widow of Revolutionary War soldier Henry Sowerby.

On June 8, 1787, Aramintha Sowerby married Captain John Dilworth. The couple built a home and plantation at Spring Bluff on the Little Satilla River. Records show that their son George attended the University of Georgia where he met and married Katherine Ann Jones. The couple also lived at Spring Bluff plantation with their two children. George died at a young age leaving Katherine Ann to raise their two children.

The first record of the Berries was in 1823 when William Berrie, a widower (b. 1777), his mother, Elizabeth Maxey Berrie (b.1762), and his five children built a plantation on the Little Satilla River called Hickory Bluff.

“the house was built of lumber, large and rambling…fine furniture was waxed until it glowed…floors were white from scrubbings with white sands…”*

Widower William Berrie met and married widow Katherine Ann Jones Dilworth of Spring Bluff plantation. The marriage of William and Katherine Ann Dilworth Berrie produced five children making this a total of 12 children. Their youngest child was a son, Efford,
The two plantations, Spring Bluff and Hickory Bluff, were now combined and able to provide for the needs of the large family. Certain sections of the large plantation were given different names: Hickory Bluff, Hogans, Oak Joy, Red Bluff and Spring Bluff.

“this was truly the old south basking in the warm sunshine and gentle rains with its grace and charm so often written about…”*

Nationally, a great internal struggle was taking place as rumblings and dissatisfaction on the question of slavery in America was boiling over into a bitter and bloody struggle that lasted four ‘long and sorrowful’ years.* The war profoundly impacted everyone and everything in the coastal region of Georgia.

“The heart and soul of the civilian population was in the struggle…fighting to maintain their way of life and customs of the old south…*.

“the gay young men who had so dashingly gone to war in their uniforms of grey with the scarlet sashes were now sleeping so peacefully beside their brothers in blue…”*

Efford Berrie served in the home guard during the war and married much later than his siblings. After the war, the large plantation at Hickory Bluff and Spring Bluff was broken up by inheritance, gifts and sales. Efford was given Hickory Bluff as the large plantation was divided into smaller pieces of land. It was in this atmosphere that Efford married Mary Silleta Holtzendorff.

Efford and Mary Holtzendorff’s second son, Andrew Ross Berrie was born at Hickory Bluff on January 8, 1869.

At the near-by Timmons-Ingerville plantation, also broken up after the Civil War, Myers Z. Timmons married Annie Elizabeth Moody described in writings as the “small, dainty and beautiful” daughter of Charles Barfield Moody. Myers and Annie Elizabeth had four girls, the second, Mary (Maude) Mordeane, was born on April 29, 1878.

In 1884 Myers and Annie Elizabeth Moody Timmons acquired Red Bluff, an original part of the large Hickory/Spring Bluff plantation. The family lived in a three-story house that sat very high and faced east toward Big Branch Creek. In 1885, Myers Timmons died following a long illness. He was buried on the banks of Big Branch Creek. His grave is found in the small cemetery at Berrie Bluffs.

Annie Elizabeth Moody lived on at Red Bluff for many years enjoying her land and visits from her children and grandchildren. Annie Elizabeth died on September 1921 and is buried beside her husband in the small cemetery at Berrie Bluffs.

In January 1901 Andrew Ross Berrie and Mary Mordeane Timmons were married. In January 1910, the couples’ third child, a daughter, Alleyne, was born and joined her older sister, Nadine and brother, Andrew Ross Jr. Another, sister, Ethelyn was born a year later.

In 1927, the couple bought Red Bluff from Annie Elizabeth’s other children. They built a home and moved to Red Bluff permanently in 1930.

Alleyne Berrie attended Anderson College in South Carolina where she met and married Claude D. Cothran in 1928. Their first child, Claude Donald Cothran was born July 25, 1929. A second child, Dixie Lynn Cothran, was born during World War II. She and her brother spent many summers at Red Bluff with their grandparents, Mary Mordeane and Andrew Ross Berrie.

Mary Mordeane died on September 17, 1947 to be followed in death by her husband, Andrew Ross Berrie, 16 years later, in February,1963. They are buried in Palmetto Cemetery, as are their four children.

Dixie Lynn Cothran, the only granddaughter of Andrew Ross and Mary Mordeane Berrie, married James Gary Richardson in 1962.

Dixie Cothran Richardson and her husband James Gary Richardson are lovingly and carefully bringing life once more to Red Bluff, which they have named Berrie Bluffs in honor of her family’s long history on the land.

*Excerpts from the family history complied by Donald Cothran, Jr.

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