The Story of Pin Point, Georgia

5/5/2018

Former J. S Varn canning factory but today is the Pin Point Museum

Pin Point is a small but vibrant community located a few miles south of Savannah. It was a place founded in 1896 by freed slaves after the American Civil War, They came from Ossabaw, Green, and Skidaway Islands. Oh the hopes, joy and dreams that must have been present at its beginning. They had nothing and yet they had one thing they had for so long prayed: freedom. Their sweat would now be for their families, fortune, and future. A church once named Hinder Me Not came to be founded in Pin Point. But they were freedmen now and the name did not seem appropriate anymore. So in 1897 they founded Sweetfield of Eden Baptist Church. The legendary Moon River runs by the community. The land is graced with beautiful oak trees and coastal marshes. Many a painter would ennoble their canvases of the lands found around the Sweetfields that grew the crops they ate. It was no longer a bitter land. It was a land that had the primal look of an Eden.
The church was used as the school. Where once in Savannah it was illegal to educate their ancestors and they had met in back room, they now taught their children in the open. In 1926, a Rosenwald School opened.These were schools Booker T. Washington of the Tuskegee Institute and Julius Rosenwald, philanthropist and president of Sears Roebuck built to improve the segregated school crumbs Jim Crow allowed. The Rosenwald were state-of-the art schools for African-American children across the South. The effort has been called the most important initiative to advance black education in the early 20th century. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who was born and raised in Pin Point, would be one of the beneficiaries of this new school.
In 1925, a plot of land was purchased by the Brotherhood of Friendship Society to house a community center, named Pin Point Hall. Many residents still consider the center to be the glue that holds the community together. The Brotherhood itself continues to be an influential group in Pin Point.
Because they knew labor and were proud to work and earn a fair wage, industry came to Pin Point. Coastal Industries such as shrimping, crabbing, and oyster harvesting came. Seafood factories opened with the most prominent being A. S. Varn and Sons which operated from 1926 to 1985. They were the perfectors of ‘making do’ with what they had. So life was filled with good things and they had the satisfaction of knowing how to be self-sufficient.
The community of African Americans brought with them the heritage of the Gullah/Geechee cultures. For over 100 years they were isolated in their own world. Today, they are bearing witness to a simpler time and a heritage of the Gullah/Geechee culture that many say is the closest unvarnished lineage of their African ancestors. The Pin Point Heritage Museum, located in the old A.S. Varn & Son Oyster and Crab Factory. Next to the church is the area’s original cemetery, housing the remains of Pin Point’s founding African American owners. The history found in this one small community is astounding.
The Pin Point community is still owned by the ancestors of the original purchasers, making it the largest area of waterfront owned by African Americans in Georgia. The stories in part can be found in the museum but the volumes that could be written of this community that did overcome would be endless. Pin Point, alive as it ever was, today stands as testament to a people who kept their hearts, heritage, and hearth close to their bosom.

Sweet field Baptist Church

Pin Point Cemetery with the original founders

30 Comments

https://www.researchwritingkings.com/review-of-essayschief-com/ link

8/15/2019 12:48:26 am

I am not a huge fan of history, actually, let me correct that, I am not a fan of history at all. If you ask me, history is nothing but a sham. I mean, who can say for certain that history is accurate? There is no way for us to know whether we are studying the truth. History is just a record of events, however, how do we know that they are truthful, that is my biggest problem with history.

Kathy

2/1/2020 08:26:22 pm

Your parents, grandparents, etc. are your history;
if you don’t believe in history, you’re not here.

gabrielle greene

8/27/2020 05:52:13 am

your whole life is about history so how can u not like it.

Eric L Wilkins

5/26/2021 11:18:48 am

Well actually it is true facts about pin point, check SPECIAL field order 15 aka 40 acres and a mule. Made up in Savannah by general Sherman signed by Abraham Lincoln They were the first to go and get it. And the land for Freed slaves stretch from Charleston 30 miles in all the way to St John's river(Jacksonville basically). And all the barrier islands. Given to freed slaves... THE REAL LINCOLN WAS ASSASSINATED. Why do I say that? Bc the first thing vice n new president did was turn the field order and gave the land back to some. LOOK IT UP

V. Lee

1/14/2024 08:05:35 am

You are very accurate with your insert, which is how stumble across this article.My thought is this hidden gem was a part of the 40 acres and after Lincoln’s assassination, I’m pretty sure the the only reason the community of Pin Point did not return the land back to the original owners is because Andrew’s goonies couldn’t pinpoint where they were.

EDRISSA JARJU

5/8/2022 04:15:41 pm

Everything has history - from anthropology to Nuclear Physics to modern computers. History is an established human endeavor with proven tools and techniques that can establish truth with a fair degree of certainty. It determines the present. You cannot know who you are, why you are what you are and how things around you are what they are without history.

andre link

11/27/2022 08:18:19 am

You say its a sham because you hate the truth about what history show the world and where this country is heading in the future.White people will be minority soon and that is going to turn the tables on how you are treated

Gina

5/8/2023 12:51:23 pm

True that. Our world is going to Hell

Ann

5/11/2023 06:57:28 pm

If those who lived it record it, it's true. Period. The End.

Pp link

2/26/2024 10:49:27 am

Shut

Danah McGrath

8/14/2020 06:34:05 am

I used to visit Savannah when I was a child. My grandmother lived in Savannah, in the historic district and I have wonderful, fond memories of that time. The next time I visit Savannah, I will definitely visit Pinpoint and the museum. Pinpoint sounds like a wonderful place.

Bridgett Cela

8/18/2020 10:33:40 am

History is what made us live.Without it we would never be here in the first place.

Grandparents link

8/21/2020 06:44:16 am

They are the people ever.

Caleb Mack

8/24/2020 03:32:57 pm

I'm excited to learn about African American Heritage. It shows the struggles and triumphs of my people. I attend First African Baptist Church in Savannah it is the oldest African American Church in North America.

Ruminations link

8/25/2020 11:48:16 am

philosophizes

Richard C Hamilton

10/8/2022 06:29:42 am

It's crazy how you can live somewhere for 5 years and never hear about about its history. I lived right off Ferguson Ave and Skidaway Rd. Which is within a few miles. When I would go out to Skidaway Island I would drive right through Pin Point. Never stopped to investigate. Learned alot about Savanah and its History but nothing about Pin Point. The Beautiful eerienes of the spanish moss hanging from tthe trees during sunset is something to see. That's something that Isle of Hope area will always remind me of.

Ruben Porter

10/15/2022 06:08:32 pm

Why do some people forget their Roots?

Harry Ellison link

10/3/2024 07:36:43 pm

how will it turn out

11/27/2022 08:14:54 am

There are so many white people that don't want blacks to study,learn or know our history simply because it shows the ugly truth about their grand and great great parents its sad because they are so quick to tell you about the slave owners and their accomplishments during wars.This country has so much more to do with racist people.

9/10/2024 07:22:24 am

The only white people who don’t want you to learn and know your history are the democrats! The Republicans all know this history really well and are mortified by it. We never want it to repeat so we want people to know our history. I am sure you have heard that if one doesn’t know history, one is doomed to repeat it.

Edgar Johnson

2/12/2023 08:49:44 pm

I know what history has written about the treatment of African-Americans. It is not pretty, and yes there was prejudice by the whites. However, there were whites who were slaves as well. My grandparents were slaves to the cotton mills, ie, West Point Pepperwell, Milligan, Stevens, etc. They lived in a mill village house, bought groceries at the mill store, received very little money and were kept in bondage to the mill, without any future. My parents were determined to get out of bondage and better themselves through hard work, doing without many necessities. In 1964 the civil rights act was passed. One must start when a new beginning presents itself. Either stay where you are or decide I can better myself with determination and not self pity of what was but what can be. Education is available if one wants to work for it and not depend on handouts.

Lucy Evei

2/13/2023 11:20:48 am

Now I understand and it makes sense after reading the history of this town why Clarence Thomas hates affirmative action. He believe where there is a Will there is a way. You can do it if you try harder. This is my belief also coming from the Caribbean.

J Goffigon

6/17/2023 10:39:04 pm

I understand why Evei, who is from the Caribbean, agrees with Clarence Thomas views on Affirmative Action. But, there is a lot more to Uncle Thomas than a foreigner can perceive. One can easily comprehend the real reason why the right wing which is composed of KKK, Neo-Nazi and a large variety of racist groups, placed Thomas in a powerful political position where he has voted to maintain “white supremacy “ He divorced his black wife and married a white supremist, and consequently allowed himself to be sold to a right wing conservative billionaire who allows his mother too live rent free in a Len South Carolina house until her death! Foreign born Americans should learn more about real African American political history before making naive judgements about our political leaders.

Brenda Phillips Hong

7/23/2023 03:49:58 am

INDEED! LEARN BEFORE YOU SPEAK OR WRITE ABOUT SOMETHING YOU HAVE NO REAL KNOWLEDGE OF! TO EXPERIENCE IS TO APPRECIATE! TO RAMBLE WITH AN OPINION IS IGNORANCE!

Elizabeth

8/17/2023 05:06:59 pm

Ur soooo wrong-no facts to back statements about whites. No different than saying all blacks do this or that or act this way or that. Quit thinking you know what whites think-you wouldn’t

Dr. D

1/5/2024 10:48:44 pm

Thank you!!

1/14/2024 08:10:52 am

Totally agree with you. I visit Pinpoint museum and his family they’re frowned upon the mentioning (although they mentioned him) his name. That’s very telling.

Dr Dee

1/5/2024 10:54:55 pm

Because of your lack of knowledge, I hope you're staying in the Caribbean. Please do not try to live in the U.S. with the "belief" that affirmative action isn't what helped you in the U.S.

Blue Earl link

12/23/2023 12:49:43 am

Nice post

Omowale

1/14/2025 05:48:07 pm

Look up the Ebenezer Creek Massacre . You may understand why Special Order 15 was signed.

Historical Ruminations

The Story of Pin Point, Georgia

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