The Conservation and Preservation of Tabby: A Symposium on Historic Building Material in the Coastal Southeast, February 25-27, 1998, Jekyll Island, Georgia

From introduction: "Described as "the first concrete material made and utilized in the United States," tabby was used by the Spanish at Saint Augustine as early as 1580. South Carolina records report British builders constructing a tabby powder magazine between 1701 and 1713. By 1736 tabby construction found its way to Fort Frederica. Tabby, a mixture of shell, lime, sand, and water, became a common building material on the Georgia and South Carolina coasts. Major factors in its final demise were the Civil War and the introduction of portland cements. By the early twentieth century, the use of tabby as a traditional building material ended. Tabby structures and ruins still can be found in coastal Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida, but their numbers are diminishing. Attempts to stabilize or restore them have been hampered because there is little information about the long-term effects of preservation treatments. As coastal areas develop, as modern environmental factors affect historic materials, and as time simply passes, tabby structures deteriorate. Public and private stewards of these resources want to know how to protect them. To address these issues, the Historic Preservation Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources applied for and received a grant from the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training. The result was "The Conservation and Preservation of Tabby: A Symposium on Historic Building Material in the Coastal Southeast." Project cosponsors included the Historical Services Division, South Carolina Department of Archives and History; Division of Historical Resources, Florida Bureau of Historic Preservation; and the Museum and Historic Preservation Division of the Jekyll Island Authority. From February 25 to February 27, 1998, forty invited participants from across the country met on Jekyll Island, Georgia with the common goal of preserving tabby resources. An intensive two-and-a-half days of presentations, tours, and discussion resulted in a major step forward in pulling together a body of knowledge on tabby and its treatment... "The Conservation and Preservation of Tabby" was really the first step in a targeted attempt to preserve a vanishing part of the American landscape. It is hoped that these proceedings will help stewards of these resources as well as encourage future scholarship to assist in preservation solutions." Funding was provided in part by a Historic Preservation Fund grant administered by the Georgia State Historic Preservation Office and the State, Tribal, and Local Plans and Grants Division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

The Conservation and Preservation of Tabby: A Symposium on Historic Building Material in the Coastal Southeast, February 25-27, 1998, Jekyll Island, Georgia

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