William H Davis writes: This is the Thompson family home. My great-great grandmother bought the lot behind this house from the Thompsons in the 1880s. The home is still in her estate but is abandoned. I spent many happy summers there on The Ridge.
The present owner, Virginia Hames Troy, is restoring the house. She writes: The first owner of our 1870 house, Moses H. Thompson, sold an adjoining lot to Mr. Davis’ great-great-grandmother (a friend of Mrs. Thompson’s) and also a few acres further back to James Cromley, who was Sapelo Island’s lighthouse keeper from 1873 -1889. Moses Thompson was a manager for Hilton Lumber Company’s sawmill on Union Island which was located near the site of Blue N Hall Marina. There are interesting stories about Thompson and 19 other men who were captured by Union soldiers while trying to run a Union blockade of Doboy Sound. Most were taken to a prison in Philadelphia and had to walk home to Georgia at the end of the Civil War.
The Ridge Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
