Sunbury Home of Many Famous Persons

Now counted among Georgia’s "Dead Towns," the once-thriving seaport of Sunbury was said to rival Savannah in commercial importance. Established in 1758 on a 350-acre tract donated by Mark Carr, the town was entrusted to James Maxwell, Kenneth Baillie, John Elliott, Grey Elliott, and John Stevens. Sunbury was carefully planned with 496 lots and three central squares—King’s, Church, and Meeting. On November 18, 1783, it hosted Liberty County’s first session of the Superior Court and remained the county seat until 1797.

Sunbury was home to many distinguished figures. Dr. Lyman Hall, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, resided there, as did Richard Howley and Nathan Brownson, both future governors of Georgia. The town also produced prominent U.S. senators John Elliott and Alfred Cuthbert, as well as Major Lachlan McIntosh. Button Gwinnett, another Declaration signer, frequently served in Sunbury as a Justice of St. John’s Parish, while Georgia’s third signer, George Walton, was held there as a British prisoner during the Revolutionary War.

Sunbury also nurtured literary and military figures. Noted author Maria J. McIntosh and her brother, Commodore James McKay McIntosh, a hero of the Mexican War, were born there. The town was also the birthplace of Hon. John E. Ward, the first U.S. Minister to China, and Hon. William Law, a distinguished jurist.