Marker Text: In 1793 John Couper, with his partner James Hamilton, purchased Cannon's Point in northeastern St. Simons Island. In addition to the production of cotton, Couper experimented with citrus trees, grapes, date palms from Persia, mulberry trees for silk production, sugar cane, and olive trees from France. He became known as a leading agricultural innovator, and Cannon's Point Plantation gained the nickname "Georgia's Experimental Station." Public-spirited John Couper also donated the land for the St. Simons lighthouse on the south end of the island. Cannon's Point was the ancestral home of many Gullah Geechee still living in Coastal Georgia.
Erected by the Georgia Historical Society, Coastal Georgia Historical Society, Friends of Coastal Georgia History, and Sea Island Company.