Image Credit: Breana James

Year Erected: 2023

Marker Text: The Pine Gardens Defense Community was established in 1942 to supply attractive, affordable housing for the workers of the Southeastern Shipbuilding Corporation. Workers at the company were responsible for building Liberty Ships, merchant vessels built inexpensively and efficiently to support the war effort during World War II. The neighborhood was a complete community, including a shopping plaza, fire station, and churches. Originally planned as a 500 housing-unit community, an annex was later added. In 1953, the Eli Whitney School was built to educate the students of the Pine Gardens community. Following the war, workers had the option to purchase the homes they were renting. Today, the community is one of the largest intact defense communities in Georgia. Pine Gardens neighborhood was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.

Erected by the Georgia Historical Society, Chatham County Board of Education, and the Eli Whitney Alumni Association