Historical Significance:

John McIntosh Kell 1823-1900.He spent childhood years at Laurel Grove Plantation and time with his uncle,Thomas Spalding of Sapelo Island. Midshipman at the age of 17. Distinguished Naval Officer in the Confederate Navy during the American Civil War. He also had served  in the Mexican War. After a  long Naval Service, John served as Adjutant General for the State of Georgia for several years. He was devoted to the Seas and the South and wrote his Memoirs, "Recollections of a Naval Life"

Historic Marker:

• Marker Organization: Georgia Historical Commission and St. Andrew's Parish Chapter, NSDAR
• Marker Date:  1958
• Marker Text: Laurel Grove, at the end  of this avenue, was the birthplace of John McIntosh Kell,1823-1900, distinguished Naval officer. He was a member of the expedition of Commodore Matthew C. Perry to Japan in 1853, and was Master of the flagship Mississippi on the homeward cruise. When Georgia seceded from the Union. John McIntosh Kell resigned his commission to join the Confederacy. He was Executive Officer of the Sumter, then of the Alabama throughout her brilliant career on the seas, and in her final battle with the Kearsarge off Cherbourg. Later in life, John McIntosh Kell served for several years as Adjutant General of the State of Georgia.