Swamp to Sapelo Island

We breakfasted at the hotel, exchanging pleasantries with two couples headed down to South Florida from points north, grateful that we were headed just a few miles east to Sapelo Island, off the coast near Darien, Georgia.

As we awaited the departure of the ferry, we listened to workers for the University of Georgia marine research facility discuss the upcoming super bowl, we enjoyed the sights of the muted winter color of the marshes and the glassy surface of the water at low tide.  I had forgotten no see ums, one of the plagues of most coastal regions in early morning and late afternoons when the winds are calm, but I got a reintroduction to them.  The miniscule creatures were thick and menacing, temporarily robbing us of the serenity of the scene.

Underway at 8:30, the trip took only twenty minutes.  We were greeted by our tour for the day, J.R.,

who quickly incorporated us into a larger group of eight which contained a couple returning to the island who had lived there for years.  We enjoyed the extra insight we got from their remarks as we toured the fifteen mile by four mile wide island.  Europeans first arrived on the island in the fifteen hundreds and have been there ever since with the island going from plantation to timbering to a rich man's private possession, and now to an educational research facility.  During the plantation years, the ancestors  of the inhabitants of Hog Hammock were brought here as slaves.  Some of their culture is still seen on the island with some of the women still weaving the grass baskets which are an art form of the Gullah culture.

The island has many stands of ancient live oaks, many types of pine trees, and is reminiscent the coastal areas of the southeaster United States before they were over built and over developed.

Since there are few inhabitants on the island, 43 currently with five school children, there are few vehicles about.  The tourists who come to rent the available houses or to stay at the Reynolds mansion, get

around in golf carts.  Riding around the island is a bumpy affair over small narrow roads.  Unfortunately because of the natural beauty of the island, some of the long time residents have sold property to people to build vacation and a few rental places.  The Bird Houses are an example of this, houses on stilts which look out over the marshes to the distant ocean.  In the seventies an acre of land sold for twenty-five thousand dollars.  Now an acre brings about three hundred and fifty thousand dollars.  J.R. stopped for a few minutes at the one store on the island which he laughingly called the Sapelo Wal Mart.

Many of the cottages in Hog Hammock were brightly colored; most had screened in porches which also serve as sleeping porches through the summer season.  Behavior Cemetery dates back to slave times.  One of the Baptist Churches on the island was built with lumber which washed ashore after a bad storm.  The people of the church had been praying for money enough to build a church when this happened.

Many of the buildings used by the University of Georgia were built by R.J. Reynolds who would fly down for weekends in his DC 3 and land on the air strip on the island.  He built a large fountain for one of his wives and when she complained about something, he detonated a stick of dynamite in it.  The fountain still stood, but the windows in all the surrounding buildings were broken out.  He said obviously the fountain was meant to stay.  The wife, he divorced.

The island has many birds including the wood stork which I saw when walking on the boardwalk to the pergola built deep in the woods in what was planned as a garden.

Some of the more familiar large birds were sharing a midmorning confab in a tall tree by one of the estuaries.

Toward the southern end of the island is a mansion which was last restored by R.J. Reynolds and now is used as a hotel.

After entering the front through the deep columned porch, we came to the music room with a white grand piano.  Next to the piano set a cannon.  We wondered if perhaps it was to encourage the piano players as they performed.  We picked up our lunches here, and headed to the nearby beach for lunch.

The waves were gently lapping the shore of the almost deserted beach as a slight breeze blew in off the water.

Our last stop before heading back to the ferry and the mainland was the lighthouse which was built in 1820 .  The lighthouse has been damaged in several storms through the years but recently went through a renovation and stands today as a reminder of all the history it has seen down through the almost two hundred years their on the coast of Georgia. It is still an operational lighthouse.

 We enjoyed the sight of a few more birds as we sat atop the ferry returning to the mainland, feeling the wind blow and the warm sun beaming down.

We spent some time in the Sapelo Island Visitor's Center, set our course toward home, and watched the clouds build in the western sky.

It was good to get away; it was good to be home.