Thursday morning began with a very early breakfast at 6:15
so that we could be on the bus at 7:00 am. After about an hour's drive, we arrived at the ferry dock for
the boat trip to Sapelo Island.
The ferry goes to the island once in the morning and returns once in the
afternoon, so one does not want to be late.
On the island, we were met by our bus driver for the day,
Yvonne Grovner, who is an interpretive ranger for the island and also a master
sweet grass basketmaker. The island
is now 97% owned by the state of Georgia, with just the community of Hog
Hammock remaining in private hands.
Most of town’s approximately 45 African-American residents are of Gullah-Geechee heritage
and are descendants of the original slaves who were brought to the island from
western Africa in the early 1800’s to work the rice and cotton plantations.
Yvonne gave us a narrated bus tour of Hog Hammock, the Reynolds mansion, a historic cemetery, and
the Marine Institute run by the University of Georgia. Tobacco heir R. J. Reynolds bought the entire island in1933 and used Sapelo as his private island paradise. He later funded ecology research on the island and eventually gave the island to the state of Georgia.
The Reynolds Mansion can now be rented by private groups. |
We also stopped at the institute for a
presentation on the marine life of the island and at the building for the
Sapelo Island Cultural Society. At
this last stop we were able to meet and talk with Cornelia
Walker Bailey, the author that we learned about on Wednesday evening. She was happy to sign copies of her
book that some of the participants had purchased at the visitor center on the
island.
From there we went to the
picnic pavilion at beautiful Nanny Goat Beach. This is what we all imagine when we think about the beach at
a barrier island – miles of wide white sand, low dunes covered by waving
grasses, and beautiful blue ocean water.
Our excellent lunch had been prepared by Yvonne, but the setting was
marred by the presence of countless “Love bugs,” harmless insects that landed
on our clothes, arms, hair, feet, food, and drinks. These creatures are only present in the early fall for two
or three weeks, and unfortunately our week corresponded with their visit. So most of us ate quickly and walked
down to the beach where the bugs were less prevalent. We had time to take a short beach walk, get our feet
wet, and look for sand dollars.
The infamous love bugs |
As we left the beach, the breeze picked up so the bugs were less troublesome as we returned to the pavilion, and Yvonne gave us a short demonstration of basket weaving.
One of Yvonne's baskets |
Following lunch Yvonne drove
us to the island lighthouse that was originally built in 1820. Although it remained dark for over 90
years, it was rebuilt and relit in 1998.
A few of us took the opportunity to again climb to the top, but this
time we only had 78 stairs to ascend.
Wooden stairway inside the lighthouse. |
A tram arrived just before
6:00 to take us all to dinner at a nearby restaurant, Bennie’s Red Barn. In addition to a yummy dinner of either
rib-eye steak or a sea food platter, we were entertained by the singing of one
of the staff.
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