Driftwood Unmasked - by Gibbes McDowell (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

In the beautiful South Carolina coastal city of Beaufort there once lived a mysterious man known only as "Driftwood" Corry. No one knew from where he came or why he ended up in the Sea Islands east of Beaufort during the 1960s and early 1970s. He became well-known for the incredible works of art he made from driftwood found along the beach and marsh fronts, and for the Gullah masks he made from horseshoe crab shells, both of which he sold from his home/store fronting US Highway 21 on Harbor Island to tourists on their way to Hunting Island and the future resort Fripp Island. He disappeared in the mid-1970s as mysteriously as he arrived in the early 1960s.

Decades later, long-time resident and first-time author Gibbes McDowell decided to bring "Driftwood" back to life in this entertaining tale based in part on the little-known local life of "Driftwood".

In "Driftwood Unmased", Gibbes brings "Driftwood" from his beginnings in Ireland through the front lines of World War I, his eventual arrival in America and final stop in Yemassee, South Carolina, before hitching a ride to what would be his final home on Harbor Island near the Atlantic coast.

"Driftwood" takes up home with the Sea Island Gullah community on neighboring Saint Helena Island, which welcomes the strangely-accented white man into its own, and "Driftwood" even wins over the mysterious witch doctor "Dr. Snake" to make his home and marry one of their women. It isn't long after his arrival that he attracts the attention of the local sheriff and his good ol' boy deputies, but the conflicts of the pre-desegregation south are relatively minor until the day "Driftwood" discovers pirate gold in the marshes near his home...and a piece shows up and is brought to the sheriff's attention!

"Driftwood Unmasked" explores the fictional political heirarchy of Beaufort and the Sea Islands in all its fact-based reality, sharing with the reader what life was like in those times decades past. Shining through all the political turmoil and threats, "Driftwood" steadfastly remains unchanged in his calm fight against "The Man".

As an appendix, McDowell presents the true biography of "Driftwood", the result of his research as he was writing his engrossing fictional tale, many aspects of which turned out to match Gibbes' imagination long after the chapters were written!

Such is the life of Beaufort legend "Driftwood" Corry!

Review Quotes

Sometimes, one comes upon such a unique piece of writing that he finds it difficult to categorize, but this also makes it equally memorable and appealing. Driftwood Unmasked by Gibbes McDowell is definitely fiction, but it is also self-admittedly based upon a real character existing in a real place and time. With an actual photograph of Driftwood Cory and some of his creative art to introduce and document the authentic fascination with such a "local character," the reader finds himself instantly intrigued and immediately drawn to a man with a very mysterious and unexplained past. Mr. McDowell, however, has done more than be intrigued; he has offered up a plausible if fictional account to explain this local legend of a man whose photograph radiates so much character that an historical account simply begs to be undertaken. Fortunately, Gibbes McDowell is the undaunted writer who chooses to reveal Driftwood Unmasked. One wonders if he might be channeling history's spirits in the process. With elegant and simple prose, a masterful accomplishment in itself, Mr. McDowell brings together a cast of fascinating characters, a background steeped in historical actuality, a series of mini-plots worthy of a great mystery writer, hidden treasure, and down-home southern island flavor only someone impeccably acquainted with the region could possibly express. That Driftwood Cory was an Irishman is the only spoiler this reviewer intends to tell, and that could easily be deduced from the photograph itself. How he became the local hermit creating memorable driftwood art is the story McDowell writes so well. He does honor to the best rumors and conjectures, and who knows, he may be telling the most accurate story of them all.

Joel R. Dennstedt, Readers Favorite LLC, 5-Star Review

If you grew up around Beaufort, South Carolina, around Bluffton, Ridgeland or Low Bottom during the 1960's, you likely knew Driftwood Cory, that wild man who lived in a shack beside US 21 on Harbor Island. He was an Irish revolutionary with a price on his head, a graduate of Yale, a raving lunatic or a voodoo man, depending on what he felt like telling you and what you chose to believe. But the truth is stranger than fiction any day and Gibbes McDowell proves it, once again.

Author Roger Pinckney XI

Gibbes McDowell has written an exceptional book that every combat veteran should read-from reality to fantasy and back to reality one is pulled into the story with glee, and wanting more-call it what you want, PTSD, shell shock, whatever, Cory is a true example of the struggle to come back from the fantasy world to everyday life. After all, there is a little "Driftwood Cory" in all of us.

CWO4 Charles L. Jones, USMC, Ret.