Twentieth Century Sapelo Island - by Buddy Sullivan (Hardcover)

About the Book

This book is another in a continuing series of studies incorporating the theme of environmental influences on life and labor in McIntosh County, Georgia. Previous volumes have covered rice cultivation in the Altamaha delta, and barrier island agriculture as embodied in the ecological awareness of Thomas Spalding of Sapelo. The present study looks at Sapelo Island from a twentieth century perspective, covering a time span of 1912 to 2015. Herein are four separate stories within the overall story: that of Howard E. Coffin, Detroit industrialist who owned most of Sapelo from 1912 to 1934; Richard J. Reynolds, Jr., at Sapelo from 1934 to 1964; scientific research at Sapelo Island from 1953 onward, resulting in a new understanding of the salt marsh ecosystem; and the human dimension as seen through the twentieth century generational and cultural legacy of the people of Sapelo, many of whose ancestors were enslaved laborers on the antebellum island plantations. Theirs is a story of permanence and perseverance on Sapelo and it will be told here, often from a personal perspective.

Book Synopsis

This book is another in a continuing series of studies incorporating the theme of environmental influences on life and labor in McIntosh County, Georgia. Previous volumes have covered rice cultivation in the Altamaha delta, and barrier island agriculture as embodied in the ecological awareness of Thomas Spalding of Sapelo. The present study looks at Sapelo Island from a twentieth century perspective, covering a time span of 1912 to 2015. Herein are four separate stories within the overall story: that of Howard E. Coffin, Detroit industrialist who owned most of Sapelo from 1912 to 1934; Richard J. Reynolds, Jr., at Sapelo from 1934 to 1964; scientific research at Sapelo Island from 1953 onward, resulting in a new understanding of the salt marsh ecosystem; and the human dimension as seen through the twentieth century generational and cultural legacy of the people of Sapelo, many of whose ancestors were enslaved laborers on the antebellum island plantations. Theirs is a story of permanence and perseverance on Sapelo and it will be told here, often from a personal perspective.

About the Author

Buddy Sullivan is a fourth-generation coastal Georgian. He has researched and written about the history, culture and ecology of coastal Georgia for 35 years. He is the author of 22 books and monographs and is in frequent demand as a lecturer on a variety of historical topics. He is a recipient of the Governor's Medal in the Humanities from the Georgia Humanities Council in recognition of his literary and cultural contributions to the state. Sullivan's books include Georgia: A State History (2003) for the Georgia Historical Society, and two comprehensive histories, Early Days on the Georgia Tidewater (revised and expanded 2018), for McIntosh County, and From Beautiful Zion to Red Bird Creek (2000), for Bryan County. The latter volume received the Georgia Historical Society's Hawes Award for Georgia's outstanding work of local history. In addition to the current monograph, his most recent books are A Georgia Tidewater Companion: Essays, Papers and Some Personal Observations on 30 Years of Research in Coastal Georgia History (2014), Sapelo: People and Place on a Georgia Sea Island (2017), Environmental Influences on Life & Labor in McIntosh County, Georgia (2018), Thomas Spalding, Antebellum Planter of Sapelo (2019), Life & Labor on Butler's Island: Rice Cultivation in the Altamaha Delta (2019), Blackbeard Island, A History (2019), Native American & Spanish Influences on McIntosh County, Georgia: An Archaeological Perspective (2019), and, forthcoming, Twentieth Century Sapelo Island: Howard E. Coffin & Richard J. Reynolds, Jr. (2020), Harris Neck & Its Environs: Land Use and Landscape in North McIntosh County (2020), Postbellum Sapelo Island: The Reconstruction Journal of Archibald Carlisle McKinley (2020), Early Families of McIntosh County, Georgia, 1736 to 1861 (2021), and An Atlas of McIntosh County History (2021). Sullivan has contributed 12 articles to the online New Georgia Encyclopedia, and wrote the coastal chapter for The New Georgia Guide (1996). He was director of the Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve from 1993 to 2013 and is now an independent writer and consultant living on his ancestral land overlooking the marshes and waters of Cedar Point in McIntosh County.