Show 0 c h hT n a af as f s 4 a C R y a ar r KY may jie ti tiA A w x K 3 rr K Mn gw N Nse gc mat mat- mati i s si i Y se sur Native Transportation on the Sea Islands I I I I by N Geographic Society w c athington D C tiD Atlantic's rolling waves l do donot TIle not oot break ag the end of Georgia Ia A startling st statement that Yet It Is true for tIle the surf shatters on the smooth v beaches of tile the glands that stretch like lUe n a protecting bind off orr the coast These are the famed Sea Se Islands or of Georgia the Golden Isles of Guale as tile the sere ere n to can cen tur tun Spanish map maters lots 10 1 ing lumps lumps- lumps of land spawned by the tides and In winds s off orr offlie thc lie imle arc of the GeorgIa coast here ere once friendly hunting grounds where e Indians stalked deer wIld tur ture's W Ws es e's s raccoons opossums and water waterfowL fowl Today Tod ns as pIa playgrounds an and winter retreats of happy Isola Isolation Isolation tion they have again become hunting preserves es and game sanctuaries hat R hat history has marched across the sus Innis and hammocks and be beneath beneath neath the moss arms or of the mighty mIght 11 lice e oaks of these Islands In Inthe inthe the nearly four century spin since white men entered this Ne New world Here In the late sixties or of the She century came me SpanIsh grandees and black frocked ed frIars from theIr headquarters at SL S1 Augustine to plant sword and nd cross among among- the Indians to the glory of the king Here too came ad adventurous French Frencho voyagers o to Dade and to mike m tamed colonial claims Bold Dold pirates pir and buccaneers such as the notorious Abra Abraham Abraham ham and after plunder plunderIng plundering Ing along the Spanish Main brought Into the hidden anchorages of these secluded water waterways ays theIr treasure galleons and under cover or of the Is Island island land oaks found respite from theIr high adventures Here In the 1730 s came Gen James Edward Oglethorpe and his fol- fol lov 10 ers who ho WI within thin a few years struck blo blows s that helped preserve presen e for forthe forthe the Anglo Salon Suon race a large portion of the continent Refugee Santo DomIngo planters escaped human car r cargoes goes from African slavers sla ere wealthy e antebellum arIstocrats of the old South masters of e island then ruin and finally delayed mark marlc the sue suc cee seeding mg chapters or of the Sea Islands history rive flags gs hale hn wa ed over thIs off offshore offshore shore cluster of lands where some of the earlIest seeds or of American trade were sown Lesson In Coast Coastal 1 Geography Hon 80 ev c er the unfolding panorama gained from tIle the vantage antage poInt ot of an airplane cockpit is 15 essentially ales alesson a les lesson son In coa coastal tal geography not hIstory even een though isolated bits or of old Span SpanIsh Spanish Ish ruins Oglethorpe's Fort FrederIca and remnants from prosperous colo cobo colonial nial da days s can still be distinguished through the foliage Bet Between een the thc leeward side of the is islands islands lands and the mainland lie e expansive reaches of salt marshes ranging roughly from 1 two 10 0 to eIght mIles In width Generally wide at the northern north north- northern ern end toward Savannah they nar- nar narrow narrow row at the lower loer portion of Cumber Cumber- Cumberland Cumberland land the southernmost member or of the Golden Isles As you fly along the of Is Islands Islands lands you can trace a continuous ser ser- serpentine serpentine passage in the network of sounds sound delta dh rIver mouths and meandering creels creeks It Is the In InsIde Inside sIde or I lorida Pa a pOt portion or of that Inside water route which aU all the war from t ew York to the lorIda Keys Kes As you ou swing to a course 0 oser er the ocean side of the Islands nn an Interest interesting ing feature of their formatIOn Is re eared to advantage Heavily w areas appear r In long bands stretch stretchIng tar Ing in a north south couth direction and andare andare are separated by Slender marshes and ponds In some cases even een e Into narrow bakes laLes Through the passing centurIes the tides and winds have plIed piled the sand and river debouched sedIment Into a series of parallel dunes Interspersed with the swamps hammocks and sloughs the they are termed In Georgian parlance Enormous 11 live e oaks pInes cedars and other trees here hereOn hereOn On Sapelo island alone remain rem the wide open field fields where colonial plan flourished Here an and there thele are tiny Islands nth with little more than a frInge of sandy beach to a small area of mar marshland Where De Aviles Landed One cannot c visit St S1 Catherines with without out recalling that April day In Ui when de Aviles Avih 9 one ot of ablest and his Darty of W 50 men dropped anchor and came ashore on this island He had established St Augustine In I only the ear before and was ill already out outto outto to destroy the remaining traces of any ny settlements the French may ht e founded Ore niter filter poInted out that nowhere else had he seen such a delightful set set- setting ting for a great house lS is that on Sapelo Island In the midst of n a cathedral l hl like e bo boner er of 11 live e oaks with Ith hoary beards of Spanish moss depend dependIng lag Ing from their outstretched limbs stands a majestic colonIal home Pro jesting from the entrance Is isi i 1 cruciform formal pool whIch catches and tosses back the reflectIOn or of mossy oaks and vast white wills Since its reconstruction two Pres- Pres PresIdential parties have ha been en guests at atthe atthe the mansion One diy while one of First Ladles Ladies was admiring the nearby rock garden her cicerone was heard to remark rem They even een used imported I stone for this rock garden The bIg house of the South End Ind plantation was first built by Thomas Spalding In 1802 1800 after he had re- re returned returned turned from England to take up plan plan- farming on Sapelo As noted a farmer as he wis a build builder builder er SpaldIng cleared more than a thou thou- thousand sand s acres on his island kingdom and raised Indigo sea Island cotton sugar sugarcane sugarcane cane and staple foodstuffs He It was wac In fact who Introduced ewe cultivation atlon and sugar manufacturing turing Into Georgia Georgw The lice 11 e oaks which he cut while clearing the for forests ests to make bigger fields serve to fill large timber contracts for the budding United States navy lIe also supplied the navy and merchant marine with beef and hogs As a slave owner however Sp ld SpaldIng In Ing came ultimately to suffer sutTer e esen een en though he treated hIs helpers with such kindness that the planters In the South dubbed Sapelo Ilea en Zhen came the Confederacy against every protest of this aged man Sher- Sher Sherman's mans man's march to the sea laid waste aste the tho big house and the plantation des de elop- elop ments Spalding did not live lire to see that day of ruIn Vines Tines and bramble claimed chimed the fire fire- smoked ed tabby t walls or of the mansion m un- un until til the present owner cleared them and rebuilt agaIn In ID 1925 Modern Im Improvements Toda Today too the old canals have been and new ones onca have been cut cutin cutin in many places pl to the of the island Au An adequate ot of fresh water Is Ie provIded by 36 gushIng artesian wells More than thana a thousand beef cattle now graze on the lu carpet grass closer cloer and Bermuda grass gracs that hale e been sown so in the one tIme cotton and Indigo fields Delightful trails tr and motor roads lace the island retreat In many places they wInd beneath ben bewhiskered ered old oaks elsewhere the thet sId skirt 1 t the broad sa and cross between marsh marshy v ponds that teem with ducks teal and other waterfowl l On the west est shore hore commandIng the approach to the Florida Passage stand the tabby t ruIns or of the octagonal fort built by the SpanIards In 1680 Within WIth WIth- WIthin in its concentric walls troops were sta honed to protect the frIars or of the Mission of San Jose tie de Zapala Thorn Thom Thornas Thomas as SpaldIng built a sugar mill on the mIssion foundations and withIn recent years the long tabby has been con con- converted converted into a guesthouse a portion of whIch is now used as a schoolroom for forthe forthe the nine white children on the Island A short rIde farther north brings one to the ruins or of Le Chatelet This old site recalls the colonial efforts of 11 file e who ho bought the island Is laud land and settled at several se places In theIr little hasen baen ba en The agreement which they made In St Malo M before the be of theIr venture Is one ot of the treasures of the Sapelo Soon to disagree ree four of them moved to J cl 1 Il island land Later Le Chatelet passed Into the hands of Marquis Mar Mar- Marqui qui quis de a nobleman who ho had fled from Santo DomIngo I where here his hJ whole hole family had been massacred In a slave uprisIng Spalding of the descendants of Ing sla slaves still live s yes on tin tiny farms on the island Of the three I Raccoon Bluff Hog Hammock and Shell the hammock former Is tile the lar largest At Hampton PoInt and Retreat on St Simon island the first sea ea Island I cotton wa was grown from flom seeds Intro Intro- from the Island ot of Anguilla In tae tle West IndIes ThIs remarkable l long ng- ng fiber cotton created much comment among cotton buyers when the first clop op shipped from frolD Hampton Point Pointe rt hed I |