Show g ff r native transportation on the sea islands prepared by national geographic society D a 0 service rolling waves do tieu T not of break against the mainland of f georgia A startling state statement that yet it Is true for the surf shatters on the smooth sandy belches beaches of the islands that stretch like a protecting band off if the coast these are the famed sea islands of georgia the golden isles of guale duale as they were nere known to sixteenth century spanish map makers the low 13 bing ing lumps ot of land spawned by the tides and winds oft off the mlle mile are arc of the georgia coast were once friendly hunting grounds where indians stalked deer wild tur keis raccoons opossums sums and waterfowl today as playgrounds and winter retreats of happy isolation they have hare again become hunting preserves and game sanctuaries what vital history has marched across the savannas and hammocks and beneath the moss arms of the mighty live oaks of these islands in the nearly four century span since white men entered this new world thea theater terl 1 here in the late sixties of the sixteenth century came spanish grandees grandeas gran dees and black frocked friars from their florida headquarters at st augustine to plant sword and cross among the indians to the glory of the kinay here too came adventurous french voyagers to trade find and to make talked colonial claims bold pirates and buccaneers bucca such as Ar gamont the notorious abraham and blackboard blackbeard after plundering along the spanish maln brought broucht into the hidden anchorages of these secluded waterways their treasure galleons gal leons and under cover of the island oaks found respite from their high adventures here in the came gen james edward oglethorpe and his followers who within a few years struck blows that helped preserve for the anglo saxon race a large portion of the continent refugee santo domingo planters escaped french royalists human cargoes from african slavers clavers sl avers wealthy antebellum aristocrats of the old south masters of exten she island plantations then ruin and finally delayed rehabilitation mark the succeeding chapters of the sea islands history five flags have waved over this offshore cluster of lands where some of the earliest seeds of american trade were sown lesson leson in coastal geography however the unfolding panorama gained from the vantage point of an airplane cockpit Is essentially a lesson in coastal geography not history even though isolated bits of 0 old spanish ruins Ogle fort frederica erien and remnants from prosperous colonial das can still be distinguished through the foliage between the leeward side of tb the islands and the mainland lie ile expansive reaches of salt marshes ran ranging ing roughly from two to eight miles in width generally wide at the northern northera end toward savannah they narrow carrow at the lower portion of cumberland the southernmost member of 0 the golden isles As you fly along the chain of islands you can trace a continuous serpentine passage in the network of sounds delta divided river mouths and meandering creeks it Is the inside or florida passage a portion of that inside water route which extends all the way from new york to the florida keys As you swing to a course over the ocean side of the islands an interesting feature of their formation is revealed to advantage heavily wooded areas appear in long bands stretching in a north and south direction and are separated by slender marshes and ponds in some cases even expanding into narrow lakes through the passing centuries the tides and winds minds have piled filled the sand and river debauched debouched sediment into a series of parallel duties dunes interspersed with the swamps SWAMP hammocks and sloughs they are termed in georgian parlance enormous Knor live oaks pines cedars and other trees luxuriate here on sapelo island alone remain the wide open fields where colonial plantations flourished here and there are tiny islands with little more than a fringe of sandy beach to a small area of marshland where de aviles landed one cannot visit st catherines without recalling that april day in 1566 arthen lien de aviles one of ablest pioneers an anil hla his party of 50 men dropped anchor and came ashore on tills island ile he had established st augustine in Flo florida on only ly floraday the year before anti and was alren already out u t to destroy the remaining traces of any settlements the french may have hava founded one writer pointed out that nowhere else had bad he seen such a delightful setting tin for a great house as that on sapelo island in the midst of a cathedral like bower of live oaks with hoary beards beard of spanish moss depending front from their outstretched limbs stands a majestic colonial home projecting from the coed entrance eni entrance rance la Is a cruciform formal pool which catches and tosses back the reflection of mossy oaks and vast tast white walls since its reconstruction two presidential ident ial parties have been guests at the mansion one day while c one n of first ladies was admiring the nearby r e rby rock garden her cicerone was heard to remark they even used imported stone tor for this rock garden the big house of the south end plantation was first built by thomas spalding in 1800 1802 after he had returned from england to take up plantation farming on oil sapelo As noted a farmer as he was a build er spalding cleared more than a thousand acres on his island kingdom and raised indigo sea aea island cotton ugar sugar cane and staple foodstuffs lie ile it was in fact who introduced cane cultivation and sugar manufacturing into georgia the live oaks which w he cut while clearing th the e forests to make bigger fields serve to fill large timber contracts for the budding united states navy lie ile also supplied the navy and merchant marine with beet beef and hogs As a slave owner however spalding came ultimately to suffer stiffer even though he treated his helpers with such kindness that the planters in the south dubbed sapelo heaven II eaven then came the confederacy against every protest of this aged man sher mans march to the sea laid waste the big house and the plantation developments fortunately spalding did not live to see that day of ruin vines and bramble claimed the fere smoked tabby walls of the mansion until the present owner cleared them and r rebuilt again in 1923 modern improvements today too the old canals have been re dredged and new ones have been cut in many places to supplement the drainage of the island an adequate supply of fresh water la Is provided by 30 gushing artesian wells more afore than a thousand beet beef cattle now graze on the luxuriant carpet grass japanese clover and bermuda grass that have been sown in the onetime one time cotton and indigo fields delightful trails and motor roads roada lace the island retreat in many places they wind beneath bewhiskered old oaks elsewhere they skirt the broad savannas and cross between marshy ponds that teem with ducks teal and other waterfowl on the west shore commanding the approach to the florida passage 1 stand the tabby ruins of the octagonal fort built by the spaniards in 1680 within its concentric walls troops were stationed to protect the friars of the mission of san jose de zapata zapala thomas spalding built a sugar mill on the mission foundations and within recent years the long tabby has been converted into a guesthouse a portion of which Is now used as a schoolroom tor for the nine white children on on the island A short ride farther north brings one to the ruins of le Chate chatelet leL this old site recalls the colonial efforts of five frenchmen aho ito bought the island and settled at several places in their little haven the agreement which they made in st malo france before the beginning of their venture Is one of the treasures of the sapelo library soon to disagree four of them moved to bekyl island later le chatelet passed into the hands of marquis de montalee Mont alet a french nobleman who lie had fled from santo domingo where his whole family had been massacred in a slave uprising many of the descendants of ings slaves still live on tiny farms on the island of the three settlements raccoon bluff hog hammock and shell hammock the former la is the largest at 1 point and retreat on st simon island tile the first seu island cotton aas as grown from seeds introduced from the island of anguilla llla tn in the west indies this remarkable long fiber cotton created much comment among cotton buyers when the first crop shipped from hampton point reached liverpool |