Tonight while Googling bamboo roll-up blinds, I ended up searching for an online reseller of the sweet grass baskets made on the Georgia barrier island of Sapelo where I spent my early childhood years. As the memories of my time on Sapelo resurfaced, I started to wonder what the other children of Sapelo were doing these days. For those that read this, they are the memories of a child, so I am sure that I have some of the dates and details wrong.
Few people that know me have probably ever heard me mention Sapelo. It's the place where I would say I grew up, but I guess it's so far off the charts of normal that I just don't talk about it. In today's world of hustle and bustle, few would understand what it means to live somewhere that is only accessible by boat and has less than 100 inhabitants. The island is jointly owned by the State of Georgia and the African-American community of Hog Hammock and is the home of the Georgia Marine Institute where my father worked. We lived there full time until I was two and then spent summers there until I was around 10.
The reason I mentioned the kids of Sapelo is because there were so few of us. Outside of Hog Hammock there are probably less than 100 people that spent significant time on the island as a child and during our 10 years there I am only recalling maybe 20 or so kids that lived there either permanently or were seasonal like us. In a big world, that is a very small number of people to have experienced something so unique and I wonder about their memories of the place.
I recall 3 permanent families on the island and only one seasonal family. 2 of the resident families lived near the airport (long grass landing strip) and one lived WAY on the other side of the island and had horses.
In my 20's, while working at a feed store in Athens, GA the father of the horse family came in and recognized me. Again, this was such a small, small community of people and to have this guy recognize me after not seeing me for over 10 years was definitely memorable.
So what is Sapelo to me? Huge trees, Spanish moss, bugs (lots and lots of bugs), snakes, sandy roads, sharks, undertows, beaches, marshes, crabs, fishing, books, lizards, boats, green houses, fish specimens in jars, shrimp boats, alligators, story time, tide pools, crocheting, ordering groceries from the mainland, station wagons with bad seatbelts and holes in the floor, docks, bikes, Old Pete, crushed shell roads, walking, swimming, biking, sailing, exploring.
I'd never really thought about it until I started writing this, but I wonder if my independence and introverted tendencies started with my early days on Sapelo where there was no TV, no Internet, few people and pretty much nothing to do but go out and explore on your own. Sure Mom was always taking us places and doing things with us, but there was still A LOT of free time to just go off on our own to see things.
I particularly remember the houses near the lab on Cone Road being especially secluded. My closest interaction with people would be to walk to the lab and explore the green houses and lab while Dad worked. I remember it being a thoroughly wonderful place to explore. Did I mention there were a lot of bugs on the island? There were so many different kinds of spiders and lizards and with Dad's tanks of fish and specimens, it was pretty much impossible for a kid to get too bored. Dad made us these really great critter cages and I remember capturing a few chameleon lizards and bringing them back to Athens. Poor Dad had to catch flies in the vet school all winter long to bring to feed them. I believe we released them the following year, or at least that is the memory I am going to keep.
I recall the marsh in the backyard of that house being a bit scary. Not sure why as I explored the marshes at the other houses on Shell Hammock regularly. Maybe it was because I didn't have anyone to explore with me and the thought of the tide dragging me out by myself was more than I wanted to tackle. The tides could be incredibly strong and trying to paddle against one with a kid's strength was rough. I did fish in that marsh and a number of crabs didn't fair very well. It took Mom's reprimands after several deaths for me to realize they needed more oxygen than the little tank I kept putting them in could provide.
Old Pete was a gray horse that wandered the island. I believe he was in his 30s and he would show up every now and then at the Cone Road house. I don't recall how or why he roamed free, just that he did and I thought it to be pretty neat at the time. Mom had a horse at one point named Ashentilly (or something like that). Stories indicate she was a bit of a she devil and Mom used to wear my toy football helmet w/face guard to keep the mare from raising her head and whacking her in the face. These horses were probably the start of a passion that still continues on today and I now have 6 equine residents at the house and we live the "equestrian lifestyle" as my husband puts it. Meaning we spend too much money on horses...but I am getting side tracked.
Aside from the horse kids that I never saw, other kids on the island were the two airport families. I remember spending a lot of time with one of them that had a lot of kids. I'm thinking there were like 4 of them. 1 girl and maybe 3 boys or something like that. This was the house where we were always doing something we were not supposed to. I don't know if it was the influence of the boys but it was a summer of sling shots, BB guns, and riding motorcycles up and down the landing strip as fast as we could go. I was barely big enough to keep the bikes upright. I think I might have even been sent home a few times after getting caught doing things I wasn't supposed to. I also vividly remembering one of the boys putting an ice pick through his finger as he tried to poke holes in the top of a tin jar top.
The other airport house had two boys that live there, but I don't remember there ever being much excitment there...memories of lemonade and swings seem to stand out.
There are really, really vague young memories of a little girl that lived next door and was my best friend on the island. Older seasonal kid memories are of a family that lived next to us on Shell Hammock Road. This was one of the more populated areas and I remember there always being someone around to hang out with. A lot of time was spent in the marsh that extended pretty much right out our front door. There was a little island that we could boat to and hang out on and pending the tides were not going out, could then paddle back. Fishing and fiddler crab wrangling were daily adventures.
Story times in this house are some of my fondest memories. I used to love it when Dad would read to us after dinner. Do families ever do stuff like that anymore?
Crocheting sits right up there with reading and exploring as things that are done on Sapelo. Mom spent hours crocheting big off-white afghan throws that still reside in several Sweeney family houses. One summer the Shell Hammock neighbor lady taught all of the kids to crochet and knit. While I never mastered either as a child, I thought I would give crocheting another try when as an adult I wanted crocheted ear nets for my horses. I think crocheting and knitting require that you be on Sapelo time, otherwise they are tedious and mind numbing tasks that I just couldn't sit still for as an adult. I'm thinking I probably had the same problem as a child.
So as a pre-teen Sapelo was an incredible place to grow up.
Mom and Dad have been back several times and stayed in the Reynolds mansion. I'm not sure why I haven't been back. I have heard that some of the Hog Hammock land has been sold to wealthy individuals who in turn built big houses and now "outsiders" can be seen milling around the island. The island will probably never become a Saint Simons or Jekyll but the thought of someone wandering around with no understanding of what the island is makes me really defensive for some reason. I imagine the residents of Hog Hammock probably felt the same way about us when we lived there though.
Hopefully Sapelo will continue to remain the sanctuary in my memories. Google maps still show the Cone Road houses and the island in the marsh off Shell Hammock. Pretty cool.
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