Thursday, December 30, 2010

Jekyll Island, GA

An ominous sign...
Not a bad day, as there was not a lot of driving! About 1/2 an hour east of Brunswick is Jekyl Island. On the map it looks like a mix of public and private land with a state park; I figured it was worth a look. I should have turned around when I saw the sign! Jekyl Island is a resort/park/retirement community for, mostly, the wealthy. It is a barrier island with a large upland interior making development easy on the stable soils.

Atrocity? What Atrocity?



History: There is apparently some history to the place -- though after reading about the ship "Wanderer" and its illegal shipment of slaves; after reading of this "atrocious" act and not being sure if it was the importation of slaves that was atrocious, or merely the fact that they were brought in illegally, I decided I didn't want to know any more history.



Along the Intracoastal Waterway


The Controversy: The yuppity, and ongoing, development of the island is not without controversy. Recently, a scene from the next "Xmen" film was shot on the island and apparently did a fair bit of damage -- or so say the environmental folks. There was a ton of development taking place at the northern end of the island and I can only imagine the preference for development over conservation will continue. For more information see: http://www.savejekyllisland.org/.


Trees ... Man's Best Friend.


Finding Peace: Despite the golf course, the quaint shops, the hotels, tennis centers and, yes, even an airport, with a little effort and a bit of wandering away from parking lots and roads I found a nice place to sit and write. The morning chill was just disappearing with the rising sun and the air smelling fresh and clean. So I sat and wrote for about an hour. To sit, to think, to write, perchance to dream ... That was good. Needed that.




Oyster Bar
Big Tides
Oysters: Living around the Chesapeake Bay we have grown accustomed to hearing about the plight of the Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea virginica). Over 98% of the Bay's oysters are gone due to overharvesting and our two imported diseases. We forget the oyster is doing well in other parts of its range. There are places around this island that lead me to imagine what the Chesapeake must have looked like with oyster bars everywhere, oysters along the banks of creeks, oyster stuck to pylons and every other sort of hardness available. Here the decline of the oyster would be due to over-harvesting and loss of habitat. Still, they look good.


Oysters on Pylon
Spanish moss hangin' from a live oak tree ...
The path to peace ...

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