Сапело-остров: Последнее убежище культуры гулла-гичи

Island in Georgia, United States

Sapelo Island '/s//æ//p//əl//oʊ/ is a state protected barrier island located in McIntosh County, Georgia. The island is accessible only by boat; the primary ferry comes from the Sapelo Island Visitors Center in McIntosh County, Georgia, a seven mile (11 km), twenty minute trip. It is the site of Hog Hammock, the last known Gullah community. It is illegal to visit the island without a permit issued by state tourism authorities. Approximately 97 percent of the island is owned by the state of Georgia and is managed by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources; the remainder is under private ownership. The western perimeter of Sapelo is the Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve (SINERR) which is part of NOAA's National Estuarine Research Reserve system (NERR). The University of Georgia Marine Institute, which is focused on research and education, is located on on the south end of the island. The Reynolds Mansion, a Georgia State Park, also lies on the south end of the island. Visitors to the island must be a part of an organized tour or guests of residents on the island.

The community of Hog Hammock, also known as Hogg Hummock, includes homes, a general store, bar, public library, and other small businesses including vacation rentals. There are two active church congregations in Hog Hammock: St. Luke Baptist Church, founded in 1885, and First African Baptist Church, established in 1866. The latter congregation has an older building known as First African Baptist Church at Raccoon Bluff, constructed in 1900 in the former Raccoon Bluff community north of Hog Hammock. It is used for special services and programs. Many of the full time inhabitants of the Hog Hammock Community are African Americans known as Gullah Geechees, specifically Saltwater Geechees, who descended from enslaved West African people brought to the island in the 1700s and 1800s to work on island plantations. The current population of full time Gullah Geechee residents in the community is estimated to be 47 (2009). The residents must bring all supplies from the mainland or purchase them in the small store on the island. The children of Hog Hammock take the ferry to the mainland and then take a bus to school, as the island school closed in 1978. In 2023, McIntosh County again came under legal issues with the Hog Hammock community and Sapelo Island. They issued a zoning ordinance update which changed the historic area’s mandated restriction of only 1,400 sq ft indoor space to 3,200 sq ft. This came after a local non descendant, Bill Hodges, who is also on the McIntosh County Industry and Development Authority Board, filed a complaint that he could not build a large enough vacation home for his family. This in turn led to McIntosh County Planning proposing a rather radical ordinance in contrast to their Comprehensive Plan, which stated it would protect the historic nature of Hog Hammock community. The community’s residents were barred from bringing recording equipment or phones into the public hearing for the new ordinance and the hearing was set with very little notice and after the last ferry left for the island that day, leaving many residents to choose between attending the hearing and sleeping in their home for the night. Numerous complaints were heard, including officials from the state about the lack of capacity in the water system for larger homes, from residents about the changing historic nature of the island and the tax hike that would result, and from scientists stating the flooding would increase in the community from the added weight of larger homes, and from religious leaders who stated Hog Hammock was a religious center for Muslim and Christians alike and allowing large vacation homes and the other proposed changes would result in less affordable options for current historic homeowners. McIntosh County planning department pushed the ordinance forward anyways, stating that the commissioners could vote to send it back to them to fix all of the obvious problems instead of pulling the ordinance and reworking it with the community. They reassured the community several times stating that the commission would return it back to them to fix the issues, but they had to go ahead with it as written for now. Numerous lawyers present commented on the situation as the meetings procedure was “extremely out of the ordinary for a public hearing” and did not keep with Ga laws and regulations for “numerous reasons”. At the first of two commission meetings which were held not even 3 days later and again were held after the last ferry left for the day the public comment period was fraught with controversy and outcry. The some of the county commissioners and the county manager maintained that the county was trying to keep residents happy and allow progress in the protected community but several accused Commissioners with not abiding by their own regulations and comprehensive planning process to abide new developers interests in the island over the residents. The County Manager, Patrick Zoucks, publicly accused the DNR of causing the issue as public lands in the states holding are not on the tax bracket in the county, forcing the county to be desperate for funds. He posted this to the county Facebook page and in newspaper articles. This of course made little sense as it was the state who was paying for the bulk of the island communities expenses, instead of the county. After several complaints were filed, the press and recording devices were then allowed for the last commissioners meeting during which the commission voted for the ordinance to be passed in a 3 2 vote. Three in favor were of the vote were the Chairman at the time, David Stevens, Commissioner Kate Karwacki (a local realtor), and Commissioner at large Davis Poole. The two votes not in favor were of Commissioner William E. Harrell and Commissioner Roger Lotson, whose district actually holds Sapelo Island and who had been on the island and seen first hand why 3,400 sq ft homes would not work logistically. In a controversial move, Commissioner David Stevens ended the meeting after the vote by saying that “this new generation [on Sapelo] just didn’t have it” and insulted the community saying this was their own fault for “being greedy” and selling their land to developers to begin with. Numerous complaints, legal challenges, and referendums have now been filed and are still pending.

Sapelo Island is speculated to be the site of San Miguel de Gualdape, the short lived (1526–1527) first European settlement in the present day United States, and if true, it would also be the first place in the present day U. S. that a Catholic mass was celebrated. Sapelo, a name of Indian origin, was known to the Spanish as Zapala. During the 17th century, the island was part of the Guale missionary province of Spanish Florida. After 1680, several missions were merged and moved to the island under the mission Santa Catalina de Guale. In the early 19th century, Thomas Spalding, a future senator and U. S. Representative, bought the island and developed it into a plantation, selling live oak for shipbuilding, introducing irrigation ditches, and cultivating Sea Island Cotton, corn, and sugar cane. Spalding brought 400 slaves to the island from West Africa and the West Indies to work the plantation and build what became the Spalding Mansion. Spalding opposed the abolition of slavery, and he died in 1851 returning from a convention to assert Georgia's position on the matter. When freed, the former slaves established several settlements on the island; the last remaining is Hog Hammock, with approximately 70 remaining land owners. and continued the tradition of agricultural experimentation of the previous owners. Reynolds and his family used his private island paradise as a part time residence for three decades, consolidating the island's African American residents into Hog Hammock. Many worked as servants in South End House, later renamed the Reynolds Mansion by the State of Georgia.

In 1923, Sapelo owner Howard Coffin introduced imported chachalacas from Mexico to diversify the game bird population for his hunting pals. These chicken like birds have established a stable, non native population of 30 to 40 that at times has spread to neighboring islands. Sapelo owner R. J. Reynolds, Jr. founded the Sapelo Island Research Foundation in 1949. He later funded the research of Eugene Odum, whose 1958 paper The Ecology of a Salt Marsh won wide acclaim in scientific circles. Odum's paper helped show the fragility of the cycle of nature in the wetlands. Reynolds' Sapelo Research Foundation also helped fund the University of Georgia's research on the island.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) offers tours several days a week. These can be booked through the Sapelo Island Visitors Center. Additionally, many island residents offer private tours, which can often be customized to fit the interests of individual tourists. A state campground is also available to groups of 15 to 25 people on Cabretta Island, adjacent to Sapelo Island.

Sapelo Island resident and descendant of Bilali Muhammed, Cornelia Walker Bailey, wrote the book God, Dr. Buzzard and the Bolito Man: A Saltwater Geechee Talk About Life on Sapelo Island, Georgia, which is a first person account of growing up on Sapelo; co author Christena Bledsoe. R. J. Reynolds' grandson Patrick Reynolds and author Tom Shachtman co authored The Gilded Leaf: Triumph, Tragedy and Tobacco Three Generations of the R. J. Reynolds Fortune and Family, which offers an unvarnished view of R. J. Reynolds, Jr. during the time he owned Sapelo. Author Tom Poland wrote a novel titled Forbidden Island  An Island Called Sapelo. Singer Larry Jon Wilson has recorded a song titled "Sapelo", which is about the island on the album Testifying The Country Soul Revue. Author and island resident Michele Nicole Johnson published the photograph book Sapelo Island's Hog Hammock in 2009. Author T. C. Boyle set his 1990 novel East Is East on a fictional island in Georgia, much of which resembles Sapelo Island, such as the presence of Hog Hammock and proximity to Darien. An episode of Season 6 of the show Dirty Jobs featured the termite research program at the University of Georgia Marine Institute on Sapelo Island. The Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) hosts a Podcast titled ‘Sapelo NERRds’ about the research being conducted on the island and across Coastal Georgia. An episode of ESPN's Outside the Lines was filmed on Sapelo Island and the Hog Hammock community in 2013, documenting the childhood of Allen Bailey and telling the community's story and current property tax issues. The podcast Uncivil was mostly based on the experience of local Gullah people struggling to keep their land and culture intact despite many legal struggles. "A 19th century promise, and a 21st century betrayal. The past and present of 40 acres and a mule." PBS America Reframed has an episode on Sapelo. About 90 minutes, it includes extensive footage of interviews of Cornelia Walker Bailey and her family.