Voices From St. Simons: Personal Narratives of an Island's Past

by Stephen Doster (Editor)

Mile for mile, St. Simons Island―one of Georgia’s Golden Isles―boasts as much history as any community on the East Coast. Originally an Indian hunting ground, it has been occupied or invaded by Spanish missionaries, British settlers, planters and their slaves, the Union army, the United States Navy, and developers and tourists. The seventeen narratives in  Voices from St. Simons  represent an “oral archaeological dig,” writes editor Stephen Doster. Many of those interviewed are descendants of masters and slaves. Surprisingly, they speak of racial issues with greater compassion than bitterness. But the volume encompasses much more than that. Here, the people of the Golden Isles recall waving farewell to Paul Redfern when his airplane took off from a sandy beach on his ill-fated attempt to outdo Charles Lindbergh. They describe jumping into a fast boat and riding to the rescue of merchant sailors torpedoed by a German U-boat. They tell of playing childhood sports―and dominating the competition―alongside future NFL legend Jim Brown, who was raised on St. Simons. They remember piloting the ship that, due to a helmsman’s error, hit the Sidney Lanier Bridge, causing one of the worst such disasters in American history. “In some respects, the narratives reveal a plot of ground that time forgot,” Doster writes. “They present the reflections of a cross-section of ordinary people who lived during extraordinary times.” Stephen Doster was born in 1959 in Kingston-Upon-Thames, England, and moved with his parents and four siblings to St. Simons Island, Georgia, in the early 1960s. His ties to the island date to the early 1900s, when his father’s family vacationed there before the construction of a mainland causeway. His grandparents permanently moved to St. Simons in the 1940s, building on the grounds where a Spanish mission once stood. Growing up on the island, Doster remembers the place as a “Mayberry with tides,” where he and neighborhood kids played baseball on the beach, sneaked into a resort hotel pool after football practices, and explored the island’s woods and tidal creeks. His early recollections include seeing navy hurricane hunters fly over the Atlantic in search of storms before the days of satellites, viewing open Indian graves during an archaeological dig, evacuating the island at Hurricane Dora’s approach, and returning to the destruction left in its wake. After graduating from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in 1983, Doster headed to Nashville, Tennessee where he has lived and worked since. Though he has been a resident of Nashville for over 20 years, St. Simons has always been close to his heart. In 2002, John F. Blair published his debut novel, Lord Baltimore, about a young man’s journey on the Georgia coast between Savannah and St. Simons. Voices from St. Simons is essentially Doster’s effort to preserve the legacy of the area. For decades, he heard “local residents utter the famous sentiment that someone should have recorded so-and-so’s recollections before she died.” Reading the obituary of a former elementary school teacher inspired him to set up face-to-face and telephone interviews that began his oral archaeological dig. Doster works at Vanderbilt University and lives in Nashville with his wife, Anne.

Genres: History

259 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2008

About the author

I was born in England to a mother who served as a WAFF on eight RAF fighter stations during World War II and a father who served as a navigator in the Pacific during that war on the USS Taylor, a Fletcher class destroyer that earned nine battle stars. Much to my good fortune, our family relocated first to Alabama, then Georgia, where I grew up on a small barrier island off the Georgia coast. St. Simons (now a resort area) is a low-country boil of clashing cultures. Timucua Indians, Spanish missionaries, English settlers, slaves and plantation owners, Confederate and Union soldiers, and Saltwater Geechee have all taken their turns on its stage, supplanting one another as lords and masters of the island. St. Simons is now the domain of middle and upper class families, though one trailer park still survives. Evidence of the area's past still abounds, and from it I draw much of the inspiration for plots and characters.

The island I grew up on happens to be on the 31st Parallel north of the Equator, which includes the geographic area below Savannah, north of the Georgia-Florida border, and everything east and west of that. Down on the 31st and 32nd Parallels, you're in the Deep South of the "Deep South". Look at all the writers who come from those strips, and don't surprised if you start to see some similarities in their works. It has to do with their shared history, the geography, and the people who inhabit those realms. Many of the early Georgia settlers traveled directly west to settle regions in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. They took their histories and their stories with them. Part of the Southern writer's job is to resurrect those stories and their histories in creating new works. It's recycling of the highest order.

I have a business degree from the University of Georgia and a masters from Vanderbilt University where I work.

Reviews

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book! There is so much wisdom to gain from the memories of those who came before us. I’m very thankful the author compiled these memories.

[Gary Wm Wester · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read about St. Simons history.

[Vincent C.]

Excellent book if you live in this area. Enjoyed enhancing my knowledge of st. Simons and Brunswick.

[Jeanie Loiacono · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://www.amazon.com/Voices-St-Simon...

In an effort to preserve some of the island's heritage, Voices from St. Simons records interviews with 17 people whose connection to the island stretches back generations. Five of the people interviewed are direct descendants of well-known planters who owned large plantations in and around St. Simons. Six of the interviewees are direct descendants of slaves, many of whom lived and worked on those same plantations.

[Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative book on St. Simons Island, Georgia. I enjoyed learning how certain places on the island got their names and what used to be before the current layout of the island. There is more history to this island than one would have expected. Any one who reads this book is sure to want to visit.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting if you've spent time on St. Simons Island. I would only recommend it to Islanders and Island visitors.

[Charlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for anyone living on the Island or who visits here. Lots of history told by those who've lived here and know it's past. Very well done.