Ossabaw Island
In February 2009 I first realized a long-held dream and spent three days photographing on Ossabaw, with a small group of kindred spirits: artists, photographers and naturalists.
Entering the magical world of Ossabaw for the first time, one could be forgiven for thinking it a pristine, almost untouched wilderness. The silence is profound; sunlight filters down through cabbage palms and live oaks draped with Spanish moss, dappling the understory of palmettos and the narrow sandy road, little more than a path, upon which one stands. Vultures and hawks wheel high in the sky, searching, hunting . . . . Then, a crash off to one side in the underbrush: two or three black Ossabaw pigs go tearing along and disappear in the distance; soft rustles reveal an armadillo or a wary island deer.
Yet Ossabaw has been inhabited by humans for the past 4,000 years. Prehistoric hunter-gatherers came first, creating over centuries the oyster-shell middens that can still be found along the banks of tidal creeks. They were succeeded by the earliest experimenters in agriculture, who, while still engaging in hunting and gathering, tended to live a more sedentary lifestyle in settled villages. With the coming of the Europeans, the Spanish and later the English, much of the native population was wiped out by disease. The Europeans timbered Ossabaw live oaks for shipbuilding, and established plantations for growing rice, cotton and indigo, utilizing slave labor. In the early 20th century, Ossabaw became a private hunting preserve, owned by a small group of wealthy businessmen, and in 1924, Dr. Henry Norton Torrey and his wife Nell Ford Torrey purchased Ossabaw for their use as a private family retreat. The island remained the property of the Torrey family until 1978, when, due to the efforts of Eleanor Torrey Ford, Dr. and Mrs. Torrey’s daughter, to keep Ossabaw from being victimized by developers, it was sold to the State of Georgia as the State’s first Natural Heritage Preserve.
Today, except for the beaches, which are open to anyone who can get there in a private or chartered boat, Ossabaw is accessible only to scientists, naturalists and artists for study, research and cultural activities: a wild, remote, peaceful haven for creativity.
As a member of the Ossabaw Artists Collective, I travel to Ossabaw Island, usually twice a year, in order to photograph its extraordinary landscapes, and to enjoy its peaceful, pristine beauty.
Entering the magical world of Ossabaw for the first time, one could be forgiven for thinking it a pristine, almost untouched wilderness. The silence is profound; sunlight filters down through cabbage palms and live oaks draped with Spanish moss, dappling the understory of palmettos and the narrow sandy road, little more than a path, upon which one stands. Vultures and hawks wheel high in the sky, searching, hunting . . . . Then, a crash off to one side in the underbrush: two or three black Ossabaw pigs go tearing along and disappear in the distance; soft rustles reveal an armadillo or a wary island deer.
Yet Ossabaw has been inhabited by humans for the past 4,000 years. Prehistoric hunter-gatherers came first, creating over centuries the oyster-shell middens that can still be found along the banks of tidal creeks. They were succeeded by the earliest experimenters in agriculture, who, while still engaging in hunting and gathering, tended to live a more sedentary lifestyle in settled villages. With the coming of the Europeans, the Spanish and later the English, much of the native population was wiped out by disease. The Europeans timbered Ossabaw live oaks for shipbuilding, and established plantations for growing rice, cotton and indigo, utilizing slave labor. In the early 20th century, Ossabaw became a private hunting preserve, owned by a small group of wealthy businessmen, and in 1924, Dr. Henry Norton Torrey and his wife Nell Ford Torrey purchased Ossabaw for their use as a private family retreat. The island remained the property of the Torrey family until 1978, when, due to the efforts of Eleanor Torrey Ford, Dr. and Mrs. Torrey’s daughter, to keep Ossabaw from being victimized by developers, it was sold to the State of Georgia as the State’s first Natural Heritage Preserve.
Today, except for the beaches, which are open to anyone who can get there in a private or chartered boat, Ossabaw is accessible only to scientists, naturalists and artists for study, research and cultural activities: a wild, remote, peaceful haven for creativity.
As a member of the Ossabaw Artists Collective, I travel to Ossabaw Island, usually twice a year, in order to photograph its extraordinary landscapes, and to enjoy its peaceful, pristine beauty.