Low Country Historian

Low Country Historian is a compilation of the best writings of Buddy Sullivan over the past thirty years gleaned from his 30 books and monographs about the history, culture and ecology of coastal Georgia. The book's approach investigates how the people of the Georgia low country utilized their local ecosystem in virtually every aspect of their lives and livelihoods.

THE THEMATIC intent of this book is to relate aspects of the history of the Georgia low country from an ecological perspective, specifically how environmental circumstances have shaped the lives of the inhabitants, and how they made their living. Herein are stories of "life and labor" as viewed through the prism of ecology, with discussions on the dynamics of salt marsh ecology, and the science employed in understanding it; how archaeology has told us about the way people lived in the past; the use of the land by generations of its owners; and waterways in the development of a maritime culture. The focus is largely economic because most of history is shaped by economic forces. In this respect the book investigates one locale in microcosm, that being McIntosh County, Georgia, a small coastal community with a maritime tradition. The author considers this study to be his "definitive" history of McIntosh County, over and above his other books about the county, as the volume contains new revelations gleaned from recent research, with corrections and revised interpretations. Most of the work in this "omnibus" is a consolidation, with appropriate revisions, of selected content from the author's other books about the coastal low country. While McIntosh County and Sapelo Island are the prevailing themes, much of the work examines aspects of the history of the coastal counties of Chatham, Bryan, Liberty, Long and Glynn as well. Chapter topics are structured around specific ecological parameters. These include the ecology of the coast and its scientific applications; historical archaeology; tideflow rice production in the Altamaha delta; rice planters in Bryan County; canal building in coastal Georgia; agriculture on a barrier island (Sapelo); land use at Harris Neck and its environs; lumber production and its associated maritime activity; African American settlement on Sapelo Island; an overview of Ossabaw Island; naval stores and turpentine production; the commercial seafood industry; acquisition of islands by northerners leading to the modern conservation movement; the author's low country legacy; and a concluding map supplement.

BUDDY SULLIVAN is the author of numerous publications about the history, culture and ecology of coastal Georgia. Among other awards he is a recipient of the Governor's Medal in the Humanities from the Georgia Humanities Council in recognition of his literary contributions to the state. Sullivan is a fourth generation native of McIntosh County, Georgia, a small low country community which has long been the focus of his research. He was a sports writer for newspapers in Georgia and Florida from 1971 to 1985 before serving as editor of the Darien (Ga.) News from 1985 to 1993. He was supervisor of the Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve from 1993 to 2013, and is now an independent writer and consultant, residing on ancestral property at Cedar Point in McIntosh County.