1978-1982 Sapelo Island, Georgia

Back to Welcome Page
Previous 1976-1978 - Hawaii, Dad's PhD

Click here to read Messages and Tributes from Sapelo and Georgia

Sapelo Island has a fascinating history which you can read here. We lived there for four years. We arrived at Sapelo Island at the tail-end of the summer school holidays in 1978.

Anne: “I went to the local high school and stayed with mum or dad on the island, but Cate and Bill were sent to boarding school in the Appalachians. Which left me at home as an “only child” (with extra meals to cook or course) for four years. Our house was an Art Deco styled structure renovated as a “Honeymoon Cottage” for RJ Reynolds (tobacco magnate) and his 4th wife Anne-Marie. It had only two bedrooms. There was the massive main bedroom with matching his-and-hers en suites (also both massive). And there was a smaller bedroom with an en-suite and a private verandah which became mine. I felt like a princess,although one who had to clean her own bathroom! 

The Reynolds Honeymoon Cottage where Mum, Dad and Anne lived

Mum and Dad

Dining room at home

The driveway to our house bordered with Wisteria

Road to the house

Dad had taken up the position of Director at Sapelo before finalising his PhD, which meant he was still writing up his thesis in the evenings after work for the first year while juggling the managerial demands, not only or running the Institute, but of presidential visits as well! The downstairs study was lined with cedar panels, offering dad a lovely aromatic workspace for the task. 

Dads Study - being renovated 20 years later.

A Norman Rockwell moment

Dad in the Library at UGaMI

Dad with Colleague Ed Chin

Dad giving President Carter a tour of the Institute

And as well as other trimmings fit for a millionaire such as crystal chandeliers, the house also had a baby-grand piano. Dad played many instruments, but not the piano. And mum didn’t play either. I thought it a crime that the piano would sit idle, so I bought myself some beginner books and tinkered away on this amazing instrument until finally, after four years, I was able to do it some justice. As there was no room in the huge house for Cate or Bill to stay when they were home on school holidays, Dad got the garage renovated into a “teen retreat” and guest accommodation.

The living room at home. 

The 4 car garage that was converted for Bill and Cate

Family photo circa 1980

Mum and Dad had pets - rescue animals from the local ASPCA. We had Nicky the "boneless" cat JR, a tabby, and Fang a siamese. Once Mum found a baby raccoon separated from its mother when their tree fell during a thunderstorm. Dad fell in love with it and naively decided to raise it. He called it "Kid". When it was older, It used to ride in the basket on his bike. It became very attached to dad but wouldn't let anyone else handle it and soon it got too big to keep and ended up at a local wildlife park.

Mum with "boneless" Nicky

Dad with Kid

Dad with JR and Fang

The Governor of Georgia George Busbee visited the island quite regularly to "escape"  and Dad and Mum became quite good friends with him and his wife, Mary-Beth. I can remember going for joy- flights in the governor's plane! Dad found common ground with people from all walks of life. He just loved people and he loved talking to people. There were many functions on the island, including ones organised at the Big House (donated to the University by the Reynolds and set up during dad's era as a conference center). Parties at the Big House were usually held in the basement “Games Room” which had, among other recreational pursuits, a bowling alley. 

The Big House outdoor pool and front entrance

The Big House - indoor pool

Big house Front Room

Big House lounge near indoor pool

Circus Room top floor of Big House

The one lane bowling alley in the Big House

The Games Room in the Big House

From time to time we were also privileged to be invited to functions at the Hog Hammock settlement. I remember attending parties at Josephine and Earl’s for Christmas or drooling in anticipation of Benny’s slow cooked ribs!

Bennie's store - where he hosted parties and served the best ribs!

 With his position as the Director Dad often entertained guests visiting the Marine Institute. He loved being the good host and taking them tours around the island. I was often able to accompany him on these trips. I never tired of the drives, nor of hearing him “lecture” the guests about the history (both human and natural) of the island while we wandered around 2000 year old Indian mounds and pottery fields, 16th, 17th and 19th century ruins, as well as the still luxurious “Big House”. Natural history tours usually consisted of vistas out over the marshes and swamps (with the occasional alligator or rattlesnake for added excitement), drives through the massive arching live oak forests and pandanus groves and exploring the dunes and beaches. Sapelo is about as far as you can get from anything geological, with the nearest rock outcrop being hundreds of miles inland. But Dad still found the geology of Sapelo fascinating, often pointing out to visitors the sticky Pleistocene marsh mud “outcrops” on the beach (with moulds of Spartina reeds still shaping their surface) as evidence of the movement of the island over the past millennia.

Collecting firewood

Ruins at "Chocolate"

Tabbie construction at Ruins

Ruins at "Chocolate"

Tour Route!

Nannygoat Beach looking north to Cabretta and Blackbeard Islands

Sea Oats at Nannygoat Beach

While we were at Sapelo mum also set up a display at the Institute on the natural history of the island and was commissioned to write a Handbook on Sapelo Island which proved very successful.You can read an excerpt here.

 Dad, of course, had a boat. He used it occasionally for fishing, but it was mostly used as transport to the mainland when we couldn't get over on the Sapelo Queen. The route to the mainland was via the sinuous marsh creeks. I remember us returning from the mainland one night. Dad didn’t like to use a light because it wasn’t bright enough to light up the turns in the creek. So he’d turn off all the lights and speed along at full throttle in complete darkness. I remember one night looking out the back of the boat while it wound it’s way along the marsh creeks and seeing the curving wake glow with bioluminescence. It was surreal and amazing. But then, dad lived his life in ways that allowed such moments to happen. He had a way of making everyday things special, or special things an everyday occurence.

The Marshes of McIntosh County

The Spartina marshes from the Governor's plane

Despite being busy, Dad always found time for fishing. And Sapelo offered a whole new set of possibilities. Dad often threw in a line, but cast-netting and crabbing became his favourite (or most lucrative) pastimes. Our plates were filled with flounder, mullet, shrimp and blue swimmer crabs to compliment mum’s veggie garden offerings, which were prolific. 
Dad’s casting technique, which he also taught to us kids, involved holding the net between your teeth. The technique, not surprisingly, involved precision and timing - consequences of getting it wrong being rather messy and expensive! I often went out with Dad on his fishing expeditions, which took us all around the island to marshes, beaches or tidal inlets. We’d ride out to these locations in an old chevy pick-up with holes in the floor. I didn’t do much fishing, but loved the adventure. I usually spent the time, swimming, beachcombing or exploring the forests or dunes. I often explored on my own as well, riding my bike all over the island. It was a testament to Mum and Dad’s trust in others (and in me!) that they let me do this as a young teenage girl and I appreciated the freedom immensely.”

Dad casting for shrimp

Mums harvest

Cathy: “While he only spent 4 years here, Dad put new life into the Institute. He achieved much in a very short time. I lived away from home for much of the time we were in Georgia. First at boarding school then for university. What I remember about visits home though were the things we did with Dad. Collecting fire wood in the truck, fishing off the beach and in the tide waters that run through the marshes, swimming at the beach, walking in the marsh and learning about the life and geology hidden there. You could only walk across some parts of the marsh easily when there was some water over it as you would sink into the mud at low tide. When the tide was higher, and over the mud just slightly, you could walk easily, not sinking in at all. Very counter intuitive.

It was on Sapelo Island that Dad taught me to drive a manual vehicle. We had a big old Chevy C10 truck. I could only reach the pedals by putting a pillow behind my back. Dad took me out in the paddock behind the house, said this is first, second, third and reverse. Use the clutch to change between them and don't grind the gears. He then got out of the truck and went back to what he was doing. Shortest lesson, Dad ever gave.


Dad loved fishing and Sapelo was great for this. He had his favourite spots along the creek where he would go to collect some small fish for bait using his cast net. A perfect cast was beautiful to watch as the net unfurls in a perfect circle and drops, trapping anything below it. Then we would go either down to the beach or to one of the bigger creeks to fish. The creek behind the lab was always good for putting out the crab traps. Mum would then cook them up into a local specialty, a fantastic crab stuffed flounder."

Atlantic sunrise

Dad renewed his passion for model aircraft

Next Page: 1982-1992 Townsville AIMS and GBRMPA