The First Conservationists?: Northern Money and Lowcountry Georgia, 1866-1930 - Softcover

Sullivan, Buddy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1530265274 ISBN 13: 9781530265275

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016

Synopsis

Most of the barrier islands and smaller islands along the Georgia coast are protected and undeveloped. Although not generally recognized by many, the conservation of much of coastal Georgia began in the years following the Civil War when six of the eight major sea islands were purchased by wealthy Northerners, including the famous Jekyll Island Club. The islands passed to succeeding generations of private owners, many in the same families that acquired them from 1866 on, until the modern-day conservation movement for the coast began in the 1950s. Because of the protected private ownership of the islands through the years, they are now managed and administered by federal or state entities or private foundations. This monograph analyzes this evolution from private ownership to protected status of the islands, as well as the overall influence of Northern wealth on the economy and landscape of tidewater Georgia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Coastal historian Buddy Sullivan argues that while the postwar owners of the islands were largely unaware of "conservation" in the modern sense, their appreciation and ecological awareness of their properties precipitated a conscious desire to protect them and prevent their acquisition and development by large-scale resort and residential interests.

About this title

About the Author

Author Buddy Sullivan is a native of McIntosh County and has researched and written about the history of coastal Georgia for the last 15 years. Among his published works are two comprehensive studies of Darien and McIntosh County, Early Days on the Georgia Tidewater and The Darien Journal of John Girardeau Legare, Ricegrower. He has also recently released an extensive history of Bryan County, Georgia.

Sullivan is the director of the National Estuarine Research

Reserve on Sapelo Island in McIntosh County.

Edition details

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1530265274
• ISBN 13: 9781530265275
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 44