The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Island preserve celebrating 40 years
Ossabaw only for ‘natural, scientific and cultural study.’
SAVANNAH — The Ossabaw Island Heritage Preserve off Georgia’s coast is marking its 40th anniversary since it became the state’s first heritage preserve.
June 15 was the anniversary of the day in 1978 when then-Gov. George Busbee signed an executive order with the designation, The Savannah Morning News reported.
The 26,000-acre (40.6 square mile) island in Chatham County is home to alligators, otters and bald eagles. It also serves as a nursery to sea turtles, with 314 loggerhead nests erupting with hatchlings on its beaches last year.
“The ecological significance of all the barrier islands can’t be overstated,” said Jerry McCullom, an ecologist who lived on the island and later became the head of the Georgia Wildlife Federation. “They’re protecting the mainland from catastrophic storms. They’re providing a real look at what the coastline looks like if it’s natural.”
There’s still not a single
condo near the 13-mile stretch of beach on this island, which is 12 times bigger than neighboring Tybee Island. Ossabaw is still accessible only by boat and there’s no commercial development.
The Heritage Preserve designation prohibits construction of a bridge or a causeway connecting Ossabaw to the mainland or other barrier
islands. The order places Ossabaw Island under the management of the state’s Department of Natural Resources, which continues to be its manager.
Four decades after steps were taken to protect the island, Georgia has “absolutely” achieved what it set out to do with the purchase of Ossabaw and its designation as a preserve, said Patricia Barmeyer. She helped to forge the deal as a young lawyer in the office of the Attorney General.
“Ossabaw has been preserved,” Barmeyer said. “You can argue if it’s been utilized in the best possible way. You can debate that. But nobody made any mistakes. It is as it was, except to the extent nature has done her work on it.”
The development of nearby Hilton Head Island in South Carolina in the 1960s alerted many in Georgia to the prospect of intensive development on barrier islands here, Barmeyer said. It also motivated the state to acquire land on barrier islands. And it motivated Ossabaw’s Eleanor Torrey “Sandy” West, whose parents had bought the island for $150,000 in the 1920s, to figure out a way to keep it protected despite a mounting tax burden, the Savannah newspaper reported.
West and her family sold the island to the state for $8 million, half its assessed value, with the additional guarantee that Ossabaw would be a heritage preserve used only for “natural, scientific and cultural study, research and education and environmentally sound preservation, conservation and management of the island’s ecosystem.”
Robert Woodruff, the philanthropist and longtime president of Coca-Cola, donated $4 million toward the purchase and the state provided the rest.
West, who was 65 at the time of the sale, remained on a 23-acre life estate on the island until 2016 when she moved to an assisted living facility in Savannah where she celebrated her 105th birthday in January. Her life estate ownership remains in place.
“So many Georgians in the 1970s had the wisdom to see our coast as a treasure worth preserving, and to see Ossabaw Island as a unique jewel among many coastal jewels,” said Elizabeth DuBose, executive director of the Ossabaw Island Foundation. “Forty years later, thanks to the Heritage Preserve protections, Ossabaw is not only a critical element of the coastal ecosystem, but also allows scientists and historians to share important information about our nation’s past. On Ossabaw, new information is revealed every year through archaeology, ecological study, and related historical research on the mainland.”