#hightideguide | 67
CC: You often describe St. Simons as a
community rather than a locale. Why?
Jingle: For all of its known human history,
people on St. Simons have lived in
communities. Five thousand years ago,
PaleoIndians formed the first long-term
settlements in North America on St. Simons
and other sea islands. A post-Columbian
Spanish mission was established in the early
1600s, surviving as a small, tightly-knit
community for almost a century.
In the mid-1700s, British General James
Oglethorpe founded the fort and town of
Frederica, a vibrant mix of soldiers and
civilians, including some serious troublemakers
who persecuted Charles and John
Wesley when they preached at the fortified
town.
Before the Civil War, more than a dozen
large plantations sprawled over the island. The
wealthy planters were a convivial sort, hosting
parties for their neighbors, attending Christ
Church together, and marrying off their sons
and daughters to neighboring planters.
After the war, the white population of the
island plummeted. Sawmills that opened in the
late 1800s on Gascoigne Bluff attracted new
residents. Many former slaves who worked at
the mills founded three communities —
Harrington, Jewtown, and South End — that
remained intact until the building boom of the
late 1900s, when soaring taxes and land values
pushed many of them to the mainland.
Islanders today feel protective. Some
suggest — not entirely in jest — that we blow
the causeway bridges. For all its recent
growth, SSI still has a community feel. People
come here to put down roots, work, raise their
children and live their lives. Tourists come and
go, but the sense of community endures here
as it has for thousands of years.
CC: What is it about Ben Galland that you
sought in a collaborator?
Jingle: Ben and I share common ground: the
soil of St. Simons, where both of us were born
and reared. Ben has artistic vision rare for
someone so young. We both see the place
from the perspective of people who have
known it for a long time. I couldn’t have
asked for a better photographer and partner.
Our next book, Following the Tabby Trail, is
due to be published in 2021 by the University
of Georgia Press.
CC: What time of year is your favorite?
Jingle: If all springtimes were like 2020’s, my
favorite time of year would be spring.
Last year, May was a real scorcher though, so
I’ll have to choose October, when the heat
and humidity have dropped. It’s also when
the tide waters are cool enough to make
oysters taste good again. Yum!
CC: What tales would you tell in a 2020
update of your book?
Jingle: If I were writing Island Time today, I
think I’d focus more on climate change and the
many ways a warming planet and rising sea
levels are going to impact St. Simons. The home
of my across-the-street neighbors and kinfolk,
built on a slab in the 1950s, flooded for the first
time ever in 2017 even though Irma was barely
a hurricane when it blew by the island.
CC: You write how inhabitants of St. Simons
have faced obstacles for centuries:
invasions, battles, hurried industrialization,
fickle development and hurricanes, to name a
few. How do you think historians will regard
our current situation?
Jingle: It’s so hard to absorb the fact that
Covid-19 has changed the history of the
world, including our island, in ways we can’t
even imagine now. In time, society will find
ways to deal with the worst aspects of the
pandemic. I also believe that some changes
will be permanent. My hope is that at least a
few will be positive.