Sapelo Island, Georgia

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Home to me is Erie, Pennsylvania. That is where I was born and where I grew up, Erie is my land. I have lived in Allentown for about 7 years now but I still consider Erie home. Erie holds all of my coming of age memories, my memories of my ancestors, and our Italian American background. I always love to go back and visit.

I still have some relatives in Erie however like me many have moved away. My family’s roots are in Erie but there was never any ancestral land passed down through the generations. As our old would die their house and property would be sold to buyers outside of the family.

           My relatives have scattered all over the country. We no longer have a strong family identity. There is nothing of physical substance that ties us together. We are all isolated in our individual lives, my family does feel whole.

After reading about the Geechee people on Sapelo Island I’m envious of their unity and their strong ties to their homeland. In the article “Saving Sapelo” Linda Lange states “Sapelo’s inhabitants guard their island with determination. They want to preserve the pristine natural environment ant their agricultural heritage” (page 2). These people highly value their land, it is part of their identity.

They survived for generations respecting the soil of Sapelo Island. This soil produced their crops and they believed it had healing powers, it was their life source. This land also holds the remains of their deceased. They are part of the land and the land is part of them. In the book “God, Dr. Buzzard, and the Bolito Man” Cornelia illustrates how the Geechee people regard the land they live on as part of them in explaining the burial of a woman’s afterbirth. “This was the first part of you that went back to the earth. The rest of you would follow later, when you died, but the afterbirth went first, and that connected you to the earth then and to Sapelo. Wherever else you might go, Sapelo would be your true home” (page 77).

Sapelo Island also contains the spirits of the Geechee people’s African descants and the distinct belief system passed down by them. These diverse beliefs help characterize the Geechee people. This is a uniqueness that would not distinguish them if they didn’t live on Sapelo Island.

            Like me most people lose some of their family’s culture when they leave their homeland. I commend and support the effort of the people of Sapelo trying to keep what remains of their culture alive. It is a fight worth fighting and it is their right to maintain land ownership of their Island.
 

 LAND FOR SALE IN HOG HAMMOCK