x
| The cotton
plantations are gone and there’s not much left of the marsh hens, pheasants, quail
and raccoon that the duBignons imported. These animals were not indigenous to the region
and soon died off after the Jekyll Island club members grew tired of hunting. |
Not to despair. The island’s natural habitat is still alive with splendour. My particular favourite is
the live oak. It’s
also Georgia’s state
tree. There are many of them on Jekyll and each one is a unique treasure. Over the
hundreds of years each tree has taken on its own personality — the gnarled branches
reaching out like a dancer caught in a moment of time. The largest and oldest of these on
Jekyll still stands in the historic district. It’s 2.2 metres in diameter and is somewhere between 350 to 400 years old. |
xiiii |
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| Songs have been
sung of the island’s serenity. Here lies an ecosystem unlike anything on the eastern
seaboard. Situated at the innermost curve of the Atlantic, the tidal action funnels so
much sea water inward that the tides pass into the landward side of the island. The
ongoing flux of ocean tides spurs the growth of cordgrass and needlerush. Most important of
Jekyll’s flora is the sea oat. Sea oat roots into the dry sand thus binding it into
clumps. The roots even grow runners to the surface so that they can stay ahead of the
potential eroding effect of waves. Vital in maintaining the fragile beach ecosystem,
picking sea oat is against the law. Prickly pear cactus also helps stabilize the beach but
is not in need of the protection of law. The sharp spikes send a clear message. Trust me — their needles are as sharp as
medical syringes. My kite crash landed into a patch of these nasty devils one day. I
didn’t bother to retrieve it.
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