Welcome to
Sapelo Island, Georgia

Sapelo Island's pre-history dates back to the Pleistocene geologic epooch, the latest
great ice age.  Carbon dating of shells found in Sapelo island dediments indicates
that the main part of the island formed 25,000 to 36,000 years ago, while the seaward
(Holocene) portion of the island is more recent, being formed about 5,000 years ago.
Indian occupation of the island dates back at least 4,500 years through dating of the
unusual ceremonial Shell Ring found on the north end of the island.  The name
"Sapelo" is Indian in origin, being first known (according to Spanish records) as
Capala.  Europeans arrived here as early as 1521 with Spanish exploration of the
coast.  In the mid-sixteenth century, a chain of Franciscan missions was established
on the coast by Spanish authorities in St. Augustine, one of which was the Sapelo
mission of St. Joseph (San Jose de Zapala) established ca. 1573 on the north end of
the island.  It was abandoned in 1686.

English settlers planted crops on Sapelo before the Revolution.  From 1789-1795,
the island was owned and cultivated by a group of French investors.  The French
Sapelo Company was not a success and various portions of the island were purchased
by Thomas Spalding beginning in 1802.
Most of the residents of the island are decended from the slaves of the 19th
century Sapelo plantations.

Sapelo Island is not an easy place
to get to.  There is only one public
dock on the island.  The dock is up
a narrow creek like the one in this
picture.  This creek goes by the Old Spalding Plantation and Mansion.
It was built in 1810 .

Lucky for us, Bubba knew where
the dock was and gave very good directions!

To continue on to more of Sapelo Island