Sapelo Island, Georgia

Sapelo Island Reserve, Georgia

Cultural History

Indian occupation of Georgia's coast dates back at least 3,400 years. When Europeans arrived here in the 1520's, Sapelo Island was the province of Guale nation. Sapelo witnessed the territorial struggles between the Spanish, French and British and was eventually bought from half Indian princess Mary Musgrove by the British crown. It passed through the hands of several large land owners, including a group of French nobles fleeing the egalitarian revolutionary activities at home. In 1800, Thomas Spalding began purchasing portions of the island and eventually bought most of it. During the half century of Spalding's guidance, Sapelo was a thriving plantation, the scene of many agricultural experiments.

During the second half of the 19th Century, devastation of the South had a serious impact on the island's activity and the plantation. Abandoned, the plantation grew up in weeds. In 1912, Howard Coffin, Hudson Motors executive, bought the island and reclaimed the land and waters surrounding it, farming and fishing shrimp and oysters. Coffin sold Sapelo in 1934 to tobacco heir Richard Jay Reynolds, Jr. Seeing potential for scientific research, Reynolds created the Sapelo Island Research Foundation, Inc. in 1950. He then helped the University of Georgia set up laboratory facilities, a building formerly used as dairy barns. This was the beginning of the present University of Georgia Marine Institute.

In 1969, the state of Georgia purchased the northern three-quarters of Sapelo Island from Reynold's widow. The wildlife management area created there is now managed by the Wildlife Management Division of Georgia's Department of Natural Resources. A second state purchase occurred in late 1976 when Georgia's Department of Natural Resources bought the south end of Sapelo from the Sapelo Island Research Foundation Inc. Almost half of the uplands acquired were incorporated into the Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve.