Click here for our
|
The Vanishing Coast John F. Blair, Publisher This collection of thirty-three essays describes the changing coast from Daufuskie and Hilton Head Islands in South Carolina to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Leland's stories focus on communities or lifestyles endangered by development or threatened by nature, but the real focus of the book is the cast of characters—people like fisherman Tom Grant of Charleston's Mosquito Fleet, clam raker Fuzzy Spivey, the Menhaden Chanteymen, and crab picker Josephine Spencer. There is also history (the great Charleston earthquake of 1886, the Fort Fisher hermit, Hurricane Hugo), art (Mary Vanderhorst's baskets, Gerald Davis' decoys, the Harkers Island boatbuilders), and natural beauty (Bald Head and Masonboro Islands).
Reviews “[The Vanishing Coast] is an intensely loving paean to a unique place and way of life. It also issues a clear warning, one that is all the more effective for being short on bombast and long on human interest.” Charleston (SC) Post and Courier “The Vanishing Coast is about Daufuski Island, one of the last untouched sea islands off the coast of South Carolina. It is located barely a mile southwest of the popular Hilton Head Island resort and within view of the skyline of Savannah, Georgia, but it is accessible only by boat. Its remoteness gives it a timeless quality. When Elizabeth Leland arrived on Daufuskie Island she found that Time had finally caught up with it. What Leland found was an island divided into two worlds: one inhabited by the descendants of slaves, the other by wealthy vacationers and property owners who had come to Daufuskie to enjoy its remote quality. Leland's story effectively used the words of the people directly affected by the changes to explain the controversy surrounding the development of the island. The fate of Daufuskie proved to be symptomatic of what Leland found throughout her travels down the coastal Highway 17: lifestyles, communities, and natural areas were endangered by development or threatened by nature. The Vanishing Coast should serve as a warning for the future, a future where the beaches have become an exclusive domain of landholders and off-limits to the general public. The Vanishing Coast is Leland's celebration of the history and the future of a vanishing South Carolina coastline, and an offer of hope that the coast will remain everybody's heritage for generations to come. Essential reading!” |
