Nodis

"Der was sum hell raisin outside my bedrum winder last nit".

I haven't written much about the island that I live on in a while.  It doesn't have but a couple of fancy estate subdivisions that are gated.  Most of the land is forested or farmed.  And the island has a large African-American population.  

These descendants of slaves speak the Gullah dialect which according to Wikipedia is:
"an English-based creole language containing many African loanwords and significant influences from African languages in grammar and sentence structure. Properly referred to as "Sea Island Creole" the Gullah language is related to Barbadian Dialect, Jamaican Creole, , Bahamian Dialect, and the Krio language of Sierra Leone in West Africa. Gullah storytelling, cuisine, music, folk beliefs, crafts, farming and fishing traditions, all exhibit strong influences from West and Central African cultures." 

Among old timers, it is still possible to hear this wonderful language.

This was an old fishing community.  Shrimping and crabbing are still actively a part of the way of life.  More people have moved here from "off" because it is possible to buy waterfront property on deep water.  Some stay for a long while as we have and others find that having to drive 10 miles to get to a grocery store is a pain.  There are a few churches.  And there are a couple of country stores.  There is one juke joint.  The island is also home to the Charleston Tea Plantation and Irving House Vineyards.  Irving House markets Firefly Vodka which is vodka mixed with sweet tea.  It makes my stomach roil to just think about that.  That's about it for commercial establishments besides the fish and shrimp houses.

I think that you have to like the solitude in order to live here.  I remember once having a barbecue at which a guest remarked, "My, you do live in Deliverance country."  Actually,  this island and the Chattooga River gorge where Deliverance was filmed, have little in common geographically or otherwise.  There are no crazed red necks trying to take hostages.  Crime is low, although there have been a couple of murders since we moved out here in 1989.  I am sure that drugs have made their way from the city out here.  But so far, things have been pretty bucolic. And if things get a little raucous, the "Nodis" goes up as a reminder.

About the most happening thing going on is the annual regatta which turns into a two day floating cocktail party.  More arrests are probably made during that for DUI's and public drunkenness than occur all the rest of the year.  We don't go to the yacht club except for an occasional oyster roast.  It is old and lovely.  It does have a great boat ramp that we use to launch the jon boat for fishing.

When I first came to the Lowcountry out of graduate school, I worked out here at a Federal marine lab.  I fell in love with the island then.  Somehow I knew that I would live here.  And luckily, now I call this special place home.