Great fortunes were once made on tiny Edisto Island, as nineteenth-century planters and their families farmed indigo and cotton. Although the ancient, oak-shaded path to Edisto is now a highway, the trees overhead remain draped with lush Spanish moss, luring travelers to another era. Proud of their preservation of the island, residents here strive to maintain a lifestyle that is close to nature and removed from the hustle and bustle of city life. This remarkable new photographic history features over 200 vintage images, many never before seen by the public. With photographs of the founding planters and their families, homes, landscapes and beach views, and intimate views of everyday life on Edisto plantations, this book gives us a glimpse of what the "island experience" was like through the years.

For many, Edisto is a little slice of heaven--live oaks festooned with Spanish moss, winding waterways and crashing surf. Yet the waterways were pathways for privateers, smugglers and gunboats. Marauders terrorized residents. Privateers made life uncertain during the War of 1812. John Wilson and Andrew Gillon dueled to the death on the sands of Edingsville. The Civil War brought repeated skirmishes between Union and Confederate scouting parties. Join historian Alexia Jones Helsley as she recounts lost lives, early widows, dashed dreams, unseen secrets--the dark side of Eden.

This title from Charles Spencer recounts the history of Edisto Island from the Civil War to present day. The Civil War hit Edisto Island hard. Between the mandated evacuation, Union occupation and the eventual emancipation of the slaves, the cotton plantation economy that had sustained the island fell to ruin. But this phoenix was to rise from the ashes of war to become one of the premier destinations for fun and sun on the South Carolina coast. Charles Spencer, in his second volume of Edisto history, recounts the events of the Civil War, the struggles of Reconstruction, the effects of the new freedman class and the island's rebirth as a favorite vacation spot and modern community in the twentieth century. Each chapter offers an enjoyable excursion into the past and a detailed look at the remarkable history of Edisto.

The first major Gullah Geechee cookbook from “the matriarch of Edisto Island,” who provides delicious recipes and the history of an overlooked American community The history of the Gullah and Geechee people stretches back centuries, when enslaved members of this community were historically isolated from the rest of the South because of their location on the Sea Islands of coastal South Carolina and Georgia. Today, this Lowcountry community represents the most direct living link to the traditional culture, language, and foodways of their West African ancestors. Gullah Geechee Home Cooking, written by Emily Meggett, the matriarch of Edisto Island, is the preeminent Gullah cookbook. At 89 years old, and with more than 50 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Meggett is a respected elder in the Gullah community of South Carolina. She has lived on the island all her life, and even at her age, still cooks for hundreds of people out of her hallowed home kitchen. Her house is a place of pilgrimage for anyone with an interest in Gullah Geechee food. Meggett’s Gullah food is rich and flavorful, though it is also often lighter and more seasonal than other types of Southern cooking. Heirloom rice, fresh-caught seafood, local game, and vegetables are key to her recipes for regional delicacies like fried oysters, collard greens, and stone-ground grits. This cookbook includes not only delicious and accessible recipes, but also snippets of the Meggett family history on Edisto Island, which stretches back into the 19th century. Rich in both flavor and history, Meggett’s Gullah Geechee Home Cooking is a testament to the syncretism of West African and American cultures that makes her home of Edisto Island so unique.

Wild Eden to Cotton Aristocracy is an impeccably researched and superbly written must-read for all whose hearts call Edisto home. Beautiful Edisto Island has not always been a vacationers' haven in the South Carolina Lowcountry. Before European settlement, it was home to the Edisto Indians, who had seasonal fishing camps in the area, and a wide variety of wildlife. By the beginning of the Civil War, the wealthy planters had largely abandoned the area. What happened between those two periods is a must-read for fans of coastal South Carolina. Author Charles Spencer chronicles Edisto's history, from the early days when English and Scottish planters and their African slaves settled the lush island paradise and established plantations that flourished until the Civil War.

A big city detective. A lowcountry murder. Peace, safety, a place to grieve and heal. After her husband is murdered by the Russian mob, Boston detective Callie Jean Morgan comes home to her family's cottage in South Carolina. There, she can keep their teenage son, Jeb, away from further threats. But the day they arrive in Edisto Beach, Callie finds her childhood mentor and elderly neighbor murdered. Taunted by the killer, who repeatedly violates her home and threatens others in the community, Callie finds her new sanctuary has become her old nightmare. Despite warnings from the town's handsome police chief, Callie plunges back into detective work, pursuing a sinister stranger who may have ties to her past. He's turning a quiet paradise into a paranoid patch of sand where nobody's safe. She'll do whatever it takes to stop him.

With nearly 2,000 entries and 520 illustrations, this comprehensive reference surveys the history and culture of the Palmetto State from A to Z, mountains to coast, and prehistory to the present.

Only a lazy man could go hungry on Edisto. Edisto Island is a place that has been blessed by nature and by the Lord. Its fields and waters abound with the many good things that generations of islanders have used in the recipes offered in this cookbook.