Documentary by Stephen Doster retells the story of St. Simons history…St. Simons 360!
Bravo! I have enjoyed every one of Stephen Doster’s books: Voices from St. Simons, Lord Baltimore, Georgia Witness, Shadow Child, Rose Bush, Jesus Tree, and his latest, a memoir about his mother, Terry Doster, Her Finest Hour. All are must reads.
Some of the information in St. Simons 360 can be read about in Shadow Child, which chronicles a historical artifact and the people it impacted from 1597 to the 21st century. Spanning a number of eras in coastal Georgia, the stories vary in scope, ranging from historical fiction to the supernatural. A sub-plot threads throughout the book from beginning to end. In the first tale, Mission Asao (1597), a bronze bell is taken from a Spanish mission during an Indian uprising and is lost in what is present-day Gould’s Inlet on St. Simons Island. The bell is discovered by two slaves two-hundred-and-fifty years later in “A Man Whut’s A Man.” It hangs briefly from Christ Church after the Civil War in “Casagrande” and is returned to the Franciscan Order in the final story, “Padre’s Run.”
The bell actually exists and is on SSI. If you have not been there, you have to go to experience it for yourself. The legend goes, and it is true, when you get St. Simons sand between your toes, you are drawn back time and again.
Thank you, Stephen, for telling me more about my favorite island.
- Jeanie Loiacono
