The Breeze February 2020

More documents

Recommendations

Info

That Delectable Architecture Spaniard’s Oyster Shell Relics By: Tom Poland 48
Landlocked. That was my fate growing up in Lincolnton, Georgia. Thus it should come as no surprise, striped gray felines aside, that the Spanish settler building concoction called tabby never entered my childhood glossary. Why should it? Oysters were as removed from my life as were Spaniards, sand dollars, and sea turtles. Years had to stack up before I would move to South Carolina and explore its Lowcountry. There I became conscious of tabby in a new way, and there I first heard that two-syllable term shot rapid-fire from transplanted lips. A Yankee professor had to tell me about tabby. That rankles still. But forget that. How many real buildings does man cobble together from the remnants of meals? We’re not talking gingerbread houses. We’re talking enduring places that find their way onto historic lists. The kind photographers and artists love. The kind whose rough-textured ruins beg hands to touch them. Picturesque places at home among sawgrass, sand, and Spanish moss. Tom Poland is an author from “Georgialina”. He writes about the South, its people, culture, land, natural wealth, and beautiful detritus — ruins and abandoned places. He has been awarded the Order of the Palmetto — The highest civilian honor in the State of South Carolina. Visit Tom’s website at www.tompoland.net When I see walls of ivory shells raised vertical from estuarine waters, I think of oysters as catering subcontractors. Long, long ago men ate these bivalve mollusks, gaining sustenance, then applied that nourishment to making tabby and what would become ruins marinated in majesty. Steeped in a beautiful brine they were and man turned his structures grandeur. That delectable architecture blesses us still. In yet another way we are better off because of oysters. So, what was the recipe for making that delectable building concoction? Men burnt crushed oyster shells. That yielded lime, which they mixed with whole shells, sand, and water in equal measures and poured into forms. Lowcountry air then dried it. Dwellings that would stand the test of time resulted, and today’s roll call of tabby structures is most distinguished. Men cast tabby blocks at Sapelo Island then placed them in the sun to dry. Fort Pulaski’s bricked underground bunkers, mortared strong with tabby, nonetheless fell to the Union. That beacon, the St. Simons Island lighthouse, rests on a tabby foundation. A tree, long dead, shores up a Wormsloe Plantation tabby wall. Imagine a fine sugary powder coating McIntosh Sugarworks oyster shells, and the Spring Island tabby remainders from Cotton King George Edwards’s plantation are monumental in more ways than one. Jasper County has the White Hall Plantation House ruins and its tabby wings, and Beaufort has the Thomas Fuller House—the Tabby Manse—one of the few remaining early buildings on the South Carolina coast whose exterior walls are tabby entire. 1 49
Page 1 and 2: P. 14 Furry and Frisky in February
Page 3 and 4: A NATURAL HABITAT for a RARE BREED
Page 5 and 6: CONTENTS FEBRUARY 2020, VOLUME 18,
Page 7 and 8: BRINGING THE BEAUTY OF FLEXSTEEL TO
Page 9 and 10: Sarracenia plants in the U.S. eat o
Page 11 and 12: Nepenthes Ampullaria Nepenthes Ampu
Page 13 and 14: Resort & Pre-Spring 2020 clothing
Page 15 and 16: mother raccoon is resourceful and w
Page 17 and 18: JOE'S CLASSIC CUTS VILLAGE BLUFFTON
Page 19 and 20: Your Corner can receive the theLowc
Page 21 and 22: Avocado: Often added to smoothies,
Page 23 and 24: • • • 23
Page 25 and 26: How to Protect Yourself *When you r
Page 27 and 28: la petite breeze jan20 ad_Layout 1
Page 29 and 30: Tide chart is calculated for the Ma
Page 31 and 32: Feb 17: Gullah Celebration 10:30am
Page 33 and 34: Place each chicken breast between 2
Page 35 and 36: Roasted Green Beans with Lemon, Pin
Page 37 and 38: DON’T MISS RICHARD’S Amazing, N
Page 39 and 40: Ma Mabry stirred rice and added tom
Page 41 and 42: ___________________________________
Page 43 and 44: ooted in the theme. This tool can b
Page 45 and 46: Woopi Goldberg Earvin “Magic” J
Page 47: Consulting Engineers Land Surveyors
Page 51 and 52: COLLETON RIVER Johnny Ussery MOBILE

The Breeze February 2020

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?