The Death Of Tybee Island;

This is a tale of the death of a dream that once was a fixation of my heart and soul. For 15 years, both my wife and I found Tybee Island to be a refuge from the storms which occur in the everyday jungle of life. For three and sometimes four weeks out of the year we have sought out this safe haven and allowed it’s soft, intoxicating atmosphere to wash away the burdens that so consume the mind in the everyday process of just making ends meet. However, in recent years there has been a silent transformation taking place, and this once sleepy seaside town just twenty odd miles from the majestic city of Savannah has been overrun with gluttony.

Every inch of marsh, every conceivable square of soothing sand now has the hammering, pounding and pouring of foundations for tawdry, overpriced condominiums. Lost are the quaint seaside shops and one story cinder block and clap board homes. Mom and pop motels and shops are soon to become silent ghost on a sea of glitz and glitter. Many are the casualties in this insatiable hunger. The environmental concerns are too numerous to name, and then there is the social impact that has taken moderately priced homes and assigned to them outlandish values thus impacting the owners with unbelievable taxation.

With the course of this movement, the very people that came to this bit of paradise to seek refuge from their personal storms are now finding themselves driven from the island because of the disgraceful pricing practices of the mega corporations which come in with huge sums of cash and then demand more and more on their return. Therefore for the first time in 15 years, Leah and I will not be able to afford Tybee. The rates being charged for October now resemble the rates that were once not too long ago charged for the Fourth of July week. Thus, our journey this fall will take us to Jekyll Island, where we will have all the luxuries of home in this one bedroom suite facing the Atlantic Ocean with its own private balcony and all for a little over half of the per night rate of an ocean view room without the afore mentioned amenities.

I will close this with the pleasant thoughts of a once marvelous place that captured the heart if this couple, a place, though removed from our physical presence, yet never removed from our heart and soul. For it was on this marsh that my dreams were prepared, and on this marsh that my soul was fulfilled. Good luck Tybee with your new found dreams, good luck…but just once remember that all that glitters is not pure gold, especially when for it, you trade your soul…We're going to miss you, but I fear you will not us…

J. Allen Wilson © Nine 2006