Island Time

Island Time by third-generation St. Simons resident Jingle Davis is as fascinating and well written as it is useful. The author parts the Spanish-moss curtain and enlightens us with St. Simons's long, bloody, and ultimately transformative history. A must-read for anyone who has ever enjoyed the evocative beauty of St. Simons Island.

[I]t's no wonder the book seems to sing in celebration as it lays out St. Simon's for everyone to enjoy, from its earliest beginnings to the present-day clash of development and preservation. Though photographs are ample, the book isn't your standard coffee table tome, because the narrative is just as elegant as the photos. It all works well.

I enjoyed reading this well-researched, wonderfully written book. This will be the book on St. Simons Island history for a long time.

Jingle knows and loves her island. In the nearly three decades that I've known her, she--like her writing--has been honest, insightful, and true. Read this volume and see her unique vision of her home--the Georgia Sea Islands. Taste the briny air. Feel the history. Be blessed. Jingle Davis is a blessing.

Many Georgians have long suspected that St. Simons Island packs more interesting history and colorful characters per square, sandy inch than almost any other place in the Deep South. Now there's written proof of it. Island Time is a deeply researched, lushly photographed new book that tells the beginnings-to-present-day story of the small island south of Savannah that was first occupied by Paleo-Indians nearly 5,000 years ago.

This book is a credit to the staff at the University of Georgia Press. . . . This book is a serious narrative of St. Simons, which is a state treasure trove. Ms. Davis thoroughly researched the rich effluvia of human endeavor built up over time on St. Simons, and she is very much the clear-eyed reporter in telling us what she has found, beginning with the native coastal tribes through the pirates and the Spanish on to the British and General Oglethorpe. . . . If you don't know St. Simons, this book is like a visit needing no sunscreen or mosquito repellant. Every period in the island's history is fascinating, all the way up to modern times, and Ben Galland's camera catches it all: the ruins, the marshes, the beach and, yes, the sunsets, which we have all tried to photograph.

Island Time is well researched, engagingly written, and beautifully presented. It's an essential book for anyone interested in the story of St. Simons Island conveyed by two people who know it well and love it deeply.