Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 8, MARCH 30, 2009, THE ISLANDER
Spring into Downtown Brunswick
Celebrate spring with Downtown
Brunswick merchants during their
monthly First Friday celebration on
April 3.
Several new business have opened
up in downtown including two restau
rants.
4th of May opened on Newcastle St.
next door to The Market on Newcas
tle. They are excited about their new
Brunswick location and are serving
Sunday brunch from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Arte Pizza, opening soon next door
to Main Street Gourmet, features a
wood fired brick oven from Italy and
will specialize in thin crust pizza plus
entrees.
Hatties Books will host a book
signing by Michele Johnson from 5 p.m.
to 8 p.m. Michele, who lives on Sapelo
Island, has published an history of
Sapelo's families, Sapelo Island's Hog
Hammock. Also enjoy "He said beer,
she said wine" at Hatties and True
Vine next door.
French Easter bunnies are in the
house at The Market on Newcastle.
New furniture is arriving weekly and a
new shipment of antiques is just in so
stroll on down. Also check out the new
website at www.marketonnewcastle.
com.
Cunningham Jewelers will be
open for casual browsing. Get a head
start on Easter, Mother's Day, and
graduation gift shopping; check out the
bridal registry; and take 10% off all
pearl purchases for Easter and Moth
er's Day.
As always Color Me Happy is hop-
pin'. First Friday features Ladies Night
with Chick Flicks (Grease) and Paint
Chips. On Tuesday, April 7 from 5:30
p.m. until 7:30 p.m. go to Color Me
and make a parade banner for the
Georgia Army National Guard Troops
who are being deployed to Afghanistan.
The parade is scheduled Friday, April
10, 10:45 between Gloucester and Bay
Streets down Gloucester to City Hall.
Enjoy "He said beer, she said wine"
at Inspirations along with live music
and potter Judi Marshall, who makes
those wonderful items featuring our sea
turtles. It's also gardener alert night:
Marilyn will feature vintage watering
cans and vintage gardening books. She
will have ideas and gifts on tap for Eas
ter and Mother's Day.
Brown's Antiques will be offering
wine and cheese, specials and a gift
certificate drawing.
Great Mother's Day, Easter or anni
versary gifts come in the form of an
Artsy Studio and Gallery portrait.
Jessie Smith offers beautiful oil on can
vas or color pencil on paper of people as
well as pets which can be done from a
current photograph.
Indulge at Beauty and Skin Friday
Home Decor & More
j^pril Sli owers Bring Mag I I owers!
’"A"mla<|e Walering Cans & Cardening Boole
u Icleas for Easier anti Motlier s I
Antiques' Sliabby^HiicJfRe^purposed Furnishings^ccessoriestaild 1 Lighting!
i ^^1413 Newcastle Street« Brunswick » 912-265-5,6.6^1^'—
from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Brow services will
be offered at 25% off that night. Facials
will be 25% off for the entire month of
April. Alice will introduce her new skin
care line, SkinCeuticals, and will have
new Spring products from bareMiner-
als.
For Easter Ned Cash Jewelers is
featuring a wide selection of beautiful
crosses.
Don't forget "He said beer, she said
wine" at True Vine, Ned Cash Jewel
ers, Inspirations and Hatties Books.
□
Sapelo resident’s book captures history
of Island's Hog Hammock
By Pamela Permar Shierling
Michele Nicole John
son is a tall, striking look
ing woman with an air
of calm that most likely
results from having to
adjust to a Navy father
whose career required
the family to move fre
quently.
Michele's book, Sapelo
Island's Hog Hammock,
has been recently pub
lished by Arcadia Pub
lishing and is the latest
book in the publisher's
Images of America series.
She first went to Sapelo for a vaca
tion retreat in 2001 never dreaming
that she would eventually marry a
Sapelo man descended from one of the
Island's oldest Gullah-Geechee fami
lies.
"I met my husband in 2003. We
dated for two years and married in
2005," she said. "I could not and cannot
imagine my husband living anywhere
else. He is a Sapelo man. This is where
I have made my home."
Michele is a graduate of Stanton
College Prep School in Jacksonville;
she earned a bachelor's degree from
the University of Florida. She won a
national journalism award and several
state and local awards for her column
writing for The Florida Times-Union
in Jacksonville; worked as an assistant
features editor at The Greenville News
in South Carolina and as the arts edi
tor at The Charlotte Observer in North
Carolina.
"My writing has always been about
my family; family history and family
issues," Michele said. "My father-in-
law, Fred Johnson, was a living history
book and he was the inspiration for this
book. He saved everything, obituaries,
photographs, programs, newspapers
and receipts."
"He understood the
value of preserving these
documents and remem
bering the past, and he
enjoyed sharing his fam
ily history," she said. Mr.
Johnson died Feb. 14,2008
at the age of 94.
"I wrote it for Sapelo's
next generation. I want
them to know that the
issues they face are not
unique to them. I want
them to realize that their
ancestors found a way
through their problems and that today's
young people can do the same," she
said.
Highlights of Sapelo Island's Hog
Hammock, include images which have
never been published and were donated
from private collections of local resi
dents and descendents of former resi
dents and island workers.
The images show a dimension of
Sapelo Island family and community
life that has seldom been seen.
While most of the books about Sape
lo show the black community in their
roles as laborers for white landowners,
Sapelo Island's Hog Hammock reveals
portraits and photos of families and
people fishing and playing together.
The photographs also tell the story of
the first black land owners right after
slavery ended including the church
es and fraternal organizations on the
island. The book also includes images
of the manuscript of Bilali Muhammad,
the African slave driver and patriarch
of nearly all of Sapelo's black descen
dants.
When Michele married she and her
two teenagers moved to Sapelo. "I think
they have begun to realize they live in a
very special place," she said. "I realized
it long ago when I first stepped on the
Turn to Page 18 - Sapelo history
Michele Nicole Johnson