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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