I just returned to Decator, GA from a week on Edisto Island, one of the sea islands off the SC coast. This is gullah land. Much of the island is a State park that includes Botany Bay Plantation Heritage Preserve. Before I came I pretty much knew nothing except for the fact that the grits I order from Marsh Hen Mill (formerly Geechie Boy) come from the island. The Island has managed to remain NOT upscale; no glitzy restaurants, no frills food or tourist shops. The Botany Bay beach is pristine and incredibly beautiful. You are not allowed to take anything you find on the beach, such as shells or fossilized shark's teeth. Nothing. There were plantations before the civil war, growing rice first and then cotton. The plantations were evacuated or abandoned during the war because the confederates said the island was too hard to defend. They weren't able to take all their slaves with them, so the slaves who remained became a village of sorts, for a whlle. There is a lovely little museum of island history. There's a learning center where the twins asked a million questions and were shown several different types of turtles. The big draw on the island for tourists and school group is the Serpentarium. Lots of venemous snakes, among others, including open air displays, heavily fortified, where snakes had room to roam and swim and guests had paths to follow and gawk. South Carolina appears to have a LOT of snakes.
Our AirBnB was two blocks from the public beach. The back of the house looked out over the marsh with egrets flying in and out. ALL houses are on stilts. We ate fish almost every night. There appear to be two fish markets on the island, both family owned. It seems that flounder is king here. We had blackened flounder, flounder fish and chips, pan-fried flounder for dinners in and dinners out. Our last night was at a simple restaurant called the Sea Cow, so I guess there are manatees about. Their special that night was red snapper. Really great blackened. There was a Low Country boil on the menu. Very good cheese grits, better than expected collards, and some field peas that everyone liked, especially the two yr old among us. We were six adults and four kids under the age of 5, so going out was kind of an epic chaos, mitigated by the restaurant providing crayons and paper with games and pictures to color. Winning! All in all a fantastic vacation. My granddaughters got to meet their second cousins, the kids of my favorite nephew. And we lucked out with weather: mid-seventies and almost every day was sunny. In this humidity I have hair to spare.
Now back at my daughter's place. Surprise surprise she's learned to cook! She made blackened catfish one night that was really good, and on the island she made the best pulled pork I ever had. For my last few days on the east coast I plan to eat a lot of grouper and a lot of oysters. The giant market near her house literally has a GIANT ROOM with fish on all four sides. Staggering. Also twelve different types of collards, big, medium and baby sized. Also twelve different kinds of plantain.. The herbs are not sold in little bunches. They are sold in what appear to be whole bushes.
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