Viewpoint Vault

I was born in Savannah and am a naative of Darien. The Georgia Coast played a big point in our history. Fort King George, 1721, which predates Savannah, was just down the road.

Many folks thought Darien was burned by Sherman, but it was burned in 1863 by the 54th Massachusetts who came over from St. Simons Island and looted and burned the town. Darien was not important militarily and strategically. It was, according to Ken Burns, just mean-heartedness. The movie Glory documents this but it was inglorious. No wonder the McIntosh folks said, "Yankee" was just the second half of a compound word!

Colonel Robert Shaw was in charge of the  troops. He wrote his mother, an abolitionist in Boston, that he hated to burn "the pretty little town." He was killed not long after in South Carolina. His mother after the war sent money to my Episcopal Church, St. Andrews, for aid in rebuilding.

My father's mother died when he was an infant, and I was born in Savannah and am a native of Darien. The Georgia Coast played a big part in our history. Fort King George,1721, which predates Savannah, was just down the road.Many folks thought Darien was burned by Sherman, but it was burned in 1863 by the 54th Massachusetts who came over from St. Simons Island and looted and burned the town. Darien was not important militarily or strategically. It was, quoting Ken Burns, just mean-heartedness. The movie “Glory” documents this but it was inglorious. No wonder the McIntosh folks said, “Yankee” was just the 2nd half of a compound word!Col Robert Shaw was in charge of the troops. He wrote his mother, an abolitionist in Boston, that he hated to burn “the pretty little town.” He was killed not long after in South Carolina. His mother, after the war, sent money to my Episcopal Church, St. Andrew’s, for aid in rebuilding

.My father’s mother died wmy grandfather, Austin Young, lived with his children for a while in the “Old Tabby,” Ashantilly, the home of Sapelo’s Thomas Spalding. Granddaddy’s father, George Young, 51, a farmer and wheelwright, and his grandmother’s father, William Bryan Nelson, 51, also a farmer, were both captured in a raid on August 2, 1864, and taken to northern prisons. They had to walk home after the war. This story about the “23 Old Men” is on a historical marker near Eulonia and is documented in my friend, Buddy Sullivan’s book, Early Days on the Georgia Tidewater.Austin was the first elected Mayor of Darien, and many people came to him to learn about their family history. He lived to be 101. Then they came to my father, Robert Austin Young, Jr. and later to me for knowing local yore! My 6th grade teacher, Rena Poppel Thompson, taught us Georgia History, and we made magnificent scrapbooks. I donated mine to the Lower Altamaha Historical Society.I twice served as President of the LAHS. Miss Bessie Lewis was McIntosh County’s local historian. She wrote a book To Save Their Souls (long out of print.) She had a weekly article, “At Random,” in the Darien News and once wrote about my friends and our treehouse! She published many local booklets.Mattie Gladstone was a President of the LAHS, and I am proud to have worked with her, and many others, on our book, “Cemeteries of McIntosh County.”Margaret Davis Cate was Glynn County’s historian and served as the Postmistress for Sea Island. My husband Dyson loved talking history with her. She was working on a diorama for Fort Frederica about the “Battle of Bloody Marsh.” She told him she needed an example of the pink lichen, found on our live oak trees. (quercus virginiana) Therefore, he cut a big stump and placed it on the counter at the Sea Island Post Office. She chortled and put postage on it and sent it on to the Smithsonian so the scene would be authentic!She published many pamphlets and the book with photographs by Orin Sage Wightman, Early Days of Coastal Georgia, is a treasure. When I lived on St. Simons, I collaborated with Mildred Nix Huie. We formed a partnership and did “step on” bus tours for the local hotels. With our “Tidewater Tours” we lectured and visited many places on St. Simons and Jekyll.My mother’s family was from Washington County, and her Dudley grandparent had to take their horse and hide out in the nearby swamp when Sherman marched through Middle Georgia. I donated a letter to the History Museum in Sandersville written by her other grandfather, Joseph Harrison, to his mother.On Christmas Day in 1864, he wrote home, “I hear the Yankees has taken Savannah. I pray it is not so.”

Lloyd Young Flanders is a native of Darien. She holds degrees from Wesleyan, Mercer and Georgia Southern. She lived on St. Simons for thirty-three years and taught in the Glynn County Schools for thirty-one years - the last eleven years in the Gifted Program.

Upon retirement she returned to Darien. She was married to Dyson for fifty years, and they taught Elderhostel programs, took people on tours to Sapelo Island and sent out Christmas cards from all their travels.

Always interested in Georgia History, Lloyd now resides in Magnolia Manor on the coast in Richmond Hill.

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