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View a map showing all of Georgia’s major barrier islands.

Little Tybee Island hammocks (areas higher than their surroundings) have served as home sites for a handful of coastal residents. Native Americans probably used the area as evidenced by pottery shards and shell refuse mounds found on the island; colonists certainly lived on the hammocks. Ninteenth-century maps show home steads on the hammocks of Little Tybee and adjacent Beach Hammock. These residents primarily used the area for subsistence agriculture and isolated homes.

The relatively wild nature of Little Tybee prevails today despite several proposed uses that would have dramatically changed its character. During 1938 the state, with the support of a citizen’s group in Savannah, proposed developing a $ 600,000 state park. A bridge across Tybee Inlet, 150 cabins, bathhouses and boathouses, and a swimming pool were included in the plans.

The state park, however, did not materialize despite years of efforts. In 1955, the Laroche family sold the island to Franjo Inc. for $40,000. In 1957, the Georgia State Highway Department proposed constructing a bridge over Tybee Creek along with a causeway from Highway 80 and Lazaretto Creek to the island’s largest hammock. A spur route to the beach was to be built after development of the hammock.

In 1962, Franjo Inc. filed a bold request for permission to build a causeway to Little Tybee from Tybee across Tybee Inlet. As noted by the Savannah News-Press, “the causeway would block off the Tybee Creek Channel, causing a new beach to form on the east side of the proposed roadway… Tybee Creek would be rerouted behind Little Tybee into Wassaw Sound.” The controversy surrounding the original proposal then resurfaced as citizens demanded more work on existing roads to Tybee rather than any new road; by 1965, plans for the causeway were dropped despite support from the governor and the highway department.

Franjo Inc. then announced plans for immediately developing Little Tybee into a privately owned beachfront resort with access only by water or air. Plans were made to rename the island but were eventually dropped.

Soon thereafter Little Tybee was purchased by the Kerr-McGee Corporation of Okalahoma. In 1968, the company applied for permission to strip-mine phosphate from deposits 40 feet below the marsh surface. Public protests over the proposal resulted in the state legislature passing the Marshlands Protection Act, which established legal safeguards for all tidal marshlands in Georgia.

In 1982, Little Tybee was incorporated into the federal Coastal Barrier Resources System. Being included in this system means that any construction or development is ineligible for federal subsidies (such as federal flood insurance, infrastructure assistance, or disaster aid).

In 1990, Kerr-McGee Corporation, the Nature Conservancy, and the State of Georgia reached an agreement that provides for the island’s protection. Kerr-McGee donated Little Tybee Island, including Cabbage Island, valued at $6 million to the Nature Conservancy with the understanding that the property would be in turn sold to the State of Georgia. An anonymous gift of $1 million enabled the state to purchase the island in 1991, and the Nature Conservancy used the proceeds to establish a tall grass prairie reserve in the Midwest. The state Department of Natural Resources manages the islands as a wilderness preserve.

Little Tybee and Cabbage islands shelter a variety of animal life and provide a safe wintering site for the threatened piping plover. This tiny coastal bird, which gets its name from its bell-like call, migrates to southern barrier islands each winter. Wilson’s plovers and American oyster-catchers, listed as rare in Georgia, nest on Little Tybee. The island’s beaches also provide safe nesting for the threatened loggerhead sea turtle.

Little Tybee and Cabbage islands are important to Georgia’s coast in many ways. They are essential links in the marine ecosystem and provide a buffer between Savannah and occasionally angry seas.

By Tonya D. Clayton, Lewis A. Taylor, Jr., William J. Cleary, Paul E. Hosier, Peter H.F. Graber, William J. Neal, and Orrin H. Pilkey, Sr. in Living with the Georgia Shore.

Tagged with: Barrier Islands in Georgia

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