The Beauty of Brown--Ricefields

[TEPaul]

"What a horrible thing to be known for - no wonder they switched islands and went private. I'd rather be from Whycross personally...but I'd take Eulonia if you gave it to me!"


Adam:

I just love linguistics, always have. Have you ever heard of a Georgia Island called Sapelo (it was owned for a long time by the Reynolds family of Tabacco fame)? You can only get to it by boat and there are a group of locals who've been there for maybe up to 200 years who have a form of language which is totally fascinating. As far as the best linguists know there is nothing left like it in the world other than on a simiilar island off Brazil that you can only get to by boat where the locals speak the very same thing. It is totally beautiful to listen to---it's almost like they're semi-singing.

[TEPaul]

"It can happen. She was probably from Daufuskie, where they speak a dialect known as Gullah. Around Savannah (including Isle of Wight, Riceboro, and surrounds) they speak a dialect known as Geechee. It can be great entertainment to be in the presence of you yankees when you run into this stuff. I am going to email you something"


JohnC:

In years past I played a ton of golf at Gulf Stream in Delray Florida. Many of the caddies were these black guys who would show up in the morning on their bicycles. One of them I got a lot (I generally asked for him). He was just one of the most remarkable people I ever met and one day we started talking about this kind of linguistic stuff and he told me he still knew a form of pigeon English that his ancestors developed when slaves just so the white man couldn't figure out what they were saying. Sometimes I would ask him something and he'd launch into an answer in this dialect and then tell me later what he was saying. It was totally fascinating to me. A few times we got so into it we almost forgot about the golf.

By the way, I've heard of Gullah and Geechee. They're mentioned in one of my books on the history of the English language. This particular book is very interesting in some of the things it says about how some of the southern accents actually developed.

[Adam Russell]

Tom,

My father dabbles in folk art making seat bottoms for chairs and eats that kind of stuff up, so yes, I have heard that beautiful dialect. Sapelo has a very underrated golf course as well. Seems like I watched a special on PBS about a dialect like you describe but further north around Virginia on some island. Incredible stuff. Parts of my family are from Amish country in Ohio and Northwest Mass. (French Canadians) and the difference in range of vocabulary and word structure from my own kind of speech is incredible.

[TEPaul]

JohnC:

By the way, have you read the 2006 book "Driving With the Devil (Southern Moonshine, Detroit Wheels, and the Birth of NASCAR)"?

It's some incredible stuff, particularly with the likes of the Scotch-Irish heritage of Georgia, particularly Dawsonviille Ga. and some of the best of the moonshine runners who were the best of the first stock car drivers that eventually morphed into NASCAR. I actually remember the Flock brothers on the old beach/road track at Daytona in the early 1950s. The real irony is, had it not been for Henry Ford who was a dedicated prohibitionist and his development of the amazing early V-8 Ford it probably never would have or could have happened like it did.

By the way, the first car I ever had was a 1940 V-8 Ford stationwagon (wood siding). Can you imagine what that would be worth in good condition today?

[Tim Gavrich]

Bumping this to the top...

I was just perusing Google Maps and I came across a golf course that had no label along I-95 in Georgia.  I realized, after a little searching, that it was Ricefields.  How is the place doing?  I've heard next to nothing about it in well over a year and it looks like nothing of it has been mentioned on GCA in about that long, which is disquieting given the enthusiasm the place received early on in this thread.  I sure hope it's surviving; it looks too fascinating not to end up working out.

[Kris Shreiner]

Tim,

I went and visited the property 2 years ago. It was struggling, but still operational on all levels. As is the case with these ventures, the owner/management teams need to have the contacts, vision and deep pockets to make it successful.

Cheers,
Kris