Untamed: The Wildest Woman in America and the Fight for Cumberland Island (37 page)

epilogue

stubborn sand

Genetic tests confirmed that at least two additional hatchlings born on Cumberland Island during Carol’s tenure have returned home to nest.

Ray, the blind alligator living in the wilderness, has grown to fourteen feet, thanks to plentiful meals of feral hog.

The Carnegies at Greyfield Inn continue to run commercial tours to Plum Orchard mansion and the First African Baptist Church. So does the National Park Service.

Over 53,000 sea turtles drowned in shrimp nets last year in the United States. In 2014, conservation groups filed a lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service for allowing the shrimp industry to continue to kill tens of thousands of endangered species each year.

In 2014, the feds designated 739 miles of beach—nearly the entire Southeastern coastline—as critical habitat for sea turtles. Their offshore waters remain unprotected.

The navy will open its underwater warfare range in 2014. In 2013, a judge ruled against twelve conservation organizations seeking to halt construction.

At age seventy-two, Carol continues to study sea turtles, wade into gator holes, and fight for wilderness on land and in the ocean.

author’s note

In writing this book, I conducted numerous interviews, attended countless island gatherings, and undertook extensive research for nineteen years.

Carol Ruckdeschel endured hundreds of hours of interviews and tolerated a tagalong for nearly two decades. She also provided unfettered access to decades of field notes, journals, photographs, publications, and correspondence.

I also spent a lot of time with Bob Shoop, both in the field searching for critters and on the porch drinking White Peggies. He is deeply missed.

I am indebted to the Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Candler families for sharing their stories. I listened to audio recordings that Lucy Ferguson made a few years before her death, and I interviewed dozens of island residents and Carnegie heirs; some asked to remain anonymous.

I interviewed U.S. Congressman Jack Kingston in his D.C. office, and I consulted National Park Service regional directors and staffers at the Atlanta headquarters. I met with several park superintendents in St. Marys, including Art Frederick, Jerre Brumbelow, Denis Davis, and Fred Boyles. Many park rangers also contributed on-the-ground experiences and anecdotes, especially Charlotte Fries, Renee Noe, Pauline Saville, Newton Sikes, Don Starkey, and Zack Kirkland.

Betty McKee bravely recounted a painful chapter of her life. Patti Hagan also powerfully recapitulated her experiences with Louie McKee.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution
reporters
Charlie Seabrook and Robert Coram—and
Florida Times-Union
reporter Gordon Jackson —were invaluable sources of island insight. Dr. Steven Hochman helped immensely with the Jimmy Carter material. Mark Dodd and Brad Winn at the Georgia Department of Natural Resources were also treasure troves of knowledge and experience, and so were renowned sea turtle experts Dr. Jim Richardson, Dr. Jeanette Wyneken, Dr. Terry Norton, Dr. Jeff Seminoff, and Brian Shamblin. I tagged along with several Cumberland Island turtle technicians on daily beach patrols, and their firsthand observations from the field were essential.

Calvin Lang, Dr. Lisa Ligouri, the Boone family, Clint Guidry, and John Wallace generously offered generations of shrimping wisdom and experience.

Hans Neuhauser, Bill Mankin, and Hal Wright patiently persevered through many interviews untangling the island’s political history.

Lum Pennington offered candid and heartfelt remembrances of John Pennington. Mike Kemph was immensely helpful in describing his father’s relationship with Carol.

Carol’s closest friends—Ann Mahoney, Jim Henry, Linda Armstrong, Creighton Cutts, Moses Funderburk, Roger Buerki, Sheila Willis, and Rebecca Bell—were extraordinarily generous in sharing their thoughts and correspondence. So were Carolyn Rader and Leslie Henry.

Many others—both on and off the record—related their stories, experiences, and insights.

I relied heavily on Joyce Seward’s oral histories of island residents, recorded for the National Park Service. I used legal records on file with the Camden County District Courthouse, Camden County Sheriff’s Department, the United States District Court, the National Park Service, and the National Marine Fisheries Service. I also used historical documents and records on file at Cumberland Island National Seashore, the Georgia Department of Archives, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the Georgia Division for Historic Preservation, the University of Georgia Library, the Carter Center, the National Park Service’s Southeast Regional Office, and two decades of my own notes and recordings.

Some of the other material in this book was taken from direct interviews and conversations while I lived on Cumberland Island in the mid-1990s as a volunteer park ranger and from numerous subsequent visits. Other material was taken from oral histories, written accounts, and other sources. The fact that a particular individual is quoted or discussed in this book should not be taken as an indication that any such individual approves of, endorses, or is otherwise associated with the author, the publisher, or the book.

Please respect the privacy of Carol Ruckdeschel and other island residents. If you’re interested in helping Carol protect sea turtles and wilderness on Cumberland Island, visit
wildcumberland.org
.

acknowledgments

Thanks to Christopher McDougall, Larry Weissman, and Sascha Alper for believing in this book, and to Morgan Entrekin for making it happen. Morgan’s guidance and the deft, thoughtful editing of Jamison Stoltz helped shape and sharpen the story.

Alan Cattier first encouraged me to visit Cumberland, and Bill Fox inspired me to write a book about it. Dan Sadowsky and Ken Edelstein eviscerated my first Cumberland feature and dared me to go deeper.

The encouragement of Eric Diener, Christie Posner, Andy Runkle, Mark and Anne Lundblad, Thomas Crowe, Rick Bass, Melissa Walker, Becky Bitzer, Jill Rios, Robert McGee, Rod Murphy, Mickey Mahaffey, Laura Dominkovic, Evan Bowers, and my colleagues at
Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine
buoyed me through stormy seas. Julia Green’s pointed critiques honored the narrative.

Dale Youngkin dragged me out of bed before sunrise to witness my first sea turtle hatch, and Gene Nicholson pushed me through all-night hikes to watch turtles nest. Sasha Greenspan was heroic, and her island insights were critical.

My family—especially Bill and Elaine Harlan, Barry and Betty Diznoff, and Jill Youse—has been incredibly patient and supportive. So has my five-year-old son, River, who skipped baseball games and birthday parties to hike with his dad on Cumberland.

My deepest gratitude goes to Carol, who courageously allowed me to rip the scabs off old wounds, splay open her innards, and dissect her life.

If there is any woman as strong as Carol, it is my wife, Emily, whose name was also written in the Cumberland sand when I proposed to her there fourteen years ago. Emily read countless versions of the manuscript, endured endless island treks, and anchored me throughout this book’s journey. Ultimately, she reminded me, this is a love story.