SKU: 58117364225

Voices from St. Simons: Personal Narratives of an Island's Past

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Voices from St. Simons: Personal Narratives of an Island's PastMile for mile, St. Simons Island one of Georgia's Golden Isles boasts as much history as any community on the East Coast. Originally an Indian hunting ground, it has been occupied or invaded by Spanish missionaries, British settlers, planters and their slaves, the Union army, the United States Navy, and developers and tourists. The seventeen narratives in Voices from St. Simons represent an "oral archaeological dig," writes editor Stephen Doster. Many

Mile for mile, St. Simons Island--one of Georgia's Golden Isles--boasts as much history as any community on the East Coast. Originally an Indian hunting ground, it has been occupied or invaded by Spanish missionaries, British settlers, planters and their slaves, the Union army, the United States Navy, and developers and tourists. The seventeen narratives in Voices from St. Simons represent an "oral archaeological dig," writes editor Stephen Doster. Many of those interviewed are descendants of masters and slaves. Surprisingly, they speak of racial issues with greater compassion than bitterness. But the volume encompasses much more than that. Here, the people of the Golden Isles recall waving farewell to Paul Redfern when his airplane took off from a sandy beach on his ill-fated attempt to outdo Charles Lindbergh. They describe jumping into a fast boat and riding to the rescue of merchant sailors torpedoed by a German U-boat. They tell of playing childhood sports--and dominating the competition--alongside future NFL legend Jim Brown, who was raised on St. Simons. They remember piloting the ship that, due to a helmsman's error, hit the Sidney Lanier Bridge, causing one of the worst such disasters in American history. "In some respects, the narratives reveal a plot of ground that time forgot," Doster writes. "They present the reflections of a cross-section of ordinary people who lived during extraordinary times."

Stephen Doster was born in 1959 in Kingston-Upon-Thames, England, and moved with his parents and four siblings to St. Simons Island, Georgia, in the early 1960s. His ties to the island date to the early 1900s, when his father's family vacationed there before the construction of a mainland causeway. His grandparents permanently moved to St. Simons in the 1940s, building on the grounds where a Spanish mission once stood. Growing up on the island, Doster remembers the place as a "Mayberry with tides," where he and neighborhood kids played baseball on the beach, sneaked into a resort hotel pool after football practices, and explored the island's woods and tidal creeks. His early recollections include seeing navy hurricane hunters fly over the Atlantic in search of storms before the days of satellites, viewing open Indian graves during an archaeological dig, evacuating the island at Hurricane Dora's approach, and returning to the destruction left in its wake. After graduating from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in 1983, Doster headed to Nashville, Tennessee where he has lived and worked since. Though he has been a resident of Nashville for over 20 years, St. Simons has always been close to his heart. In 2002, John F. Blair published his debut novel, Lord Baltimore, about a young man's journey on the Georgia coast between Savannah and St. Simons. Voices from St. Simons is essentially Doster's effort to preserve the legacy of the area. For decades, he heard "local residents utter the famous sentiment that someone should have recorded so-and-so's recollections before she died." Reading the obituary of a former elementary school teacher inspired him to set up face-to-face and telephone interviews that began his oral archaeological dig. Doster works at Vanderbilt University and lives in Nashville with his wife, Anne.



Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Blair - Blair
Published: 03/01/2008
ISBN: 9780895873576
Pages: 259
Weight: 0.65lbs
Size: 7.80h x 5.00w x 0.90d
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SKU: 58117364225

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Karacm
Draper, US
★★★★★ 1
DO NOT BUY.
Update: Amazon refunded me the price of the mattress as I can’t really send it back now that it isn’t compressed and we do not live anywhere near a UPS store. I reached out to the seller as it is listed as having a 5 year warranty. The seller has so far only initially offered me a 10% refund, so not honoring their warranty at all. I have refused this and asked for either a full replacement or a replacement section for the one that is defective. We will see if they stand by their warranty! The package came SO compressed that one of the foam inserts never recovered. We opened it according to instructions, let it sit for 72 hours, and edges of foam were all so stuck together they did not rise properly. I had to take every piece out of both covers, manually pull apart the edges, and then let it rise again. We tried everything to get the third insert to be like the others- put it in a warm environment, put it in the bathroom where there is some more damp air, and still isn’t like the other two. It feels different as well- softer than the other two pieces. It’s like it is a totally different foam. It doesn’t fill out the cover completely and it is consequently very uncomfortable and not useable as one whole section is softer and thinner than the rest. I would like to return it but not sure how now that it is not compressed. Would not buy this product again. Very frustrating.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2025
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Kristin
West Palm Beach, US
★★★★★ 5
Firm but not hard
Color: Grey, Size: 4inch-Tw"
I sleep on this on the floor about 50% of the time because it’s so much more comfortable than my actual mattress. It doesn’t leave me with back or hip pain, it doesn’t sink so you never feel the ground like with an air mattress. It folds up to store under my real bed or I can fold in into a chair if I need. I did have to use a hair dryer to fluff up a few of the corners because they were taking a long time after opening but that’s to be expected.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2026
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Jane
Omaha, US
★★★★★ 4
Good mattress for company
Color: White, Size: S06-Single
This mattress is great for when you have a crowd coming to visit. It's easy to move around and it's pretty comfortable. I took it camping and slept well. It's not great as a chair unless you lean the back against a wall. Single bed sheets fit on it nicely.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2026
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Ethan
Massapequa, US
★★★★★ 5
Very faint smell for two days, but did not disturb my sleep.
I am 120 lbs and this feels to me more of a medium firm foam. It is very comfortable for laying on my back, but it hurts my hips when I lay on my side for a while. The cover is nice and velvety, and looks to be sturdy. It had a slight smell for two nights, but very faint enough that I was able to sleep on it the day it was delivered. The smell never woke me up, as the smell was very faint. The foam expanded to full size all over within hours, and has no uneven places.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2025
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Michelle
Carnegie, US
★★★★★ 3
MAYBE MOLDY
it’s a good little bed for if your ina pinch but it produces moisture whenever it’s in a cold room so it could attract mold eventually just a fair warning
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Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2026

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