Ms. Billie Burn

There were sea-goin’ vessels that would come out here. If you were goin’ to Daufuskie, you’d go to Savannah, or Bluffton, or Hilton Head. You wouldn’t come from here. These are sailin’ vessels, with all the—brought in spices, and probably slaves, and everything else in here back in those days.

That was where the light shone, and it synchronized with a light that was on that concrete footing there, between the two little wineries. That was a tower about a hundred feet high. And that was the back range.

Train went down almost to what they called “Jimmy Lee’s Landing.” There was a little old shack down there, where they opened oysters. They’d bring oysters in and open ‘em up, and they’d take ‘em over to the public landin’, where the big house was. They had a large oyster-shuckin’ place over there.

Well, along that ditch goin’ over and toward the front of Flossie’s now, they raised rice. ‘Cause she said that the ricebirds got so bad, they ate the rice when it’s in its milky stage. Rice is in its milky stage before it gets firm, before it gets mature. And these ricebirds love that milky stage of the rice. And so, they just about eat it all up. So, they just had to quit doin’ rice, period.

Bateaus were very popular back in those days. Back in the 1920s, and even earlier. In fact, I guess that was the only bateau that was made on the island. People really did enjoy rowin’ ‘em because they were easy to row and they were lightweight.