NOTE: It appears your browser does not support scripting (javascript).Scripting is required to use this site. Please ensure scripting is enabled in your browser before continuing. If you have questions about enabling scripting on your browser please contact customer support at MyQuickResponse.
Scripting is required to use this site. Please ensure scripting is enabled in your browser before continuing. If you have questions about enabling scripting on your browser please contact customer support at MyQuickResponse.
Wishbone-shaped - with marsh in its middle - Ossabaw Island is a unique natural preserve available to individuals and groups for ecological, scientific or cultural projects. The interior of the island is not open to the general public without permission, but its 10 miles of beach is accessible for hiking, birding, shelling, fishing, picnicking or the pleasure of just being there.
A grand historic procession of Indians, Spanish missionaries, plantation owners, African slaves and millionaires have left their footprints on the sands of Ossabaw. A Michigan physician acquired the island in 1923 as a winter residence. His daughter created the Ossabaw Foundation in 1961. The island became a retreat where creative individuals from a variety of disciplines came to exchange ideas and work without interruption. In the late 1970s, The Nature Conservancy of Georgia purchased an option and transferred ownership to the state.
Ossabaw became the first acquisition of the Heritage Trust Act of 1975, which protects it from development. The island is managed today by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, which oversees the delicate balance of diverse natural communities interlaced with more than 100 miles of dirt roads and trails. The population of thousands of deer and feral hogs roaming the island is kept in check with annual hunts granted by lottery.