

Slave Cabins on Ossabaw Island
On my book research trip to Savannah in October, I spent a day on a magnificent barrier island called Ossabaw Island. It is reachable only by boat and has a history that stretches back to when the Spaniards arrived, leaving behind heritage breeds of burros and pigs whose descendants still graze in the marshes. But I digress. Starting in the late 1700′s, rice plantations were established on Ossabaw. Today, the plantations no longer exist, but thanks to restoration efforts, it


Colonial Burial Vaults
This past week I was in Savannah, Georgia to research a new middle-grade (or should I say “grave”) novel. This is my first co-writing adventure, and my writing partner, Susan Montanari, and I had lots of fun learning about Colonial burial practices. Our story, loosely based on a Savannah ghost legend, takes place in the early 1800′s. Savannah’s oldest existing cemetery, Colonial Cemetery, dates back to the mid-1700′s. One of its most interesting architectural features is i