The Place Called Home O

Of all the words in the world’s languages, one of the sweetest is “home.”

It reminds us of joys, of beloved people in our upbringing and special moments like birthday celebrations, Christmas, and fancy Easter clothes.

I have a friend who was raised in an orphanage. When Mike, who had relatives, talks about “home,” it is a beautiful brick campus in South Carolina where he played, was loved, memorized Bible scriptures, learned his ABCs, and had weekly picnics with “his family.”

He glows when he talks about it. “Every year, we have a family reunion and I get to see all my brothers and sisters. I had a wonderful home when I was growing up.”

Mike made a home where he was, as did island legend, Neptune Small.

Tink and I were at The Lodge on Sea Island a few weeks ago. We try to never miss the bagpiper who appears at 5 p.m., to play down the sun over the beautiful grounds. Depending on which bagpiper you get, you will hear varying stories of the homeland of Scotland and how important the bagpipes were.

The tribes were always scattered hither and yon, so the bagpiper would play to notify all the people of urgent matters. There was special music for a wedding, another for a death, and yet another for war. From all corners, the people hurried to gather where the bagpiper was and learn the news.

One evening, we listened as he told tales that are familiar to those who are Scottish or, like me, Scotch-Irish. A historian in Belfast, County Antrim, once told me when I was there to research my family that when those wayward travelers arrived in America, people would say, “Oh, you’re Irish,” when they heard the accent.

This angered the Scots who, against their will, had been placed in Northern Ireland by King James in an effort to overcome the Catholicism in Ireland. They were resentful. “NO!” they spat back. “Scotch-Irish.”

As I thought of my original homeland from whence cometh my people almost 300 years ago, I realized that The Lodge sets on land that was once a home to many. It was originally called The Orange Grove, then Retreat Plantation when bought by William Page. Inherited by his daughter, Matilda, it would keep the name, Retreat, but sometimes be referred to as King’s when she married Thomas Butler King, a New Englander (Please note that I did not say “Yankee” since I am married to a New Englander.)

The Kings were known for their kindness and goodness to everyone. On the plantation was even a hospital which was overseen by Sukey Small and her daughter, Miley. Sukey was the mother of the most precious, noble Neptune. His legend looms large over St. Simons Island.

Neptune Small is a legend for a Hollywood movie. Like William Wallace, of Braveheart, he is true. Neptune was the servant to Henry Lord Page King. He accompanied “Lordy” into Civil War battle and stuck to his side until he was killed in the Battle of Fredricksburg in 1862. Neptune, heartbroken over the death of his best friend, brought him back home where ‘Lordy’ was eventually laid to rest in the Christ Church Cemetery after an original burial in Savannah.

Sweet-hearted Neptune could have remained on the island but chose, instead, to accompany another King son, Cuyler, into battle. Both survived and returned to St. Simons Island. Neptune, who, like the rest of us, loved the feeling of home, settled back on the island.

Several years after the Civil War, he purchased eight acres on St. Simons Island. When he died in 1907, he left a request that his acreage be turned into a park — Neptune Park near the Pier.

Meanwhile, the King’s stately home, built in the 1790s by Thomas Spalding, was destroyed by fire in 1907. In the 1920s, Howard Coffin, founder and developer of Sea Island, bought the Retreat property for a golf resort. The Lodge, my husband’s favorite place, which resides on that property, still has tabby remnants of the estate, scattered about the land.

King’s Way, Retreat Avenue, Mallory Street (a King daughter whose name was spelled Mallery), and Neptune Park all honor the early islanders.

Several years ago, The Lodge built several cottages on property. Each one is name for an island historical figure including: Spalding Cottage, Mallery Cottage, Anna Matilda Cottage, and Neptune Cottage.

Neptune, who lived to be 75, returned home and built a comfortable life, owning land on St. Simons and in Brunswick. He is buried on grounds that once was the Retreat Plantation.

It touches my heart that such an extraordinary man is remembered on his home ground with a cottage named after him. May Neptune Small never be forgotten.