Oglethorpe Oysters:

Marshing through time

Oglethorpe Oysters is a collaborative project between Oglethorpe Charter School in Savannah, Georgia and the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Georgia.

Our project is on oysters . Oysters are very important and have many uses. They give the smaller animals food and are very nutritious. Native Americans ate large amounts of oysters. People on barrier islands used those oysters to make houses and shelter. That’s why the houses you see here aren’t made of bricks or wood. They’re also used to filter water in the ocean. One single oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water. They also give shelter and protection to the smaller fish that live in the water. Finally, people like to eat them!

-I. Gonzalez

This project is funded by Oglethorpe Charter School and the Georgia Aquarium

Shell lined road on Ossabaw Island

Ossabaw Island

Ossabaw Island is a Georgia barrier island that is South from Wassaw Island. Ossabaw Island is Georgia’s third largest biggest barrier island. Eleanor “Sandy” West, sold the island to the State of Georgia in 1978, for half of what it was worth. It is protected by the Georgia Heritage Trust Act. That makes it so that it's only for education, research, and preservation. Ossabaw Island has over 5,000 years of human interaction, which makes it an ideal place to research or study oysters.

-K. Wright

OCS students in front of a Native American shell midden

Native American Use

The Guale were a historic Native American chiefdom of Mississippian culture located along the coast of Georgia. They lived on Sapelo, St. Catherines and Ossabaw Islands.

-J. Jordan and J. Letbetter

This is a Native American shell midden on Ossabaw Island, GA. A midden, as seen in the photo, is a pile of waste and remains which have historical significance. For example, on Ossabaw Island, the Guale tribe would use oysters as a food source. As a result, many oyster shells can be found in clumps around the island.

-S. Darke

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Elizabeth DuBose, Executive Director of the Ossabaw Island Foundation, explains shell middens and tabby.

African American oyster use on Georgia barrier islands

Tabby

Tabby is a building material composed of oyster shells, lime, sand, and water. It was made by mixing lime, sand, water, and oyster shells. The lime is created by burning oyster shells, and the mixture is then poured into molds to form walls, foundations, and other structures. It was utilized from the 1800s across Georgia's barrier islands, Tabby was commonly used in the construction of structures such as slave quarters and plantation houses. Tabby can still be seen today on Ossabaw Island, Wormsloe Plantation outside Savannah, the Horton-DuBignon House on Jekyll Island, the ruins of Spalding's plantation on Sapelo Island, and many other places along the coast.

-A. Blakey

Tabby from the Middle Place Plantation site on Ossabaw Island

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Explanation of the use of tabby molds.

-J. Hubbard

Ossabaw to Pin Point

Pin Point was settled in 1896. Freedmen came from Ossabaw, Green, and Skidaway islands. They were originally farmers. Pin Point is where they ran several coastal industries such as shrimping, oystering, and crabbing.

-B. Jones

Ossabaw Island

Hurricanes in the late 1800's forced the people farming on Ossabaw to start a new community in Savannah called Pin Point.

-M. Medhi

Pin Point

Pin Point was settled but not yet established in 1896 one year before 1897. It was formed by slaves that came from three different Islands which are Ossabaw Island, Green Island, and Skidaway Island. In 1897 they founded the Sweetfield of Eden Baptist Church in Pinpoint. It was a successor to the Hinder Me Not Church in Ossabaw. This church also served as a temporary school for the whole community.

-V. Estrada-Rios

The Pin Point Community

The People

The people of Pin Point opened the Bond and Anderson Seafood house in 1900. The A.S. Varn Crab and Oyster Factory followed and was closed in 1985.

-J. Smith

Oyster Bateau

The watermen of Pin Point rowed handmade Tuck Boats, or bateaus, out into the marsh which surrounds Pin Point to make their living on the river. They constructed their own nets, collected oysters, shrimp, and blue crab, and helped the renowned canning firm A.S. Varn & Sons, which was located at Pin Point from 1926 to 1985.

-F. Tatsinkou

Crab House

Hanif Haynes and Gail smith (pictured) are lifelong residents of the Pin Point community. They work at the Pin Point Heritage Museum and share their Gullah-Geechee culture with visitors.

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Gail Smith

Pin Point resident and educator

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Hanif Haynes

Pin Point resident and educator

Oyster Reproduction

Oysters reproduce through a process called broadcast spawning. They release millions of eggs into the water, where fertilization occurs.

-J. Harvey

E. Stalnaker

Temperature induced spawning at the UGA Oyster Hatchery on Skidaway Island

1) Spawn

Oyster life cycles by:

E. Berweiler, H. Warren-Jackson, E. Stalnaker, E. Willis

Temperature induced spawning at the UGA Oyster Hatchery on Skidaway Island

1) Spawn

Description: Sperm and eggs are released into the water by two parents
Time took to fertilize: 0-6 hours
The abiotic factors are: The water current drifting the eggs and sperm apart, the temperature and the salinity of the water.
The Biotic factors are: Other animals eating the eggs and sperm
They prefer spawning when the water is 20-30C (68-86f) and when the salinity is above 10 ppt

Oyster life cycles by:

E. Berweiler, H. Warren-Jackson, E. Stalnaker, E. Willis

2) Larvae (Veliger)

Description: After the eggs get fertilized, they turn into free swimming larvae.
Time to next stage: 12-24 hours
Abiotic factors: Current (they drift), salinity, oxygen, and temperature
Biotic factors: Getting eaten and not having enough plankton to eat for themselves.

3) Pediveliger

The juvenile stage is also known as the pediveliger stage. Pedi sounds abnormal, right? Well, pedi is a prefix that is originally latin! Pedi actually means foot! How is that relevant to oysters? In their juvenile state, oysters grow a foot. They use the new limb in order to dig down into the substrate and move around slightly.

4) Spat

Spat are baby oysters that have settled from the water and attached themselves to a hard surface, like old shells or rocks.

Size: less than a millimeter

Age:less than 12 months

Abiotic factors: Temperature, salinity, available substrate, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, water current, and emersion time (tidal length)

Biotic factors: Predators, competition for space, food, disease, and substrate quality

Spat settling in the Skidaway River. Photo: C. Atkinson

5) Adult

As an adult, the oyster often changes their gender at a certain part of their life since they are protandrous hermaphrodites. Also, it takes them roughly three years to get to 3 inches, but it can vary based off of water conditions.

Size: 3-5 inches, but can grow up to 8 inches (pacific oysters can grow to 10-12 inches)

Time: It takes about one year to get to this stage

H. Warren-Jackson

Living Shorelines

Oysters provide ecosystem services when used for living shorelines. Living shorelines are made by using oyster shells to make oyster reefs that create strong barriers against waves. Living shorelines are made by providing oyster shells for oysters to attach to. When the baby oysters attach to the shell, they make a reef. The oyster reefs help stop erosion by blocking waves and holding the soil in place. Oysters also clean the water by filtering it and provide a home for marine life. Their shells form natural protection for the coast. By filtering water, they help improve water quality. Many sea creatures rely on oysters for shelter. By building oyster reefs instead of walls we can provide habitat and improve water quality.

-T. Williams

Modelling a living shoreline at Skidaway Island State Park

Living shoreline at Skidaway Island State Park in Savannah, GA and St. Simons Island (The Current), resepctively.

Right: A living shoreline installed by SSU grad students along the Skidaway River. Note how the spartina and sediment are accumulating behind the shell reef.

How do living shorelines work?

Living shorelines work by altering the water's force. Whereas in a flat concrete wall the force of waves are hitting head on and then sends the waves to the sides, eroding around the barrier and making them fall over.

Successful Living Shorelines

This is St. Simons Island Living Shoreline over the years. unlike other sea walls that break down, Living shorelines build up. Oysters are attracted to attach to hard surfaces with nutrients and other oyster shells (even dead ones) have a lot of calcium, which is perfect to lure more. as shown in the photo on the left, the oysters build up and rebuild the shoreline.

E. Willis

Making Living Shorelines

Bagging oyster shells

The GA DNR and the University of Georgia have supplied the knowledge, workspace, and materials to create living shorelines using bagged shell and wire cage methods.

Creating oyster cages

OCS students have created 35 m of living shoreline in 2024, 2025, and 2026. The 2026 shell was used for a living shoreline on Sapelo Island, GA.

Bagged shell

The Coastal Conservation Association of Georgia has helped with memberships and advocacy for OCS students in 2024 and 2025.

Cost of living shoreline vs. traditional methods on Sapelo Island

Living shorelines are not only better for the environment, they are less expensive than hard armoring as well!

Data: Georgia DNR

-Graphs by K. Cruz and V. Estrada-Rios

Cost of living shoreline vs. traditional methods on Little St. Simons Island

There are currently 11 living shorelines on the Georgia Coast from Tybee Island to Cumberland Island.

-K. Cruz and V. Estrada-Rios

Living Shorelines and Shoreline Stabilization

This is an example of the erosion that can be stopped when using a Living shoreline. This is the erosion on Ossabaw's south end. This should be getting a living shoreline installed in 2027 so it still has a year of erosion ahead of it. We mapped this using a GPS so that we can see in the future how a Living shoreline affects it.

Text: E. Willis/ Photo: D. Cuttray

Mapping the Shore

To map the shore , we stayed a pole length away from the edge to stay safe and stay consistent with the mesurements we made on the shore. we measured using a yard long string that is tied between the two poles. To do this we leapfrogged each other until we got 9 m away from our last marked spot. One student is holding a GPS, that GPS tells us the latitude,longitude, and the height of the spot we mark on the shoreline. This is all written down by another student who is using a clip board and sheet of paper to write down each latitude, longitude, and height so we can graph it down later on google maps.

E. Willis

The northern GA Coast

Ossabaw Island

South End

The Tybee Oyster Company's farm

Oyster Aquaculture

The Tybee Oyster Company and the E.L. McIntosh and Sons Oyster Company are two family-owned companies that are farming oysters on the Georgia Coast.

Tybee Oyster Company

The first company to use floating cages to farm oysters. The company was founded by a former U.S. Navy pilot Perry Solomon and an educator at the Tybee Maritime Academy Laura Solomon. They are able to produce oysters that taste good and look good for restaurants that sells oysters.

-A. Gosha

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Image from gpb.org

McIntosh Oysters

This is a family-owned oyster farm located in Townsend, Georgia. The McIntosh family has been working on the water for almost 50 years. They first started as crabbers until they transitioned into an oyster farm. They are a Gullah-Geechee family from Harris Neck.

-T. Moore and I. Oberhelman

McIntosh and Sons Oyster Company focuses on cultivating oysters using environmentally friendly methods. Their practices contribute to the conservation of the local marine habitat. Their oysters are known for the flavor and are served in restaurants like The Grey in Savannah.

-A. Hunter and R. Brantley

Data collected from Tybee Oyster Co. field trip on March 4, 2025

-M. Davis

Water quality data from the Bull River leading to Wassaw Sound.

-M. Davis

Bull River to Wassaw Sound Water Quality Map

Class of 2025

Class of 2026

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Acknowledgements

This project represents the work of not only Oglethorpe Charter School eighth graders, but the many adults who pitched in. As Captain Mike Neal says, "There is a lot to this environment... and I want to share the beauty of Coastal Georgia with others." Mike is not alone in that sentiment. It takes a village. Thanks to those that make up ours. Much gratitude to Captain Mike and Captain Kiernan for getting us to where we are going safely and sharing your knowledge. Thanks to David Jones, Gail Smith, and Hanif Haynes at the Pin Point Heritage Museum for doing the good work at Pin Point and treating OCS students like family. Some of them are! Thanks to Elizabeth DuBose, Mark Frissell, and Robin Gunn at the Ossabaw Island Foundation for your longtime and enthusiastic support of Oglethorpe students on Ossabaw. We are lucky to have many oyster enthusiasts, academics, and researchers in the state. Thanks to shellfish biologists Tom Bliss and John Pelli at the University of Georgia Shellfish lab as well as Cameron Brinton at the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. We appreciate you for accommodating us with supplies, methods, knowledge and and schedules. Thanks also to Ron Winders of the Coastal Conservation Association of Georgia for helping out on field trips and CCA's representation. Thanks to Anna Roach, Laura Solomon, and Perry Solomon at the Tybee Oyster Company for sharing your farm and insight with us! Thanks to Kevin Wall and the administration, faculty, and staff at Oglethorpe Charter School for your enthusiastic support of this program. Especially those intrepid individuals who endured cold boat rides, slept outside, got marsh mud in their shoes, and beach sand in their lunch. We enjoyed your company. A special thanks to Derek Perry and Michael Darke who drove the bus. Literally. Lastly, thanks to Lindsay Patterson at the Georgia Aquarium and Mary Quinn at Gray's Reef NMS for being our partners in this endeavor.

Ben Wells

Marine and Environmental Science Teacher

Oglethorpe Charter School

ben.wells@sccpss.com

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