Skidaway Island, Georgia
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Skidaway Island is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP)Template:Efn in Chatham County, Georgia, and lies on a barrier island of the same name. Located south of Savannah, Skidaway Island is known for its waterfront properties and golf courses within The Landings, one of the largest gated communities in the country. The population was 9,310 at the 2020 census.<ref name="CenPopGazetteer2020"/> A separate area of the island hosts the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, a research institution operated by the University of Georgia. It receives scholars and researchers from several other Georgia universities as well, including Georgia Tech, Savannah State University, and the College of Coastal Georgia. Skidaway Island is part of the Savannah Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
It is uncertain why the name "Skidaway" was applied to this island. The name may relate to one in Yamacraw or another Native American Creek language. In his 1967 publication How Georgia Got Her Names, Hal E. Brinkley speculated it might be an Anglicized form of Scenawki, wife of the local Yamacraw chief Tomochichi and for whom Georgia's founder James Oglethorpe named the island.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Before the American Civil War, planters farmed on the island using enslaved labor. On January 15, 1965, during the final year of the conflict, U.S. General William T. Sherman issued Special Field Order, No. 15 (series 1865). The order reallocated plantation lands on "Skidmore Island" to some formerly enslaved people whom Sherman had freed pursuant to the Emancipation Proclamation. The former slaves received plots of land no larger than Template:Convert.<ref>Order by the Commander of the Military Division of the Mississippi</ref> Land records show that many such plots were issued on the island beginning on April 11, 1865, two days after C.S.A. General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House; plots were issued though that summer and early fall, despite the death of President Abraham Lincoln, and before Georgia's readmission to the Union and the resumption of civil authority there.<ref>https://revealnews.org/article/40-acres-and-a-lie/></ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Lincoln's successor, President Andrew Johnson, opposed such land transfers, as would various courts, especially since no legislation supported it. During the Reconstruction era, federal and state policy emphasized wage labor, not land ownership, for black people. Almost all land allocated to blacks in 1865 was ultimately restored to its original white owners.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In a March 2019 referendum, Skidaway Island voters overwhelmingly rejected a bill that would have incorporated their community as the City of Skidaway Island. The island remains unincorporated.<ref name="SkidawayRef1">Template:Cite web</ref>
Geography
Skidaway Island is located at Template:Coord (31.927434, -81.042505).<ref name="GR1">Template:Cite web</ref>
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of Template:Convert, of which Template:Convert is land and Template:Convert (8.45%) is water.
Demographics
Skidaway Island has been listed as a census-designated place (CDP) since the 1980 United States census.<ref name=1980CensusGA/>
| Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic) | Pop. 2000<ref name=2000CensusP004>Template:Cite web</ref> | Pop. 2010<ref name=2010CensusP2>Template:Cite web</ref> | Template:Partial<ref name=2020CensusP2>Template:Cite web</ref> | % 2000 | % 2010 | Template:Partial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White alone (NH) | 6,703 | 7,954 | 8,605 | 96.95% | 95.36% | 92.43% |
| Black or African American alone (NH) | 33 | 65 | 97 | 0.48% | 0.78% | 1.04% |
| Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0.01% | 0.08% | 0.00% |
| Asian alone (NH) | 95 | 154 | 184 | 1.37% | 1.85% | 1.98% |
| Pacific Islander alone (NH) | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0.00% | 0.04% | 0.00% |
| Other race alone (NH) | 3 | 13 | 24 | 0.04% | 0.16% | 0.26% |
| Mixed race or Multiracial (NH) | 26 | 33 | 193 | 0.38% | 0.40% | 2.07% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 53 | 112 | 207 | 0.77% | 1.34% | 2.22% |
| Total | 6,914 | 8,341 | 9,310 | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% |
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 9,310 people, 4,272 households, and 3,014 families residing in the CDP.
Notable people
- Dorothea Orem, nursing theorist, who died at her home on Skidaway Island on June 22, 2007.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Ron Senkowski, founder of Farmer's Almanac TV.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Bobby Thomson, baseball player, who died at his home there on August 16, 2010.<ref>Fox and Weeks: Funeral Directors: Obituary for Robert Thomson, accessed August 21, 2010 Template:Webarchive</ref><ref>Paid obituary for Bobby Thomson, Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers, August 21, 2010, p. B-4, accessed August 21, 2010</ref>
See also
References
Template:Reflist Template:Notelist
External links
- Skidaway Institute of Oceanography in New Georgia Encyclopedia
- Skidaway Island Weather Center: Live Weather Station on Skidaway Island