Eugenia Price: Bringing Words to Light

There is always a feeling of reverence and wonder when one visits a well-known author's home and gravesite. Especially if it has been the inspiration for a popular series in the past. I had that opportunity last month to visit St. Simons Island, GA, home of prolific author, Eugenia Price. And although I could only see her home from afar, walking on the property of the church she dearly loved, and paying my respects at her grave, I had a new appreciation for the term 'author'. 

How could I call myself an author? Had I written a cherished series? Lived in the locale where my stories were set? Dug deep in family histories, several decades back, to uncover details for my plot and characters? Eugenia Price did all that, and more.

Above, is the lighthouse (although rebuilt) featured in her book by that name. Below, is the gravesite of the Dodge family woven through her Trilogy.

At the lighthouse museum, they displayed her typewriter. Well-used, I'm sure!

I just HAD to see the home she lived in, which overlooked a marsh. It took a bit of sleuthing to find the place she called (appropriately) The Dodge. I could only snap a photo from afar.

Because there was no museum to visit, or other info on Ms. Price, other than a few paragraphs in a  Golden Isles visitor's guide, sketchy directions to Eugenia's former home from the visitor's center (unpublished for good reasons), and tidbits from a churchyard docent about the Frederica Christ Church (below) and graves, I must direct you to read the St. Simons Trilogy and St. Simons Memoir for a full picture of this multi-faceted woman.

Can I tell you an embarrassing secret?? I've never read her series - only her memoir! But you can be sure they are on my 'to-be-read-next' list. While we were in St. Augustine, FL, back in March, I discovered yet another of her historical novels, this one focusing on a woman, Maria, who lived in that fledgling town -- the oldest in the US.

Let me leave you with these two images of her grave. They made me pause to consider: what legacy will I leave as a lover of words? I want to make sure mine, like Eugenia's, bring hope, encouragement and inspiration and maybe even direction for the next step. We are always taking steps, however small. I pray they will be stepping towards the light, and not away.

---

Have you visited St. Simons Island or read the St. Simons Trilogy? I'd love to know all about it in the comments below!