Twitty Park

Celebrate the almost 100th Birthday of Twitty Park

The movement for the conservation of wildlife and the larger movement for the conservation of all our natural resources are essentially democratic in spirit, purpose, and method. Theodore Roosevelt, A Book-Lover’s Holidays in the Open (1916). This spirit inspired our Glynn County predecessors in the 1920s to construct two causeways. The F.J. Torres Causeway connected Brunswick to Saint Simons Island and the Sea Island Causeway connected St. Simons Island to Sea Island. No...w, the public could access both St. Simons and the beautiful public beaches on Sea Island. No doubt plaques are hung commemorating our great causeway projects. But our predecessors went further. Twitty Park was dedicated as the crowning jewel. Situated as the gateway from St. Simons to Sea Island at the intersection of Frederica Road and Sea Island Road, Twitty Park is a living honorarium. Its live oaks with Spanish moss remind us of this past ingenuity and goodwill and inspire us to continue to conserve our beaches, creeks, rivers, marshes, and live oaks into the future. Almost a hundred years later, our Glynn County bureaucrats forgot the spirit and purpose of Twitty Park. They presumed a roundabout would adequately replace its live oaks and history. Citizens of Glynn County were forced to bring suit to preserve Twitty Park. We succeeded as our predecessors intended. Judge Stephen Kelley in his opinion wrote: As the legal owner of Twitty Park, Glynn County held that property in trust for Glynn County residents, who are the equitable owners of the property. Under the common law of this State, the County had no authority to alienate Twitty Park land held by it for use as a public park. Judge Kelley, like many Georgia jurists before, held that the people are the owners of public lands and that our government has no authority to undo the will of the people and to convey the people’s property for other purposes. As Georgians living among the Marshes of Glynn, we bear a great responsibility to our State. We must be vigilant trustees over our beaches, creeks, rivers, marshes, and live oaks. These public trust properties are for all citizens of the State and continue to be guarded by centuries of our common law. Twitty Park will be preserved thanks to the wisdom of our courts and the will of our people. Let us remain watchful that other encroachments and compromises do not imperil our public trust lands. For whom much is entrusted, much more will be asked. Let us take great pride that our friends, who travel from upstate to our marshes and beaches each summer and fall, find them preserved as a legacy for many generations to come. And let us take even greater pride that our own children will live in a community that continues to swim in creeks, fish and shrimp in rivers, walk the sandy beaches, and enjoy the great shade and serenity from the live oaks. Twitty Park is conserved but so much more remains to be done.

Celebrate this marvelous green space.

Citizens celebrate Twitty Park victory!

Citizens Celebrate Saving Twitty Park Twitty Park was worth saving and the citizens responsible for its preservation have announced a celebration of the recent court victory restoring Twitty Park to the people of Glynn County on Sunday, July 28th between 5:00 and 7:30 PM. We are very encouraged by the Court’s ruling and the show of support from several thousand of you, our fellow local citizens, said Rachael Thompson, Executive Director of the Glynn Environmental Coalition...Continue reading