25 Jun Sullivan’s Island, the Real Treasure!

I, having just left the University of Florida after pursuing a bachelor’s degree in English, love all things story related. I especially love a good spooky story. 

For this internship I was to move to Charleston to work for and through the community (which I am finding completely gratifying and wonderful). I did a bit of research about what the community would be like moving into town, but I had not researched who exactly had impacted Charleston in its previous history. 

On my first day of work, I discovered that not only did Edgar Allan Poe, a classic American author known for his macabre content, spend a brief period of his life in South Carolina, he also lived and was stationed at Fort Moultrie, where I work for the better part of my week! 

One of his popular stories The Gold Bug is centered around Sullivan’s Island, the island I work on. He mentions walks along the beach and other specific sites that I have been able to visit. I find it incredible that someone who shaped literature so much woke up to the same scenery that I get the pleasure of experiencing every day. 

Poe was known for being vague with settings in his stories, and so I find it highly intriguing that he was so explicit in laying out specifics about Sullivan’s Island in The Gold Bug.  Everything about it leads me to believe there’s something magical about this island. The island is breathtaking in a way that is universal and timeless. I think Poe knew he had landed on treasure, which led him to incorporate it into his story. 

¡Hasta la proxima!