Stark history of slave survival endures in coastal Ga. village

WILLIAM SCHEMMEL For the Journal-ConstitutionPublished on: 01/19/05 MIDWAY — The Union army's scorched-earth devastation of Liberty County was so thorough it deprived even freed slaves of a means of survival. Faced with starvation, 250 formed a closely knit community called Seabrook Village. With little outside help, they built simple houses, churches and a one-room schoolhouse. They planted rice, corn and other crops, raised livestock, ground cane into syrup, and used their ingenuity to make it through generations of hard times. The community, 30 miles south of Savannah, stayed mostly intact until the 1930s and '40s when young men went into military service or to work on the docks and shrimp boats in Savannah, Jacksonville and Brunswick. With the aid of missionaries, a few young women went north to become teachers and other professions open to them. Since 1989, a biracial group of Liberty Countians has been restoring Seabrook as an African-American living history museum. Along with the school, built in 1875, the buildings on the 104-acre site include homes, a cane-grinder, corn cribs, an early 1900s train depot and a community outhouse. An outdoor pump provided water. Collectively, these artifacts tell a story of pride and endurance that most of the site's 2,000 to 3,000 yearly visitors have difficulty comprehending. Full Story: http://www.ajc.com/travel/content/travel/southeast/ga_stories/0105/19getawayseabrook.html