A Little-known Georgia Island’s Role in an Early Epidemic
One of the Quarantine Station buildings on the south end of the island. Georgia has played a prominent role in the national fight against epidemics and pandemics even before the CDC was established in Atlanta in 1946. [1] This prior role began 66 years earlier on an island rumored to be the hiding place of an infamous pirate’s buried treasure. The pirate was Blackbeard, whose real name was Edward Teach (or Thatche), and the island was Blackbeard Island, an island located northeast of and practically connected to Sapelo Island in McIntosh County. Legend holds that Blackbeard buried his treasure on the island, even though no buried treasure has ever been found . [2] Given the myriad of secluded inlets and waterways around the island and its proximity to his piracy activities, it is likely that Blackbeard spent time there. The island was first officially designated “Blackbeard Island” in 1760 when that name appeared on a map of...