Opposite Wassaw Island National Wildlife Refuge is Wassaw Sound where piles of discarded oyster shells and rack collect to form massive barriers along spits and hammocks. From a distance, they appear to be sandy beaches, but instead you find heaps of sun-bleached, salt-sanded oyster shells mixed in with cedar trees, driftwood pieces, and marsh grass.

Wassaw, one of 13 coastal barrier islands in Georgia, was designated a National Wildlife Refuge on October 20, 1969. Unlike many of Georgia’s Golden Isles, little development and few management practices have modified Wassaw’s primitive character. The 10,053-acre refuge includes beaches with rolling dunes, live oak and slash pine woodlands, and vast salt marshes.

First edition, black and white photograph, archival pigment print by Joy Dunigan. Available in small (8 in. x 8 in.), medium (12 in. x 12 in.), large (24 in. x 24 in) and xx-large (30 in. x 30 in.) prints. Custom sizes available upon request.