“The ocean remains faithful to the land – it always returns.” – John O’Donohue
Edingsville Beach in Winter © chw 2010
John O’Donohue, in his book, Beauty, The Invisible Embrace, calls ocean ‘wild divinity’. Water, he writes, stirs something very deep and ancient in the human heart.
Walking along Edingsville Beach, a rare and pristine island on Edisto, not only am I consistently brought to a place of reverence, but I hear stories. I think of our Lowcountry ancestors who came to this place and crossed this ocean, of John Gordon, Henry Woodward and Ephraim Mikell, those of my own, who sailed in wooden ships in these very waters when this land was still jungle, like most of Edisto Island remains today. To tell these stories again is one of the reasons I am here.
But there is so much more to ocean. “It is beauty charged with danger.” He continues, yet even in its wildest passion, the ocean still holds dignity, it maintains poise. However and wherever it throws itself, it never falls outside of itself… it is always within the shelter of the one rhythm.”
Hope whispers in these waves of winter. The tide always returns.
I was called to be an artist. And as an old old midwife said to me "If the Lord wants you to do something, you won't have no good luck' til you do." So, here I am, sharing what I love, longing to illuminate the work of art, which is everywhere.
Charleston Through an Artist's eye 
[…] The Ocean of Edingsville Beach […]
I love the part about how the ocean holds it’s poise, even in it’s wildest passion. That could be the thesis of a hundred books on relationships.
Thank you, Hadley. Take it. Use it. I have no doubt you will!
“Hope whispers in these waves of winter. The tide always returns.” I love this. I could actually sit with this thought through much of winter.
Hello Charlotte. I am enjoying your site this evening, as I search the internet for information regarding my ancestors, the Baynards, of South Carolina. Although I grew up in Pittsburgh, PA, my family vacationed on Edisto Island for a week every summer when we were children. One of my aunts would meet us there with a huge basket of fried chicken. We would also feast on rock shrimp and never tire of it!! Your posting about the ocean at Edingsville Beach inspires me to want to return to the Island again this fall. My mother is 90 now, and she tells me there is a Baynard home still standing there… Perhaps the ruins of the island home of Ephriam Mikell Baynard or William Edings Baynard?