 | In 1904, the Army Corp of Engineers, was making improvements to the navigable waters of the inland waterway system. This included condemning 26 acres of land, part of Fenwick Island in lower Colleton County south of Charleston, S.C. The land was bordered on one side by the Edisto River and on the other side by the Ashepoo River. By making a cut 90 feet wide and seven feet deep at low tide, a new passage was created for boat travel along the inland waterway system. “The Cut” , as it was called, essentially isolated and cut off about 50 families from the mainland. These families were left on their own to live and work “from the creek”, traveling by boat to the mainland for school and church and other necessities of life. My painting, “From Work to Sunrise Worship” depicts a family's trip to the mainland for church services. The painting clearly shows the working tools of “life in the creek,” shrimp and fishing nets and a crab reel used to roll up lines that were used for crabbing. |