The boat over to Sapelo Island one morning this past summer was a living cross-section of people who live, work, or visit this unique barrier island culture: wealthy white travelers looking forward to an adventure, black students returning home from the mainland where they go to public school, local laborers en route to their site, and one avid gardener and aspiring landscape architect.

The aspiring landscape architect was Whitney Barr, a Master of Landscape Architecture candidate at UGA’s College of Environment and Design. Barr spent her summer in immersive research, planting and caring for two traditional heritage crops of the Saltwater Geechee community: red peas and sugar cane. Her work was conducted under the direction of Dr. Nik Heynen, professor of Geography and a member of UGA’s Marine Institute faculty. Heynen recently co-founded the Cornelia Walker Bailey Program on Land and Agriculture based on Sapelo.

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Whitney Barr, First Landscape Architecture Foundation’s Honor Scholarship Recipient