5 More Intriguing (and Hidden) Secrets About The Landings

Visitors to The Landings are sometimes surprised when the first thing they notice is the landscape. Luxury homes and championship golf courses almost seem to take a back seat to the tree-lined streets, the dense coastal forest, and the magic of the marshes.

That sense of wonder always puts a smile on our faces because it’s the first secret they discover when they take in all that is The Landings. Little do they know that there’s a metaphorical hidden world woven throughout Skidaway Island. One layered with history, ecology, and hidden stories.

We shared a few of those intriguing secrets not too long ago. Here are five more of our favorites.

1. Skidaway’s Mysterious Oyster Shell Mounds

Across Skidaway Island, cedar trees sway in the wind, growing tall from piles of old, bleached oysters and clams. Those shell mounds are most likely middens, or ancient refuse piles, and they are thousands of years old.

Long before winding roads threaded through The Landings’ close-knit neighborhoods, Skidaway Island served as a settlement site for Native American tribes. Indigenous communities, including the Timucua and other coastal peoples, fished the bountiful waterways, collected countless oysters, and left behind shell-filled middens.

It appears these middens were carefully constructed into symmetrical mounds with central chambers intentionally kept clear of debris. What was the purpose? Archaeologists believe they served practical, social, and ceremonial purposes.

Skidaway Island’s mounds likely reflect others found up and down the East Coast. Bonnie Newsom, assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Maine and a tribal citizen of the Penobscot Nation, believes the mounds may have served as navigation aids, social boundary markers, resource markers, or multi-purpose landscape features.

Today, shell rings throughout coastal Georgia provide important insight into the Indigenous communities that lived on and shaped the coast long before European settlement.

2. Hidden Freshwater Pockets Encourage Habitation

In many ways, geographically speaking, it’s a wonder The Landings exists at all. At first glance, Skidaway Island shouldn’t be easily habitable. It’s a low coastal island surrounded by saltwater and marshes, where freshwater should be difficult to find.

But Skidaway holds a secret. One that allowed travelers, tribes, and settlers to flourish on the island for thousands of years: its hidden freshwater system.

How does it work? When rainwater filters through the sandy soil, it forms a floating layer of freshwater above the heavier saltwater underground. It’s a delicate natural balancing act called a freshwater lens. Too little rain, excessive development, or saltwater intrusion can disrupt it.

Surviving on the island meant knowing where freshwater collected, where wells could function, which areas remained habitable, and how to live within the island’s environmental limits.

It was the presence of reliable freshwater that made coastal islands like Skidaway suitable for long-term habitation despite their proximity to the ocean.

3. The Landings’ Floating Forest

Depending on the time of day, residents of The Landings who are out for a stroll, walking the dog, or tapering off a long run might see, just for a second, the island’s forest floating above the marshes. It’s a magical moment for those who catch a glimpse.

The magic is all Mother Nature. A trick of the light, so to speak. When cool air and moisture settle low across the marsh surface, they partially obscure the ground and reflect light in unusual ways, which creates the illusion.

Add to that how the island’s maritime forests sit slightly elevated above the surrounding marshland, and the tree line can appear suspended in the mist. At the same time, the lower landscape disappears from view.

4. The Landings is a Birder’s Paradise

Nearly 100 million U.S. adults consider themselves birders, or those who actively observe, identify, and study wild birds in their natural habitats. The Landings is an exceptional place to do so.

Why? Because The Landings sits along the Atlantic Flyway, one of North America’s primary bird migration routes. Each year, millions of birds travel this corridor as they move between northern breeding grounds and southern wintering areas, using coastal habitats like Skidaway Island to rest, feed, and nest.

And with good reason. The Landings was the first Audubon International Certified Sustainable Community in Georgia. Programs like Audubon International’s Certified Sustainable Community and Cooperative Sanctuary designations help preserve the kinds of habitats those birds depend on, including healthy marsh edges, protected tree canopies, native landscaping, water resources, and natural wildlife corridors.

For migratory species traveling hundreds or even thousands of miles, well-managed coastal environments like The Landings can serve as important stopover habitats along the journey.

For birders, it’s a chance to spot a Blackburnian Warbler or the often heard but not seen Scarlet Tanager. Maybe even the elusive Cape May warbler!

5. Skidaway Island’s Hidden Wildlife

There’s more wildlife on Skidaway Island than you’ll likely ever see. And that’s part of what makes the island so remarkable.

Skidaway is a connected network of maritime forests, tidal marshes, freshwater pockets, creeks, mudflats, and estuarine environments, all layered together across the island. That diversity allows wildlife to spread out, move between ecosystems, and often remain hidden even when it’s nearby.

Many species are also naturally elusive or active at different times of day. Deer move quietly through wooded areas at dawn and dusk. Fish, crabs and oysters remain largely unseen beneath the marsh surface and waterline. Even larger animals like otters and raccoons tend to avoid human activity or blend surprisingly well into the landscape.

The result is a living system far larger, richer, and more active than most people realize at first glance.

Curious about our hidden secrets? Come discover them for yourself!