Savannah author Karen Dove Barr takes inspiration from her backyard to write her first novel
It’s never too late. To learn, do, try new things. It’s never too late to be who you’ve always wanted to be. Author, Karen Dove Barr, knows this well.
After 25 years of writing, and at 74 years young, Barr has published her first novel, “Burnt Pot Island,” a historical fiction about rum-runners, moonshiners, Savannah, and the Pinpoint community during Prohibition.
The idea for the story came in the early 1980s when Barr and her husband broke ground on their home on Skidaway Island. In surveying, they found the footings of a much older structure along with shards of blue pottery.
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“The dirt could tell you a lot of stories,” reflected Barr, standing in her kitchen sunroom, eyes fixed on a large oak in the side yard. “When we bought the property, there was hardly any development on this end of the island, and it felt alive with so much more to say. Voices from the past certainly whispered to me when I finally sat down to write.”
Barr was only a few years into her 44 years in law when they found the pottery shards. The fiction of “Burnt Pot Island,” though, would have to wait three decades to be teased from the earth. And in those intervening years, Barr not only came to know many people in Pinpoint through her legal representation, but also bravely tried things she’d always wanted to do.
“When I turned 50, I started running,” recalled Barr. “And that actually helped with my writing. I’d always wanted to write but so many people told me I wasn’t any good at it, and so I didn’t, not creatively, until I started running. When I run, I find that the pace and rhythm of moving my legs connects me to my thoughts, and then words, stories, and ideas come freely.”
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A few years after her running-writing epiphany, Barr self-published a collection of essays, “Running Through Menopause,” in which she explored her experience of taking up competitive running for the first time as a middle-aged woman. From there, her work went on to appear in Runners’ World, Fitness Magazine, and Savannah Magazine. Barr self-published another book in 2013 featuring her wildlife photography paired with essays about nature experiences on Skidaway Island.
Not long after that nature book, a member of her church pulled Barr aside and told her about an abandoned house on Burnt Pot Island where he and his friends would camp out as teenagers and that got her thinking about the old footings and pottery shards in her yard.
“I was really curious about his story, and then others, mostly men, approached me with tales of boating to the island and staying in the abandoned house as a sort of rite of passage in the ‘60s and ‘70s. So, I wanted to know who owned that house and its significance to the surrounding islands,” said Barr.
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Barr, ever the attorney, went to work researching deeds and titles, uncovering that the Mayor of Savannah acquired Burnt Pot Island in 1909 and eventually built a mansion on it. She then went down the rabbit hole of Google books, reading archived Savannah City Council minutes and Savannah Morning News stories.
After four years of researching and writing, she pieced together a possible, yet fictitious, story about Burnt Pot Island, the abandoned mansion, and what was likely going on in her own backyard at Skidaway Island.
“To be clear, 'Burnt Pot Island' is historical fiction, it’s my creation,” emphasized Barr, seated at her writing desk surrounded by books, sticky pads, and manila folders stuffed with handwritten notes.
“But from my research, the owner of this island could have been involved in alcohol smuggling during Prohibition, and Burnt Pot Island could have played a strategic role in all of that. It’s pretty common knowledge Skidaway Island was home to moonshiners then, and that’s verified in my research.”
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After four years of writing, Barr started pitching perspective publishers. She received 278 rejection letters before finally landing an offer from a boutique imprint in Oregon. From start to finish, it took Barr six years to research, write, and publish her first novel.
The story takes place during Prohibition and involves international rum-runners, Skidaway Island moonshiners as well as the story’s heroines, mother and daughter Catherine and Licia, who live in Pinpoint processing oysters and crab for a wealthy and often unscrupulous businessman. For Barr, it was extremely important her language and storytelling were culturally appropriate.
She attended seminars on Geechee culture and spoke with people she knew personally in Pinpoint. She asked then-Savannah alderwoman, Carol Bell, to read and edit the manuscript for cultural sensitivity.
“At the end of the day, the hearts and minds of people are the same no matter where you’re from,” emphasized Barr. “Women have the same struggles across the world. Women want their children to get ahead and succeed. This common thread was central to the story. People’s inner core, needs, and desires are the same the world over, and I hope my story shows that to be true.”
Order copies of "Burnt Pot Island" from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Wal-Mart and from Karen Dove Barr at karendovebarrauthor.com.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Karen Dove Barr talks about Savannah-set novel, Burnt Pot Island
