Perhaps more than any other writer, Eugenia Price has defined the stories of the old South. Her 14 novels, including the St. Simons Trilogy, the Florida Trilogy and the Georgia trilogy are filled with characters from the Georiga and Florida coasts in the 1800s. Her meticulously researched books set the standard for historical fiction of the period, offering a rare insight into the everyday routines and concerns of Americans in the 19th century.

Eugenia Price was born in Charleston, West Virginia in 1916. After completing her studies at Northwestern University and living in Chicago, she began writing and producing for radio, then television. The publication of her first book, Discoveries, in 1952 launched her career as an author. She touched many readers with her insights and perceptions on life, faith and service with her 26 volumes of inspirational non-fiction.

Eugenia Price discovered St. Simons Island, Georgia on a promotional tour for her non-fiction books. The story of Anson Dodge, the young man who built Christ Church in the 1880s, captured her imagination. She moved to the island and within the next decade, she had written her first historical fiction - not just one novel, but three! - spanning three generations of the Dodge family. Her accounting of these Island families who shaped our history here put St. Simons Island, Georgia on the map, bringing readers from all over the country and eventually the world to visit.

Eugenia Price built an island home, appropriately named "The Dodge" and lived out the rest of her years here. She died of a heart ailment on May 28, 1996 and was buried at Christ Church. At the time of her death, her publishers estimate that she had as many as 20 million books in print world-wide.

Courtesy of Brunswick/Golden Isles Visitors Bureau