Explore a Family Legacy: Journey Through Chesser Island in the Okefenokee Swamp

Joe Lester Chesser and his grandson Andrew stand in front of the old Homestead site that is now part of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. Joe, 89, grew up there and left when the refuge took over in 1971. Today Andrew works for the American Conservation Experience taking care of 120 canoe trails in the refuge.

The Chesser family claimed an island inside the Okefenokee Swamp in the 1850s and built their home. Those were the days.

"It was a boy's paradise in the late 40s and 50s when I grew up here," said Joe Lester Chesser about his home on Chesser Island.

Now 89 years old, he was one of seven children of the fourth generation of Chessers who settled there. Strolling to the house through the surrounding forest, Joe can still point out each tree he planted on the property.

"If you didn't grow it you didn't eat," he said. Fields now bare surround the Homestead where his family grew corn to feed the pigs and blue-ribbon cane to make syrup.

"Everybody from everywhere came to buy Chesser syrup," he said.

It took 55 gallons of juice to make seven or eight gallons of syrup. Family members started boiling the juice at daylight and prepared three batches a day. Joe said they became "real uptown" after his parents installed a bathtub inside the house and bought a refrigerator with a freezer compartment powered by kerosene. A radio with a battery as big as the radio was family entertainment in the evening. His mother instilled a deep respect for education. Chesser's brothers and sisters went on to college and successful careers. He went to the University of Georgia and became a forester.

The Chesser Homestead is now part of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. Visitors can tour Chesser's childhood home and experience how life was lived in the swamp.

Joe Chesser and his grandson Andrew visit the Chesser family Homestead where Joe grew up and is now part of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. The family kept the yard clear of vegetation to keep snakes visible and the house safe from fires. Standing on the front porch holding a broom made of small tree branches, Joe shows how his family set the floor planks a half inch apart on the raised house frame so they could easily sweep dirt and sand through the gaps and onto the ground below the house. Joe Chesser holds a photo of his brothers and sisters when they were children. When the Chesser family installed an inside bathtub it was a sign of making it in society. Joe was bringing in logs to feed the fire, which was their only source of heat in the winter, when he lost his class ring. Years later a visitor touring the Homestead found it and returned it to Joe. Chesser sugar cane syrup was famous. Joe shows the still-working water pump they used in the process. Joe Chesser can still point out every tree he planted on the property years ago.

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