A MODERN-DAY PROMETHEUS
It would be tempting to begin our tale in the backyard of your favorite lodge. The sun is setting, the temperature’s dropping, and the stories are starting to sprout like flowers in springtime. It begins with the day’s hunt, the dog work, the harvest, and even the buzzing distractions from the real world as emails are checked and messages are pondered and returned. The firepit is the natural draw for these moments. A place to unwind and a place to belong, with both the primitive and the human. Once the communicants settle in and the details flow as smoothly as the whiskey, there are no longer any strangers by the fire. There is only connection to an almost sacred fascination with the flames. The highlight of the Prometheus Myth is the delivery of fire to humans, an event that, regardless of how it happened, changed the course of our history. The downside for Prometheus, of course, is that the gods felt threatened by the newfound human agency and power, and they punished him eternally for it. Never underestimate the impact of a firepit.
A campfire has been called Bush TV for its ability to hold our attention. Sure, it provides warmth and respite, and these are welcome amenities at most lodges and in most backyards. At the most extreme, one of the first rules of survival is to build a fire. It’s that integral to our physical and mental wellbeing. And since the days of Prometheus, our dietary exposure to cooked meat has increased our protein intake, resulting in
both a powerhouse frontal lobe and a questionably relevant gallbladder. These are all wonderful benefits. The memories of campfire hot dogs or s’mores are legion among family lore. The fire holds our attention for these reasons, certainly, but the connection is deeper. Considerably deeper. How many times have you closed a gloriously exhausting day afield with a great meal and a drink by the fire? Maybe even a cigar? And these moments seem to slow the passage of time. Mesmerized by the dancing flames and the shifting colors of the breeze through the coals, we often sit quietly between stories and simply stare into the fire, lost in the abyss of our own thoughts and connected across time and space with our ancestors, whose dependence on fire and mastery of it got us to where we are today. But even that’s not the best place to start our story.
Our story begins on St. Simon’s Island, along the coast of Georgia, in the backyard of Sandy and Steve Schoettle. Necessity is often credited for the parentage of invention, but the lineage of its cousin, innovation, is somewhat less direct. As something of a modern Prometheus, Steve was not the first to
A BETTER MOUSETRAP
Compelled by innovation, Steve and Sandy Schoettle took an ageless concept and crafted a timeless addition to scenery at Captain’s Bluff on St. Simon’s Island.
How many times have you closed a gloriously exhausting day afield with a great meal and a drink by the fire? Maybe even a cigar? And these moments seem to slow the passage of time.
introduce fire to humans. He and Sandy simply reinvented the experience as a way of redefining their coastal home’s utility in the fall and winter months. There were fire pits on the market, to be sure, but they weren’t right for the Schoettles. Under normal circumstances, they would simply have chosen the closest fit and adapted. But there’s a diagnosis in the mix, and they were wrestling with that. Steve, you see, is an engineer of sorts, an artisan welder. What’s worse, he’s a builder, primarily of custom furnishings and finishes. So it’s easy to see why settling for the closest fit was never really an option. His condition can be treated chemically, but that requires a suitable beverage, a stunning sunset, and a firepit that exceeds all expectations. Sandy also has an art and photography background that along the way morphed into something of a marketing genius. Together they created a better, more aesthetically functional work of art. And so, from the humble Schoettle patio, the Sea Island Forge Fire Pit was introduced to their fellow humans. Much like the original Prometheus, Steve and Sandy’s fire was well-received, and there is historical precedent for their foundational design. Cast-iron kettles have been fixtures across the Southern landscape since the plantation days of the 18th and 19th Centuries, when sugar cane was grown, harvested, and cooked down on-site for human consumption. As with most things, improved technology ushered the kettle or sugar pot into obsolescence. A walk through Southern barnyards and farmsteads can almost predictably offer up a kettle in some state of repose. Typically forged from cast iron, the kettles enjoy a long and happy life beyond their early years of syrup cooking. Along with landscape planters and ornamental water features, many kettles have found new life as firepits, though the process isn’t quite as simple as taking the frying pan out of the fire and reversing their relationship. That’s where Sea Island Forge innovations have really come to the fore. They engineered their historic kettle to achieve the most efficient fires possible, and they source pots using their proprietary design from a foundry that is dedicated to using a new but proven ductile cast-iron technology that combines traditional heat dissipation with improved weather resistance. That’s the beginning.
The team at Sea Island Forge, most of whom have welding backgrounds and artistic bents, receive the raw kettles into their Brunswick, Georgia, workshop like kids in a candy store. This is where the magic happens, as raw ductile cast iron is finished and prepared for assembly. Stabilizing half of a sphere can be tough enough, but raising that same heat source just enough to keep from damaging its host surface can also be a challenge. The Sea Island Forge Fire Pit sits firmly in a stand that keeps the cast iron safely heating everything around it, including feet. The attached boot rail accommodates a reasonable number of happy cowboys and keeps their favorite footwear close enough for warmth without the threat of spontaneous combustion.
To complement the beautiful design of the kettle, there is a seemingly endless assortment of accessories that Steve and
Sandy have created to expand the role that a well-appointed firepit can play in your outdoor experience. Cooking is an obvious extension of the primitive flame, and many of the accessories are geared to facilitate your new outdoor culinary adventures. In fact, since cooking over open flame is enjoying a resurgence in popularity—admittedly, it never really went out of style—many commercial chefs have incorporated the Sea Island Forge Fire Pit into their cooking and dining experience. From Paella to burgers and everything in between, if you can imagine cooking it over an open flame, Steve and Sandy have created the platform for you to do so easily, including a tabletop that converts to a dining table. They have also developed a line of fire tools and safety screens that allow for an easy transition from outdoor kitchen to sitting area, when the plates are replaced by cocktails and the stories flow alongside the whiskey. And that brings us back to our original attraction, the most compelling feature of a firepit: fellowship.
There is something about a fire. It stirs something primitive in humans, something that reminds us of our mortality, certainly, but also the gift we’ve been given to be alive in this moment. Not only have we developed technologies that have made our lives simultaneously both simpler and more complex, we have also broadened the tent of the human experience on a global scale. We have friends around the world and communicate with them seamlessly in the digital space. We travel around the globe in a matter of hours and cultivate relationships that only generations ago might’ve seemed like a pipe dream. While this is wonderful in so many ways, the fire brings us back to the present, the shared experience of physical space warmed by the same glow. This activity slows the pace just enough that we can savor the nuance of human connection found in body language and facial expression, witness the movements of others through the world in the stories they share and the enthusiasm with which they do so.
Sea Island Forge didn’t invent the firepit or the fire, but they may have perfected it. They designed and built a system that encourages humans to connect in that shared physical space, to recapture the essential characteristics of security and warmth that fire brings and has always brought, and to forge new and stronger bonds with friends and family in an increasingly relevant outdoor space that calls to us all. That might sound like heady marketing language, and maybe those aren’t the words you would use to describe your experience. That’s the great thing about a fire. The words don’t really matter. If you saddle up to a Sea Island Forge Fire Pit and prop your boots up on the rail, the flames will sing their siren song and you’ll be drawn into the moment. The pace will slow as the embers rise to join the stars in a slowly spinning sky. When the fire softens, you’ll add a log or two and the coals will tell a new story as you stoke and poke. That will remind a fireside friend of that time you were somewhere doing something, and the narrative will quietly turn down a new path. Forge that experience.
FOOD AND FELLOWSHIP
The Sea Island Forge is uniquely designed to foster almost all the elements of a great meal and a relaxing respite.
