Once home to a J.C. Penney department store, Edo Miller and Sons Funeral Home, and an office supply, locally owned mom-and-pop shops and down-home eateries now line Newcastle Street, the albeit short but main drag in downtown Brunswick.
Nikki Pechin waters plants outside the antiques store Market on Newcastle.The shop's owner, Melissa Bagby, gets ready to walk her dog.
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
The city's quiet charm stirred by the whispers of a slight breeze belies the important work taking place a few blocks away at the Glynn County Courthouse, where national media and out-of-towners have set up camp to follow jury selection for three white men on trial for the murder of a young Black man named Ahmaud Arbery.
Even with the attention, Brunswick carries on, business as usual.
“I think curiosity is the biggest thing, Bagby said. "No one’s really commenting on it.”
Pechin is more interested in the verdict: “I feel like they’re all guilty. It’s just very cut and dry.”
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Despite the cloud hanging over the coastal town, Pechin and Bagby insist the shooting death of Arbery and the subsequent trial do not define Brunswick. They talk instead of the historic beauty of the city, how the downtown's changing landscape has boomed in the past decade, and how people are friendlier than to be believed.
“It used to be no one would come here,” said Bagby, whose business has stood 21 years and witnessed the fits and starts of a revitalizing downtown. “Now, we’re a draw.”
As they speak to a reporter about the trial, an out-of-towner asks them about the area. "Is it safe walking downtown?" he asked from a near-empty street as shops and eateries began to open sometime between 10 and 11 a.m.
"Yes," they tell him.
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Brunswick basics
Situated between Savannah and Jacksonville, Brunswick was once known as the "Shrimp Capital of the World." Now, it's home to manufacturing, healthcare, and logistics jobs. It sits in a county where some of its largest employers include the Ports of Brunswick, Glynn County Public Schools, the Sea Island Company, and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.
Downtown Brunswick is a stone’s throw from nearby Jekyll Island, a barrier island that was once the exclusive playground of the country's robber-barons. Folks are looking forward to celebrating the return of the Wild Georgia Shrimp & Grits Festival there in just a few weeks.
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
The city also battles it out with a county in North Carolina to lay claim to Brunswick stew, a thick, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink tomato-based Southern staple punctuated by at least two kinds of meat — one of them most assuredly pulled pork — and a mix of vegetables, including corn and okra. Both cities are named for the former German duchy of Brunswick and Lüneburg.
Founded in 1771 on a former tobacco plantation along the Brunswick River, the city sits within the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor — a national landmark that runs from Jacksonville, North Carolina, to Jacksonville, Florida, where the great majority of enslaved West Africans were brought into this country and toiled on indigo, rice, and cotton plantations.
More than 16,256 residents call Brunswick home, among them Bernie Gendron, a business owner for the past decade.
Gendron, owner of Island Jerk restaurant, stocked up on food and supplies in anticipation of an influx of downtown visitors, whether they were here for jury selection or simply visiting. While Gendron remains composed, she says her mother who lives in Jacksonville is a bit more concerned.
"I tell her the news media makes it look worse than it actually is."
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
'In our front yard'
The first thing Jessica Owens asks out-of-towners when they visit the city or newcomers when they move here is what brought them to Brunswick.
"I do this with everyone," said the Brunswick native, who works at Island Jerk. "It's usually for a job. Some say moving here slowed them down. If you want to live somewhere quiet, Brunswick is perfect. It's a tiny town."
She's not noticed much discussion about the trial, adding there were different discussions when Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd, was on trial.
"That conversation was a topic for everyone," Owens said. "I didn't have to ask if you were watching the trial. When it comes to this, it's more quiet. It's odd because it's in our front yard."
Owens said she's noticed the growing diversity of downtown. The city of Brunswick proper is 57% Black and 32% white, according to the most recent U.S. Census data.
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
The inverse is true in the county. Glynn County consists of 64% white residents and nearly 25% Black residents. Other races comprise the other 11%.
The trial, which began Monday with jury selection, isn’t top of mind for everyone. Owens regularly gets coffee before she comes in for her shift at Island Jerk and overheard the barista’s conversation with a customer.
“She asked, 'Are the roads blocked into downtown?'” Owens said.
Once off the phone, a confused barista asked Owens why the customer would ask such a question.
That's when Owens told her about the trial. "She didn't know everything started yet. I told her to prepare for some traffic. I really wanted to tell her to prepare for some uncomfortable conversations."
Raisa Habersham is a Watchdog and Investigative Reporter for Savannah Morning News. Contact her at rhabersham@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: As jury selection in Ahmaud Arbery murder trial begins, Brunswick carries on like normal
