This ethnography centers around investigating the following question: how have the people of Sandy Island used their separation by unbridged water to develop a resistance border that protects them from non-Sandy Islanders? This is the question that guides my research. Sandy Island is hidden within the marshes of Georgetown County, South Carolina. The Island is surrounded by former rice plantations, the result of African technology brought by enslaved Africans who produced a major commodity for the global economy during the 17th and 18th centuries. The community is isolated by two large rivers---the Pee Dee and the Waccamaw. This ecological border creates a natural separation between Sandy Islanders and non-Sandy Islanders. Through this geographical separation, the community has constructed a protected collective identity by disallowing non-Sandy Islanders access and requiring them to gain permission for entry. I argue that the Islanders have been able to craft a unique cultural identity and develop avenues of cultural resistance through this geographical separation. To help preserve this identity and seclusion, I have used pseudonyms for many of the Islanders at their requests. These names are marked by an asterisk (*) at first usage.