A wife’s birthday gift to her husband now a Logan Martin treasure
Story by Paul South
Photos by Mackenzie Free
and David Smith
This is a Pirate Island love story.
Don’t panic. This isn’t one of those cheap, 1980s bodice-ripper novels with Fabio and Morgan Fairchild lookalikes on the cover. After all, this is a family magazine.
This is a love story close to home – not set in Tahiti or Jamaica – but right here on Logan Martin Lake. It’s the story of how Laurie Regan’s birthday gift to her husband Jim turned into a gift for anyone who’s ever visited the 50 by 75-foot Pirate Island, a popular meeting place for families on the lake.
It’s not unusual to catch the marvelous aroma of cheeseburgers – yes, in paradise – or frying fish, or to hear an island song of laughter as children raid the island treasure chest for trinkets.
That’s just the way Jim and Laura want Pirate Island. They own the island, but it’s a gift to all who love the lake.
Laurie’s 2008 birthday present to her husband was not without its challenges, including a summer rain.
“I tell ya, wrapping it was a pain.”
And how did she wrap it?
“Sadly, it was crepe paper. We had a big storm after we got it all decorated.”
President of the Pell City Library Guild, Laurie was discussing Jim with a board colleague. “She said, ‘You know, my husband and I have an island.” As Laurie says, “That’s a conversation starter.”
The two women discussed the island and the possibility of the Regans buying it or sharing ownership with the sellers. But Laurie knows her husband. “An island is a one-owner kind of deal,” she says.
A month later, the unique birthday gift was bought, the deal sealed. It beats the heck out of a tie.
“I always loved the island,” Jim says. “I’d take nieces and nephews out there to go seashell hunting.”
To orchestrate the surprise, Laurie enlisted the couple’s niece, Abby, who was soon to return to college at Belmont. She coaxed her uncle into “one last boat ride.”
The island the day before was festooned with crepe paper and ribbon and balloons. Now, it was in tatters, thanks to a Logan Martin monsoon. But a koozie she handed him rescued the surprise. It read, “Welcome to your island.”
Immediately, Jim Regan dove off his pontoon boat and swam to the island – his island.
“I kissed the beach,” he says. “There was a lot more greenery back then. You could not walk across that island. It was totally overgrown.”
In the years since, the island – and life on it – has changed. And the Regans’ gift became everyone’s joy.
Three barge loads of vines, overgrowth, broken bottles and trash were hauled away – Phase 1 of a simple mission, Jim Regan says.
Palm trees and flowers were brought in along with hundreds of yards of sand and rip rap to protect the island shoreline against erosion. “Let’s try to make everyone fall in love with it,” he says.
And over the years, they have. The Logan Martin community has made Pirate Island a regular summer stop. On a typical weekend, some 30 boats tie up there. On holiday weekends the fleet expands to more than 40 vessels.
The island features a grill, a kiddie pool, palm trees and flowers, a hammock and a treasure chest, filled with trinkets that will, in the years to come, trigger precious, lingering memories. The island’s first chest was a bright orange Home Depot bucket, that would soon be replaced by a metal chest anchored by gold-painted rocks and filled with Mardi Gras beads and other trinkets.
But boys being boys, they’d dig deep in the chest to discover “gold.” And the chest was replaced by a small, metal box, adorned with a three-masted schooner and painted to give the look of weathered wood that’s there today.
In the wake of the toil and sweat invested to bring the island to its treasured state, Laurie Regan points out that sometimes wives give husbands gifts to keep them out of their hair – something like a new set of golf clubs.
“(The island) was my equivalent to a nice set of golf clubs, “she says. And Laurie’s gift of love to Jim – and Jim’s labor with others to transform Pirate Island – has turned into a treasure for all who cherish Logan Martin.
“It’s selfish in that you couldn’t possibly see this many wonderful, happy faces and families being together. It’s just a joy to go out and sit on the boat and watch them have such a wonderful time.
“(For kids) it’s a bit of a rest for their parents and they can play … It’s a pleasure. It really is.”
For Jim, Pirate Island is a thank-you gift in return for a blessed life. Pirate Island is the birthday gift that keeps on giving.
“When you’ve been fortunate, there’s a pull to give back. And it does feel good to try to give something back,” he says. “Whenever we run into someone on the island or run into someone who knows something about us and the island, they’re thankful. They’ve had great and meaningful times out there – and boy, it feels good.”
Kyle Anderson of Pell City, owner of Pro Handiman, LLC, has worked with the Regans improving the island and recently finished building a Tiki bar, complete with a thatch roof, and adding more sand and flowers.
He calls the island, “a labor of love.”
And that love, like the laid-back spirit of Pirate Island, is contagious.
Anderson remembers taking his young son, Asher, to the island after catching a 30-pound catfish. He showed him the process of catch-to-table. They fileted the fish and took eggs, flour and cornmeal to Pirate Island for a fish fry.
“I always think of that when I think of Pirate Island,” he says.
The Regans recalled meeting a grandfather on the island, with grandkids crawling all over him with the water and joy flowing over him.
“This is our time,” the grandfather said with a big grin.
It turns out the grandfather had visited Pirate Island many times. But one visit in particular shone like the midday sun.
“The guy asked his wife what she wanted to do for their 50th-wedding anniversary,” Jim recalls.
Her response? “I just want to be on that island all day.”
