The Bahamas; Tybee Island, Ga.; St. Augustine, Fla.; Gulf Shores, Ala.; Biloxi, Miss.
Taylor Ebersohl, a recent graduate of Perryville High School who now attends Missouri State University to study entertainment management, has collected seashells from her family’s trips from all of these beaches. Some of her unique finds include a shark tooth, fish scales and part of a sand dollar.
Ebersohl knows her hundreds of shells well, picking them up at random to tell about them: The shells from St. Augustine are colored with streaks of red and purple. Shells from Gulf Shores are generally white. And shells from the Bahamas are thicker than the ones she’s found in the U.S.; some of them also have designs made by erosion.
“I like how none of them are the same,” Ebersohl says. “It’s kind of like snowflakes — every one is very different. And even if they’re broken, they still are like the coolest little pieces that you can find. And I think it’s just neat that these come from one of the world’s greatest mysteries, the ocean.”
A trinket box decorated with seashells her father brought her from Caraçao when he was deployed there for six months with the Air Force in 2012 initially inspired Ebersohl’s love of shells. She later began collecting seashells in the sixth grade on a trip to Biloxi, Miss., with her family, a trip where she says she “fell in love with the ocean.”
When her grandfather saw how much she loved the pastime, seashell collecting became a hobby they enjoy doing together; on beach trips, Ebersohl and her grandfather often get up before the sun rises to go to the beach to search for shells. She says he’s already planning their next beach trip to Shackleford Banks, N.C., a place known for its seashells.
While her family is swimming in the ocean, Ebersohl is usually along the shore, searching for shells. She says although she’ll remain in one area for a long time while scavenging, other beachgoers usually pass up the spot where she is, and she thinks to herself, “You don’t know what you’re missing!”
“I love scavenging. Just looking for stuff is one of my favorite things,” Ebersohl says. “I spend my time looking for things that I find interesting while everyone else is out playing. I just like searching, focusing my mind. I don’t know, that’s just something I’ve always loved.”
Ebersohl says someday, she anticipates having trash bags full of seashells and wants to decorate her future house with them. For now, she plans to make jewelry with the shells and continue displaying them in her room. She also enjoys painting them.
She sums up her love for the pastime in one word: fun.
“Sometimes, I’ll pick up ones that look bland, because when you wash them off, they look like something completely different,” Ebersohl says. “It’s like, ‘Oh, a mystery!’”
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