Cynthia Barnett and The Sound of the Sea on Useppa - Thoughts and Pictures by UseppaGin - Useppa shell mounds were built hundreds of years ago by Calusa Indians, lived on then and lived on now. Saturday night, February 26th, award winning environmental journalist Cynthia Barnett spoke to an intimate gathering at the Barbara Sumwalt Museum about her book The Sound of the Sea… seashells and the fate of the oceans. Shells have been collected for a hundred thousand years. “They were money before coins, jewelry before gems, art before canvas.” Barnett spoke with reverence, humor, and scientific knowledge about the shells we see everywhere on the island, about shells found worldwide.