Cumberland Island
Where to begin? Craigs Mom, Stepdad, and Sister's birthdays are all within a few weeks of each other, and Randall had the idea to celebrate at Cumberland Island, one of a series of islands off the southermost part of Georgia. We drove an RV up there (about 4 hours) and took a ferry to the island. We stayed at Greyfield Inn, the only accomodations on the island unless you want to camp! It was so great!
It was gorgeous! It had sandy beaches, but most of the island looked lush, green, forrested, with huge oak trees everywhere. It is largely uninhabited, about 14 people actually have homes on the island. It is now considered a national park, so it is all preserved. It has a lot of rich history, it was purchased by the Carnegie family, who made it (very) rich in steel. I won't go into the history of it, but if you ever want to look it up, look up Cumberland Island, or Andrew Carnegie.
There ARE some vehicles on the island, but visitors like us were provided bikes by Greyfield to get around on. We stayed in a cottage a little ways away from the main mansion, so we biked to breakfast and dinner, and biked everywhere else. To the beach, to the gardens, to the ruins, etc. I got a LOT of exercise!
There were wild horses everywhere, we saw armadillos, dolphins, and although we didnt see them, we were told there are many wild hogs out there too. In fact they've become so overpopulated and were destroying parts of the island that one guy's job there is to take a sniper rifle out at night and 'depopulate.' That would have been an interesting tour to take!
Here are some pictures of the trip!
In the RV we traveled up in. Craig and his sister are snoozing. It was a very convenient way to travel!
The first day we biked about 2 miles to the Dungeness ruins. (The 59-room Queen Anne style mansion and grounds was completed after Carnegie's death in 1886. His wife Lucy continued to live at Dungeness and built other estates for her children, including Greyfield (where we stayed) for Margaret Carnegie, Plum Orchard for George Lauder Carnegie and Stafford Plantation. By this time the Carnegies owned 90% of the island. The Carnegies moved out of Dungeness in 1925. In 1959 Dungeness was destroyed by fire, alleged to be arson.[2] The ruins are today preserved by the National Park Service as part of Cumberland Island National Seashore. They were acquired by the Park Service in 1972.[3]
Dungeness' "Backyard"
At this point, after biking 2 miles, my ankles were swollen to the size of my knees, and it was HOT out! Luckily, we found a lady who worked for the park (and had a van) so she picked me and Craig up and drove us back! I honestly didn't think I was going to make it! Thanks!
Saphara and me ready for dinner
This is the cottage where we stayed. It had 3 big bedrooms so we all fit. When Craig and I came home from lunch, there were 2 horses grazing in the front yard! They are wild, but are not afraid of people.
Saturday we took a nature tour that took us in a truck all over the island, places we wouldn't be able to get to on bike. I took this picture on the tour.
The naturalist took us here, to this teensy church, which was originally the African Baptist Church used by the Carnegie's servants as a house of worship. It is also the place that JFK Jr. got married back in 1996. Yep. That's the place! No electricity, nothing!
Here is Craig inside the church up at the pulpit being reverent! LOL!
Here is a lookout point. Down below you can see the beach, and on the horizon you can see a few other islands. I believe that one of them is Little Cumberland and the one to the left is Jekyll Island. I might be wrong.
The second part of Saturday was spent kayaking, and hanging out on the pier while Cassie fished.
We saw a huge pod of dolphins just before the sun went down!
And here is Craig, enjoying the last sunset of our trip, sitting on the railing of the pier. He had a fabulous time. We all did. Sunday we basically ate breakfast and came home. It was super duper!
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