Cumberland Island is one of my favorite things about living on the Georgia Coast. Though it is only about an hour down the road, it's a world away. I have made the trip multiple times and it isn't getting old. Cumberland's history and beauty is unlike any other place and is what continues to draw people back over and over.
Its history dates back hundreds of years to the Spanish who set up a fort on the south end of the island. Years later the island was home to several plantations who planted rice and the famed "sea island" cotton. It's most famous residents came many years after the Civil War and were a family with a small fortune - the Carnegie's.
Thomas and Lucy Carnegie built Dungeness as their southern home and getaway to avoid the harsh Pittsburgh winters. They settled on Cumberland because Lucy had gone to boarding school as a child in Fernandina Beach, Florida and also because they were not accepted into the Jekyll Island Club. The Jekyll Island Club considered them "new money" because they had earned their wealth. Dungeness was a mammoth structure and its ruins are all that remains today. It burned in 1959 and was believed to be set fire by a poacher.
Scattered over the island are other "cottages" that Lucy built for her children. A few of these still remain such as Plum Orchard and Greyfield. Plum Orchard is a beautiful structure on the north end about 8 miles north of Dungeness. It is a part of the National Park System and I'm not sure what its current use is. Greyfield, on the other hand, is the only home that has remained in the Carnegie family through the years. It is now run as a Bed and Breakfast and is the only lodging on the island besides the primitive camping offered by the NPS. More information can on the Greyfield Inn can be found here - Greyfield Inn.
Cumberland Island is also famous for the wild horses that roam the island. The horses are remnants of the old Carnegie stables that were left behind when the family fled the island. They have learned to live off the land and I have seen then every time I've been around Dungeness. While they're beautiful to look at and weirdly odd that they are able to survive, they come with a price. There are two sides of the debate on the horses - those who think they should be left alone and those who want them removed. One side presents that the horses are eating the marsh grass and therefore leading to erosion of parts of the island. These argue that the horses should be rounded up and removed from the island. The other side says that they are simply doing what they need to survive and have become a huge attraction to the island, bringing in visitors and their money. I see both sides but think the horses should stay because they're apart of its heritage and are pretty cool.
Cumberland was put on the map in the 90's when JFK Jr. was married on the north end at the First African Baptist Church. The only way the church and the rest of the north end can be reached is by car or an extremely long bike ride on a dirt road. Up until recently, neither of these were possible to day trippers but the NPS is now offering motorized tours of the north end and its attractions. The wedding was top secret and put together by JFK Jr. friend and Cumberland Island resident, Gogo Ferguson. Gogo is a descendant of the Carnegie family and makes jewelry from the island using animal bones that she finds. She has a store here on Saint Simons in Redfern Village. More information can be found here - Gogo Jewelry.
I recently took a friend of mine who was visiting down in January. We took the early ferry from St. Mary's and got off at the Dungeness Dock. The NPS offers a small tour of the historic district and it lasted a little over and hour. This told of its history through the years and is a great introduction to your day on the island. The tour ends at the Dungeness ruins and you have the rest of the day to explore the island on your on. We took this time to have lunch on the beach and walk the islands many trails. While on one that snaked through the Live Oak forest on the Cumberland River, we were able to see Navy submarines coming and going from nearby King's Bay Navy Base. Our trip to the island ended by catching the last ferry of the day back to the mainland.
Cumberland Island National Seashore
If you're interesting in reading more about Cumberland, there are two book that I recommend. The first is Palindrome by Stuart Woods. While the book is fiction, the places are all real and does a great job of putting you on the island. The other book is called Strong Women, Wild Horses by Charles Seabrook. This is about Gogo Ferguson and another island resident who see the island in two different likes.
Cumberland Island National Seashore
If you're interesting in reading more about Cumberland, there are two book that I recommend. The first is Palindrome by Stuart Woods. While the book is fiction, the places are all real and does a great job of putting you on the island. The other book is called Strong Women, Wild Horses by Charles Seabrook. This is about Gogo Ferguson and another island resident who see the island in two different likes.
