Georgia Magazine - April 2010 - (Page 36)

Explore Cumberland Island One of Georgia’s greatest seaside treasures BY KATHLEEN WALLS COURTESY GDEcD L ooking for a great getaway? How about an island paradise that moves to the rhythm of an earlier era? Cars and phones are rare. Fast food and strip malls nonexistent. Instead it’s filled with wildlife, pristine beaches and huge oaks sprawling near the ground, providing a haven for birds, squirrels and weary hikers. You most likely will see some wild horses and a deer or two. You may spot the newest addition to the island’s animal population, an armadillo, as he rustles through the underbrush, poking his snoot in the soft sand searching for an easy meal. In the evenings, the raccoons amble out of the woods to the shore to snack on crabs and shellfish. Think you have to travel to the ends of the earth to find this haven? Think again. It nestles close to the mainland at the southernmost tip of Georgia, and although it has been inhabited for more than 4,000 years, man has trod lightly here on this, the largest of Georgia’s barrier islands. Cumberland Island National Seashore is one of Georgia’s greatest treasures. The National Park system provides ferry service, or you can reach it via private boat or charter. When you arrive via ferry, you have a choice of two landings. The first docking is at Ice House Museum and Dock—the closest dock to the historic sites. If you are camping or wish to go deeper into the island, you can disembark at Sea Camp Dock. Bikes are available for rent at Sea Camp. A daily 30-minute program is presented at 4 p.m. at the Sea Camp Ranger Station. The programs highlight a variety of cultural and natural history topics and are often seasonal. There are videos about the island here. One concerns history and the other the natural history of the island. As you step into the forest, huge oaks dominate. Nestled into the With its quiet, unspoiled beauty, Cumberland Island National Seashore is one of the bestkept secrets in the country. Visitors reach the island using the Cumberland ferry. 36 www.georgiamagazine.org crooks of their branches, the resurrection ferns spring to life after every rain. Bright flashes of red, blue and yellow dart among the branches as the island birds announce their presence with bursts of song. Deep in the forest, small rain-fed ponds glisten in the sun. Occasionally, just the eyes of a lone alligator break the surface. On the eastern side, the forests are thick with undergrowth. The saw palmetto intertwines with vines and grasses to form an almost impenetrable barrier to the dunes just beyond. Only a few roads cross this area allowing visitors access to the beach. White sand, broken only by deer and horse hoofprints, forms the dune crests. Atlantic breakers tease small sea birds playing at water’s edge, scurrying to and fro with the waves’ rhythm. Occasionally, feral horses disturb the pristine shoreline, weaving their way through driftwood at the highwater mark. The horses are a relic of many cultures. Spanish explorers visited Cumberland Island in the mid-1500s and abandoned a few Arabian and Barb horses. Shortly after the Revolutionary War, Gen. Nathaniel Greene planned his home here on the site of an old hunting camp belonging to George Oglethorpe. The general died before it could be built, but his wife, Catherine, constructed an elegant four-story mansion and named it Dungeness. Catherine, her second husband, GEORGIA MAGAZINE KATHLEEN WALLS http://www.georgiamagazine.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - April 2010

Georgia Magazine - April 2010
Contents
Viewpoint
Mailbox
Picture This?
Georgia News
Calendar
Currents
Special Energy Report
Major League Fun at the "Minors"
Remarkable Rivers
Southern Graces
Around Georgia
My Georgia
Georgia Gardens
Georgia Cooks
Cookbook of the Month
Snapshot

Georgia Magazine - April 2010