Where Nature and History Meet
St Marys is the gateway to Cumberland Island, Georgia's largest and southernmost barrier island. Here pristine maritime forests, undeveloped beaches and wide marshes whisper the stories of both man and nature. Natives, missionaries, enslaved African Americans and Wealthy Industrialists all walked here. Cumberland Island is also home to over 9,800 acres of Congressionally designated Wilderness.
12 Aug 2017We made the return trip to Cumberland Island NS today. After a nice 45 minute ferry trip to the Island we boarded our van for a day of exploring the island. To call this a functioning van would be a stretch, Mirrors broken, check engine light on, cracked windshield, AC that was less then performing at it's best, but hey it was going to be our steed for the day. We had a great tour guide that made the trip exciting. We headed out down a dirt road on an 36 mile round trip adventure to the north end of the Island. We stopped at a few stops before our lunch stop at Plum Orchard Mansion. After taking in a very well done tour of the Mansion we got to enjoy our packed in lunch among wild horses and other wild life. After our Lunch it was time to continual on to the North side of the Island. The road from here only proved why our trusted steed was in the condition it was in. Once to the North end we got to take in the first African Baptist Church. The church was where John Kennedy Jr was married. We then headed back to the South side of the Island and the Dungeness Mansion Ruins. This Mansion was huge and we can only imagine the grander of the mansion before fire destroyed it. If you are headed to Cumberland we highly recommend taking the Island tour. You will need to take a lunch and we recommend checking out the Riverview Hotel. It's right across the street and they packed us a great lunch for our day at the Island. We would not recommend a visit in the Summer months.
2 Dec 2014
Will sometimes timing is important. We visited on a day the ferry out to the Island was not running. We did take in the VC to get a understanding of the Park but this will only count as a half visit and we will return to finish it up next time we are down this way.
NPS Website
Our 110th NPS Unit
