Ft. McAllister & Amelia Island, FL

Juried Art Competition at Jekyll Island
Friday, Mar. 8th

Since we didn’t get our bike ride in on Thursday at Okefenokee, after lunch we loaded the bikes on the truck and headed to Jekyll Island, parked, then biked over to see the juried art competition at the Goodyear Cottage (yes, that Goodyear… the tire giant once owned the cottage). The house itself was gorgeous, a large two story, and each room filled with art. Beautiful, beautiful work which included paintings, pottery, fibre arts, mixed media, wood pieces, handmaid baskets, and some jewelry…. it also included student work, which I thought was a really nice touch. Outside they had tents set up with other artists displaying their work… mostly pottery. We didn’t buy anything but I love to see what people are creating. Afterwards we biked around the island for awhile and got in about 5 miles. 

The weekend was spent doing some yoga, needlepoint, zentangle, emailing, reading, working on our taxes, and we even got to hang out by the pool on Sunday here at the campground. 

Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island
Monday, Mar. 11th

I know what you’re thinking… really… more pictures of dead trees??!!  But, I do love the driftwood. It is just so magnificent. Today we took a walk through the marshes on Jekyll then circled back through Driftwood Beach to get back to the truck. We hadn’t done that particular walk before. We saw some egrets and blue herons in the marshes. It was high tide so we had to climb over some of the driftwood on the beach. So cool! It feels as though it’s a beach from Planet of the Apes. 

Fort McAllister State Park, Richmond Hill, GA
Tuesday, Mar. 12th

We had plans today to link up with friends, Meredith & Larry, who live in Bluffton, SC. We first met them years ago when we both had seasonal campsites in Boothbay, Maine. While we no longer have a seasonal site any longer, they still do, and we’re fortunate to still see them almost every summer in Boothbay when we go up camping for a weekend. Today we met Meredith & Larry at Fort McAllister State Park. It got the name McAllister from the family who donated the lands. 

To protect Savannah, the Confederate Army erected the fort that would evolve into a massive earthwork to guard the Ogeechee River and its vital railroad bridge, as well as the cotton and rice plantations along its shores. It withstood seven naval bombardments by Union ironclads with minimal damage. In one case the only casualty was “Tom Cat,” the garrison mascot. The cat’s death was a big deal. He was a favorite among the soldiers. Finally Union General William Sherman’s army arrived at the fort’s doorstep in mid December 1864. The fort was blocking Sherman’s supply lines and the long-sought prize — the city of Savannah. The Union troops with their overwhelming numbers overpowered the Confederates and took control of the fort. But the Union troops suffered significant losses because of the Confederate’s controversial method of defense, which was their placement of mines in the open fields. Sherman was so incensed that he ordered the Confederate soldiers and their officers to go out in the fields, dig in the dirt, and remove every mine. With the fort under Union control, Savannah fell shortly thereafter. 

During the late 1930s Henry Ford purchased the site and began extensive restoration. It eventually came under the ownership of the state of Georgia. 

It’s in a beautiful location overlooking the Ogeechee River so it was fun to wander through it and see the officer huts, barracks, hospital, cannons and the moats which in this case held palisades (basically a sharpened wooden fence). Since the fort was already high up on a bluff, the confederates didn’t bother filling the moat with water but filled it with these palisades instead. 

After checking out the fort, it was time for lunch. We combined our resources for a picnic lunch and sat outside near the river and feasted. We got caught up with the latest news of each other since we last saw Meredith & Larry over the summer. A lovely visit!!

We said our goodbyes and then Gary & I did a quick drive through of the campground to check it out before heading back to our tiny home. 

Wednesday & Thursday we walked on various beaches on St. Simons and Jekyll Island.

Amelia Island
Friday, March 15th

We had visited Fort Clinch which is on Amelia Island/Fernandina Beach but hadn’t made it to the historic part of town. That was today’s adventure as well as doing a boat tour of Cumberland Island National Seashore. The original plan was to catch the 10AM boat out of Amelia Island’s pier but we purposely did not purchase tickets in case we ended up arriving late. As it turned out, we got there just in time… with about 15 minutes to spare… but they were sold out. There was a 2:30 tour which was 90 minutes, rather than the 2 1/2 hour morning tour. That suited us just fine so we signed up for that. Then we were able to spend the morning wandering around Old Town Fernandina which was utterly charming! The historic district is a 50-block area located at the north end of Amelia Island. The town of Fernandina was officially established in 1811 and named for King Ferdinand VII of Spain. The original town, now called Old Town Fernandina, still remains. We did a self guided walking tour that covered a good portion of the area. Old Town starts on the docks and near the old railroad line and expands from there covering blocks of beautiful historic homes, the downtown shopping district, which includes the Post Office, county courthouse, a church or two or three, and even the oldest operating bar in Florida.  We had lunch at Tasty’s, which was recommended by one of the volunteers at the Visitor’s Center, which was indeed tasty. It was a small restaurant located in what once was a gas station. I had a blackened shrimp po’ boy to die for. 

After that it was about time for our boat tour. Very entertaining. We saw the working port where shrimp boats go out, a big freighter which is in port regularly from Bermuda getting restocked with supplies, and a few mills. Then we headed up into the Cumberland Island National Seashore. We saw egrets, blue herons, wild horses, dolphins and some ruins that were once the Dungeness Mansion built by Thomas Carnegie. We heard lots of stories, one was concerning the marriage of JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette on the island and how it was kept a secret. 

Also while we were out on the tour the captain had received a radio message from the coast guard that an “asset” from the Kings Bay naval base was going to be headed out to sea through the harbor in about 20 minutes. The “asset” was code for a submarine. Cool!!! We’ll get to see a submarine! We were also told no picture taking. The “asset” would have an entourage with it which included coast guard vessels manned with submachine guns. Okey dokey then. No pics. I get it. As it turned out, the 20 minutes morphed into 40 minutes then an hour and our boat trip was ending. The captain said if you wanted to see the sub you could head out to the beach at Fort Clinch, and you’d get a good view from there. Soooo that’s what we did. We got there with about 15 minutes to spare. We almost missed it because, of course, I had to use the bathroom, put more sunblock on, get a snack from my purse, have my water. You get the idea. Gary says traveling with me is like traveling with a 3-year old. I’d be insulted if it wasn’t sort of true. Anyway, we walked down to the beach just in time and managed to see the submarine, two coast guard boats, and a support ship called Black Powder. So cool! Since there are only 18 Ohio class submarines and only two home ports… one being Kings Bay, St. Marys, GA and the other is Naval Base Kitsap in Washington state, this may be the once in a lifetime sighting for us.

That ended our Amelia Island adventure for the day then we had about an hour plus ride back to our tiny home.