The ruins of the Vanderbilt "Dungeness" mansion and of the wooden Victorian Recreation House on Cumberland Island.After spending Saturday doing chores - Bobby hanging over the engine and generator changing filters and oil, and Jenny provisioning (getting groceries and engine oil), we took a day off and went to Cumberland Island. Yes, we know it is on the ICW route, but our plan is to do Cumberland by land, stop over at Jekyll Island by boat, then head outside for another offshore passage. Trying to get up north to get out of the (early) 90 degree heat of summer in the south.
Cumberland Island is a National Park accessed by ferry from St. Mary's, Georgia (on the Florida
border). The ferry runs twice a day to and from the island allowing time to explore and spend time on the beach (may need reservations, so check park's website). Originally, Timucuan Indians lived here for 3,000 years. In the mid 1500s, Europeans invaded and a Spanish mission was established for 80 years. By 1736, the English under General Oglethorpe established forts at either end of the island, and after a failed attack in 1742, the Spanish ended attempts to invade English Georgia.
By the 1760s land grants became available, but Cumberland Island was not a real estate hot spot before the American Revolution. After the Revolution, General Nathaneal Greene acquired property on the island to raise indigo (blue dye) and harvest oak trees for the new U.S. Navy's ships. After his death, his remarried widow, Catherine, built a 4-story tabby mansion called Dungeness, in addition to creating a working plantation to pay off family debt. The mansion burned down around the mid 1800s. The gardener's cottage (a normal-sized home) is all that remains from this time.
In the mid-1800s, Thomas and Lucy Carnegie (younger brother of Andrew, family in steel) came to the island and built a huge sprawling mansion over the old ruins, and called their castle, Dungeness. Over time, Lucy purchases 90% of the island and builds four mansions for the married children (one is Greyfield, now an expensive hotel where celebrities stay for privacy). Only 200 people supported the Carnegie's life, so a small town with all that entails (power/ice plant, dorms, homes, huge carriage house/stable, recreation mansion with pool/barber and beauty shop/guest rooms/gym, laundry house, smoke house, commissary, 300' yacht with dock, machine and carpentry shops, etc) is constructed. After the 1920s, Dungeness use declined (due to the stock market crash, depression and income taxes) and the latest mansion burned down in 1959. Its ruins remain with some of the support facilities.
Bobby returned to the engine room to replace the ancient main engine water strainer yesterday. Today, we are enduring an afternoon thunderstorms at the dock after prepping for tomorrow's departure. It's back down the St. John's River towards the coast with a left turn onto the ICW for a couple of days.
Cumberland Island is a National Park accessed by ferry from St. Mary's, Georgia (on the Florida
border). The ferry runs twice a day to and from the island allowing time to explore and spend time on the beach (may need reservations, so check park's website). Originally, Timucuan Indians lived here for 3,000 years. In the mid 1500s, Europeans invaded and a Spanish mission was established for 80 years. By 1736, the English under General Oglethorpe established forts at either end of the island, and after a failed attack in 1742, the Spanish ended attempts to invade English Georgia.
By the 1760s land grants became available, but Cumberland Island was not a real estate hot spot before the American Revolution. After the Revolution, General Nathaneal Greene acquired property on the island to raise indigo (blue dye) and harvest oak trees for the new U.S. Navy's ships. After his death, his remarried widow, Catherine, built a 4-story tabby mansion called Dungeness, in addition to creating a working plantation to pay off family debt. The mansion burned down around the mid 1800s. The gardener's cottage (a normal-sized home) is all that remains from this time.
In the mid-1800s, Thomas and Lucy Carnegie (younger brother of Andrew, family in steel) came to the island and built a huge sprawling mansion over the old ruins, and called their castle, Dungeness. Over time, Lucy purchases 90% of the island and builds four mansions for the married children (one is Greyfield, now an expensive hotel where celebrities stay for privacy). Only 200 people supported the Carnegie's life, so a small town with all that entails (power/ice plant, dorms, homes, huge carriage house/stable, recreation mansion with pool/barber and beauty shop/guest rooms/gym, laundry house, smoke house, commissary, 300' yacht with dock, machine and carpentry shops, etc) is constructed. After the 1920s, Dungeness use declined (due to the stock market crash, depression and income taxes) and the latest mansion burned down in 1959. Its ruins remain with some of the support facilities.
Bobby returned to the engine room to replace the ancient main engine water strainer yesterday. Today, we are enduring an afternoon thunderstorms at the dock after prepping for tomorrow's departure. It's back down the St. John's River towards the coast with a left turn onto the ICW for a couple of days.
View of the inland waterway and of the beach on Cumberland Island. No crowds.
