Cumberland Island National Seashore

One word - GO!

Now for a few more words. We really enjoyed it. Our only mistake was taking the noon ferry instead of the 9 am ferry. We would love to have had more time on the island. That's what we get for being lazy-bones I guess.

There was a cool wind blowing so we traveled inside the cabin for the ferry ride, which was uneventful. It was also nice that it was not too crowded.

When we arrived at the island, we had a chance to go into the museum. It was pretty interesting, especially about the Carnegie era.

Then we met with a ranger to take the tour to the Dungeness ruins. It took us about 1 hour to make the 7 minute walk. She was very interesting as she told us about the history of the island and how it came to be a national seashore. There was a group of teens with us (well behaved-maybe because their teacher was with them?) who were actually very interested and a lot of fun. The ranger used people from the "audience" as she told her stories (some of which i am sure were true) and we all got a kick out of that. At one point she picked a gentleman to be so-and-so who came to the island to cut live oak for ships. Then she picked one of the teens to be the wife. Well, this girl got into it, putting her arm in this man's arm and laying her head on his shoulder. Finally the ranger asked her if this was her dad or something. The girl goes: "No, he's my TEACHER!" Everybody pretty much cracked up. Can you tell all of us were pretty loose and enjoying themselves?
Also the ranger told us about the wild horses on the island. Naturally the 1st were brought by the Spanish; but the last were brought by the Carnegies as polo ponies. There are now 5 separate herds totaling anywhere from 100 to 150 horses. They are all protected and visitors are asked not to pet them.

Anybody here know Traveling Man very well? Then you know that he did indeed pet one of them. His story - and he is sticking to it - is that the horse came up to him to be petted.

The Dungeness ruins are pretty impressive because the house was massive. It was built by Tom (brother of Andrew) and Lucy Carnegie as a retreat for them and their 6 sons. Eventually the house was no longer used and fell into disrepair. It was later burned by a poacher.

After the tour, we had a couple of hours to roam around on our own. We saw a flock of wild turkey. TM said he saw deer sign, but we never saw any deer. (that's ok, he's seen deer here at the campground.) We enjoyed seeing other parts of the island, but, as I said just didn't have enough time to suit us.

It was a very good day and we were tired when we returned. But not too tired to stop for dinner. Actually, I use "dinner" lightly as it was really Chick-fil-a (save the cows!)

Love to all and God Bless