Cumberland Island Walking Tours (Free!)

There is so much to do on the island. The campground I stayed at was perfect. One day I went north to Plum Orchard and one day I went south to Dungeness Ruins. When we visited before we hiked a 4 mile loop that included the Dungeness ruins, the beach, and a museum. This trip I had the time to do a tour from the dock to the Dungeness ruins.

Turns out there was much more to see than just the big house. There were all sorts of buildings surrounding the mansion like a greenhouse, grape arbor, formal gardens, carriage houses, recreation building with a swimming pool and more. Most are just ruins but you get the feel for the scale.

I heard how advanced the Carnegie’s were to have DC power from their own power house and ice made by their own equipment (picture below) back in the late 1800s. They built roads, power lines, and telephone lines between the mansions on the island. This part I liked. The part where as rich people they felt they had to flaunt their wealth with the biggest mansions, plenty of Tiffany lamps, and 200+ servants while they spent their days eating and drinking was just sad. Makes me glad I was never rich!

The Carnegie’s not only built Dungeness, but built several other large houses and mansions on the island for their children and their families. The Stafford House is still privately owned but I walked past it. It’s big!

The other tour I took was of Plum Orchard which was fascinating.

Can you say opulence? Did you know Tiffany even made wall paper?

The story was that if you visited with children, they would assign a servant to watch them and you never had to see them the whole time.

Of course they had their own swimming pool and squash court and game room. I guess they didn’t just eat and drink.

To top my trip off, it’s an island. There are lots of beaches and few people. I walked for several hours on the beach without seeing anyone. What an amazing place!

Tent Camping!

 I wanted to have a big adventure. I haven’t tent camped in 20 years or so. John has no desire to sleep on the ground but was willing to drive me to the ferry, so I went camping by myself for 3 days on Cumberland Island. I was surprised to learn that many women (including older women like myself) camp here by themselves. It’s a safe environment with only limited campsites and few day visitors. The limit is 300 people a day on the ferry though the ferries were running with much fewer people than last time we visited. An island retreat!

The bad parts of camping were sleeping on the ground (my pad wasn’t thick enough) and bug bites. Given it was dark around 12 hours a day, I either slept or read in the tent during that time. So even if I didn’t get sound sleep, I slept enough to be wide awake the next day. As for the bugs, I didn’t actually feel many bites but after I got home I realized I have quite a few so that will take awhile to heal. At least the sand stickers could be removed from my shoes.

The great parts of camping was the quiet or just the sounds of the forest and beach. The campground was close to the beach so both sounds filled my tent. I was quite proud of camping by myself. I practiced putting up the tent a couple of times at home. However, I still felt accomplished when I actually put it up and took it down without help. I carried my gear and food (25 pounds) the 3.5 miles to the campsite with only minor grumbling and a stop for lunch.

Plus, by camping by myself I got to do what I wanted, as long as I wanted, and whenever I wanted. I enjoyed the Road Scholar trips but hiking was frustrating. We would hike with a good pace for 10-15 minutes or so, then wait until the slower people at the back of the line caught up. None of the hikes were very long. By hiking by myself I got to hike at my speed, pause for pictures when I want, and go as far as I want. I hiked around 5 miles on the first and last (half) days and 11 miles on the 2^nd & 3^rd (full) days. When I got back to the campsite on the long days, I was sore after sitting for a bit. But I did plenty of stretches and was fine by the next morning.

I was surprised at all the animals I saw. The island is famous for the wild horses. They were introduced perhaps as far back as 1500’s with additional horse lines brought through various groups over the years. Most of the ones I saw was on the south part of the island where there are more open areas to see them. However, I had one horse behind my campsite and saw several on the hike out. They tell you not to get close to the horses, but they forgot to tell the horses. While I stayed as far to the side on the road as possible, a couple of them came over to me. I told them to go away but I had to sneak past them instead.

I don’t have any pictures or just fuzzy pictures of some of the animals. I saw 6 deer, 3 wild pigs, lots of squirrels, egret, heron, and a dolphin (on the ferry ride). On the beach, there were dead creatures like sand dollars, jellyfish, and horseshoe crab shells.

And live ghost crabs.

There are lots of armadillos on the island.

At one of the ponds I saw 3 baby alligators. They are only about 2’ long. Pretty good amount of animals for just 3 nights.