Wed. Mar. 2—Fri. Mar. 4: Saint Augustine wasn’t on our original itinerary, but when I realized how close to it we would be driving, I suggested we should stop and look around. Even though we hadn’t researched it, it was very easy to follow signs to the Old Town. We stumbled on a lot to park the truck and camper that was free and walked to the nearby visitor center. There we bought a booklet with five walking tours of the town. We managed to do three of them. First we walked through St. George Street, reading about the reconstructed or rebuilt buildings. Coming out near the Plaza we looked at the area that had more of the structures showing the English influence of the 1800s. From there we crossed over Castillo Avenue to walk along the waterfront to see the fort, Castillo de San Marcos. It was built from local Coquina stone, just like Bok Tower was back in Lake Wales. Begun in 1672 (completed in 1695) it is the oldest masonry fort in North America. It encompasses 235 years of Spanish influence in Florida and flew 4 nations’ flags, including old and new Spain, Britain, and the United States. It reminded us a lot of the old fort in San Juan but smaller. When we left the area about 1:00 we felt like we had learned a great deal about the oldest city in North America (San Juan is older but Puerto Rico is considered part of the Caribbean, not North America). Lunch ended up being at McDonald’s where I finally heard from ORS that my check would go in Mar. 8 for unexplained reasons. I wrote back demanding an explanation but there wasn’t much more I could do from Florida. It was about an hour’s drive just across the border into Georgia where we got a site at Crooked River State Park. There were horrible, biting gnats that drove us to distraction and we considered moving sites. But they seemed to be everywhere so we stayed put and found that they were not bad when the sun wasn’t beating down on the site. And this is going to be a good spot to do the two visits we hope to make in southern Georgia. The weather forecasts suggested that Thursday would be the best to go to Cumberland Island National Seashore so, without really knowing what we were doing, we headed out with a packed lunch. I’ve been having trouble again with vertigo so I had a hard time getting started but felt there was no choice but to ignore it and carrying on regardless. Driving into old town St. Mary’s at 9:30 I noticed a sign that said the ferry runs at 9:00 and 11:45. We found the National Park Visitor Center and learned that we could buy tickets at 11:00. So after looking at the displays in the Center we just wandered along the St. Mary’s riverfront until we could buy the tickets. Then with a backpack with lunch and extra clothes, sunscreen and bug spray, we boarded the small ferry for the 45 minute ride down the St. Mary’s river to Cumberland Island. It was sunny, very windy and in the high 60s to near 70 degrees. Once there, a ranger gave the small group who got off at Dungeness landing (the ones who were camping got off at Seacrest landing) an hour or more walk-and-talk about the history of this part of the island. A grove of Maritime forest with Live Oaks is the site of two magnificent estates, separated by 100 years but sharing the same foundation and name Dungeness. The first was built by Nathaneal Greene and his heirs. The ruins which still stand are the remains of Thomas and Lucy Carnegie’s Dungeness, built in the mid 1880s. The younger brother of Andrew, he died in 1886 leaving his wife, Lucy, and nine children. She expanded the original acquisitions, eventually owning 90% of the island, and built four more mansions for her children. When Dungeness burned in 1959, it had not been occupied for many years. In 1971 the heirs donated Plum Orchard (one of the additional mansions built) as well as supporting funds, which helped win Congressional approval for Cumberland Island National Seashore. The National Park Service now owns 90% of the island. After her talk, as the group wandered the extensive grounds of the ruins, we were treated to the sight of several of the feral horses that have roamed the island for 400 years since the time of the Spaniards. Behind the cemetery we found a boardwalk that led along the edge of the saltwater marsh. The tide was out and ibises, egrets, and a great blue heron fished in the shallows while the mud was skittering with fiddler crabs. The boardwalk came out in sand dunes which led us to the Atlantic beach that stretches as far as the eye can see with absolutely no development. As always when I walk a beach I thought of Judy Kabodian. We walked virtually alone on the hard packed sand but noticed a truck and a large group of people gathered far down the beach. As we approached them, most of the group moved on but the truck and a few people remained. When we arrived we found that there was a small humpback whale that had washed up on the beach. The rangers were trying to get the skull free and deal with the carcass. It was sad but was a real privilege to see a whale in that wild setting. The trail headed back into the forest and came out at Seacrest landing, where there are rocking chairs on the porch of the ranger station that were SO welcome after what was a hike of between 4 and 5 miles. At 4:00 a ranger gave two PowerPoint presentations, one on armadillos and one on the feral horses of the island. The ferry ride back was uneventful. We mutually agreed to have dinner at the Riverside Café, where Marv had fish and chips and I had crab cakes on a Greek salad. Back at the campground we used the WiFi at the office, saw 4 deer cross the road in front of us, and then did laundry and watched some TV before hitting the sack. Rain started during the night but it quit by the time we got up and got going Friday morning. I was feeling better after trying Benadryl during the night. Highway 40 to the Okefenokee Parkway is a scenic drive and it was a pleasant route to the Swamp. It was cloudy with a bit of drizzle and it was 61° as we arrived. First stop was at the Visitors Center where they showed a 14 minute, award winning video about the Okefenokee Swamp to just the two of us. Then an automaton like the presidents at Disney World told us tales about the swamp and how it has been affected by humans over the years. The only way to get into the wilderness area is by boat and the outfitters take people in or one can rent a kayak or canoe and paddle a few miles down the canal to get to open water. We opted to take the boat but wanted to wait until the weather improved. In the meantime we drove the Swamp Island Loop Drive. We had to return to the Center to get the interpretive brochure telling what we were seeing. We stopped at the Chesser Island Homestead, which was first established in 1858. The present buildings were built in 1926 by a grandson of the original Chesser and he and his wife lived there until 1958—100 years in the same family. Now the buildings are kept up by USFWS and used for educational programs and festivals such as a Cane Syrup celebration. A volunteer told us tales of the family and the homestead. She also said we should hope to get Joey as our boat guide, since he was 7th generation in the swamp and his wife is 8th. From there we drove to the Boardwalk trail where we ate our picnic. The three quarter mile boardwalk took us to the 50 foot Owl’s Roost Tower. We saw two alligators along the trail, one with babies, and several large turtles in Seagrove Lake from the top of the tower. By the end of the drive the clouds were clearing and it was 71° and the boat ride was sounding more appealing. One boat was just leaving as we walked up and they said the next one was at 2:45. So we bought tickets for it and took the Cane Pole trail along the canal. There were three pileated woodpeckers near the trail that we watched and took pictures of for a while. The path led to the Minnet Prairie—in the swamp, large areas of open water, which sometimes dry up completely, are called prairies. We headed back to the boat dock and found at least 7 large alligators and one large turtle along the banks. We were happy to find that our boat guide was indeed Joey, who has lived his entire life as a swamp man as were his ancestors so we felt like the ride was quite authentic. It took a while to go down the canal but there were innumerable alligators to entertain us along with Joey’s laconic narration. He took us into the prairie and ran the boat up next to a large alligator that ignored us as we soaked up the sounds and sights. It was during our ride that I had one of my favorite, sort of iconic, conversations of our whole trip. Joey and I were discussing whether the woodpecker is pronounced pile-ated or pill-e-ated, agreeing we had both heard it both ways. He drawled in his DEEP Georgia woods accent, “Ah guess it’s one a them tah-may-ter/tah-mah-ter kind of thangs.” It was cooling off as we returned to the boat dock and left Okefenokee Swamp. On the way back to camp we stopped at a Framing and Gift Shop that sold ice cream and coffee which we enjoyed before we returned for couscous and leftover pork chops.
No comments:
Post a Comment