History of Cumberland Island

Cumberland Island, presently a National Seashore, has had a long and complex history, since before the Revolutionary War.

In Colonial times, the nearby St. Mary's and Fernandina were significant ports for connecting inland markets with the Atlantic seaboard.  Both cities had a thriving fishing industry for centuries.  They are located on opposite banks of the St. Mary's River, which, due to its facility for inland commerce, had economic and strategic significant from earliest times.  Each were settled originally by Spanish colonists, but came under British sway through the influence of James Oglethorpe, the first colonial governor of Georgia.

Cumberland Island itself was inhabited mainly by local Native Americans.  It went by various names over the years due to Native American, Spanish and English influences, but ultimately was named after the Duke of Cumberland.

In 1736, Oglethorpe built a hunting lodge on the island.  He named the lodge "Dungeness."  Sources do not clearly indicate where he got the name, but there is an area of Kent, England known as Dungeness that is brackish marsh (dung mersc, or smelly marsh) and lowland (naess).  Perhaps this island's brackish marshes and lowlands reminded Oglethorpe of that place.

In 1783, Revolutionary War general Nathaniel Greene purchased the island and started a large plantation.  His wife, Catherine, or Caty, remarried Phineas Miller after Nathaniel's death, and they continued the plantation, building a large, 4-story mansion on the south end of the island that they named - you guessed it - "Dungeness," after Oglethorpe's hunting lodge.

The plantation slowly became unprofitable.  The family vacated the island and the mansion burned down in 1866.

In 1884, along came Thomas Carnegie, the brother and business partner of Andrew Carnegie who, with his wife Lucy, bought the island and began construction of a huge mansion they named - again - "Dungeness."  It had 59 rooms and was designed to resemble a Scottish castle.  In its heyday, it was spectacular.  Here is a photo of it, courtesy of the National Park Service:

At its height, it employed over 300 servants, many consisting of descendants of freed slaves who still lived in High Point on the north end of the island (more on High Point below).  However, due to the expenses of upkeep, the mansion was closed up by the family in 1925 and only used once more in 1929 for a wedding.  In 1959, the mansion burned in a spectacular fire of mysterious origin.  The fire left stone and brick ruins, which the National Park Service stabilized after it acquired ownership of most of Cumberland Island in 1972 for administration as Cumberland Island National Seashore.  Here is what the ruins look like today:

The ruins are fascinating and tantalizing in leaving to the imagination all of the detail that must have been part of the original structure:

While she lived on the island, Lucy Carnegie had several "cottages" (we would call each of them mansions) built for some of her children.  One, Plum Orchard, remains preserved today in nearly its original condition, and contains furniture, much of which originally came from Dungeness:

So much for the "upstairs" crowd on Cumberland Island.  The "downstairs" crowd also had a long, colorful and relatively well documented history on the island.  After the Civil War, those former slaves who were freed had a choice whether to stay on the island and either seek employment with the facing plantation, or look to subsistence living, or else leave the island to find a livelihood elsewhere.

Many of the residents who chose to remain settled at High Point at the north end of Cumberland Island.  As part of that community, the First African Baptist Church was established in 1893 and then rebuilt in the 1930’s. It was the site of the September 1996 wedding of John F. Kennedy, Jr. and Carolyn Bessette:

The north end of Cumberland Island also saw separate development during the period from 1880 to 1920 when travelers from the Northeast U.S. to Florida would stop by on their trip by steamship.  The hotel was developed by the Cumberland Island Company.  The resort featured a horse drawn trolley from the wharf on the north end of the island to the hotel.  The developers also divided the adjacent area known as Half Moon Bluff tract into 52 lots for purchase by descendants of former slaves and other workers living on the island.  This community was often referred to as "The Settlement."

Today, over 90% of Cumberland Island is part of the National Seashore.  The remainder is divided among 14 tracts of private ownership, most of which is due to terminate eventually and pass to the administration of the National Park Service.  Some of the tracts belong to descendants of former slaves.  Some belong to private persons who acquired tracts during a period of threatened development before NPS acquisition in 1972.  Some belong to descendants of Thomas and Lucy Carnegie or their families.  One large residence, Greyfield, is operated as a bed and breakfast and is available for reservations for tourists who wish to sample life on Cumberland Island as the Carnegies lived it.