Biking Jekyll Island

Today was sunny and warm - a high near 70F - so we pulled out the bicycles and headed with our friends Eric and Ginny to Jekyll Island, Georgia, where we wanted to pedal the north end of the island.

We started at Great Sand Dunes Park.  From the crest of the dunes we had a sweeping vista of a pristine beach - seemingly empty despite the many MLK weekend visitors:

Our first destination was Driftwood Beach, where an entire forest of trees, killed by encroaching sea water in past years, dried and formed driftwood sculptures along a quarter-mile stretch of beach. Here our approach to Driftwood Beach told us stories of sea and wind:

Saint Simon's Island and its lighthouse were visible through the driftwood trees, beyond a rocky beach:

Driftwood Beach attracted hundreds of people, who got lost in the great expanse of driftwood and sand.  Some came to paint as well as admire:

We couldn't help a Driftwood Selfie:

Can't resist an Ansel Adams style study:

Each tree was a free-form sculpture inviting enjoyment:

Some hinted at darker themes:

Others reminded us of long-lost shipwrecks rising from the shifting sands and surging waves:

We paused for a photo of Kathy, Eric and Ginny in front of a particularly interesting fallen tree:

Further on, we cycled along the Clam Creek Estuary toward the fishing pier on the north end of the island, and encountered this Great Egret, who looked like he must have been on the island's payroll, he stood so still for our photograph:

The fishing pier itself was one of the most elaborate fishing piers we have ever seen:

We found a picnic table for our lunch, and gazed southward across the windblown waves crashing on a crescent-shaped, stony beach:

After taking the photo above, we looked more closely, and found there was one other soul enjoying the waves on that crescent beach:

Having satisfied our hunger, we biked around the northern tip of the island to the Horton House. This tabby house was originally constructed in 1743 by Major William Horton, a top military aide to General James Oglethorpe.  It replaced a wooden residence constructed earlier by Major Horton.

Tabby was a building material for walls, floors and roofs, widely used throughout coastal Georgia during the "Military" and "Plantation" eras.  It was composed of equal parts sand, lime, oyster shell and water, mixed into a mortar and poured into block forms.  The lime used in tabby was made by burning oyster shell taken from Indian shell mounds.  The word "tabby" is African in origin, with an Arabic background, and means, "a wall made of earth or masonry."  This method of building was brought to America by the Spaniards.

Horton also brewed beer in Georgia's first brewery (the ruins of which are a few hundred yards down the road). This structure has been meticulously preserved over the past 100 years as an example of coastal Georgia building techniques and as one of the oldest surviving buildings in the state. Across the street from the Horton House ruins is the du Bignon cemetery, a tabby wall surrounding the graves of five people Ann Amelia du Bignon, Joseph du Bignon, Marie Felicite Riffault, Hector deLiyannis, and George Harvey. Horton House, the Brewery Ruins, and the cemetery were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. The house is one of the oldest surviving buildings in Georgia.

Having viewed all the ruins, we continued down the western shore of the island, and Eric happened to spot this Great Blue Heron who, hearing us nearby, elected to hunker down in the grass rather than fly away in indignation, as most herons are wont to do:

We soon found ourselves back in the Historic Village, near the end of the ride; but we were to have one more surprise.  Kathy was greeted with a horsey lecture as she passed by a small fenced paddock:

We arrived back at our vehicles having traveled 14 miles.  We all agreed that it was nearly a perfect outing on a perfect day.