Exploring St. Simons Island

Hi Blog. Today is Monday, January 19, 2015. After yesterday's bike ride, we were looking for something a little less athletic. We decided to take a drive with our friends, Ginny and Eric, over to St. Simons Island to see what we could see.

We knew there was a lighthouse on St. Simons because we saw it yesterday as we walked the Driftwood Beach on Jekyll Island. So, we checked the GPS and found the location of the lighthouse and off we went.

Here we are at the lighthouse:

The original St. Simons Lighthouse, built in 1810, was a 75-foot-tall early federal octagonal lighthouse topped by a 10-foot oil-burning lamp. The original lighthouse was built with tabby blocks salvaged from the colonial town at Fort Frederica, which is now a National Monument. We never heard of Fort Federica. Looks like we have another stop ahead of us.

Here Dave is learning all about the coastal plantation life:

The new lighthouse is a 104-foot brick structure completed in 1872 and was outfitted with a third-order, biconvex Fresnel lens. The lens is one of 70 such lenses that remain operational in the United States. The rotating lens projects four beams of light, with one strong flash every 60 seconds. A cast iron spiral stairway with 129 steps leads to the galley. It was so worth the walk up.

Here is the view from the top. I just loved the shadow cast the by the lighthouse.

Here Dave is looking over at Jekyll Island. If you look closely, the pier jutting out from Jekyll Island is where we had our picnic lunch yesterday.

The Lighthouse is reputed to be haunted by the ghost of lightkeeper Frederick Osborne, who was killed in a duel with assistant keeper John Stephens in early March 1880. One account had Osborne, apparently a chronic faultfinder, making an inappropriate remark to Stephens's wife; another had Stephens making unwanted advances on Osborne's wife. At any rate, standing 98 feet apart, Osborne had a pistol and Stephens a shotgun loaded with buckshot. Stephens fatally wounded Osborne and was later acquitted of any charges. Stephens later reported hearing footsteps ascending and descending the tower steps and blamed it on Osborne's ghost. The only thing we heard was our huffing and puffing as we climbed the 129 steps to the top!

The admission to the lighthouse also covers admission to the Maritime Center. After lunch, we decided to stop there on our way to Fort Frederica. The Maritime Center is located in the Historic Coat Guard Station.

A long valued part of the local community and region, the Coast Guard Station at East Beach on St. Simons remained an active Coast Guard Station from 1936 until 1995. Now this treasured landmark with National Register of Historic Places designation is preserved by the Coastal Georgia Historical Society as the Society's Maritime Center.

Kathy and Ginny met "Coastie" Ollie and his dog Scuttle, who guided us through seven galleries filled with hands-on-exhibits:

We had a great time exploring all the exhibits and learning about the history of the Coast Guard. However, the highlight of the visit was being able to climb up to the Watch Tower. Here is Dave showing off his climbing prowess.

Next stop - Fort Frederica National Monument.

In the early 18th century, the land lying between British South Carolina and Spanish Florida was known as the debatable land. This land (today's Georgia) was the epicenter of a centuries-old imperial conflict between Spain and Britain.  Fort Frederica was established in 1736 by James Oglethorpe to protect the southern boundary of his new colony of Georgia from the Spanish in Florida. Colonists from England, Scotland, and the Germanic states came to Georgia to support this endeavor.

Here are Eric and Ginny in front of the Visitor's Center:

By 1740, nearly 1,000 people lived at Frederica.  The town was arrayed in a square mile behind the fort.  Because of the threat of Spanish invasion, the entire town was surrounded by an earthen rampart, a moat six to eight feet deep and a palisade 10 feet high.

The Spanish did attack on July 5, 1742, but the British colonists were able to beat back the attack. The Spanish withdrew and never returned. 

By 1749, Frederica was no longer needed. The Spanish had given up their claims in Georgia and Florida.   In 1758, a mysterious fire burned most of the buildings in town.  This was probably the last straw in the decline of the town.  Those buildings not burned, were recycled into other buildings, including the predecessor to the lighthouse we visited earlier in the day. All that remains are a few tabby structures and the foundations of a once great colonial town.

However, due to the fortune that the island was designated by Congress as a preserve for live oaks needed for timbers to build U.S. naval sailing vessels, and a later turn of the island to plantation farming and cattle grazing, the ruins of the fort and town were not destroyed, but lay silently waiting to be discovered again.

Fort Frederica was documented and authorized as a National Monument on May 26, 1936, under the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration during the Great Depression. During this period, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) sponsored numerous surveys of historic areas and buildings across the country to identify, document and protect the resources for the future, as well as to provide employment.

Here Dave and Eric are checking out the powder magazine of Fort Frederica:

Another portion of the original fort that still stands is a portion of the original barracks:

We came away from Fort Frederica realizing that we had never heard of a series of events that had a major impact on the future of our country - the end of Spanish efforts to expand their North American colonies further north into our continent.