I first traveled to Cumberland Island in the early 1980’s with my physiology professor and some other students from Georgia State University. She had a deep love for the island and knew everything about the natural history. Dolphins accompanied our boat on the crossing from St. Mary's, my first sign I was going to a magical place. We stayed at Sea Camp. Despite our late autumn visit, there were still bugs. We had to haul all our food and belongings half a mile from the boat. There were flush toilets and cold water showers. No cars except those belonging to the park service. Beautiful paths lined with Spanish moss covered live oaks. Tons of sand dunes covered with sea oats, empty beaches with no houses or popsicle stands in sight. Paradise! The shells were an absolute marvel: unbroken sand dollars, whelks, olive shells, angel wings, sea pens, slipper shells, moon snails, etc. We scratched into the sand to watch the tiny rainbow colored coquinas churn down to escape us. And those beautiful horses would seem to appear out of nowhere, grazing in the dunes, running on the beach, disappearing into the forest. In the evenings we cooked over camp stoves and built fires, watched the stars, told stories and discussed how to save the world.
Our fourth floor room under the eaves with a rare bit of sunshine. Four poster bed, deep old claw footed tub, William Morris designed wall paper and fresh flowers.
While Kevin and I were still dating, I convinced him we should make a trip to Cumberland. He loved it as much as I did. Later, we were able to bring our children along and they were fascinated. Eamon has made two more trips back to the island and Olivia, now living in Savannah, intends to make a day trip back soon.
Our own plans to come back to Cumberland were formed during the pandemic. We were itching to travel again but didn't want to deal with quarantine, so foreign travel was out. We didn't quite feel ready to fly yet either. Back home in Knoxville, Covid cases were decidedly trending down, a hopeful sign. A ferry ride is necessary to get to the island, and a limited number of people are allowed on it at any given time; this made it an appealing destination. Of course traveling anywhere in winter is iffy, but we decided to make the best of it.
As a young woman, I loved to go camping, but these days I require a bit more comfort. Sleeping bags on the ground and cold water showers just won't cut it any more. With Valentine's Day and my birthday looming, we decided to splurge on the Greyfield Inn. We were not disappointed.
Our room from the outside of the Inn
We arrived from Fernandina Beach on Valentine's Day. The boat trip took about 40 minutes and was windy and cold. We were glad to have brought our raincoats! Our room was not ready yet but a tour of the Dungeness ruins with the naturalist was due to leave in 30 minutes so we took advantage of that. Christina, the naturalist, picked us up in a pickup truck outfitted with padded benches and she was a wonderful guide. We learned so much about the history of the old house and grounds, starting with the ice house. Ice was shipped down from New England and used to cool 9 course cold dinners to show off wealth. We enjoyed the beautiful ride along dirt paths lined with live oaks draped in Spanish moss and the rain held off.
Back at the Inn we ate a picnic lunch of turkey sandwiches on homemade bread, fresh salad from the garden and white chocolate cranberry cookies. We were a bit chilled from our ride, so hot tea and hot chocolate were welcome additions to our meal.
To our surprise, we were told the Inn was full. This in the off season and in very iffy weather as well. We were shown to our room on the top floor, very cozy with a high four poster complete with steps and a big poofy comforter on top. We had small nosegays of flowers from the grounds in vases to celebrate my birthday and our anniversary.
A beautiful camellia!
It began to rain again. Kevin read a book and I took a nap. We went downstairs for cocktail hour (whiskey sour for Kevin and old fashioned for me) and explored the living room and library. Both were full of weathered furniture, old books , curios and animal skulls. Alligators, loggerhead turtles, deer and horses. Old family photographs and paintings. Nothing too dear or gold plated. Because of the cool weather, a comforting fire burned in the fireplace both here upstairs and down in the dining room, a very nice touch.
I saved all our menus but just posted the Valentine's dinner. Every bit as good as it looks. I had never eaten a kumquat before, a neat combination of bitter and sweet. A lot of the produce came from the garden, which we later toured. Since Kevin loves to garden, fresh vegetables on our table is nothing new but I have to say the chef knows a thing or two more than me about putting together a meal.
Monday started out cool and foggy and stayed that way all day. We both love to look for shells and Cumberland Island, because of the remoteness, is a great place to find shells. The storm the night before probably helped, too , and we really lucked out. I gave these a bath in bleach and water once we got home and we had made sure there were no “ occupants” before we left the beach.
Monday afternoon we took another excursion in the truck with the naturalist, this time to the north end of the island, about twelve miles away. We saw wild pigs as we left, these being on the small side, scruffy and covered with brown bristles, then drove on the beach in the wind and cold the rest of the way. We saw two bald eagles up in tree branches along the way as well as many flocks of seabirds: several species of gulls, sandpipers, plovers and cormorants- a bird watcher’s paradise! Christina stopped the truck every so often to point out land features, plants and different types of trees.
We arrived at a small settlement that was started by slaves after the Civil War. When Dungeness was in full swing as a party house for the Carnegies, 250 servants were required to run it. They built most of it , grew the gardens, cared for the horses, raised the live stock, cleaned the house, cooked and washed the dishes. Most narratives about the great house did not mention them, though without them the house and storied lifestyle could never have existed. After the Civil War the Union Army sent soldiers to free the slaves. But where would they go? Few if any preparations had been made for this and the South was still hostile to the idea of freed slaves. Some preferred to stay and continue to work for the Carnegies, some left and were soon back. These people started the settlement and some descendants are still there. We saw the tiny church where John Kennedy, Jr. and his wife were married but to me the story of the slaves is so much more interesting
Valentine's Day Dinner
The tiny church on the north end of the island.
Tuesday we awoke to sunshine and cloudless skies. We grabbed tshirts, sunglasses, bikes and headed to the beach. The sun brought out a lot of horses, too.
The Greyfield Inn with a huge, welcoming front porch.
A horse on the grounds near the marsh.
We were up early on Wednesday to pack up and leave. More rain had blown in during the night. We ate a breakfast of oatmeal with ginger poached apples, scrambled eggs and homemade sausage and then made sure we hadn't left anything behind before going down to the dock. The boat had just arrived bearing a new crop of visitors. I hoped for better weather for them. Back to Fernandina Beach we went, under grey skies but no rain. The rain had certainly dampened our visit but not ruined it.
The next leg of our trip was to Savannah and Tybee Island , about 100 miles north. We were very happy to spend time with Olivia, Callie and Maggie. Eamon put in a surprise appearance on my birthday and we were able to share a wonderful birthday dinner with Johnny and Debbie. Fun times to treasure!