Jekyll Island was, once upon a time, a fairy tale place. The beach getaway of the very rich. People named Pulitzer, McCormick, Rockefeller, and J.P. Morgan. They and others bought this island, built a clubhouse here, then built their own cottages. Cottages so big one of them had 17 bathrooms. They and their families spent their summers here away from the heat of the city. Until they moved on. Now it still has its historic district and a museum with exhibits of those days and tours of the island. We saw the film at the museum and the exhibits there but we did not take the tour. The tram did not have enough leg room for us to ride it comfortably. As you all know by now, I am big on comfort.
We camped last night at the Jeykll Island State Park. A cold front came through, it rained really hard, and the temperature dropped. So this morning it was dark and cool and we slept until almost 9:30.
Today is a good day for ducks. I like duck. Roasted duck. Someday I’d like to try turducken. That’s where they stuff a boneless duck with a boneless chicken then put that into a boneless turkey and roast the whole thing. Sounds good to me.
As I’ve said before, I like small museums. Except for their unreliability. The website for the Maritime Museum at the Historic Coast Guard Station on St. Simons Island, Georgia, say they are open seven days a week. They aren’t. We tried on two different days. They say they’ll teach you what is was like for the guys stationed here in the 1940s. Maybe if we could get in they would. But we can’t get in. If any of you succeed, please don’t tell me it was wonderful.
We didn’t get into the Geechee Kunda Cultural Arts Center & Museum in Riceboro, Georgia, either. But, they never said they’d be open for us. They had a BIG event there April 18th. Maybe they haven’t recovered yet.
Late afternoon we arrived at Fort McAllister State Park. This is the first fort we’ve visited that was a Civil War fort. It had a great museum but my photos from there didn’t turn out well. Dave’s photos of the fort are much better so I’ll include them shortly. This fort was built along the Ogeechee River which was important to the shipping and receiving of supplies of Savannah, Georgia, during the Civil War. What I want to tell you about this fort is that its claim to fame isn’t so much the battles it won as how it did that. The fort was built of dirt. So when the Union ships fired on it the ammunition just sunk into the mud walls. Every night, the Confederate soldiers piled the dislodged dirt back onto the walls so the next day the Union ships were starting from the same place they’d started the day before. In the meantime the Rebs were shooting heated cannonballs into the Yankee ships setting them on fire. it wasn’t until the U.S.S. Montauk came with it’s iron cladding that a ship withstood the cannon fire. That battle was called a draw. Finally, the Union attacked from the land side with a ratio of 25 soldiers to one. That did it for this fort.
So now we are parked in the campground at Fort McAllister State Park. This might be a good park for those us you who drive up and down I-95. It has water and electric hookups for $24 a night plus $3 admission to the park and most of the sites are pull-through. It also has a dump and several trails in addition to the museum and fort. Plus, there’s a boat dock and ramp in the campground for salt water fishing with a license. Our cell phones both had good reception but our Sprint aircard did not. We do not have a satellite dish but did park in the trees. I don’t know if there are more clear spots down by the river.
Tomorrow we will enter Savannah to see what there is to see there.
TTYL,
Linda