Jekyll & The Campground

It occurred to me that I have never said anything about where we are and what we do then it occurred to me that most of you probably don't really care but I blog on....
Jekyll Island is a barrier island off the coast of Georgia and near the city of Brunswick, reachable by the causeway and the Sidney Lanier Bridge (quite impressive).  The entire island is a state park but receives no money from the state so has to be self sufficient.  It is run by what is called the Jekyll Island Authroity (JIA).  The island was inhabited by the super wealthy from the east, mostly NYC, from the 1800's to the start of WW2.  This is where the dreaded Federal Reserve was born in secret.  A good short read about that is in "The Jackals of Jekyll".  Also the first transconnetial phone call was made from here.  The last ship carrying slaves (The Wanderer) landed on Jekyll and there are still decendants of that load living in vatious parts of Georgia.
   The average temps during the winter runs from 65 to 75 with very little rain.  It is also located in what is called the "bite" of Georgia which causes most major storms, hurricans and such to bypass and strike the Carolinas.  There is a small airport that handles small aircraft.  There are many private residences and 2 hotels and about to be 2 more that will support the large new convention center that opened last spring.
   There are 4 major beaches, Driftwood, The Dunes, St. Andrews and Hope.  We spend a great deal of time walking all of them and NJ collects shells and has amassed quite a collection.
   The campground is located at one end of the island and has a little over 200 spaces.  Around 130 of those are taken by "winter" guests and most are here from the end of October to April 1.  $525 a month gets you full hookups.  It is a "primitive" campground, i.e. no pavement and many live oak trees that surround the spaces, which all go in different directions.  The winter guests are made up of many northern tier states and many Canadians.
   There are numerous activites that are afforded the winter guests and are basically put together by a group called the activites committe.  One of the campers organizes outside tours.  There is a large tent in the middle of the camp and there is a potluck every monday night and usually includes a speaker of interest to the group.  There are also speakers that come that are separate from the monday dinner, i.e. Norma is doing a talk on "animal hoarding".  There is a book club, a group of ladies that like to sew, gather on what is called "stitch & chat (know to the men as stitch & bitch).  There is a weekly "men's coffee" meeting where all the world's ills are solved.  2 very large pancake breakfast's are done that are major fund rasiers and people come from off  island to attend.  The JIA has an association called the Jekyll Arts and they hold several functions that include a large art show, Norma won for a couple of her photos last year.  There are 3 golf courses, 2 18 hole championship and a 9 hole.  There are around 16 campers (men) that golf 2 times a week and a women's group that goes once a week.  There are 21 miles of bike trails and many of the campers are avid bikers.  We also have audio/visual capabilities to support speakers and we put on a super bowl party in the tent and show the game on a large screen. 
   Well that is a thumbnail sketch of what we do for 5 months out of the year.  Most of us will be out of here by April 1, as will we.  We are headed this year to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for a couple weeks before starting the trek back to Maine.  This year we will be in Durham, near Freeport, and have a work camp job for the summer at the KOA.

Cumberland Island

We spent the day on Cumberland Island about a 45 minute ride by Ferry from St. Mary's Georgia.  Cumberland is a National Seashore, the largest and southernmost barrier island.  The National Park shelters 36,000 acres of pristine maritime forests, wild beaches, freshwater lakes and saltwater marshes, and over 9,800 acres of wilderness Congress protected under the 1964 Wilderness Act.  It also has numerous species of birds, wild hogs, aramdillos, 2 species of deer, bobcats & coyotes.  Revolutionary war hero Gen. Nathanael Green was granted land in 1783.  His widow Catherine Green built a four story tabby home and named it Dungeness.  The ruins of the home stand today.  Thomas Carnegie began building on the ruins in 1884.  The settlement was established for African American workers.  The Carnegie family built the mansion, Plum Orchard on the north end of the island and it still stands today and we were able to tour it.  The Carnegie family donated the island to the National Park Foundation in 1971.  Family members were able to negotiate terms to be able to live there for the remainder of their lives and several decendants still come there to vacation.