Islands, Tigers and Forts...Oh My!

As you might have gathered by now, I am slightly obsessed with anything with the name Cumberland in it. It began with playing Cumberland River in our music group at MBYC and has journeyed along with us on our trip. Both when we play it in our jam sessions and when I see a destination on our map with the name in it.

So, off to Cumberland Island we went. This included a 30 minute drive from our campground in Kingsland, Georgia to St. Mary's, a darling town in itself. We then boarded a ferry boat for a 45 minute ride to Cumberland Island National Park, Georgia's largest and southernmost island.

The history of this island goes back thousands of years. For time's sake I'll touch on two points that stood out to me. First point is that it was named after King George II's son, Prince William, who was the Duke of Cumberland in 1734.

Secondly, is how integral the Carnegie family is to this island in a wide range of experiences, both terrible and wonderful. They purchased this island in the 1880's. A lot of water went under their keel over the past 150 years. Of course, some of the history is dark and quite frankly difficult for me to think about. Such as having over 200 slaves keep their cotton farm going. However it is documented that post civil war, many of the freed slaves were farmers and they resided on the island with their descendants.

In 1954, the Carnegie family invited the National Park Service to the island to assess its suitability as a National Seashore. The National Park Service named Cumberland Island as one of the most significant natural areas in the United States and plans got underway to secure it. Simultaneously, the State of Georgia was working on plans to secure the island as a state park.

These plans were complicated when, in October 1968, Carnegie descendants sold three thousand acres to real estate developer Charles Fraser. They agreed during this meeting for a 90/10 split, with 90% of the land to remain undeveloped.

With deep regret for this above agreement, activists, politicians, members of the Carnegie and Candler families, and a number of organizations banded together and pushed Fraser to sell to the National Park Foundation and then pushed a bill through the US Congress that established Cumberland Island as a National Seashore. The bill was signed by President Nixon on October 23, 1972. The Carnegie family sold the island to the federal government. Mic drop.

This moment preserved what we still enjoy today, which is an island that provides us to enjoy a day in nature. We set off on a 4.5 mile hike around a portion of the island. Our first leg was all jungle; large trees above, vines cluttered below the trees as if to form its own super highway and deep layers of decomposed landscape below. The path was well groomed and just enough signage to alleviate the feeling of being completely lost, yet the sense of adventure was palatable.

Early on in our journey, I spotted an armadillo just 10 feet away, rummaging through the dead leaves for bugs. 'Armadillo, armadillo, there's an armadillo' I said excitedly to Doug as I pointed in that direction. We were able to snap some pics and thankfully as we walked by it carried on, unbothered by us.

The next leg was 1.5 miles of wide open beach! It felt so good to be near the ocean again and our good fortune had the wind at our backs. We beach combed for shells, Doug found an abandoned home for a small crab, which is one of his spirit animals. Not sure why because he's not crabby, nor does he walk sideways, but he does travel with his house on his back.

There was a marker out in the ocean, not far from shore, that told us to take a right hand turn and so we did. This led us past iconic sand dunes with river reed landscape and onto a wooden path over the estuaries.

Our final leg was a wide path that had a jungle vibe yet not so dense. We were able to come across three wild horses on the island, which was fun to see. We were eventually led back to the ferry landing, where we gathered with other island explorers for our ride home.

Fun side note: JFK Jr. & Carolyn Bessette were married on Cumberland Island in 1996.

Friends and family filled the church's eight pews and thankfully no media were permitted.

Thanks to our new LED lights, we didn't rush home. We wandered across the street from the ferry landing and had a fabulous fish dinner. Since I hadn't fully heeded the warning of 'this is a primitive island with zero vendors' and we had already scarfed the couple of items we had in our backpack, I was especially grateful for this warm meal and cup of hot tea.

The next night, we set out for an adventure that again wouldn't have happened without our new and improved lights! We visited the Catty Shack Tiger Sanctuary for the night feeding of 600 lbs of raw meat to the 75 wild animals, who were mostly tigers.

It was a well kept facility that had expansive and creative enclosures, along with staff that were really friendly and informative. It was initially sad for me to see such magnificent creatures in enclosures, until I'm reminded that they were never in the wild and wouldn't survive if they were released there now. They came from private owners who had them illegally, zoos that were disrupted by hurricanes and other needs that caused them to be moved.

Once, I mentally moved past that, I really enjoyed seeing these stunning animals up close. There were tigers, lions, pumas, panthers and bears. One was even named Haley and when we learned this upon our departure, we walked all the way back to the end of the exhibit to see if it was spelled the same, and it was!

I especially enjoyed chatting with a volunteer named Jill. She was my sister from another mister. We covered a wide range of topics; traveling, living in Mexico, music and that she went to Woodstock, our love of animals and our kids. At the end, we simultaneously bowed with a yoga mudra and said Namaste. Ah, we really do find each other on the playground of life.

Lastly, we ventured off for a day trip to St. Augustine and all that it had to offer. Our first stop was to scope out a lighthouse that had several out buildings with displays as well. It was quite a work out, since I unknowingly opted for my snug pair of jeans. This coupled with 413 steps made for quite a work out!

Then, we drove over a darling bridge straight out of a fairy tale to the actual town itself. We found parking and walked around. Our first stop was to see the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument. It is the oldest masonry fort in the US. They began building it in 1672 and after some challenges, to say the least, it was completed in 1695.

It became a national monument in 1924. Fast forward to 1964, they acknowledged the civil rights movement by naming 'The Freedom Tree' on the lawn of the fort. This was a place where people could gather to demonstrate, for they weren't welcome across the street on what was state and private property during segregation. Some of these demonstrations were led by Robert Hayling, Hosea Williams and Martin Luther King as The Civil Rights act of 1964 came to be.

Lastly, we found an authentic Italian restaurant for our signature big, late lunch. It was delicious and ended up providing two more meals for us back in the RV. Back to our car we went and headed home. Tomorrow a storm was to be heading our way, so we knew we would be hanging out in the RV, which we did.

We used the indoor time to tidy up

our home. Once that was done,

Doug humored me by singing along

with my very beginner level of

ukulele playing. I create a playlist,

so that we can have some much

needed back up and I have the

sheet themusic queued up on

our phones. It was fun and I'm

glad that we stayed in this park,

for there was a cement laundry

room just feet behind our rig and

I've come to learn that is where

we head if we start seeing

furniture and animals circling the skies.

The next day we headed on down the road, 250 miles or so. As we checked in, I came to learn that there had been a tornado only 30 miles from that RV park they day before. Timing is everything and I am forever grateful for our continued safe travels and good weather on most days.

We are currently in Chattahoochee, Florida for a simple two night stay. We won't bother getting White Mouse out to play, for this is a great opportunity for me to knock out some work. Our next stop is in Mobile, Alabama and we are excited to go explore the south.

Y'all be good now, ya hear?! Shari