Christmas Roadtrip. Day 7...St. Simons Island

Wednesday, December 23, 2020

     What better way to wrap up my visit to Jekyll Island that sunrise.  And yes, I really do like the back patio in this place.

      Heading out to my next destination...

   The drive was the shortest of the trip.  Jekyll and St. Simons Islands are next to each other and an easy trip.

     License plate of the day, seen at a red light...

    My first stop of the day was Fort Frederica National Monument.  In 1732, James Oglethorpe was given the charter to establish the colony of Georgia.  A year later, settlers arrived and laid out the plans for the town of Savannah.

     The problem was, Spain claimed ownership of Florida and the border between the two weren't exactly clear.  To force the issue on Britain's land claim, as well as to protect Savannah, Oglethorpe sailed south and started building Fort Frederica, named after Prince Frederick.  

     The first priority was to build a defensive berm surrounding the town, as well as a moat.  Stone walls were added next.  As the defenses were being built around the outside, homes, stores and other important buildings were going up inside.

     Back in Britain, unemployment was high and the economy a bit of a mess.  Oglethorpe had the idea to offer land to craftsmen who volunteered to help build Georgia.  He also banned slavery, as it took away jobs from these skilled craftsmen. 

     In 1742, the Governor of Florida sent an invasion force of 4,500 to take the fort.  Once on land, a smaller reconnaissance force was sent north.  British forces captured or killed a third of them.  When prisoners told Oglethorpe of the Spanish plan off attack, he sent his own force off to meet them.  

      The British forces observes the Spanish settling into their encampment.  The Spanish forces believed the thick forest and the swamp would protect them.  As they started setting up tents and cooking fires, the British opened fire from the forest, catching them completely off guard.  When the fighting was over, two hundred Spanish soldiers were dead.  

     As for the town of Frederica, it hit its peak about this time, with close to a thousand residents in the area.   The peace treaty with Spain in 1748, the garrison was disbanded.  Within a few years, Frederica was all but a ghost town.  

     It's not every day you see British flags flying over an American national monument.

     All that's left of the original fort, facing the Mackay River...

     In quite a few places, the earthen berms are still quite visible...

   All that remains of the troop barracks...

     From one of the trails in the park...

       The original plan involved a stop in the Canon Point Nature Preserve.  But alas, it was closed.  Instead, I simply drove down to the touristy end of town, ditched the car by Neptune Park and walked around town.  I saw these at two neighboring T-shirt shops...

        There's a dock by the parking lot with a great view of the Golden Ray's salvage effort.  Later in the day, someone told me I missed the big show.  A large chunk of the ship's bow was removed, placed on a barge and sent off to Louisiana to be cut up even further and sold for scrap.  You can read more about the process here:  If I had known, I would have watched from the beach on Jekyll Island.  

          Just a short stroll up the sidewalk brings you to the St. Simons Lighthouse.  The original was destroyed by retreating Confederate forces.  More on that over tomorrow's sunrise.  Yes, they all do tie in.

        One block back from the waterfront brought me to the Ocean Inn And Suites, my home for the night. It was too early to check in, so I stopped into the Tourism Information Office.

     My main goal was a more detailed map of the island.  Anna retired here and now helps travelers like me.  Since she's from here, I asked about sunrise spots.  Her photography friends all swear by a place called Gould's Inlet.  So, I went off to scout it out.  

    It's was less than ten minutes drive.  There was indeed plenty of parking.  In the end, her friends were right.

      I checked into the hotel and was really impressed.  Not only was it spotless, every room has a little balcony, with at least some sort of view.  

       It's amazing how quickly a 5:30P sunset time can creep up on you.  I found a bench near the fishing pier and settled in.  I wound up having a conversation with a local couple.  They told me they considered the captain of the Golden Ray to be a hero.  He realized his ship was unstable and about to roll, so he steered it out of the main channel first.  

     That's not exactly how it happened though. Jonathan Tennent was the Harbor Pilot steering the ship through the channel.  Through his career, he had steered over a hundred fifty ships through this channel without incident.  

     On the final stretch out of the channel, the ship started to overcorrect on the turn, but didn't respond to his countermeasures.  He did make the conscious effort to keep the ship on the edge of the channel, but had no idea why it capsized.

    Officials for the Port of Brunswick commended Tennent on his decision to move out of the middle of the channel.  The port was reopened to full service four days later.  You can see a shot of the partially cut open ship here:

     There was a young guy alternately playing an african drum and a banjo.  He would play some pretty complex rhythms on the drum, and some impressive bluegrass on the banjo.  It made for an interesting combination.  The really weird thing is, when I finally walked out on the pier, he started playing "Crazy Train."  Some of you will get this.  I stopped short, laughed and left a few bucks in his case.  

     

     That's where I met this newly engaged couple.  They were trying to get the standard ring shot, so I offered to help.  I took a few more of them together and wished them luck.

      But, this wouldn't be the last story of the day.  Perched on a pier railing, as casual as you please, was a Blue Heron.  He didn't seem to mind all the people walking up to take his picture.

     

     While most people fishing off the pier were using a traditional rod and reel, there were also a few casting nets.  About ten feet away, one of the fishermen pulled a small fish from his net and tossed it towards the heron.

     It didn't take long for the heron to snatch the fish and swallow it down.   A few minutes later, another fish would get tossed.  Down it went, too.

      Before calling it a day, I leaned up against a light post and experimented with shooting the lighthouse in the fading light.  After numerous shots on different settings, I was surprised to find I got one with a light beam.  Pretty cool.

       A quick stop for dinner and a pint at Barrier Island Brewery  and I was ready to call it a day.