St. Simons and Jekyll Islands

The Sea Islands of the SE Atlantic Coast begin just north of Charleston and go all the way to the Florida border. Each island is a little different and some are definitely more accessible. On our way from Savannah to St. Mary’s, Georgia, we stopped at St. Simons and Jekyll Islands.

Along with a few other Sea Islands, St. Simons Island is definitely a golfing destination, while driving around we passed golf courses and people playing golf. Our destination on St. Simons Island was Fort Frederica.

There’s not much left of Fort Frederica at this point, Fort Frederica National Monument is now mostly an archeological site. It was established in 1736 as a fort and completely fortified town to protect against Spanish attack. Today, the NM includes the town site and there are foundations of some of the houses and a small fort structure to see.

Just south of St. Simons Island, is Jekyll Island. To enter Jekyll Island you must pay an $8 state park parking pass. A popular destination at the north end of the island is Driftwood Beach. There is lots of parking and a short walk to the beach. It appeared to me that instead of actual driftwood, it was more like dead tree beach, because it looked like many of the dead trees on the beach were from the nearby forest and had not washed up on the beach from other places.

There were lots of people on the beach, but we walked north a bit and quickly lost the crowd. Along with the driftwood, it’s also a beautiful beach to walk.

We were having such a pleasant walk on the beach, we missed the opening hours for the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, which might have been interesting. Our last brief stop was at the Horton House, a tabby house, owned by Major Horton, the first inhabitant of the island.