Top things to do St. Simons Island & Jekyll Island, Georgia: Fort Frederica National Monument and Driftwood Beach

 

Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island, Georgia 

While I was planning our 8 week long road trip to the American South/Southeast/Deep South/Central South, I had this idea of visiting bunch of forts as well as other interesting points of interest along the way.  I’m not sure when I started to get interested in forts, but almost overnight, they looked really interesting.

There’s something very appealing about forts with their combination of beauty, situated right near the waters, with plenty of history thrown in.  It’s learning about history not through textbooks, but rather from actually seeing and experiencing it first hand, simply the best kind of learning possible.

I knew I wanted to visit the following forts during our trip: Fort Pulaski National Monument, Fort Frederica National Monument, and Fort Pickens Area of Gulf Island National Seashore.  Just  planning and mapping them out was so exciting, and it really got my brain working overtime, but in a good way.

My brain is wired for travel, and it works the best when I’m either planning a trip or actually experiencing a trip!  I tend to remember things better when I’m traveling and my brain just seems to be in an hyper-alert and happy mode when I’m traveling.  I just can’t help it, I’m born that way.

Few days prior, my wife and I had the pleasure of visiting the first of the 3 forts, Fort Pulaski National Monument in Savannah (GA), and we loved it.  There was so much to learn, and we really enjoyed walking the inside and the outside of the fort.  On top of all that, we also got to put in some exercise in the form of hiking.  We ended up hiking 2 trails that day for a total of around 3 miles that visit.  After the visit, we were ready for more!

St. Simons Island 

After checking out of the excellent Home2 Suites at Hilton Head Island on the morning of December 26, my wife and I headed south towards the second fort on our list: Fort Frederica National Monument.  Located on St. Simons Island (Georgia), Fort Frederica National Monument is a colonial fort & settlement established in 1736 by James Oglethorpe, the founder of the Province of Georgia.

As we got off the familiar I-95 after roughly 80+ miles, we settled in for a nice countryside drive via GA-25.  We started to smell that unmistakable briny smell of the ocean the closer we got to the island, and we realized (yet again) how much we love the ocean.  There’s something absolutely magical about the ocean, in how it makes me feel alive and serene at the same time, and in how it makes me feel good without a worry in the world just looking at it…

Pushing away those thoughts for a minute so as not to miss the Google Maps directions, we saw the signpost for Fort Frederica National Monument once we arrived at St. Simons Island.  We followed the directions for another 10 minutes, then found the entrance to the fort.

Entrance to Fort Frederica National Monument, St. Simons Island, Georgia 

We drove in until we found the large parking lot by the visitor center, and we parked.  We walked inside the visitor center for a quick pit stop and to read up on the history of the fort and the settlement.

Red coats!

The excellent visitor center has displays of the origins of the settlement & the fort, featuring period artifacts.  Being that the fort was originally a British settlement (this was pre-Revolutionary War), there were uniquely British artifacts like the famous red coats worn by British soldiers, as well as dishes, pottery, utensils, etc.

We really enjoyed seeing these and wondered how settlers lived back in the day.  It must’ve been a difficult life, living alongside Native Americans some of whom were hostile to the British, and constantly worrying about the threat of war with any number of warring countries, like Spain.  We couldn’t imagine living like that these days.  It certainly made us feel grateful for all that we currently enjoy…

After about 10 minutes, we started to head out of the visitor center when my wife noticed several jars of local honey for sale by the park ranger table.  We bought couple of those jars for our family as a gift.  It felt good knowing we were helping out local farmers.

Once outside the visitor center, we headed towards the settlement to check out the remnants.  The weather was just about right at the end of December, but we knew summers can be brutal with high heat & high humidity, a lethal combination for someone like me who doesn’t like that particular combination!  

Near the visitor center 

We marveled at the street signs that showed once flourishing homes and buildings along these same streets.  We wondered about how people lived at this settlement, and what thoughts & dreams they all had…

We continued on a straight path towards the major focal point in the fort itself.  Although made smaller due to natural erosion and wear & tear, it still maintains a recognizable outlines of a fort.  

Fort Frederica National Monument, Georgia 

We checked out the inside of the fort, which was rather small compared to what we had just seen at Fort Pulaski National Monument.  It does kind of makes sense, as this fort predates that fort.  It was a right sized fort for that time.

We looked at several cannons near the fort, which were in decent condition.  The views were certainly nice, with the Frederica River right in front of the fort.  Views opened up for miles and we saw why the British put up a fort there: easy to spot enemy ships heading up from the ocean.

View of the Frederica River 

There were several benches near the riverbank, so we headed for one with the nicest view.  It was so soothing and relaxing.  There were egrets and cranes hunting for fish across the river, and we saw the occasional fish popping up out of the river in a playful manner.  

After several minutes, we wanted to walk the rest of the settlement by making a clockwise motion from the fort.  We saw several more of what remained of houses and retail shops.  Although the fort isn’t big like Fort Pulaski, we still got to enjoy the place and learn something new about the people and the community.  That is always a good thing!

Jekyll Island 

The following morning, we headed towards our next destination, Driftwood Beach in Jekyll Island, about a 20 mile drive from Brunswick (Georgia).  Brunswick is where we bunked for the night at the Country Inn & Suites.  I normally don’t like saying bad things about anyone or anything, but this place was one of the worst places we’ve stayed in.

The front desk staff was so nonchalant and tuned out that we had to wake up the person dozing off to check in.  The room had many things that were broken and in need of serious repair like thermostat with a missing cover, bath tub that was ready to break in half, and the closet door that had come off the hinge.

On top of that, the room still hadn’t been properly cleaned or vacuumed.  There were visible crumbs of food and debris scattered around the room.  Breakfast in the morning was a joke as several key items were missing like coffee (!) and orange juice (!).  We noticed hotel staff taking breakfast items when many items were missing from the breakfast bar.  What kind of place is this???

An elderly couple was complaining to the unresponsive & brain-dead staff about the breakfast and the fact the front desk staff is so lazy and unhelpful.  He must’ve wanted to see if they can change the tv channel to something other than kid’s programming, but the hotel staff just flatly lied to him that they couldn’t find the remote.  Wow…

This is one hotel we would not want anyone else to stay at, ever.  It is by far, the worst hotel staff we’ve seen in a while, and the hotel’s condition reminded us of Bates Motel from the movie Psycho!  Never again.

With that venting out of the way, let’s continue with our trip, shall we?

We left our dismal hotel and our mood brightened with every minute.  As we entered Jekyll Island to pay the entrance fee ($10), we were in a good mood.  After crossing the dramatic bridge to cross into the island, we immediately noticed how upscale Jekyll Island is.  

We got off the GA-520 (Jekyll Island Causeway), we turned left, passing Main Street and the Convention Center on our right.  We saw cute shops with restaurants right on Main Street, with beach vibes all around.

We continued on for another 5 minutes or so, when we saw the small sign for our destination, Driftwood Beach.  It was still early enough in the day, that we found a parking spot easily.  

Driftwood Beach is consistently ranked as one of the best beaches in the country, with TripAdvisor calling it the #3 beach in the USA in their “Best of the Best Beaches” survey, and USA Today calling it one of the top Southern beaches for a weekend getaway.  We were ready to experience it!

We followed the signpost slightly to our right, and we followed it inside.  We walked maybe about 30 steps when a whole new world opened up before our eyes.  It was a scene right out of an apocalypse movie where the Earth is scorched after a nuclear holocaust, and what remains is charred remains of dead trees like the ones found at the beach.

We couldn’t take our eyes off of the juxtaposition of beige & brown colored deadwood against the blue & gray colored ocean.  It looked like we were on an alien exoplanet that has an ocean but one where all the trees have simply died off…Unreal…

We followed the crowd heading to see more of these dead trees to our left.  Views were incredible the further we went.  We couldn’t get enough of it…

Prior to the trip, I had seen some nice photographs of this place, but being there, in person, makes all the difference in the world.  Seeing these gigantic trees, sitting idly like giant alien beings on a beach, while hearing the surfs break and smelling the ocean, is a transcendental experience.   We had never seen anything like it…

We walked to the end of the beach where the trees started to thin out, then headed back to the parking lot to check out the rest of the island.  Beach View Drive became Riverview Drive as we headed north from Driftwood Beach, then came upon several historic buildings and landmarks.

We decided to pass it for the time being, to keep driving along the Riverview Drive to see what was beyond.  The road gave way to residential housing shortly, so we decided to turn back, to see that house we had just passed. 

Horton House, Jekyll Island 

We saw that what we had just passed were the remains of the Horton House.   We stopped to walk around the house and across the road with nice views of the bridge we had crossed to get into the island.  

The views were absolutely amazing and idyllic.  We sat down at a convenient bench by the creek/river to check out the views.  

We sat at this bench admiring the views…

Few steps from the bench we were sitting in was the Dubignon Cemetery.  We got up to check that out as well.  As we walked towards it, we realized how beautiful and well-maintained the N Loop Trail was.  Besides great to walk on, it was arguably even better for bicyclists.  We, in fact, saw many of them riding their bikes along the same trail.  It was that moment that we understood the lure of Jekyll Island!  So many things to do and to explore…

In conclusion:

Driftwood Beach turned out to be one of our Top 3 places we visited during our 8 week long road trip to the South.  The place was amazing and absolutely other worldly…

Jekyll Island was a pleasant surprise as it has lot more going on than just that beach.  There are several other beaches on the island, with many other attractions as well.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get to explore those, but we’re sure we’ll be going back sometime in the future.

Continuing our exploration of forts in the American South, Fort Frederica National Monument was a great stop along our trip.  It had unique history with lots to learn about early British settlers and how they lived.  Scenery wasn’t bad either, along the Frederica River.

We were so inspired and amazed by both places and we think many of you will too!  We thank you for reading and happy trails!  Keep up with us on our continuing journey across the American South.

Jake

Wandering Money Pig 

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