Cumberland Island is one of my new favorite places!! I’m currently on a travel nurse assignment in Savannah, GA, which is only two and a half hours from my hometown. Even though I am close to home, I decided I wanted to take this opportunity to be a better tourist in my own home state and better explore and learn what Georgia has to offer! My first free weekend after moving to Savannah my boyfriend and I decided we would take a trip to Cumberland Island! It was a DREAM, and I can’t wait to tell ya’ll all about it!

What is Cumberland Island?

Cumberland is Georgia’s largest and southernmost barrier island. It is roughly 17 miles from the northern to the southern tip of the island. It is located right along the Georgia/Florida border and about two hours south of Savannah. Cumberland island is a designated wilderness owned by the National Park Service and is mostly all undeveloped and wild. It is full of wild life, a variety of plant life, and tons of history. Cumberland island has been inhabited by native american tribes, colonial farmers, american soldiers, freed slaves, and prestigious socialite families such as the Carnegie’s. The main residents of the island now include wild horses, hogs, deer, raccoons, armadillos, alligators, and sea turtles. There are no paved roads, but only one “main road” made of sand that goes from the north to the south of the island and miles of hiking and biking trails.

How to get to Cumberland Island?

Cumberland island has no bridges or road connected to the island. The only way to access the island is by either personal boat or the ferry that departs out of the St. Mary’s waterfront dock a few times daily out to the island. Since we don’t own a boat, we opted to take the ferry out and back to the island. The ferry is about a 45 minute boat ride and offers beautiful views of the Cumberland River. The Cumberland Island visitor center and ferry check in office is located in St. Mary’s, GA, which is the closest town to the island. We booked our tickets online on the Cumberland Island ferry website ahead of time, because we were told in busy months ferry tickets can sell out fast. The link for the ferry tickets and ferry schedule is attached below! The ferry departs for Cumberland Island at 9:00 am and 11:45 am daily with return trips from the island at 10:15 am, 2:45 am, and 4:45 am. Tickets are $15 each way/ person.

https://www.cumberlandislandferry.com/

Camping on Cumberland Island

Due to Cumberland Island being nearly all undeveloped, there is only one Bed & Breakfast located on the island, called the Greyfield Inn. The Greyfield is a historical mansion built by the Carnegie family, who owned vacation homes on the island, back in 1901. A stay at the Greyfield includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, transportation to and from the island, and provides entertainment for it’s guest. We took a look at rooms and although they were gorgeous, it was very much out of our price range! We opted for camping on Cumberland Island instead, and had so much fun!

There are five camp grounds located on the island, which include designated camp sites at Sea Camp and Stafford Beach campgrounds. Hickory Hill, Yankee Paradise, and Brickhill Bluff are wilderness campsites. A look at the amenities offered at the different campgrounds will help you pick which one is right for you. We decided to stay at Sea Camp due to it being a closer proximity to the main attractions we wanted to see and the beach. Sea Camp offers designated camp spots with a picnic table, fire pit and grill, and cache box to store food. There are also flush-able toilets, showers, and a charging station located at the main building on the camp ground. Because there are no cars on the island, campers must hike their own gear into their camping ground from the ferry dock. Sea Camp is the closest campground to the dock and only a half mile walk, which made it a lot more convenient carrying our gear. The ranger station located right at the dock did provide carts for campers to load to carry their gear, which was really helpful. There are no stores of any kind on the island so you must bring all food, drinking water, and fire wood that you will need while you’re camping.

There are not many campsites and camping on the island is so popular, campsites can be booked up to six months in advance and tend to fill up pretty quickly. I would recommend booking your camp site as soon as you know when you are planning on going to be sure you can get a spot. Camping permits are $22/night for individual sites that are good for up to six people.

Tips for camping:

1. Make sure you put ALL food and toiletry products in the cache box provided or raccoons WILL get into it! They will eat toothpaste!
2. Bring tonsss of bug spray! Mosquitos and ticks can be pretty bad. Thankfully, since we went in January, we didn’t have an issue with ticks or mosquitoes. I sprayed down with bug spray each day anyways just to keep any ticks away.
3. The showers don’t get warm and only provide cold showers, so don’t plan on showering unless you’re willing to brave the cold water!
4. Make sure to bring some food that doesn’t have to be cooked in the event of a rain shower or storm and you’re unable to light your campfire.
5. Bring a lantern, headlamp, or flashlights! At night, there are virtually no lights on the island except for the stars! Although its beautiful and peaceful, it doesn’t make getting to the bathroom in the middle of the night very easy.

Below is the link to book your camp site, pay for a camping permit, and more tips from the National Park service about camping on Cumberland Island.

https://www.nps.gov/cuis/planyourvisit/camping.htm

What to do on Cumberland Island?

1. Hiking/Biking around the island

The island has more than 50 miles of hiking and bike trails that take you to many different areas of Cumberland. Bikes can either be brought on the ferry or rented once you get on the island. We decided to hike the Southend Loop, a 5 mile mostly flat trail that takes you to the main sites of the southern part of the island. This trail was so much fun and included a walk along a boardwalk over the marsh where we spotted a wild hog feeding on the sea life the tide had brought in, a long serene walk on the abandoned beach, over large sand dunes, and through thick forests of live oaks, palmettos, and Spanish moss. We spent some time exploring Dungeness, the ruins of the beautiful mansion owned by Thomas and Lucy Carnegie. The mansion later burned down and the beautiful ruins are all that remain of the mansion. Many wild horses, deer, and armadillo can be found on the grounds around the mansion.

https://www.nps.gov/cuis/planyourvisit/hiking.htm

2. Lands & Legacies Tour of the North End of the Island

This tour will take up much of your day, but I highly recommend it! The Lands and Legacies Tour is a 5-6 hour tour in a van around the north end of the island. The north end is very hard to get to unless you are willing to hike 5-10 miles to see the attractions, which most visitors either don’t have time to do in a one or two day trip or physically can’t. We thought it was an enjoyable way to be sure we got the most out of our time on the island as we could. Visitors get to see both cultural and natural landmarks, including the remains of Robert Stafford’s plantation and cemetery, Plum Orchard Mansion, Cumberland Wharf, the Settlement, and First African Baptist Church. Make sure to pack some snacks or a lunch for your tour, as food is not provided. Our tour guide, Mike, was exceptional and had so much knowledge and history on the island to share with us. The tours are $45/person for the day.

Tour Highlights – Information from Cumberland Island Ferry

Plum Orchard Mansion

• Built in 1898, Plum Orchard is a 20,000 square foot, Georgian Revival mansion. It was built by Lucy Carnegie for her son, George and his wife, Margaret Thaw. It is almost eight miles from the Sea Camp dock to visit Plum Orchard. Access is by foot, bicycle or the Lands and Legacies Tour. Plum Orchard is open when volunteer caretakers are on site and as a stop on the Lands and Legacies Tour. The free tours are offered on the hour and last about 45 minutes. Be sure to ask at the Sea Camp Ranger Station for more information.

First African Baptist Church in the Settlement

• Located approximately 17 miles from the Sea Camp dock, visitors can explore the First African Baptist Church. During the 1890s, the Settlement was established for African American workers. The First African Baptist Church was established in 1893 and then rebuilt in the 1930s. It was the site of the September 1996 wedding of John F. Kennedy, Jr. and Carolyn Bessette.

Wild Island

• Between visiting historic landmarks, get a glimpse of the wilder side of the island. Under a canopy of Spanish moss, single lane roads cut through the wilderness, showing the truly rugged side of one of the largest undeveloped barrier islands on the Atlantic coast. The island has one of the largest maritime forests remaining in the United States.

https://www.cumberlandislandferry.com/lands-legacies-tour/

3. Beach Combing

The beach on Cumberland island stretches for roughly 17 miles and is completely deserted with no hotels, condos, bars, and tourism set up along the beach. This makes a walk along the beach one of the most peaceful experiences, and because it is nearly empty, the beaches are covered in beautiful shells, starfish, and driftwood. It is one of the best places to go beach combing. There is so much untouched beauty. After walking along the beach and collecting as many shells as you can carry, I recommend getting your chair and curling up with a good book while you watch the Atlantic ocean waves roll in and pretend you’re on your own private beach!

4. Stargazing

The island’s beaches and open fields provide wonderful unobstructed views for stargazing. If you are camping on the island, you have the opportunity to head to the beach, lay in the sand and gaze at the night sky. The best star watching will be during a new moon and looking to the east from the beach. Give your eyes 30 minutes to get used to the darkness. If you want to preserve your night vision, use a red filter over your flashlight.

Campers are welcome to bring their telescopes.

Check for meteor showers during the time you are coming. The international space station can also be seen from the island.

https://www.nps.gov/cuis/planyourvisit/stargazing.htm

Other activities on Cumberland Island include fishing, kayaking, boating, hunting, and photography!

Cumberland Island is truly a gem of Georgia and a place I would recommend anyone living in or visiting the Peach State to see and spend some time. Very few places on this earth are still left untouched by commercialism like Cumberland Island. Cumberland is truly WILD and place where you can enjoy serenity and appreciate God’s masterpieces, unlike anywhere else.