Early Spring Seaside Adventures in Alabama and Georgia

Mar. 2022

Gulf Shores, Alabama

At the end of February, we began heading east, staying as far south as possible to keep warm. Our plan was to stop along the Alabama Gulf Coast, and then head to the coastal islands of southern Georgia.

Along our route, we first made a quick stop in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to see Oak Alley Plantation. Unfortunately, Louisiana had been hit by major hurricane Ida last fall, so the massive oaks had lost a lot of branches, and the beautiful canopy was damaged. Our guide told us that the trees themselves are closely monitored, and are fine and should show regrowth in a few years.

We went on a guided tour of the house (no pictures were allowed to be taken inside), and then walked a self-guided tour around the reconstructed slaves’ quarters. All of the plantations and historical sites we have visited this spring are trying to give a balanced view of early American life from all sides, (white settlers, slaves, and native tribes) based on archaeological evidence as well as written records.

Our next stop was Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Alabama. We timed our visit just right, as the weather was warm. This state park is very popular. The campground is huge, with almost 500 sites! Even so, the sites all get snapped up quickly. We were lucky to get a site that, while not right on Middle Lake, still had a large green space behind us and a bit of a lake view.

View from our campsite

The park is very large, and many people brought their bikes in order to get around. The park also offers bikes you can borrow for free by using an app on our phones. We did take advantage of that. The bikes are heavily used, so we wondered how often they are maintained. We saw a young man take a hard spill on the concrete when his bike chain slipped.

We also took a short walk near Lake Shelby and saw a huge bald eagle nest way up a very tall tree, with an eagle perched nearby.

We spent some time at the beach across the road from the state park. It was a beautiful day, and the Gulf waters were so calm! We walked just a short distance to the right of the pavilion and felt like we had that part of the beach all to ourselves. We were surprised at how uncrowded it was.

We also watched the sunset from the beach next to the pier.

One evening, we ate at the Original Oyster House, a restaurant that we had been to years before, where we had liked the seafood (although I won’t eat oysters—it’s a texture thing!) The food was just as good as we remembered.

This alligator was outside the restaurant.

We continued our trek east, still staying as far south as possible without venturing into the Florida peninsula, which we’re saving for next winter. We stayed at the southern tip of Georgia, in order to explore Cumberland Island Natl. Seashore, as well as the “Golden Isles” of St. Simons and Jekyll Island.

First, we took a day trip to St. Simons and Jekyll Islands. St. Simons was beautiful with all the moss-draped live oaks lining the roads. We made a spur-of-the-moment stop at Fort Frederica Natl. Monument. According to the Natl. Park Service, this was a British fort and town begun in 1736 by General Oglethorpe in order to defend the northern colonies against potential Spanish attacks. There isn’t much left of the town except for some foundations of homes and businesses, and a low earthen wall. Only a small part of the fort is left.

Something we found interesting was the way in which the fort, barracks, and other buildings were constructed. The settlers used oyster shells to make a kind of concrete, called tabby, as outlined below:

A wall made from tabby

The remains of the barracks. Look at all those oyster shells!

After visiting the fort, we drove to the village for lunch and a quick look at St. Simons Lighthouse. We also walked around looking for some of the “tree spirits” that have been carved into several trees on the island.

We didn’t go in the museum.

Some of the “tree spirits” were cute, and some were kind of creepy! Don’t know why they are there.

After that, we drove onto Jekyll Island to see Driftwood Beach. Since it was the weekend, the beach was crowded with people. It would have been better to go either on a weekday, or early or late in the day. The beach is littered with dead trees. They would look really cool on a day with dark, moody clouds or at sunrise or sunset.

The next day, we boarded a ferry to Cumberland Island. We reserved our spots on the ferry online in advance. We packed a picnic lunch and carried plenty of bottled water, as well as sunscreen and our old soccer-mom canvas folding chairs. We opted not to take the NPS tour of the island, as it would cost extra, last for hours, and did not include the Dungeness ruins, which we wanted to see. So instead, we walked over 4 miles round trip on one small section of the island. Our first stop on the loop was the ruins.

The first iteration of Dungeness was a plantation house built in 1792. Beginning in 1884, it was totally changed into a 50-room mansion. Abandoned since the 1920’s, it burned to a shell in 1959.

The island’s band of wild horses often can be seen from the ruins, but we didn’t see them there. We saw just a few horses far off in the marsh. The one photograph I got of the nearest horse had to be cropped quite a bit.

After crossing some dunes, we got to the beach, which is miles long. We walked a little ways before setting up our chairs and having our picnic. We watched the waves and the birds and looked for shells. Quite a relaxing spot.

A very long beach and hardly any people, since only 2 ferries arrive on the island each day.

We then walked farther up the beach until we came to the boardwalk across the dunes that led to the Sea Camp primitive campground, and to the forest. We walked through the forest and finished the loop, ending back at the ferry dock. It was a beautiful, peaceful day.

From here, we continued our trek up the coast to Savannah and Charleston, which will be the subject of the next blog post.