Atlantic Coast

Early Farm Style Kingsley Plantation

Slave Quarters at Kingsley Plantation built of Tabby

 Feb. 14 and 15

The 14^th was a travel day over to the east coast of Florida outside Jacksonville to Little Talbot State Park at the beach. The park sits in a maritime hammock of majestic oaks draped with Spanish moss. Saw palmettos cover the ground. We checked out the beach behind a big expanse of dunes. This area is very pretty with large coastal grasslands, oak hammocks, dunes and a long beach..

After a night of rain, we drove up to an area called the Bluffs at Big Talbot State Beach. We got there at low tide to see Boneyard Beach. The beach is littered with oaks that have fallen onto the sand because of the ongoing erosion of the cliffs. Entire oaks, roots and all, are strung across the sand as far as you can see. As time passes and the bark is removed, they are becoming silver skeletons. Driving north to Amelia Island we saw resort after resort until we reached the out shirts of Fernandina with beach houses big and small lining the road. So many are for sale. Our first stop was Fort Clinch, another masonry fortification that was started in 1847 to protect the entrance of Saint Mary’s River. It was actually never finished but among other things it served the Union during the Civil War and was used for communications during WWII. They often have reenactments of the Civil War period and they had an interesting film depicting life at the fort. Buildings at the fort were set up with a few displays such as the store room for uniforms. They had a table set up with everything a new Union Army recruit would receive during the Civil War. Women worked at the fort as cooks and washer women. Washer women would wash the clothes of 26 soldiers twice a week for $26.00, twice what the men received but had to pay for room and board in town. The town of Fernandina saw a tourist boom after the war with Northerners coming down to enjoy the warm beaches. Fernandina is a darling town with beautiful Victorian homes and a lively downtown with shops and restaurants. The oldest bar in the state is the Palace Saloon. I’ll bet it will be the prettiest Victorian looking town as we head down the coast. We walked out on a long fishing pier before lunch and saw lots of fishermen catching sea trout. A woman told us they are very tasty. They cook them in parchment paper after filleting them, putting fresh dill down the center, and topping them with slices of onion, butter and lemon juice. Chris asked them what time dinner was served! We saw two new birds, a black skimmer and a purple sandpiper. As we took a walk along the beach the fog came in. I asked a couple if they had found some nice shells and it turned out that they were looking for 3 to 5 million years old shark teeth. I would have had a hard time finding any on my own but they pointed some out. The are small little black things among lots of shell debris. Very exciting find!

Lunch was fabulous at a nice restaurant in the harbor, fresh peeler shrimp and fried green tomatoes! Nice looking shrimp boats were tied up at the pier.

We drove down into American Beach. The land was bought up by a black man who was the owner of the first black own insurance company in Florida. He became very wealthy and wanted a beach resort area he could use as an incentive for his employees. It became one of the few beaches that blacks could enjoy in all of Florida. His granddaughter became known as the Beach Lady. Chris did a goggled her and she did a lot in later years to preserve the area. It is still a black community today.


The mMnor Set Back in the Oaks

Feet in the Gulf




Boneyard Beach

The Jekyll Island Club House - 1886

Chris and Norm Relaxing at the Jekyll Island Club

Chris and I Sitting in the Red Bug Electric Car in Front of the Rockefeller House

10,000 sq. ft. Country Home on Jekyll Island

Feb. 16

Woke up to sunshine and took a nice walk on the beach looking for shells and birds. Found both. We visited both Ribault Club and the Kinsley Plantation on Fort George Island. The Ribault Club was started in the mid 1920’s by 4 very wealthy northerners as a hunting club and family destination. I think the had the idea of a Jekyll Island community, an upscale yet very relaxed meeting place for families in the winter months. They even put in a golf course. Each family would bring their servants and enjoy each others company. They expected it to grow but didn’t get far with the crash, depression and WWII. It recently had a 4 million dollar redo and is now used for conferences. The golf course has returned to it’s natural state and has both biking and walking trails. The Kinsley Plantation is nearby and had quite a history. The plantation dates back to the 1700’s and was bought by Kingsley in 1814. His wife was from Africa and he had purchased her as a slave while in Cuba. By the time they got the Fort George, they had three children. They grew Sea Cotton and indigo. Blacks were free under the Spanish but when Florida became a U.S. territory they were under oppressive laws and Kingsley moved the family along with 50 slaves to Haiti in 1837. They built many of the buildings on the plantation from tabby, building material made from oyster shells, sand and water. The displays didn’t hold back on descriptions of the treatment the slaves received but also pointed out how they were survivors and had close family and community ties along with a strong religious faith that kept them going.

We were tired of the dreary weather and decided to drive up to Jekyll Island across the border in Georgia. Sure enough the sun was shining and we made it just in time for the last tram tour of the day. I have always wanted to visit this amazing place. A group of wealthy northerners bought the island in 1886 calling themselves the Jekyll Island Club. Names like JP Morgan, Rockefeller, Pulitzer and Gould were in the original group. They built a club house with the idea of spending the winter months in a warmer climate and relaxed atmosphere. They could do a little hunting and socialize with wealthiest of the wealthy fellow Americans. The club house is a resort today and very lovely. The first living quarters were the condos of today. The original six families had rooms in one building. Soon 8,000 to 12,000 sq. ft. homes were being built. We ended up having a private tour as no one else was on it and heard one fabulous story after another about life on the island. We toured two of the homes and drove the area by tram while our guide was narrating. Most of the homes did not even have kitchens because they took their meals at the club. If they decided to dine in, their meals would be brought to them. Being there for three months, the wives would bring 90 evening dresses since they could not possibly wear the same dress twice to their three hour nightly dinner! Each family would bring 8 to 10 servants. The club had about 200 servants for the three month period. They had indoor tennis courts, a bowling alley, pool, and stables. They built a beautiful church with a signed Tiffany stained glass window and it was required by the club that each family attend church. However, if you didn’t feel like attending you could send a servant in your place. I will just have to remember the stories we heard. It would take me far too long to write them down. The Federal reserve act was drawn up here and the president of AT&T made the first transcontinental telephone call speaking to President Wilson in DC and an assistant in San Francisco. The call took over 2 hours to complete. By the early 20’s Jekyll Island membership was said to represent one sixth of the world’s wealth. By the end of WWII, the later generations were not as interested in the island. The world had opened up and they were off to other places. The island was sold to the state in 1947.


Feb. 17

We had planned to drive south about two hours and stay north of Daytona Beach but made a quick change of plans. It was so cloudy and rain was the forecast for the next couple of days. We cancelled our reservation and drove down Hwy 1 along the coast to Fort Pierce. It ended up to be an all day drive but we wanted to be here for about five days anyway and the weather should be better. We will go back St. Augustine and Daytona Beach later. We are staying in a nice RV Resort much like the one we stayed in Phoenix last year but not quite as classy. There are activities every day and lots of snowbirds spending the winter here. The beautiful showers here were much enjoyed! It was fun driving down Hwy 1 seeing the little beach towns and old single story motels of the 50’s but it got a little old by the time we reached our resort at the end of the day. Lulu’s was a great lunch stop. Now all the big high rises are on the barrier islands that line the coast. We will explore some of those areas while we are here.