Georgia--Sea Islands Drive
Date: 2004-11-15
The Georgia coastline is interlaced with salt marshes, swamps, tidal estuaries
and shrimping villages, all linked by a maze of causeways and bridges leading
to the state's "golden isles." This string of barrier islands showcases
posh resorts and coastal salt marshes. The tour begins in Jekyll Island,
a former winter playground for the Rockefellers, Morgans, and Vanderbilts.
Follow the Jekyll Island Causeway (Rte. 520) to U.S. 17, and head north
to Brunswick. Founded in 1771, Brunswick is one of Georgia's largest shrimping
and oystering ports. Its Old Town is lined with restored historic homes.
To the north and east you will find the Marshes of Glynn, one of the most
biologically diverse environments anywhere.
Three more islands are grouped together just east of Brunswick. Little St. Simons is accessible only by boat, while St. Simons and Sea Island can be reached by the F.J. Torras Causeway. On St. Simons Island, explore the Ford Frederica National Monument, a fortified town built in the mid-1700s to protect against the Spanish. St. Simons Lighthouse and Museum of Coastal History and a strand of shelling beaches complete the picture. The exclusive Sea Island is home to the Cloisters, a posh resort dating from the 1920s, as well as Sea Island Drive, also known as Millionaire's Row. Returning to U.S. 17, the drive continues through the rice fields, dikes, and floodgates that made the area a rice-growing mecca during the 1800s, and on into Darien, which houses the Fort King George State Historic Site, a reconstruction of a British outpost, circa 1721-36. From Darien, Rte. 99 heads through the Thicket, with sugar mill and rum distillery ruins, and past the shrimping community of Valona before rejoining U.S. 17 at Eulonia, and ending in Savannah. Of particular interest is the restored Savannah Riverfront, the Savannah History Museum and a variety of historic districts dating from the 18th Century.
Starting Point:
Jekyll Island, GA
Distance of Drive:
108 miles
Must Eat:
Tubby's
115 River Street, Savannah, GA 31401
Good Stop For:Local Seafood
Best Time of Year for Drive:
Year round
Points of Interest on Drive:
Jekyll Island
Marshes of Glynn
Ford Frederica National Monument
St. Simons Lighthouse and Museum of Coastal History
Fort King George State Historic Site
Savannah History Museum
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