I hope one of your Presidents’ Day traditions this year will be eating cherry pie, as it is a wonderful excuse to eat dessert. However, I encourage you to add a captivating local ceremony to your agenda, too. On February 11, St. Marys’ Freemasons will accompany an empty casket in Read more…
Winter is my favorite bloom season. You may think this strange, but stroll a Southern town such as St. Marys and tell me its camellias adorned with deep red, pastel pink, and snow-white flowers are not a winter marvel. Below we discuss this floriferous shrub, its journey across the globe, Read more…
Few places can boast as many historic churches as St. Marys. None besides St. Marys can claim the second oldest church building in Georgia and the state’s oldest building in continuous use as a church. Its First Presbyterian Church earns both of these distinctions. Below we explore the picturesque architecture Read more…
Do you know someone who is larger than life, a towering presence who leaves a lasting impression on all he or she meets? On Cumberland Island a century ago, Lucy Coleman Carnegie was that figure. The sister-in-law to steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie, Lucy created an empire on Cumberland Island which Read more…
As we sit down to Thanksgiving dinner and enjoy family and football, we may also recall the Plymouth pilgrims’ festivities with the Native Americans in 1621. However, could it be that this is not the true first Thanksgiving in North America? What if the inaugural celebration was much earlier and Read more…
Hurricane Ian has reminded us it is that time of year again. We all know the drill: stock up on food and water, be ready to lose power, prepare for flooding, and even leave town if necessary. While we have seen our share of destructive hurricanes, we have not witnessed Read more…
Florence “Floss” Carnegie Perkins was the seventh-born child of Lucy and Thomas Carnegie, brother of steel magnate Andrew. In 1901, she was married on the steps of the family’s Dungeness Mansion on Cumberland Island and spent the next decades raising her three children at New York’s Plaza Hotel. By the Read more…
We all have our favorite activities on the St. Marys River: taking in a sunset at the waterfront park, crabbing from the pier, or riding boats on the river’s glassy surface. We also enjoy its bounty, especially shrimp, as we look forward every year to our biggest local event: October’s Read more…
It was hot. It was muggy. The South Georgia sun was blazing. But that didn’t stop hundreds, including Governor Brian Kemp, from attending the August 26th groundbreaking of Cumberland Inlet, a $500 million project encompassing a town center with a boutique hotel and restaurant, an eco-tourism resort, a marina, vacation Read more…
San Miguel de Gualdape, Sapelo Sound, Georgia, 1526. Santa Elena, Parris Island, South Carolina, 1566. Trading Ford (in present-day Salisbury), North Carolina, 1567. Spanish forts and settlements such as these dotted the American Southeast from North Carolina to Louisiana long before the British arrived. By the late 1500s, Spain’s power Read more…