Blythe Island Regional Park and a visit to another fort

Blythe Island Regional Park is a cute little county park on the South Brunswick River.  It’s a bit rustic for Tom (dirt roads and sites, lots of trees), but the outer row of sites where we are are very spacious, fairly level, and they come with water, 30/50 AMP electric, sewer and cable TV.  We heard that the wifi was “spotty”, but it’s been just fine at our site.

The park is situated between the river, where there is a boat launch

with a really cool gantry crane that can lift boats right off their trailers and set them right down into the water.

It’s quite the gathering place for fishermen and seagulls,

and a pretty good spot for catching the sunset in the evening.

 

We’ve had some really beautiful sunsets in the days we’ve been here!

We also have a good view of cargo ships at the Georgia-Pacific plant across the river.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Within the park, there’s also a small lake and river that provides a nice spot for inland fishing, swimming and canoeing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are also several miles of bike trails in the park, and Tom and I explored some of them this week.

So, there’s plenty of opportunities for recreational activities here, but we are also just a few miles from St. Simon’s Island and Jekyll Island.  We visited both this week.

Our first stop was St. Simon Island . . . and Fort Frederica National Monument.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bryce was soooo excited!    He just HAD to get into many of my pictures as we explored the fort and the abandoned town of Frederica!

 

We stopped in the Visitor Center first, and Tom had fun with the colonial props and games!

While in St. Augustine, we had learned about Spain’s efforts to protect its colony from British attacks, but in coastal Georgia, on the island of St. Simon, we saw the hub of British Military operations in the area.

The British General, James Oglethorpe, was given the task of creating a settlement on the Georgia coast, along with a fort to protect Britain’s interests against the Spanish in Florida.

The island of St. Simons, thick with live oaks draped in moss,

was selected for the settlement due to its good water and fertile upland.

The fort was built first,

fortified by cannons overlooking the river.

Residences and businesses

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

were constructed amid a grid of streets and alleys,

and the entire town was enclosed within a wooden palisade.

The only remaining evidence of the wooden palisade is the mounded earth around the perimeter of the site.

After the town was complete, Oglethorpe returned to England to gather troops to protect Frederica against attacks from the Spanish, and also to attack the Spanish at St. Augustine.

Barracks were built in Frederica to house many of the troops.

Archeological excavations in the area provide many clues about life in Frederica and the Fort.

Bryce particularly liked this tool!

 

Founded in 1736, the small English village prospered for a number of years and successfully protected coastal Georgia from Spanish attacks, but just 2 decades later the town was largely abandoned.

 

 

Bryce says, “Yea, we’re done looking at the fort!”

He’s impossible!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We drove back across the island to the little village of St. Simon.

We saw the lighthouse, walked out on the fishing pier,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and watched some guy doing handstands on the beach. 

Since we had a few stops to make before we could go home for dinner, we got some frozen yogurt to tide us over . . . who needs more of a reason than that??!!

It was a beautiful day, and we enjoyed our visit . . . even if it did include a fort!