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!

4th Grade Field Trips

So, I think history is interesting . . . but the male members of my family, not so much.  However . . . we are in the oldest city in America, and that constitutes a fair amount of history.

Much of it has been converted into money-generating tourist traps, but a few sites are under the oversight of the National Park Service . . . and we have an annual National Park pass that expires at the end of April . . . so, along with a bunch of 4th graders on field trips, we visited the two forts that were instrumental in protecting St. Augustine from attacks.

Our first stop was at Fort Matanzas,

on the Matanzas River, south of the city. 

The National Park Service provides boat rides across the river to the fort.  Unfortunately, due to the threat of bad weather, the boat trips were cancelled.

 

So in place of that, there was a guided Ranger walk through the salt marsh,

 

to a spot on the beach that provides a good view of the fort.  This fort was more of a “guard shack” at the back door to St. Augustine.  From this location on the river, the soldiers could see the coast and hold off any attempts by pirates or enemies to sneak up on the city.  They did a good job, and no one ever got in this way.

It was a quick little tour, and a brief history of the fort, and then we made our way back along the river to the Visitor Center,

and then headed back into the city for our second fort tour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Castillo de San Marcos was the northernmost outpost of Spain’s New World Empire.  Construction began in 1672, after many attacks from the British and their expanding colonization to the north.

The walls of the Castillo are constructed of coquina, which is porous and compresses under the impact of cannon fire, rather than breaking apart.  This makes the Castillo practically indestructible.

 

We entered the Castillo through the Sally Port, the entrance to the fortress, and into the central courtyard.

The rooms around the courtyard were storage areas.  The Spanish stockpiled gunpowder, ammunition, weapons, lumber, tools and food, which allowed St. Augustine to survive during a long siege.

 

Religion was an important part of Spanish life, and a priest would hold mass daily for the soldiers in the Chapel of the Castillo.

St. Augustine was a presidio, and nobody lived inside the Castillo.  The soldiers lived in town with their families, and came to the fort to stand guard in the Guard Towers on a rotating basis.

From this vantage point, the soldier on guard had a view of the entire city and the coastline.

The upper level of the fort – the gun deck and surrounding city wall –was the most important part of the Castillo.  By 1740, the gun deck had over 70 mounted cannons of varying size.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each of the fort’s four corners is protected by a diamond-shaped bastion.  Cannons on the bastions were placed to create a deadly crossfire.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For almost 350 years the Castillo has stood guard over the city of St. Augustine and, although the fort has changed hands between countries many times – from Spain, to Britain, back to Spain, and finally the United States – every transfer was negotiated through treaty and agreement, and never battle.

So, after all that history in the company of at least 4 different 4th grade field trip groups, Bryce felt that he deserved a reward for his patience, so we walked over to check out Cousteau’s Waffles and Shakes – now that sounds like an interesting combination!    

We studied the menu,

and Tom and I decided to split a Whirlybird,

 

while Bryce savored his chocolate chip cookie doughlicious milkshake all by himself! 

The warm waffle with hot cinnamon apples, topped with ice cream, caramel and whipped cream was heavenly . . . and Bryce thoroughly enjoyed his shake – he said it was the best he’s ever had!

Yep, it was a good way to end the day!