25. Georgia

Thursday morning, November 21st, drove 2 hours from Charleston, South Carolina to Savannah, Georgia. Parked my RV in the downtown Visitor Center's parking lot, and paid $7 for an overnight pass. Drove my scooter 15 miles East to Fort Pulaski National Monument.  This Fort was started after the War of 1812 and finished just before the Civil War. The Confederates occupied it, but the Union bombed it and took it over. The exhibits were really nice, including a musket firing demonstration.

 Bomb Damage from the Union assault

That evening walked around Savannah and had an ice cream at Leopold's, my Staten Island cousins' favorite ice cream place.

Next day drove 1 hour South to the Brunswick area.  First stop was Fort King George Historic State Park.
The fort was built in 1721 along the Altamaha River and served as the southernmost outpost of the British Empire in the Americas until 1727. It was abandoned a few years later. All building are reconstructions.

Stayed for about an hour then drove 15 minutes to Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation.  This was an old rice plantation which was started in the early 1800's and was in the same family until 1973. Walked the grounds and took the tour of the house which was horrible as the guide was a fat, old, smelly state park employee who really didn't care.

Plantation House

After that disappointment, drove 30 minutes East to St. Simons Island, one of the many barrier islands in the area. Visited Fort Frederica National Monument, which was another pre-Revolutionary War fort and small town of about 900 people. None of the buildings have survived and only a couple have been partly reconstructed, but the excavations of the ruins are explained nicely.  Forgot to take pics.

Later on, walked around downtown Brunswick which wasn't very exciting. Stayed in a cheap but nice RV park 7 miles inland from Brunswick.

Next day, drove back to the coast and went to Jekyll Island, another barrier island and tourist spot. Paid the $10 island entrance fee, then parked in the historic district and had a great walk for an hour.  The Jekyll Island Club was a getaway place for the Northeast super rich at the turn of the century.  Some really nice mansions and grounds are preserved in a non touristy way.

After the walk, checked into the park's campground for 2 nights which is in a beautiful wooded location. Used my scooter to drive around the rest of the island.  It is about 7 miles long by 1.5 miles wide. Real nice place and not very touristy as I had expected.

Next day, used my bicycle and rode around the island for 3 hours. Very nice bike trails and a great ride, even though it was really cold.  Spent the rest of the day in the RV watching Sunday afternoon football.

Really rough Atlantic ocean

Next morning, Monday, November 25th, said goodbye to Jekyll Island and to Georgia, got onto I-95 South and drove into Florida.