Cumberland Island has been on our radar for years.  Even this time we had to wait 3 days to find space for the tour.  But it was well worth the wait.  We took the Land and Legacies Tour with guide Mike.  The island is 18 miles long and 4 miles wide.  The 18 mile beach is the longest undeveloped beach on the East coast.  We had a great tour and heard fascinating stories from Mike.  If you have any interest in the Gilded Age, the Carnegies, the Kennedys, wild horses, unspoiled beaches and a pristine island on the East Coast, then this is a tour for you.

Concession ferry to park

Welcome to the park

The only road on the island

Plum Orchard mansion- a Carnegie cottage

Famous wild horses of Cumberland Island

Tiny chapel where JFK Jr was married in 1996

Dungeness mansion – 76,000 sq ft – burned in 1959

Coastal Georgia

We love train watching in Folkston GA.  Ever since the town erected a viewing platform railfans have been flocking to the “Folkston Funnel”.  Nowadays they even have cabooses fitted out for overnight stays.  Virtually all rail traffic into Florida on CSX passes through the “Funnel”.  Thats anywhere from 45 to 60 trains per day including 8 Amtrak passenger trains.

CSX Southbound passing historic station

Northbound

Juice train rolls daily

Steel on steel

Silver Meteor bound for Miami

Grafitti enhanced double stack

Northbound Auto-train

Foreign power – BNSF

Zebras

Coastal Georgia is an easy trip for us going into or out of Florida.  Trains will be rolling again and we still have to walk those pristine beaches of Cumberland Island.  We’ll be back.