Cumberland Island and Wild Horses

Hoping to see wild horses turned out to be sweet reality as we were practically within touching distance.  Nope, we didn’t creep up on them, we were sitting at a table watching as they grazed closer and closer.  Beautiful, healthy looking horses it was hard to believe they were wild as they showed no fear of us.  Technically these horses are considered feral as they were once domesticated and then turned wild, they are also a non-native species that have an impact on the island ecology.  The National Park Service conducts population surveys that return counts ranging from 120 to 148 horses.  The first horses were probably left behind by the Spanish Missions established in the 1500’s. 

They have the right of way!

Next was the settlement history of the island which began with Catharine Greene, widow of Revolutionary War hero General Nathanael Green.  She built Dungeness, a four-story ‘tabby’ mansion near the southern end of the island.  A century later Thomas Carengie and his wife Lucy built their own mansion which they called Dungeness, in the same location.  Several more homes for their children including Plum Orchard were built for their children.  In 1959 the mansion was destroyed by fire, alleged to be the work of an arson.  In the 1890’s a small group of African American freedmen purchased property on the northern end of the island and built the First African Baptist Church in 1893.

Dungeness ruins

We also stopped by the Greene-Miller Cemetery near Dungeness.  On March 25,1818 Henry Lee aka Lighthorse Harry died and was buried in the Greene Cemetery on the island.  He was the father of Robert E. Lee.  In 1913 his remains were removed and interred in the Lee family crypt at Lee Chapel. While researching the cemetery, I learned a bit of trivia. The above ground markers do not hold bodies.  This was a style of tombstone that allowed families to come to the cemetery and have a surface on which to have a picnic. 

Greene-Miller Cemetery

We hiked through a forest of live oaks forming cool shade to a saltwater marsh ending up in the openness of the beach with its windblown sand dunes.  We often saw horses in the distance.  If you visit the island be sure to empty your shoes before entering your boat.  I must have brought back a couple of pounds of sand in my shoes.

The forest

Salt Marshes

Beach

Heading North.............