simons's personal blog

The beaches of St. Simons Island take you back to a time when nature's beauty was undisturbed and miles of pristine coastline was your own personal treasure to enjoy. Development is still moderate and it is possible to get away from it all and explore the sandy seashore and natural setting much as it was many years ago. Low tide exposes sand bars and tidal pools along the beach that the kids always enjoy playing in. Kitesurfing is a popular attraction, as is bicycling, sandsculpting, and just plain lying in the sun!
Shrimp boats dot the Atlantic horizon, while outdoor adventure-seekers populate the catamarans, windsurfers, and kayaks closer in to shore. Dolphins are not uncommon here and many varieties of sea birds and sea turtles can be spotted along the St. Simons Island beaches.

This is both the largest andmost historical of the islands.It

is about the same size as Manhattan, around 24 square
miles, but has a population of only 15,000.Its earliest in-
habitants were the native Americans of the Muskogean
tribes.In the 16th century Spanish explorers settled here and called
it “San Simeon.” In 1736, General James Oglethorpe, founder of Sa-
vannah, establishedGeorgia’s firstmilitary outpost at Fort Frederica
to protect English colonists from Spanish forces.In fact, six years
later, in 1742, theBattle ofBloodyMarsh, at the southern tip of the is-
land, actually determined the course of Colonial history.The conflict
ensued when Spanish forces landed on the south of the island and
forced General Oglethorpe’s troops back to Fort Frederica.Not to be
outdone, English troops regrouped and, though outnumbered five to
one, surprised the enemy, chased themback to Fort St.Simons on the
coast (which was destroyed by the retreating forces), and won a deci-
sive victory that forever ended the Spanish threat to the colonies.Rock hard island oaks, indigenous to the island, were put to good use
during Revolutionary times.They were milled for use in war ships
such as the USS Constitution,more fondly known as “Old Ironsides.”
The ensuing century and a quarter, ending with the Civil War, was
one of affluence when crops of indigo and Sea Island cotton were
raised on antebellum plantations throughout the island.One of
these, Hampton Plantation on the island’s northern tip, was the
hiding place ofVice PresidentAaronBurr in 1804 after he killedAlex-
ander Hamilton in a duel.Another, Retreat Plantation, overlook-
ing St.Simons Sound at the south of the island, is the present site of
the Sea Island Golf Club, approached via the famous Avenue of the
Oaks, planted by Anna Page King after she inherited the land in
1826.Finally,Hamilton Plantation, nowthe site of the Epworth by
the Sea UnitedMethodist Conference/Retreat Center, was originally
owned by Captain James Gascoigne who brought Oglethorpe’s first
settlers to Frederica.
St.Simons Island is connected to Brunswick, on the mainland, by a
causeway that runs over vast stretches of theMarshes of Glynn.The
latter were immortalized by 19th-century American poet Sidney
Lanier in his masterful work of the same name.