I was looking forward to visiting Cumberland Island, GA, both a National Park and a National Seashore. Full of historic significance, cotton was first grown here by a local family who helped Eli Whitney develop the cotton gin. John F Kennedy, Jr and Carolyn Bessette were married in the First African Baptist Church on Cumberland Island in 1996.
While the park is still open, all facilities are closed. With the COVID-19 virus the concessionaire that provides ferry transportation to the island as well as an all day tour, cancelled all trips.
We decided to rent a jet ski at nearby Amelia Island, and take a shortened self-tour of the island.
Dungeness Ruins
In the 1880’s property was purchased by Thomas Carnegie, brother of Andrew Carnegie, who began to build a new mansion on the site. The 59-room Queen Anne style mansion and grounds were completed after Carnegie’s death in 1886. In 1959 the Dungeness mansion was destroyed by fire, alleged to be arson.
There are herds of wild horses on the island. Popular myth holds that horses arrived on the island sometime in the 16th century with the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors
Fort Clinch
From our vantage point on our jetski, we could see Fort Clinch in Florida. Fort Clinch is a 19th-century brick fortress begun in 1847 and never completed. The only battle to occur at Clinch was when Union troops recaptured the fort in 1862 after Confederate forces seized control the previous year. Fort Clinch served as the base of Union operations in the area throughout the Civil War. Today the fort serves as a state park.
So what is our plan during these unprecedented times? For the most part, where we are staying is not changing. You can see where we are staying the bottom of this page. The private parks that we have reserved are still open for now. We will be cancelling our reservations in New Jersey and Delaware to spend more time in PA with our families.
Most of the activities we wanted to do this year are closed or to do them seems irresponsible. For example, we were planning to spend a week touring historic Williamsburg, as of now it’s closed. We were also planning self-walking tours in Savannah and Charleston, even though it would just be us walking around the city with a camera, we don’t want to expose anyone to the virus, nor do we want to be exposed. So our days are spent in our RV, walking around the park, and keeping to ourselves. We hope everyone stays safe, has plenty of TP, and that this virus ends quickly.
11 thoughts on “Social Distancing in Georgia (searching for TP)”
Hi guys! I’ve been wondering where you landed. This house arrest is surreal. Hoping you continue to stay healthy.
Hi Julie. Yep we are all good. A little bored, but I guess that is to be expected. Saw Mike’s FB post. Hysterical. Make sure you hide the knives after and make it look like an accident. Take care.
This situation has greatly effected your siteseenig plans. Be safe and stay healthy. Now they announced the social distancing will remain in effect til the end of April. We planned to go to Colorado in early May but now we will have to wait and see how everything goes. We want to stay healthy. I am trying to stay positive but I do get board.
Hi Sue. If we had a home, we would have stayed instead of traveling. As we are homeless, we have no choice but to wonder. Trying to stay entertained with walks and TV. But trying to avoid too much news as it’s all gloom and doom. Stay safe and I hope this all passes soon and you get to Colorado. Take care of yourself and Ed.
We were wondering what you were doing during this time. Glad to see you are able to still enjoy the beautiful natural sights. We are hanging in here, home and yard projects. Everything looks good!
Hi Becki. Glad you guys are making the time go by in a productive way. I have many things I could do around here, but they never seem to get done even though I have nothing to do. Just lazy. I need some of your motivation. Take care of you and Bob. By the way I loved the aspirational message you sent. That was a fantastic idea.
hey Scott & Catharine glad to hear you are safe. I hope this clears up soon because you might not be allowed to come in to PA;;;
Yeah, campgrounds are starting to close. Not sure where we will end up. I’ll keep you posted. Love you Mom.
i sure hope you found tp;;;it sure is boring staying in the house;;;;
Hi Mom…boring here too. Found a four pack of generic TP but shelves have been empty of all paper products for weeks now.
hey just checking in to make sure you are all safe this sure is a trying time;;;I am so bored sometimes I just want to run through the house hollering but I guess if anybody heard me they think I was crazy;;haha not far from it;;;doug had o get he test but he was fine;;thank god;;;;