5 Best Sights in The Coastal Isles and the Okefenokee, Georgia

Encompassing the vast majority of Cumberland Island, this 36,347-acre preserve has pristine forests and marshes marbled with wooded nature trails, 18 miles of undeveloped beaches, and opportunities for fishing, bird-watching, and viewing the ruins of Thomas Carnegie's great estate, Dungeness. You can also join history and nature walks led by Park Service rangers. Bear in mind that summers are hot and humid and that you must bring everything you need, including your own food, drinks, sunscreen, and insect repellent. The only public access to the island is via the Cumberland Queen II ferry.

From the Dungeness ferry dock to the southern tip of the island, Dungeness Beach covers nearly 2 miles of pristine, remote coast. This wild stretch of sand attracts beachcombers (shark teeth are a sought-after find) and fishermen, who cast for redfish and flounder at the southernmost point, called Pelican Flats. Trails lead to Thomas Carnegie's historic estate, Dungeness, and this is also a good area to spot Cumberland's famed wild horses that roam the beach and inland areas here. Amenities: none. Best for: solitude; sunrise.

Proximity to the ferry makes this beach fronting the Sea Camp campground the most popular beach among day-trippers, though with only 300 visitors allowed on the island daily, it's never very crowded. Hard-pack trails and a boardwalk allow short nature walks, and the beach has good beachcombing. Amenities: showers; toilets. Best for: solitude; sunrise.

If the heat has you, and the kids are itching to get wet, head to this full-service water park on the mainland, where you can get an inner tube and relax floating down the Oasis lazy river, hurtle down Splash Mountain, or corkscrew yourself silly sliding down the Orange Crush.

This small, one-room church on the north end of Cumberland Island was rebuilt in 1937 to replace a cruder 1893 structure used by former slaves from the High Point–Half Moon Bluff community. Constructed of whitewashed logs, it's simply adorned with a cross made of sticks tied together with string and 11 handmade pews seating 40 people. John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette were married here on September 21, 1996. The Kennedy–Bessette wedding party stayed at the Greyfield Inn, built on the south end of the island in 1900 by the Carnegie family.