Thanks TravelNatty, I put Boone Hall on my list, but after looking up Magnolia Plantation, I have to see it too.

The reviews on Cumberland Island are scary with the mosquitos and ticks being so intense. Does anyone know when mosquito cycle slows down in Georgia? I almost died from ehrlichiosis from a tick. Honestly!! Was in ICU a week, caused a heart attack, and I needed physical therapy for 3 months.

Jekyll for 2 nights is in our plans now.
Thanks for all your input everyone.

We're just about ready to do the following....

St. Petersburg one night for a concert, English Beat, then a drive to St. Augustine for 1 night, we love the city, then

3 nights in Savannah and

3 nights in Charleston, having a Valentine Day dinner there, and finally

2 nights at my DW's brothers house in GA, just south of Atlanta.

My DW has never been to either city so she's very excited.

Will do a trip report when we get back.

Go ahead and your reservations for dinner in Charleston for V-Day. They may tell you it is too early but at least you will learn when you can make your reservation.

I am just seeing this now . So much wonderful information .
I am the fodorite cmcfong is talking about ! Yes I will be in the Charleston and Beaufort area for a month and will do my best to do an informative trip report . The pressure is on, cmcfong !!

I also agree with what many posters have said about staying longer in Charleston. This is a beautiful place to visit and there are many things to do and see. The plantations are a must if you are so inclined. I saw 3 Boone Hall, Magnolia and Middleton, and would love to go back. I can still recall going on a trolley ride around the massive magnolia plantation on a day that was so perfect it was unbelievable ! Sighh I wish I was there now. While Magnolia was my favorite they are all wonderful for different things. Middleton was my least favorite as there was not so much to see as far as plantation houses go however the grounds were lovely to walk around. And we had a beautiful meal at the restaurant.

Savanannah, while beautiful , was not as interesting to me so I could definitely see you spending a bit less time there. Certainly worth seeing, but Charleston seemed to have it all. We also stopped one afternoon at Beaufort which was a lovely town, but not sure I needed any more time than an afternoon visit there.

While seeing Boone Plantation , make an effort to go see Sullivan Island, and Isle of Palms. It is a beautiful beach area with some lovely old summer cottages, and a lovely beach area. Very relaxing, and a good way to spend a hot afternoon near the water.

You will enjoy this part of your trip, I have no doubt. I was there 2 years ago, and I still cannot stop thinking about it.

This is a great area to visit if you love history, scenery, short hikes, and nature; the museums are a little thinner on the ground. I grew up in Atlanta, spent summer vacations on St. Simons, and have family who have retired to St. Simons, so I've been making visits to this area anywhere from 1-3 times a year for the better part of 50 years. Here are my thoughts, moving from south to north.

I find St. Augustine fun, but would agree that it can be done quite thoroughly in two days. The old town and the Castillo de St. Marcos can be seen in a day. There's another small Spanish fortified tower south of St. Augustine at a place called Matanzas that's sorta fun to visit because you have to take a boat across a river to get there. It also has a small but decent Park Service museum on the early history of the area. I understand the old Marineland complex a little further south has been re-opened, but I don't know much about it. It's dolphin shows were very popular back in the 1960's.

I've never spent much time in Jacksonville, but it might have a decent museum. It's a little known fact that the French made an attempt to colonize this part of Florida in the 1560's; there's a reconstruction of the fort they built, Fort Caroline, about ten miles east of Jacksonville.

Fernandina and Amelia Island are certainly worth a visit, and perhaps staying for a night or two. Fernandina is a historic old town with many handsome frame houses; it has a nicely refurbished downtown with some good, casual, inexpensive places to eat and some interesting hostelries, some quite historic. They've put a municipal museum into an old jail which is exceptionally well done, covering from Indian times through the Spanish and English occupations to the Confederacy and modern times. I've posted a review of it on TripAdvisor. I'd probably stay there rather than in St. Mary's, but must admit I've mostly just used St. Mary's as a place to get on the boat to Cumberland.

As noted by other posters, the Greyfield Inn on Cumberland is exceptional -- and expensive. JFK, Jr. used to like it, and its remoteness is why he chose it as the place for his wedding party to stay in when he was married at an old chapel towards the north end of Cumberland. If you can free up the money for one night there, you won't regret it. Remember that your three meals are included as well, which helps somewhat. And they'll throw in naturalist tours of the island. Greyfield is an old Carnegie family mansion, and one of the Carnegie descendants who still lives on the island makes amazing jewelry out of dolphins' vertebrae and rattlesnake ribs. It's pricey, but totally unique.

You can also visit Cumberland by a day trip from St. Mary's through the National Park Service (Cumberland is mostly a National Seashore). From the boat landing, most people walk down to see the ruins of the old Carnegie family mansion of Dungeness, which burned back in the 1950's. It's a very striking ruin. There are wild horses on the island as well.

Near St. Mary's, there is a nuclear submarine base at King's Bay. I don't know whether they do any tours there, but it might be worth checking out.

I consider Jekyll Island an interesting place to visit, but would recommend that you might consider staying on St. Simons instead. Jekyll is a lot smaller than SSI, and it has far fewer restaurants and places of interest.

The Millionaire's Village on Jeykll (it was a private wealthy person's club from around 1895-1947) is well worth seeing; there's a tour that takes in several of the individual cottages. These are nowhere near as grand as Newport -- this wasn't a year-round residence, but just a place you came for the season -- but they are worth seeing. There is a Sea Turtle rescue center in the Millionaire's Village area that is also really interesting. And the restored Island Club hotel has real character and is quite elegant, and reasonably priced as these places go. There's a good bookstore in the Millionaire's Village (in one of the cottages) with lots of titles of local interest.

August may possibly be past sea turtle nesting season, but check and see whether they're still doing beach walks at night to look for nesting turtles -- it's an unforgettable experience if you have never done this (provided you see a mother turtle laying her eggs, that is).

My "don't miss" sight for Jekyll is the Driftwood Beach on the northern end of the Island. The name doesn't do it justice. The sea has eroded an old live oak forest there, dropping these massive and incredibly gnarled and intricate trees along a 500-foot strip of beach. It's amazing to see the architecture of roots that once anchored these giants in place.

St. Simons Island (SSI) also has a number of good hotels -- a Hampton Inn, the King and Prince, etc. The National Historic site at Fort Frederica is well worth a visit to understand the area's British colonial past, as well as being just a lovely site with beautiful live oak trees and a view across the marshes. The Episcopal Christ Church nearby (1880) is a remarkably beautiful small wood-frame church. Wesley Methodist Church at Frederica, which is directly across from the entrance to Fort Frederica, was built in the late 1990's, but its sanctuary is one of the most beautiful modern church interiors (in a traditional vernacular) I have ever seen. Well worth taking a look inside if someone is around to let you in.

St. Simons has an 1870 lighthouse with a modern attached museum that houses the Coastal Georgia Historical Society. Don't miss seeing the double line of live oak trees on the Sea Island Golf Club on the south end of the island that once marked the entrance to Retreat Plantation. There are bike trails that run all over the island; you can rent your bike at Monkey Wrench Bicycles on Frederica Road. For restaurants, consider Barbara Jean's in the Village near the Lighthouse, which is known for seafood, wonderful vegetable side dishes, and desserts (try one called "Chocolate Mess" if you're a chocolate lover). There's also the Crab Trap, known for fried seafood since 1975; and Southern Soul, if you like barbecue. Sweet Mama's has wonderful sweets (try the Aunt Dee's pound cake). G. Ford's in the Shops at Sea Island is a good bookstore for titles of local interest, especially for understanding the local ecology, and there are five cinemas there if you want something to do in the evening.

For the nature lover in you, consider taking a kayak tour through the local creeks and marshes with Southeast Georgia Adventure Outfitters (their store is in the Village), and/or go out on a shrimp boat (they leave from Brunswick) to learn how shrimping works and to see what marine life lurks in those murky grey-green waters.

Little St. Simons Island, just to the north, is accessible only by boat. It has a wonderful lodge but with prices comparable to Greyfield. However, you can go over there for a day trip and enjoy a naturalist's tour, a superb Low Country Boil for lunch, and a few hours on the beach or riding horses for $75 apiece. I've posted a set of photos from there on Flickr; the link is http://www.flickr.com/photos/2768598...7632731516678/.

There's several points of interest on the roughly 80-mile drive from Brunswick up to Savannah that make it worthwhile to get off I-95 (or not to drive it in the first place). Hofywl-Broadfield Plantation, just north of Brunswick, is an old rice plantation that's now a state historic site. It instructs you about the rice culture and further demonstrates that most southern plantations were a lot humbler than Tara in "Gone With the Wind." There's a nature trail there that runs out into the marsh.

Fort King George State Historic Site in Darien has an elaborate reconstruction of the first British colonial fort in this area; the bluff nearby was occupied by a Spanish mission, and there's a good small museum.

Sapelo Island can be visited on boat trips from a location on the mainland; I think these may be run by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, since most of Sapelo is preserved as a marine laboratory. They'll give you a jeep tour once you get over there, though. You can see the ruins of a 19th century plantation, the village inhabited by descendants of the original slaves, and the comfortable mansion built by R.J. Reynolds back in the 1920's when his family owned the island. You can easily visit Sapelo as a day trip from the Jekyll/St. Simons area, as long as you get an early start; advance reservations for the boat are a must (as is the case for Cumberland as well). Again, I've posted a set of photos from Sapelo on Flickr at this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/2768598...7631883522797/.

At Midway, there's a stunning white Congregationalist church built in 1792 that looks like it somehow got lost on its way to New England and found itself in the southern pine forests. The Georgia Historical Commission operates a museum of coastal history next door; ask for a demonstration of the glass harmonica.

On the outskirts of Savannah, there's a museum to the 8th Air Force's campaigns in Europe during the Second World War.

Savannah can repay a stay of several days. There are various historic homes in town, the Telfair Academy of Art, the Savannah College of Art & Design shop, a maritime museum along Factor's Walk, the massive 19th century brick fortress of Fort Pulaski, and a really tall lighthouse on Tybee Island. Elizabeth's on 37th is one of the better restaurants there.

On the way north to Charleston, I recommend taking US 17, visiting Beaufort to see its old houses (a good place to stay overnight: good hotels, B&Bs, and restaurants), hitting the outlet shops on the road to Hilton Head, and see the picturesque ruins of the Old Sheldon Church (burned by Yankee cavalry in 1864, but a popular wedding venue to this day).

Charleston itself has a remarkable array of good restaurants (a major culinary school is there, and it's just a great place for foodies) and a wealth of good hotels. It's a great town for walking: check out one of the many walking tours that are offered. My favorite place to stay there is the Meeting Street Inn, which is very centrally located.

In terms of attractions, Fort Sumter is historic, and it's nice to see the city from the harbor, but picturesque it ain't. The Ashley River Road that leads to Middleton Gardens and Drayton Hall is quite lovely. Middleton Gardens has beautiful gardens by the river, but only a small survival of the house; Drayton Hall has no gardens and the house itself has been left unrestored.

My "Don't Miss" attraction for Charleston, though, is actually in North Charleston, where the Confederate submarine CSS Hunley, pulled out of the Atlantic a few years back, can be seen in a rejuvenating bath that's slowly extracting the salt from its iron hull. An on-site museum tells the story of this pioneering warship -- the first submarine to sink an enemy vessel in combat.

In terms of guidebooks, I highly recommend the Moon Guide to Savannah and Charleston, which also covers the surrounding areas. It's very comprehensive, and will help you get the maximum out of your visit.

If you'd like to do some history reading about the area, I suggest "Saving Savannah: The City and the Civil War," by Jacqueline Jones; "The Children of Pride," edited by Robert Manson Myers, an amazing series of letters among members of a Georgia plantation family who lived north of Brunswick during the years of the Civil War; Frances Ann Kemble's "Journal of a Residence on a Georgia Plantation in 1838-39"; William McFeely's "Sapelo's People," about the African-American community on that island; or Melissa Fay Greene's "Praying for Sheetrock," about the coming of change to McIntosh County along the Georgia coast between Brunswick and Savannah in the 1960's and 1970's.

I also agree about St Simons.

"The Episcopal Christ Church nearby (1880) is a remarkably beautiful small wood-frame church. Wesley Methodist Church at Frederica, which is directly across from the entrance to Fort Frederica, was built in the late 1990's, but its sanctuary is one of the most beautiful modern church interiors (in a traditional vernacular) I have ever seen."

Oddly enough, John and Charles Wesley, the founders of Methodism, preached at the site of Christ Church Frederica, though at a much earlier time.

I'm so sorry I'm so late in responding. I've been working on places to stay. All I can say is WOW and then THANK YOU
I didn't check back to see if there were any more posts, and when I did, I have a whole outline on what to see in order.
I would love to write some of you a personal thank you card.
I think the kindest people are on Fodors Forums.
Again THANK YOU!!!!!

We never made it to Charleston. Weather being the issue.

Savannah was fun. River walk was fun and exciting. The cobble streets and stairways were a challenge for this old f..t but I managed. The old buildings sightings were well worth the walk around. The Ghost tour, not so much. Very cheesy IMHO. Overall all, a nice visit.

My DW loved it.

I was in Beaufort over the weekend. There is a new restaurant there which I want to specifically recommend, The Griffin Market on Carteret. It is an absolutely fantastic Northern Italian restaurant. Five stars, really!

Sounds great, cmcfong. I may head over to Beaufort to try it!

One other thing occurs to me. When you cross the St. Mary's River into Georgia on I-95, from the St. Mary's exit, you can also go west 35 miles to the eastern entrance of the Okefeenokee Swamp near Folkston. There is a good museum there, and they run boat tours (probably around 90 minutes) down an old canal and then out into one of the swamp's larger open savannahs. If you want to see alligators in the wild, you can expect to see plenty of them here -- and probably also some Sandhill Cranes, which stand up to 4 feet tall. Unfortunately, the swamp is still recovering from some serious wildfires a few years back, and the fire damage remains very evident. But if you want to see a really unique natural environment, this makes for a good half-day excursion from the St. Mary's area.

Jeffer: I want to thank you for taking the time to put all this information together...very helpful!

Pardon me for breaking in, but if one decided to make a splurge and stop for an overnight at either Greyfield Inn, or Little St. Simons, which would you prefer and why? We are mulling over this option as part of a drive north from Florida to the NY area in April.

One thing to consider: We would have a packed car; would it be safe to leave this in the respective parking areas before taking the ferry, provided we remove valuables like computers from the car?

If you haven't found it yet, this thread may be helpful:

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...charleston.cfm

In response to ekscrunchy:

Choosing between the Greyfield Inn on Cumberland and LSSI is a tough call. I would give the edge to the Greyfield Inn, for the following reasons. First, the island is much more significant historically. There were Spanish missions and British forts there (none of which left any remains, admittedly); the Revolutionary War general Nathanael Greene (I believe) and his wife Kitty (certainly) lived there for many years, and Robert E. Lee's father, the Revolutionary War hero "Light Horse Harry" Lee died there, and was buried in the island's graveyard; and then you've got the Carnegie family occupation in the late 19th and 20th centuries, which left behind the Dungeness Mansion (a dramatic ruin), Greyfield, and Plum Orchard (intact, and being refurbished as a conference center when I was last there in 2003). Oh, and there's the homely chapel wheren JFK, Jr. was wed. Second, Cumberland is much, much bigger: at least twenty miles in length, as I recall. You've got wild horses roaming the island, which you don't on LSSI. And you've got the chance to buy the exotic and truly unique jewelry made by Gogo, the Carnegie family descendant, if you can afford it. (And it's fun looking at even if you don't feel you can afford to buy.)

What LSSI has going for it is the sheer solitude. Cumberland has day-trippers and campers who come over on the NPS boat at St. Mary's, although they mostly remain on the lower 3-4 miles of the island. You thus need to walk or bicycle up the beach a few miles from Greyfield if you want to have the experience of being the only humans in sight on an Atlantic coast beach. This is more easily accomplished on LSSI. As I recall, some industrial facilities on Amelia Island are visible from the lower end of Cumberland: nothing like that can be seen from LSSI. The food is comparable at each place (i.e., excellent): both places have naturalists on the staff to give you tours; all accomodation at Greyfield is in the old Carnegie mansion (early twentieth century?), whereas LSSI does have some more modern accomodations, which are comfortable but not Ritz Carlton plush. I think I would also say that the beach on LSSI is even more beautiful than Cumberland's.

In short, Cumberland offers a more complex and variegated experience. But if you want to see a southeastern barrier island that is very close to what the Guale Indians or the very first European explorers would have experienced, LSSI is probably better for that.

Oh, and about the parking questions ekscrunchy raised in regard to visits to LSSI and Cumberland.

Parking for LSSI is at the Hampton Point Marina on St. Simons Island. This is in the midst of a high-end residential neighborhood, which is separated by miles of forest from the rest of the island. There is a development next to the marina with a security booth at the entrance. And there's only one road that leads south back towards the main part of the island, which is around 6 miles in length and thus could be easily interdicted by law enforcement if someone raised an alarm. Let's just say it's not the kind of environment that most house-breakers or car-breakers would feel comfortable in.

I recall that we parked at another marina on Amelia Island before taking the boat to Greyfield. I remember it as being active, full of cars, open, and probably pretty well-lit (we weren't there at night, obviously). I certainly would take the precaution of removing items of value from the passenger compartment. If you still have concerns, I would check with the staff at Greyfield -- I'm sure they're able to address this.

Jeffer: Thanks for all that information. Will ponder the feasibility of working in a visit to Greyfield en route from Florida to NYC next month...ferry schedules present a small contention point, though...we will be departing southern Florida and there are only limited ferries from the mainland to Cumberland...that, plus the issue of having a car packed with the detritus of a winter-long stay in Florida....(?)

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