Cumberland Island and Surrounding Area
 

Husband and I interested in visiting Cumberland Island National Seashore. We are in our 60's and walking 2 miles may be our limit. Would this be enough to do justice in seeing the nearby sites when getting to the island? i.e. horses, ruins, beach area? (would prefer not to bike). Would also like to know the best islands/towns nearby that have decent size tourist areas for walking around i.e. shops, restaurants, anything scenic. We are considering St. Simons Island, and Amelia Island. Have already been to Jekyll Island. Other than Cumberland, don't want places that are too laid back. Thanks for any input.

We recently visited Amelia Island and took a river cruise that gave the history of Amelia and Cumberland Islands. We did see the horses, shoreline and a bit of some buildings on Cumberland Island from the boat.
If you can only walk two miles I don't know if you would actually be worth going to Cumberland Island.
You have to make arrangements to visit in advance since they only allow 300 visitors a day on the island. I don't know how often the boats go back and forth to take people and pick them up. If you can only walk two miles you might be just sitting around for a long time until the boat arrives and there is really not much in the way of facilities on the island. Our guide described it as "primitive".

We went from St Mary's Ga to Fernandina Beach, Fl for the day on the ferry. We took our bikes and rode around town and that was fun for us but each town is very walkable and Fernandina Beach has a nice Comfort Inn in the Historical district and good places to eat and shop. St Mary's is very laid back. We did not get off at the island but did see it from the ferry and the horses and a fort. We were spending the weekend at the sub base there and just took the Sat rt ride. I would love to go to the island. We did see the campers come in on the ferry from there. Very primitive camping.

It sounds like the best option for you to see Cumberland Island is to take the van tour -
http://www.nps.gov/cuis/planyourvisi...acies-tour.htm

The ferry leaves from St Marys GA and it has a small downtown with shops -
http://www.visitstmarys.com/where-to-dine---shop.html

If you can afford it, you could stay ON the island at the Greyfield Inn. It's pricey but all inclusive. Their ferry leaves from Fernandina Beach (Amelia Island)
http://www.greyfieldinn.com/

A busier option (than St. Marys) would be St. Simons Island. It's just north of Jekyll but far busier with a lot of restaurant and shopping options. The drive after you got off the ferry would be less than an hour.

Another hour further north would be Savannah. An hour south of St. Marys would be St. Augustine.

Thanks SO much to all of you for the input!

A great place for seafood, especially shrimp, on the water is Safe Harbor Seafood in the little town of Mayport, east of Jacksonville.


http://www.safeharborseafoodmayport.com/

If you go to St. Augstine, have a meal at O'Steens.