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Little Cumberland Island Lighthouse
The two islands, Cumberland Island and Little Cumberland Island are split by a narrow
winding salt water pass called Christmas Creek that runs from the ocean through the
marshlands on the inland side of the island. Cumberland Island is owned by the State and
Little Cumberland is privately owned. The lighthouse sits at the very northern tip of
Little Cumberland Island and looks over towards Jekyll Island. It’s the last
lighthouse on our trip and the most southern lighthouse in Georgia. Originally called the
St. Andrews lighthouse as it faces St. Andrews sound, the name was changed after the Civil
War. The lighthouse stands only sixty feet high and has been out of service since 1915.
Hidden behind a large sand dune, only the top part of the lighthouse can be seen from the
shore. If the dunes roll over any more from the blowing sands, the lighthouse will
disappear in the dune itself. When I was there the towering dune was almost touching the
door of the lighthouse waiting to engulf it. It’s not an easy lighthouse to get to.
First of all, the entire Little Cumberland Island is private property and from my
experience, just about impossible to get permission to walk up to the light. It isn’t
far from the shore however, and anyone is free to stroll the beach up to the high water
line and that will put you within a couple hundred feet of the light.
You have to be a fervent lighthouse enthusiast to want to visit the Little
Cumberland Island lighhouse. The only way
to get there is to charter a boat although you can see the lighthouse from the southern
end of Jekyll Island. A marina just to the right as you enter over the bridge to Jekyll
Island has several private boat charters available. We hired a captain and boat and after
visiting the lighthouse took a delightful tour to the northern end of Cumberland Island.
There we visited an abandoned mansion called the "Plum Orchard", once owned by
Carnegie and built for one of their children. We enjoyed the marshlands along the way, and
viewed the wild horses, turkeys, and nesting ospreys along the way. It’s a delightful
way to spend a few hours and will make a charter trip to the Little Cumberland
Island lighthouse worthwhile. If you
have your own boat there is a public boat ramp just a little south of the marina but the
pass between Jekyll and Little Cumberland is very rough most of the time so use caution.
The lighthouse at Little Cumberland Island is the southernmost lighthouse in Georgia
but it wasn’t always so. Another lighthouse was placed on the southern end of
Cumberland Island in 1820 and was in service for eighteen years. It still exists but not
where it was originally built. You’ll have to drive down to Amelia Island, just
across the border in Florida to see it. The entire brick lighthouse was dismantled and
moved there. Cement was not as tough as it is today and the mortar between the bricks was
easier to chip apart but I still can’t imagine disassembling a tower some seventy
feet high with five foot thick walls and moving it piece by piece but that’s what
they did. It is the northern most lighthouse in Florida and still operates today.
If you have the time a visit to Cumberland Island is a wonderful place to spend
the day. It’s an entirely different trip than in getting to Little Cumberland Island.
To get there visitors have to take a forty-five minute ferry ride from St. Marys. Once
there, you can see wild horses as they freely roam the unspoiled forests along with deer,
wild hogs, and turkey. Huge century old oak trees line the dirt road that leads to the
sixty room mansion called Dungeness, once owned by Thomas and Lucy Carnegie. It was
constructed mainly of tabby like the slave houses at Sapelo Island and made in the same
way by burning oyster shells over a grate which turned the shells into a powder to produce
lime. When mixed with equal parts of sand, water, and broken oyster shells to give the
substance extra body, it made a hard a durable mixture and was the equivalent to cement.
It was used extensively in building many homes during that time. The mansion now stands in
ruin after an arsonist burned it down in 1957 leaving only the tabby walls and stone work
as a reminder of what a magnificent house it once was.
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A complex next door to the mansion was also a splendid affair. Made of wood instead of
tabby, it was once the place where guests could enjoy indoor swimming, a squash court,
billiards, get their hair done with a private beautician or take advantage of the full
time doctor. The recreation complex also doubled as a bachelor complex for those unmarried
men who stayed at Dungeness for several weeks. It never burnt down like the mansion but
lies in ruin nevertheless, having totally collapsed from years of neglect. Even these
remnants gave me a sense of awe and wonderment at what a truly grand place this must have
been for its visitors and owners of the time. To know that this entire self-sufficient
community was built on a remote island so many years ago is even more incredible.
Starting in 1880 and lasting forty years, three hundred servants and caretakers made
this paradise a reality raising their own vegetables and livestock, tending the fruit
trees and flower gardens, maintaining the carriage house, machine shop, carpentry shop and
commissary. The large carriage house and some of the smaller buildings still remain such
as the facility that did nothing but laundry for the many guests and the ice house where
huge blocks of ice were brought down by rail from the north and then delivered to the
island by boat. There the ice was stored and used throughout the summer. The task of
creating this luxurious environment must have been a monumental undertaking especially
considering its remoteness. Other mansions survive on the island, some privately owned and
others like the "Plum Orchard", remain intact but empty and in need of repair.
It all came to an end in the 1920’s when the owners either passed on or found other
interests. The park service has left most of the structures to take their natural course
of decay and as a result they are beyond any type of repair or restoration. A few of the
buildings have been maintained and restored. It is a wonderful mix of history that can
only lead visitors to marvel at how life must have been back in that age when this was
once a self sufficient community built to serve a handful of remarkably rich owners.Park rangers guide visitors on a walking tour of the island that lasts about an hour or
so. Visitors are also free to explore on their own or trek over the dunes to spend time on
the long expanse of beach. Camping is also available on the island. Only three hundred
people are allowed on this twelve by four mile island daily so it’s never crowded and
makes the experience even more unique.
The ferry to Cumberland Island leaves at 9:00 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. from March 15th
through September. From October 1st to March 14th, the ferry
doesn’t run on Tuesdays and Wednesdays
If you would like to see the lighthouse on Little Cumberland
Island (not to be confused with Cumberland Island), I suggest that you go to Jekyll
Island. That's the closes place to Little Cumberland Island. Little Cumberland us just to
the south of Jekyll Island. You can actually see the Cumberland Island lighthouse from the
southern end of Jekyll. On your way over to Jekyll Island, there is a marina just after
you cross the bridge entering Jekyll Island on the right. There are several small boats
there that you can charter with a captain to take you over to Little Cumberland. I suggest
you call Larry Crews at 912-265-7529. Larry runs a fine boat, is knowledgeable, patient,
and take you near the lighthouse (once again, you can't actually walk to it since it's on
private property, but you can get close). He can also take you around other parts of the
island where you can get up close to osprey in their nests, wild horses, and dolphins out
in the pass between Jekyll Island and Cumberland Island. If you have time he can take you
through the marshlands to Cumberland Island where you can visit and walk around the once
incredible "Plum Orchard" house. During the winter months Larry can take you
offshore to see the Right Whales and If you like to fish, Larry Crews is the man you want
to contact. He'll take you out on a fishing trip and from what I have heard, you won't be
disappointed.
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