From Savannah, you will travel 2 hours south by car to the ferry port at Fernandina Beach, to catch a boat to remote and enchanting Cumberland Island, Georgia. The ferry ride is 45-minutes, but you will disembark in another world.

Cumberland Island is Georgia’s largest barrier island and one of the most spectacular natural habitats in the Northern Hemisphere. It is a place of wild beauty, offering 18-miles of nearly isolated beachfront, 300-year-old live oaks draped with Spanish moss, crushed shell paths, and an abundance of wildlife untouched by the outside world. A multitude of birds live along the shore and in the marshes, Loggerhead Sea Turtles return annually to lay their eggs, wild horses roam freely on the beaches.

The history of Cumberland will completely capture your imagination. Its first inhabitants were indigenous people 4000 years ago. During the Colonial period, Cumberland was home to the English General James Oglethorpe. The Revolutionary War hero Nathanael Greene also called Cumberland Island home. After the Civil War, a community was formed by freed slaves and their descendants on the north end of the island. This community is called “The Settlement” and includes The First African Baptist Church, where John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette were married in 1996. The famous Carnegie family has played a large role in developing Cumberland Island. In 1880, Thomas and Lucy Carnegie built a 59-room Scottish style castle named Dungeness. Today, the ruins of the mansion remain on the southern end of the island.

The Carnegie family’s presence is still visible on the island. During your time on Cumberland, you will stay at the elegant Greyfield Inn, built by the Carnegies in 1890 and now owned and operated by family members. Steeped in history, the furnishings and style of the Inn remain true to its past.