Amelia Island looks smaller in the wake of the boat and soon Cumberland Island comes into view. As we come ashore and climb onto the pier all we hear is quiet. The warmth of the boat ride is cooled during our walk under the large Live Oak canopy shading us along the path. Our path takes us to the Greyfield Inn, an inn preserved for visitors to this unique island. Seven permanent residents call Cumberland Island home; the rest of us call it a resting spot and leave only footprints. The island is one and a half miles off the Georgia coast between St. Mary’s River and the Atlantic Ocean, and is only accessible by boat or airplane. It is such an amazing island of natural diversity, it has been established as a National Seashore. My family and I are happy the Greyfield Inn has been preserved, and happy we can travel just 3-4 hours from our home in Tallahassee, Florida and reach this pretty place. After each visit there we come home inspired to make the most of life and with a renewed appreciation for time with people and how they enrich our experiences in life. Spending some days there will rest any weary soul.
The Greyfield Inn is a three story structure, with the exterior made from Georgia cypress or cedar clapboards and painted white. Large shutters that flank the windows and trim on the inn are painted a shade of green so dark it is almost black. On the front of the inn is a deep porch spanning the width of the house. The porch is a comfortable resting spot with rocking chairs and the bed-size porch swings with futon type padded seats and throw pillows. At the inn there are no televisions and no telephones. Visitors staying overnight can use bikes, provided by the inn, to get to the beach. The path to the shore is a Live Oak lined canopy road, totally shaded from the beach sun by dense branches so twisted they form artwork against the baby blue sky. Arriving at the edge of the shore we find miles of desolate beach, in both directions north and south. During certain months of the year we find hundreds of abandoned conch shells washed up over the hard packed beach sand of the Atlantic coast.
As soon as we enter the front door of the inn we immediately get the sense of old-timey, while observing the grand retreat style favored by millionaires at the turn of the century. Built in 1900, originally, the Greyfield Inn was the hunting lodge for its first owner Lucy Carnegie, who came to the island to hunt wild boar, deer and other game. I love the large portrait of Lucy, fully dressed in hunting attire, hanging above the massive stone fire place, in the reception area. To this day her family continues to oversee daily operations of the inn.
After being settled in our rooms, we are surrounded by antique furnishings on the dark stained hardwood floors. The walls are covered with artwork of events associated with the inn. Everything I see at the Greyfield takes me back to an earlier time, as I feel the personality of the Carnegies and their earthy passion for hunting, nature and the great outdoors under the clear blue sky.
I love to reminisce about the meals at the inn. All overnight guests dine together around a large dining table in comfortable chairs and enjoy a sumptuous feast. The beautiful old dining room has tall windows tastefully dressed, and mahogany panels warm the cozy room creating a Greyfield moment. When the host raises the brass dinner bell and rings it, I know the celebration of well prepared dishes has begun. It is delightful to listen as he describes the wine pairings and delicious dinner courses in detail.
From time to time we reflect on the people we’ve met there and the conversations we’ve shared over either breakfast or dinner. Most memorable are the people who visit Cumberland annually and have come on the same weekend for years. We met a woman who is a landscape architect, and I recall the stimulating conversation about her work and her many visits to Cumberland Island, at the Greyfield. I often think how impressed we were to meet one gentleman in March 2000, who was 75-80 years old in and was a jogger. This jogger annually ran the Gate River Run, a 15K race held each year on the first weekend in March, in Jacksonville, Florida and then would board the “Lady Ferguson” at the dock in Amelia Island with his wife, and come to the Greyfield Inn each year after the race. That acquaintance inspired my husband, Alan, also a runner to continue and now he has run many races including the Gate River Run at least 5 times. Reflecting on this I am reminded that something positive always comes from Greyfield visits.
With great fascination I ask myself, where else could I go and meet a woman who explores the woods looking for animal cadavers and uses their bones as models for jewelry? Gogo Ferguson, one of the few residents on Cumberland Island and a descendent of the family who owns the Greyfield, has a home and studio next to the inn for exquisite jewelry making. Daily, she explores the island searching for parts such as boars tusk, rattlesnake vertebrae, armadillo shell, seashells and the like and creates a mold for designing beautiful gold and silver jewelry, originating from Cumberland Island.
One of my favorite memories is of our son in August 2002, who at the age of seven first complained that the Greyfield Inn was too old-timey, however, later he didn’t want to leave the island. He’s been known on several occasions since to say,”When can we go back? I really loved the outdoor shower and the food, especially the lunches!” It’s pleasant to remember the joy of swinging on a porch swing with the breeze upon your face eating peanut butter and honey in pita bread with peanuts and raisins, from a picnic basket.
We’ve had some unprecedented experiences during some of the jeep rides with an island Naturalist, arranged by the Greyfield. The guided tours are a great way to catch a glimpse of the island’s very peaceful wild horses, as they roam and explore the beach and wooded areas in pairs or with their foal. I think of all the familiar and unfamiliar birds we’ve spotted with the help of the tour guide. I’ll always remember seeing a massive bald eagle nest, 6-12 feet in diameter. The eagles had sculpted and cradled the nest high up in a tree top, when the tree had no foliage, so we were able to get a good view of this masterpiece.
A trip to the island would not be complete without a tour of old abandoned mansions that are scattered throughout the island. Several summer homes were built by the Carnegie family and others, in the early 1900’s. Today some of the mansions are in ruins and some being restored; all visitors of the island are welcome to join a tour of some of the structures. One detail highlighted by the tour guide, involves the plumbing here. Before most people had indoor plumbing, the Cumberland mansions had some very nice plumbing fixtures in their bathrooms, and to this day we were able to see how they looked. I am struck with a sense of unity with the past, realizing, some of the natural beauty enjoyed by families in history is also what we really enjoy most about a visit to a very secluded and beautiful island.
The ruins of Dungeness built by the Carnegies, later destroyed by fire.
During certain months of the year oysters are grilled over an open fire. I can now smell the oysters grilling and recall tasting the ocean with each bite I take, during the outside appetizer hour. It is so delightful to stand on the grassy area near the inn and look down at the marbled powder grey oyster pillow nesting in it’s jagged crescent shell, then to look up and see giant Live Oak trees with limbs arching upward and twisting down to the earth with graceful grey Spanish Moss swaying under the giant limbs. Suddenly the color grey is a brilliant memory for me. It is such a pleasure to know a place where beach bikes have baskets, where old abandoned mansions whisper history, where wild horses roam, a woman designs jewelry carved from the island below her feet and where you can find in your picnic basket…. the best peanut butter and honey sandwich you’ve ever eaten.
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