Tour time!

This is an awesome series! This book is a part of the Touring the Backroads series by Blair Publishing. There are several different titles available for both Carolinas, Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee. Each book is divided into several tours based by area, and can be easily driven. the only downside is that the road names in the books can often differ from what actual signs say. For instance, the book may list road numbers, while local signs only have names. This can be remedied by a little advance research on an internet map site, but on the road it can be a challenge. The descriptions of the locations are usually good, with plenty of detail. The books are also quite nice in that they usually cover both major and minor sites, rather than just one or the other. This particular example has a specific disadvantage of only covering Revolutionary War sites, while other books cover other topics. Great for a topic specific study, but if you are just driving through and want to see many different things, you may have issues. Each book is written by a local expert, often someone with several other books to their name. Overall, these are the best books I have found for finding historic places easily. I highly reccomend them for anyone living in an area covered by one of them. The one above can be found on Amazon here and most of the others can be found here.

Touring South Carolina's Revolutionary War Sites

Daniel Barefoot

Touring the Backroads Series

338 pages

1999 John F. Blair Publishing

Watertower friday?

Ok, so its not a flag, but I think it fits the spirit of Flag Friday. This is the Kingsland watertower (one of several, actually.) I saw a photographic oppurtunity and I took it! Mwah ha ha!!!

Credit where credit is due...

Ok peeps, one more Cumberland post, I swear! Since, as usual, the Wife had the good camera, she got some good shots that I didn't with my poor little point-and-shoot. I figgered I would share them with y'all (yall's? yalls's? yallsss's? I'm not good with my Southern speak yet!) And if you want to know more about the stuff on here, read through the last few posts. It's all in there somewehere. Above is the Dungeness Mansion ruins, from the shadowed side.
Remains of a pier near Point Peter
Why hello there....

Dungeness viewed from the water

You Bubbleheads should recognize this as a "de-magnetizer."

Remains of the Carnegie's Pool Hall

No shelter- Sand

Look... we haven't killed each other yet!

Are we done yet?

Ok, so we've covered the major spots on the island that we saw, here is all the "inbetween" stuff. Think of this as the nature part of the journery. Oh come on, humor me already! These first few pictures are on the way from the dock to the Dungeness mansion.

The entrance to Dungeness

Wild horses grazing on the grounds near the ruins.

Walking out towards the beach

This was the most bizarre occurence, I wish it was easier to see. In a few spots the sand seems to have solidified, then been carved by the wind, making miniature canyons and formations. Very cool.

Dead trees near the beach

Here we are "not" feeding the seagulls. Actually it was pretty amusing to be swarmed by these guys.

Ok this one is really hard to see, but if you see the lines across the beach here, that's actually blowing sand. It made very interesting wave shapes as it blew across.

Wild turkeys we happened upon. I was actually shocked at how big these things were!

Armadillo. We saw a couple of these, but they proved rather difficult to photograph since they constantly forage under the leaves. What the heck do Armadillos eat, anyway?

And finally we return to St Marys with just enough daylight to capture these pelicans.

The locals

So this is the cemetery near the Dungeness mansion ruins.

This is the cemetery's most famous (former) resident, General Henry "Lighthorse Harry" Lee. General Lee fought in the Revolution, distuinguishing himself at Camden, Guilford Couthouse, and Eutaw Springs. He is also known as the father of Henry Lee IV, who wrote speeches for John C. Calhoun and Andrew Jackson, and as the father of the much more famous Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Robert Lee visited the grave her in 1829 and 1870, acommpanied the latter time by Phineas Miller Nightingale. As for "Lighthorse Harry", he was in the area when he fell ill and sought out General Greene's daughter Louisa at Dungeness. He passed away there on March 25, 1818. Several Navy gunboats were nearby and lowered their flags to half mast at news of his passing. At the funeral, Commodore Henly gave the final respects, and his pallbearers were Captains Elton, Finch, and Madison, Lieutenants Fitzhugh and Richie, and Mr. Lyman of the Army. Marines from the USS John Adams and Brig Aranac formed the guard.

On May 28, 1913, General Henry Lee's body was removed from its place here on Cumberland and transported to the Washington and Lee University Chapel in Virginia, to rest beside his famous son Robert.

"In memory of Catharine Miller (widow of the late Major General Nathaniel Greene Commander in Chief of the American Revolutionary army in the Southern department in 1783) who died Sept 2nd, 1814 aged 59 years. She possessed great talents and exalted virtues."

Here are Louisa Greene Shaw, youngest daughter of Nathanael and Caty, and eventual owner of the original Dungeness Plantation.

"Sacred to pure [unknown], This simple stone covers the remains of James Shaw. [unknown] are not to be learned from perishable marble, but when the [unknown] of Heaven shall be unfolded, it is believed they will be found written there in characters as durable as the volume of eternity. Died January 6, 1820. Aged 55 years."

"Relict of James Shaw and youngest daughter of Major General Nathaniel Greene of the Army of the Revolution, died at Dungeness Georgia, April 24th, 1831, aged 45 years"

Marker commemorating Thomas Carnegie, who began the second Dungeness mansion here, but is not actually buried here.

Charles Jackson, who was a family friend of the Greene's, and died at Dungeness.
"In memory of Charles Jackson Esg. Who was born at Newton, Massechusetts on the 23rd of April, 1767. He was educated at Harvard College and was a Commisioned Officer in the American Revolutionary War, and for several years a Counsellor at Law. Who died on the 25th of Oct 1801 at the mansion of Phineas Miller Esg. Cumberland Island"

This person is difficult to find info on, but based on names and dates, I believe that the Dungeness property passed to a Phineas Miller Nightingale, and this is his daughter.

"Martha Greene Nightingale, Daughter of P.M. and M.K. Nightingale, Born on 13th December 1841, died 16th March 1844"
"In memory of Catherine Rikart born in Mulhouse, Alsace, France, July 26, 1831. Died In Dungeness May 12, 1911. Erected by the family of Thomas M. Carnegie in affectionate memory of faithful and loyal service during many years."
View from the cemetery

New new new new new new new new!!!!

Ok guys, everyone else is doing it! It's time for Buddventures to have its first ever contest!! *Audience participation required. Yes, this mean YOU!* So here it is, write a caption for the above photo. BTW, for those who don't know, that would be "the wife." Contest is over when I say so (aka when I get enough responses, so the more I get, the sooner its over - Motivation!) Prize to be determined. I'll find something nice.

It's Ruined!

Ok, ok, here is the Carnegie post I keep promising! More specifically, this focuses on the Dungeness mansion of the Carnegies that, as you can see, is now, um, ruins.
Our story begins with Revolutionary War hero Nathanael Greene (he seems to keep popping up a lot!) In honor of his services during the War, South Carolina and Georgia both donated lands to him, and his family settled at Mulberry Grove on the Savannah River. General Greene died on June 19, 1786, and his wife Caty married his former secretary and their childrens' tutor, Phineas Miller in 1796. In 1800 they moved to Cumberland Island and built a large four story mansion out of tabby, giving it the name Dungeness. The name is believed to have come from a hunting camp established nearby by General Oglethorpe, who named it after the county seat in England. The mansion was 76 feet tall, had six foot thick walls and several outbuildings, including the one seen above. When Caty died in 1814, her daughter Loisa took charge of Dungeness and created a thriving Sea Cotton plantation, as well as growing olives, oranges, figs, dates, limes, and pomegranates. Dungeness itself burned down around 1867, and sometime after 1880 the remaining walls were demolished. The building above was a slave cabin that held two families. It is the oldest standing structure on the island, and was used later by the Carnegies as a records house.

In 1881, Thomas Morrison Carnegie, brother of famous financier Andrew Carnegie, bought the Dungeness property from former Confederate General W.G.M. Davis. He unfortunetly died in 1886, and did not much get to enjoy the property he built up, but instead passed it on to his wife Lucy.

Lucy made many additions to the mansion, which was designed by Andrew Peebles in the Queen Anne style. At its peak it towered over 100 feet and covered 6,720 square feet.

The mansion was vacated in 1925, and on June 24, 1959, was burned down by an arsonist.

Between 1977 and 1981, a group of Georgia students working with the Youth Conservation Corps conducted historic preservation of the mansion, grounds and buildings, including stabilizing the mansion's ruins.

Garden Pergola, built by Lucy Carnegie

As usual, the wife finds her own way to enjoy history...

Remains of the Pool/Recreation house near the mansion. This building was originally designed by John Ingle and also built in the Queen Anne style. It featured a heated indoor pool, steam room, baths, recreation room, gunroom and squash court. It also featured guest room son the second floor.

This building was the carriage house, originally for horses and carriages, becoming the garage for "electric carriages" around 1900. It is now the maintenance facility used by the National Park Service.

These old cars are located near the old garage. There is no explanation given for them. Did they belong to the Carnegies? Their workers? Later residents of the island?