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St. Simon's Island was a childhood vacation spot for me. I loved it. Having gone back just this year for the first time in over 20 years, I realized I like it e

St. Simon's Island was a childhood vacation spot for me. I loved it. Having gone back just this year for the first time in over 20 years, I realized I like it even more now that I can enjoy the small-beach-town atmosphere and the deep-rooted history. It's not Orlando, It's not Miami, it's not even Jacksonville. It's a tiny little spot with decent beaches, a long history that's reasonably-well-preserved, and quiet relaxation. The marsh that's pictured in this article (labelled "boardwalk over marsh") looks like the Bloody Marsh [0], the site of the battle that was the "last straw" for the Spanish in their attempts to claim land further up from Florida (which used to extend a bit farther north than it does today). The colony of Georgia was chartered by Britain around this area in part as a response to that "invasion", in an attempt to protect the important British port of Charleston up in Carolina (before the NC/SC split). Of course, the other key motivation was to have a whole bunch of land to use as an alternative to overcrowded debtor's prisons, so there's that. This is in part why Savannah (another beautiful historic coastal spot in Georgia, though a much larger one) was so significant to the state for so much of its early history: it was the first planned city in the state, as evidenced by the fact that it's home to the oldest still-standing building in the entire state (a gardener's shed built in the early 1700s, now part of a tourist-trap restaurant). All this to say: yes, Georgia definitely has a coast, and it's worth seeing (in this HNer's opinion), and worth preserving.

mieseratte 8y ago
> This is in part why Savannah (another beautiful historic coastal spot in Georgia, though a much larger one) was so significant to the state for so much of its early history: it was the first planned city in the state Having spent many a weekend in Savannah from youth through to being an adult, and now having lived in Charleston for the better part of a decade, I really think Savannah is a nicer city. Perhaps because Savannah was planned or because Charleston is constrained by its peninsular nature, but Savannah always felt like a small city whereas Charleston really just seems like a haphazard, overgrown town. If any of y'all reading ever consider a trip down to Savannah, it's well worth a long weekend at the very least.
- subpixel 8y ago
  I grew up in Charleston, an experience that makes me, as an adult, uninterested/incapable of living in another tourist destination, ever.
  - dsfyu404ed 8y ago
    > an experience that makes me, as an adult, uninterested/incapable of living in another tourist destination, ever. I also grew up in a tourist destination. There's a reason it's a vacation destination and not somewhere people with a brain actually want to live year round. I could rant for hours about all the things that are terrible about it. I think it suffices to say that when ripping people off for a few months of the year is a large fraction of the local economy it that has a bunch of negative trickle down effects.
    - mieseratte 8y ago
      Personally, I believe it really depends on the nature of the city / town. I grew up ~60 miles down the coast from Charleston, on Hilton Head Island. Totally different vibe, beautiful, natural island. The Town of actually made real efforts to manage development and prevent developers from doing the normal land-grab over-development. I've lived in Charleston for 7+ years and, despite a temporary moratorium, the City of is letting developers raze the city to build more and more hotels with no damned parking. Very little is done to manage or plan development. It's a whole different vibe, and I'm actually going to be leaving Charleston with no intent to return here in the coming months. My experience in Charleston has really made me appreciate the island I grew up on. Not all tourist towns are built alike.
      - dsfyu404ed 8y ago
        That's exactly the kind of town I grew up in (albeit at a more northern latitude). The veneer of quaintness that draws people to the town is very thin, just enough to get them to open their wallets. Beneath that it's all dysfunction and scum liberally sprinkled with less than ethical business practices and corrupt politics that everone's managed convince themselves is normal or doesn't exist. I've lived in a variety of other small towns and a few cities. The pattern I've noticed is that when a large chunk of the community makes it's living by siphoning a few bucks off of people who don't live there permanently and have no plans to (tourists, university students, commuters) it creates a bunch of incentives for highly (more so than in a normal town/city) selfish behavior from all the local parties (business owners, politicians, town departments, individual property owners, etc) that basically boils down to everyone trying to squeeze every cent out of everyone else and nobody wants to live in a place where everyone is doing that because it sucks. I'm definitely in the "individuals are generally good and trustworthy when left to do their own thing" camp but a couple of the places I'v lived make me well aware of why some people believe that people are untrustworthy by default and need to be controlled. In the case of tourist towns, the special snowflake image projected on top of all of this is just kind of a slap in the face for everyone living there. You've got your annual town parade for whatever and half the crowd is frowning because they know the backstory to everything they see in front of them. The local business that sponsored the float for a sports team is just doing it because a local offical's kid is on the team and he needs said official to not look too hard at his business. The fire department's 100ft ladder truck is just a waste because there's no more than a 3-story building in the town but the EMTs did a favor for the school superintendent who crashed his car while drunk (legend is that he had to be cut out by the FD and the EMTs recognized him and whisked him away before the cops could make him blow) so he called his friends and put in a good word for the fire department when it came to budget. The reason some of the town officials in the parade aren't behind bars is because the police know that scandals are bad for business and they'd rather just have it to hold over them anyway. The only reason the landscaping material company has money to blow on the nearly new trucks that are towing the floats (dirt moving is a low margin industry so you don't usually see that stuff) is because they have a local monopoly and overcharge everyone they deal with. It's just terrible to live in a place where everything is scummy but presented as quaint in order to fleece the tourists for a few months of the year and that's how most tourist towns become. No wonder everyone does drugs all winter. It wears on you. I suppose if you just take it all for granted or are just so overwhelmed by the quaintness that you don't notice it might be ok but that's just not me.
FLUX-YOU 8y ago
I hated the smell after heavy rain though. Made it really difficult to do anything outdoors.
- anonu 8y ago
  Smells of what exactly?
  - TheBeardKing 8y ago
    Sulfur most likely.
  - FLUX-YOU 8y ago
    It's a swampy/sewage type of smell but not as potent.
thieving_magpie 8y ago
Many people are probably familiar with St. Simon's from the 30th g8 summit, though they technically refer to it as Sea Island (more on that in a moment). St Simon's has changed over the years. It's finally succumbing to development though they are being careful about it so as not to kill the golden goose (a very private feeling island). Most of the people that lived there prior to its rise in popularity have been driven out by high prices or cashed out if they were lucky enough to own land. The Eastern part of the island has become much more accessible to lower income populations. (edit: I've got this next sentence wrong as corrected in a comment below)Rich homeowners, as a result, erected a guarded gate in front of Sea Island (basically part of SSI) to keep everyone out. I still love SSI. My only hope is that it doesn't continue on the path it's currently on. Privacy and exclusion are separate ideas. SSI can still be private, but it doesn't necessarily have to exclusive. My hope is that can change. However, my head tells me that everything I like about SSI is scarce and prices will only continue to climb, driving away those not fortunate enough to afford it.
- TheBeardKing 8y ago
  The same thing happend to Hilton Head Island, SC. Most of the south end has become a gated community. Hunting Island, SC as well - Fripp Island is a gated community. My biggest hope is that Cumberland Island, GA can avoid this fate. It has no bridge to it, and most of it is preserved as wilderness area, but the county seems to be trying its hardest to develop what private land remains on the island. It's a real shame, because it's one of the last wild, preserved islands anyone can get to by booking a ferry with the park service.
  - mieseratte 8y ago
    > The same thing happend to Hilton Head Island, SC. Most of the south end has become a gated community. Hilton Head native here, I don't think the HHI history is quite the same. Prior to Fraser kicking off the island as we know it in the '50s, it was basically just a handful of Freedmen farmers, Gullah natives and a rather large hunting reserve for the rich. Also, while some of the gated communities don't allow the riff-raff in, unless you decide to bike or make a restaurant reservation, some still do, most notably Sea Pines. Also, the Town of is rather cognizant of their place as a very natural, family-friendly island and goes to great pains to preserve land[0] and limit what and how folks build[1][2] to preserve the nature of the island. I think Kiawah or Seabrook up the coast make for a more apt comparison. > Hunting Island, SC as well - Fripp Island is a gated community. Wait, Hunting Island and Fripp Island are discrete, separate islands with Hunting Island being a State Park. What's the problem with Hunting Island? [0] - https://www.hiltonheadislandsc.gov/council/landacquisition.cfm https://www.hiltonheadislandsc.gov/council/landacquisition.c... [1] - https://www.islandpacket.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/david-lauderdale/article189741679.html https://www.islandpacket.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/david... [2] - https://www.islandpacket.com/news/business/article33627555.html https://www.islandpacket.com/news/business/article33627555.h...
lousyd 8y ago
It looks to be more of an "island" than an island. I mean, the piece of water barely separating it from the rest of Georgia is called a "creek", for pete's sake.
- jcater 8y ago
  And three miles of saltwater marsh. No, it’s not an island in the middle of the Atlantic, but it is one of the eight barrier islands of Georgia.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

mieseratte 8y ago

> This is in part why Savannah (another beautiful historic coastal spot in Georgia, though a much larger one) was so significant to the state for so much of its early history: it was the first planned city in the state Having spent many a weekend in Savannah from youth through to being an adult, and now having lived in Charleston for the better part of a decade, I really think Savannah is a nicer city. Perhaps because Savannah was planned or because Charleston is constrained by its peninsular nature, but Savannah always felt like a small city whereas Charleston really just seems like a haphazard, overgrown town. If any of y'all reading ever consider a trip down to Savannah, it's well worth a long weekend at the very least.

subpixel 8y ago
I grew up in Charleston, an experience that makes me, as an adult, uninterested/incapable of living in another tourist destination, ever.
- dsfyu404ed 8y ago
  > an experience that makes me, as an adult, uninterested/incapable of living in another tourist destination, ever. I also grew up in a tourist destination. There's a reason it's a vacation destination and not somewhere people with a brain actually want to live year round. I could rant for hours about all the things that are terrible about it. I think it suffices to say that when ripping people off for a few months of the year is a large fraction of the local economy it that has a bunch of negative trickle down effects.
  - mieseratte 8y ago
    Personally, I believe it really depends on the nature of the city / town. I grew up ~60 miles down the coast from Charleston, on Hilton Head Island. Totally different vibe, beautiful, natural island. The Town of actually made real efforts to manage development and prevent developers from doing the normal land-grab over-development. I've lived in Charleston for 7+ years and, despite a temporary moratorium, the City of is letting developers raze the city to build more and more hotels with no damned parking. Very little is done to manage or plan development. It's a whole different vibe, and I'm actually going to be leaving Charleston with no intent to return here in the coming months. My experience in Charleston has really made me appreciate the island I grew up on. Not all tourist towns are built alike.
    - dsfyu404ed 8y ago
      That's exactly the kind of town I grew up in (albeit at a more northern latitude). The veneer of quaintness that draws people to the town is very thin, just enough to get them to open their wallets. Beneath that it's all dysfunction and scum liberally sprinkled with less than ethical business practices and corrupt politics that everone's managed convince themselves is normal or doesn't exist. I've lived in a variety of other small towns and a few cities. The pattern I've noticed is that when a large chunk of the community makes it's living by siphoning a few bucks off of people who don't live there permanently and have no plans to (tourists, university students, commuters) it creates a bunch of incentives for highly (more so than in a normal town/city) selfish behavior from all the local parties (business owners, politicians, town departments, individual property owners, etc) that basically boils down to everyone trying to squeeze every cent out of everyone else and nobody wants to live in a place where everyone is doing that because it sucks. I'm definitely in the "individuals are generally good and trustworthy when left to do their own thing" camp but a couple of the places I'v lived make me well aware of why some people believe that people are untrustworthy by default and need to be controlled. In the case of tourist towns, the special snowflake image projected on top of all of this is just kind of a slap in the face for everyone living there. You've got your annual town parade for whatever and half the crowd is frowning because they know the backstory to everything they see in front of them. The local business that sponsored the float for a sports team is just doing it because a local offical's kid is on the team and he needs said official to not look too hard at his business. The fire department's 100ft ladder truck is just a waste because there's no more than a 3-story building in the town but the EMTs did a favor for the school superintendent who crashed his car while drunk (legend is that he had to be cut out by the FD and the EMTs recognized him and whisked him away before the cops could make him blow) so he called his friends and put in a good word for the fire department when it came to budget. The reason some of the town officials in the parade aren't behind bars is because the police know that scandals are bad for business and they'd rather just have it to hold over them anyway. The only reason the landscaping material company has money to blow on the nearly new trucks that are towing the floats (dirt moving is a low margin industry so you don't usually see that stuff) is because they have a local monopoly and overcharge everyone they deal with. It's just terrible to live in a place where everything is scummy but presented as quaint in order to fleece the tourists for a few months of the year and that's how most tourist towns become. No wonder everyone does drugs all winter. It wears on you. I suppose if you just take it all for granted or are just so overwhelmed by the quaintness that you don't notice it might be ok but that's just not me.

FLUX-YOU 8y ago

I hated the smell after heavy rain though. Made it really difficult to do anything outdoors.

anonu 8y ago
Smells of what exactly?
- TheBeardKing 8y ago
  Sulfur most likely.
- FLUX-YOU 8y ago
  It's a swampy/sewage type of smell but not as potent.

thieving_magpie 8y ago

Many people are probably familiar with St. Simon's from the 30th g8 summit, though they technically refer to it as Sea Island (more on that in a moment). St Simon's has changed over the years. It's finally succumbing to development though they are being careful about it so as not to kill the golden goose (a very private feeling island). Most of the people that lived there prior to its rise in popularity have been driven out by high prices or cashed out if they were lucky enough to own land. The Eastern part of the island has become much more accessible to lower income populations. (edit: I've got this next sentence wrong as corrected in a comment below)Rich homeowners, as a result, erected a guarded gate in front of Sea Island (basically part of SSI) to keep everyone out. I still love SSI. My only hope is that it doesn't continue on the path it's currently on. Privacy and exclusion are separate ideas. SSI can still be private, but it doesn't necessarily have to exclusive. My hope is that can change. However, my head tells me that everything I like about SSI is scarce and prices will only continue to climb, driving away those not fortunate enough to afford it.

TheBeardKing 8y ago
The same thing happend to Hilton Head Island, SC. Most of the south end has become a gated community. Hunting Island, SC as well - Fripp Island is a gated community. My biggest hope is that Cumberland Island, GA can avoid this fate. It has no bridge to it, and most of it is preserved as wilderness area, but the county seems to be trying its hardest to develop what private land remains on the island. It's a real shame, because it's one of the last wild, preserved islands anyone can get to by booking a ferry with the park service.
- mieseratte 8y ago
  > The same thing happend to Hilton Head Island, SC. Most of the south end has become a gated community. Hilton Head native here, I don't think the HHI history is quite the same. Prior to Fraser kicking off the island as we know it in the '50s, it was basically just a handful of Freedmen farmers, Gullah natives and a rather large hunting reserve for the rich. Also, while some of the gated communities don't allow the riff-raff in, unless you decide to bike or make a restaurant reservation, some still do, most notably Sea Pines. Also, the Town of is rather cognizant of their place as a very natural, family-friendly island and goes to great pains to preserve land[0] and limit what and how folks build[1][2] to preserve the nature of the island. I think Kiawah or Seabrook up the coast make for a more apt comparison. > Hunting Island, SC as well - Fripp Island is a gated community. Wait, Hunting Island and Fripp Island are discrete, separate islands with Hunting Island being a State Park. What's the problem with Hunting Island? [0] - https://www.hiltonheadislandsc.gov/council/landacquisition.cfm https://www.hiltonheadislandsc.gov/council/landacquisition.c... [1] - https://www.islandpacket.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/david-lauderdale/article189741679.html https://www.islandpacket.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/david... [2] - https://www.islandpacket.com/news/business/article33627555.html https://www.islandpacket.com/news/business/article33627555.h...

lousyd 8y ago

It looks to be more of an "island" than an island. I mean, the piece of water barely separating it from the rest of Georgia is called a "creek", for pete's sake.

jcater 8y ago
And three miles of saltwater marsh. No, it’s not an island in the middle of the Atlantic, but it is one of the eight barrier islands of Georgia.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]