Fort Frederica 7/30/2017

Heading north towards Savannah, we stopped at Fort Frederica National Monument on St. Simon's Island, a place that preserves the archaeological remnants of a fort and town built by James Oglethorpe between 1736 and 1748 to protect the southern boundary of the British colony of Georgia from Spanish raids. In 1742, the British successfully repulsed the Spanish from invading the island. From then on Spain ceased to be a threat in the area. By 1758 Fort Frederica had been mostly abandoned. What is left of the fort has been excavated and marked for visitors to explore.

Since we stopped here on our way to our campsite in Hardeeville, SC, we drove to St. Simon's Island

Street in St. Simon's Island

in the RV.  Like Jekyll Island, the streets are lined with old gnarly live oaks that create a living tunnel through which to drive. While it is truly lovely, the tree trunks and branches looked to be very close to the street and very low-hanging, making the drive to the fort in the 12-foot high RV an interesting one.

As usual, the National Park Service has done a wonderful job laying out the Fort's history and explaining its importance. We spent several hours strolling the grounds and learning about the Fort and its people. We spoke with a historic "interpreter" dressed as a colonist of the Fort's time period, who showed us many of the rudimentary but useful tools the colonists used in their daily lives there.
We found her inside a thatch hut, a common first dwelling at the fort when it was settled. As we were

talking, we heard a rattling from the palmetto leaf roof of the hut, that turned out to be a swarm of hornets. This was probably not an uncommon occurrence, even back in the 1730s... The woman was dressed in a long dress and hat that were typical of the time period. With temps in the high 80s and low 90s, with high humidity, I asked her if her garb was uncomfortable. She remarked that she was "soaked".  How easy it is to forget the trials and tribulations our forbears went through to settle this country.  More photos here.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time here, and then set out for our campsite in SC.