January 11, 2012

We reluctantly said goodbye to Savannah this morning and drove to St. Simons Island, GA, one of the barrier islands.

After a week of wonderful weather, we had rain today---a lot of rain. It was a good day to do things inside. We began our day with a visit to the Maritime Museum, the sight of an old Coast Guard Station. It was commissioned in 1935 as part of FDR's Work Progress Administration (WPA). Out of all the stations built under this plan, it is believed that this is one of only three that are still standing today. The first watch was in 1937. There is a lot of interesting history here. During WWII, there were 2 commercial ships torpedoed by a German u-boat. There was never any publicity about the incident, but the island began blackouts at night so that the ships silhouettes could not been seen by the enemy.

Near the museum, there is beach access and it looks to be used a lot during better weather. There is a large bathhouse and snack shop. Only sea gulls were on the beach today, but from the size of the parking lot, it is easy to imagine how many people use this beach.

The lady docent at the museum told us that we could expect the rain to stop by 4:00 p.m. and the sun would be shining. Our ticket purchase included a tour of St. Simons Lighthouse.

Since it was not only raining so hard, but there also was lightning and thunder, we decided to eat lunch before visiting the lighthouse.

We had ate at a little cafe on the main street. Cordell had a crab cake which he says was good but not nearly as good as the Maryland crab cakes. We made took this photo for our granddaughter who asked us to send her some interesting pictures.

 It was still raining after lunch, but we decided to climb the 129 steps since they were all inside.

It was interesting to see the furnished living quarters of the lighthouse keeper whose family lived here with him. His job included maintaining the lighthouse, inside and out, and keeping the grounds around the lighthouse. He wasn't paid a lot and often his family helped with the chores. He was required to light the fire or lamp at sunset and he had to remain at the top until morning.

We did spend some time at the top and enjoyed the beautiful views.

I especially wanted to go to this island because I remember living here and briefly attending the elementary school. I was pleased to see the school is still being used for classes. It has had some additions to it, but the old part is clearly visible.

Since I couldn't remember where I lived at that time, I inquired at the school office about old enrollment records. The secretary referred me to someone at the Board of Education office who was able to retrieve my school records--nothing on computer. She pulled old files and gave me certified copies of my records--at no cost to me. I couldn't even remember the correct year I attended the school. I love this southern hospitality. Unfortunately, there was no home address listed for me. Turns out I was in 4th grade there for only 14 school days--having enrolled on December 1st! We drove around the general area that was familiar to me, but never found a house I recognized. I figure after 58 years the house has been replaced.

The rain continued to pour off and on. I wanted to return to the museum and tell that docent that she made a big mistake telling us the weather would clear. However, after we left the island, it did stop raining and the sun was shining at 3:30 p.m. So that lady did know what she was talking about after all!!