Cumberland Island - Visiting Cumberland

Visiting Cumberland

The public areas of Cumberland Island are part of a national seashore managed by the National Park Service. NPS restricts access to 300 people on the island at a time, and campers are allowed to stay no more than 7 nights. A ferry runs twice a day to Cumberland Island from the mainland (St. Marys, Georgia). The only other way to reach the island is by private boat. Visitors cannot bring vehicles or bikes on the ferry, and there are no paved roads or trails. Bikes are available for rent at the Sea Camp Dock, on a first-come, first-served basis. Visitors may bring their own bikes to the island via private or charter boat. Visitors walk everywhere they go, but Cumberland Island is less than six miles (10 km) wide at the widest point. The eastern seashore is 17.5 miles (28.2 km) of continuous beach. There is one camping area with running water and bathrooms with cold showers; the other camping sites do not have facilities. All food, ice and supplies must be shipped from the mainland, as there are no stores on the island.

Things to see include:

• Dungeness ruins
• Wildlife
• Ecosystems
• Feral horses and other animals
• First African Baptist Church. Maintained by the National Park Service, this simple one-room frame structure, with 11 handmade pews and three windows on each side, was built in 1937 to replace an earlier 1893 structure.