Thirty-fifth Lighthouse Expedition

October 23-30, 1999
Return to Sapelo Island, the Georgia Coast, and Cleveland

October 23, 1999, Saturday

8:10 am: Left home and it was raining.
12:05 pm: We had lunch at a McDonalds just south of Dayton, Ohio.
8:15 pm: Arrived at Diana’s sister and husband’s in Tullahoma, TN where we spent the next couple of days visiting.

October 26, 1999, Tuesday

10:00 am: We left Tullahoma, TN.
12:45 pm: Lunch at McDonald’s (again) north of Atlanta BUT we had Dairy Queen too. We left at 1:15. We took I-75 through Atlanta and not the by-pass as we usually do. It was 20 miles and took us 17 min. There was very little traffic, so we were lucky.
5:15 pm: We arrived at the LaQuinta on I-95 outside Savannah. We changed clothes and drove to the old town in Savannah. We had dinner at WB Shuckers … good. We walked along the river walk, did a little shopping and left at 8:15. We really like Savannah and enjoyed this return trip. We arrived back at the LaQuinta at 8:45.

October 27, 1999, Wednesday

8:25 am: We left Savannah and headed south.
9:15 am: We arrived on Jekyel Island.
10:10 am: We went to the Marina and met Captain Vernon Reynolds from Coastal Expeditions (912-265-0392). We had chartered his services to take us to Little Cumberland Island. He also does fishing charters.
10:40 am: Arrived at the north end of the island to see Little Cumberland Island Lighthouse. Because of the dunes and the trees surrounding the lighthouse, we couldn’t see much more than the lantern room and we can’t dock. The light is not a working beacon. Captain Reynolds was very accommodating and got as close to shore as he could from several vantage points for the photographs (from the boat only). Christmas Creek divides the larger Cumberland Island from Little Cumberland Island.
10:50 am: We headed back to the marina. As we approached the marina area we saw many dolphins playing in the water. The Captain also took us through the salt marsh where we saw egrets, blue and white heron and cormorants.
11:45 am: We got back to the marina and then drove around Jekyll Island, arriving at Blackbeards Restaurant for lunch at 12:20. We drove around some more after lunch and saw the St. Simons Island Light and the historic district in the distance across the water. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to visit St. Simons on this trip.
1:45 pm: We left Jekyll Island and headed south again.
3:05 pm: Arrived at the Inn at Folkston (http://www.innatfolkston.com/)in Folkston, GA. Roger and Genna Wangsness are the Inn Keepers. We met them on the Sweden trip (# 34) in July of this year. They have a lovely Bed and Breakfast with 4 guest rooms. Each room has a different theme: Garden, Oriental, Norway and Lighthouse. Guess which room we requested? They have worked very hard to restore the 1922 home to its original beauty. They are located right near the Okefenokee Swamp. Shortly after our arrival, Genna took us to the Swamp. We drove quite a ways into the Swamp and then took the boardwalk to the observation tower. It was a quiet day in the Swamp and the birds must have been sleeping! We had an enjoyable evening chatting with our hosts.

October 28, 1999, Thursday

Sunny, and a beautiful 72 degrees.

8:05 am: After a wonderful breakfast, we left with Genna for our day’s adventure. Unfortunately, Roger had to stay behind and run the Inn.
9:05 am: We arrived in Darien, GA at the home of Carolyn Hodges, our guide for the day. She also runs her home as a B & B (912-437-6985).
9:30 am: We met Wayne Davis, our boat captain, at the boat dock and left shortly after. We took the waterways thru the salt marsh and headed to Sapelo Island. We had a wonderful boat ride and Carolyn gave us information about the salt marsh.
10:15 am: We arrived at the island and were able to take pictures of the lighthouse from the boat. It has been repainted and restored since we were last here in 1996 (see 27th trip). It is beautiful. It was painted with alternating red and white stripes. Wayne was able to get close enough to let Don photograph from several different vantage points.
10:55 am: We traveled by boat north to dock at the island. Carolyn had arranged to have a car belonging to George Walker waiting for us. It was George’s wife Lulu who had driven us around on our first tour of the island in 1996. Carolyn was a wonderful guide. She has been visiting the island for over 30 years. She is very knowledgeable about the island, it’s history and the people living there. She is also very concerned about the ecology of the area. We managed to get in a tour of the "Big House", the Reynolds Mansion which is in the process of being restored.
12:30 pm: We arrived at the Sapelo Island Lighthouse by car this time and had our picnic lunch there. The Sapelo Island Range Light has also been repainted all white. They both looked so sad the last time we were here and it is so exciting to see them restored! After leaving the lighthouses, we toured the northern part of the island with Carolyn giving us information all along the way.
3:30 pm: As we left Sapelo by boat, we saw more dolphins in the water.
4:25 pm: Arrived at the boat dock in Darien.
5:45 pm: Arrived back at the Inn at Folkston and enjoyed pizza with Roger and Genna.

October 29, 1999, Friday

8:05 am: After our Innkeepers had served us another wonderful breakfast, we were on our way north.
10:45 am: We left I-95 to go into Savannah.
11:15 am: Out of Savannah we stopped on the bridge to take a picture of Cockspur Island Light (as we did on the 17th trip six years ago) at the mouth of the South Channel of the Savannah River.
11:25 am: Arrived at the Tybee Island Lighthouse. It has been repainted with a different color scheme since we were last here (see 17th trip). It was reopened to the public in February of 1999. We climbed the 178 steps to the top of the tower (nine more to the lantern room which we were not allowed to enter) and walked around the walkway outside. We had a wonderful view and could see the city of Savanah and the little Cockspur Island Lighthouse off in the distance. They have a wonderful museum and gift shop here, so of course we managed to leave a little money behind.
12:00 pm: We left at noon and headed north.
2:25 pm: We stopped for lunch at Burger King in South Carolina.
8:20 pm: We stayed at a Fairfield Inn in Beckley, West Virginia and had dinner at an Applebees nearby.

October 30, 1999, Saturday

8:05 am: We left the Fairfield Inn in Beckley, W VA.
12:50 pm: We arrived in Cleveland, Ohio to photograph the Cleveland lighthouses. We had skipped Cleveland on our trip around Lake Erie (see 11th trip). We’ve had a couple inquiries wondering why these lights were not included in our expeditions, so we decided to visit them this trip on our way home.
1:20 pm: After a half hour of driving around we decided on the parking lot at Edgewater Park Marina as the best spot to photograph the Cleveland West Pierhead Light and Cleveland East Pierhead Light. Don walked out onto the pier to photograph them. From the marina we took N. Marginal road to view the Cleveland East Entrance Light but it is no longer standing and has been replaced by a modern cylindrical beacon, so we did not photograph it.
2:00 pm: We left Cleveland. We were impressed with the renovation of the downtown Cleveland area and how clean it was. We saw the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but did not take the tour. We stopped for lunch at a McDonalds and headed towards home.
6:10 pm: We arrived back home.

Trip Totals: 3 new lighthouses, 4 revisited lighthouses, 2611 miles, 8 days.

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Lighthouses: A Photographic Journey
Conceived and Developed by David S. Carter
Photographs by Donald W. Carter
Text by Diana K. Carter, Donald W. Carter & David S. Carter

Copyright © 1995-1999 David S. Carter, Donald W. Carter, & Diana K. Carter. All rights reserved. Reproduction by any means, physical or electronic, in part or in full, without the express permission of the authors, is strictly prohibited.