Tybee and Hilton Head Islands and a quick trip further south

Saturday, November 10
Tybee Island is about 20 miles east of Savannah on the Atlantic coast. This was one of the nice days in the forecast so we headed out with hopes of seeing some great sites and enjoying the weather.

Crossing the causeway to Tybee Island.

The wetlands are a wildlife paradise.

See the 'shark'!

Main street decorated for Christmas.

Lots of small shops near the beach.

As with most of these coastal playgrounds the traffic was pretty heavy in places and I just can't imagine what it must be like in mid-summer. We found some parking right at the beach just beside the pier. Lots of folks fishing and they were having pretty good success.

The Tybee Island Pier

Cold and windy today. Not many beach-goers.

The fishermen were doing well on the pier, although they weren't trying to catch a shark!

These are Atlantic Sharpnose Sharks.

These  sharks are actually a harvestable species once they are 36 inches and longer, but few folks want them.

Whoa! This guy has a big one!

He worked hard with only a tiny bit of help from Dad.

Got him!

Nice fish! This was a Red Drum. It was too big to keep. This one was 37 inches. Rules state you can only keep them if they are between 18 and 24 inches long so he had to go back.

A picture to prove it!

A guy at the pier told us last week they caught 67 of these Red Drum's and every one was over the 24 inch limit so they couldn't keep any, but 'boy were they fun to catch', he said.

This young lady caught her own shark.....

.......then casually tossed him back!

Next we headed across the Island to the northern end to the Tybee Lighthouse. The original Tybee Lighthouse was built in 1773. It was partially destroyed during the Civil War and rebuilt in 1867. The bottom 60 feet are original from 1773 and the top 85 feet were constructed in 1867. The lighthouse is 145 feet tall. There are 178 steps inside that take you to the top.

The staircase inside the lighthouse.

The walls at the bottom were 8 feet thick.

The walls narrowed as you went up.

Lots and lots of steps.

View from the top. Yep, I went outside on the balcony.

Nice view!

The Light keepers house.

Yes, I was up there!

Lightkeepers residence. The kitchen.

Fireplace in the bedroom.

Beautifully stained woodwork.

This is Cockspur Lighthouse at the mouth of the Savannah River just off Tybee Island. This one is no longer in service.

On the way off the Island we stopped at Fort Pulaski National Monument. This fort was key in the Civil War. The fort construction began in 1829 and took 18 years and 25 million bricks to complete. The fort was built by the US military but seized by the Confederates in 1861. After a siege and bombardment by the Unions new rifled cannons, the fort was surrendered in February 1862. The Federal Army manned the fort until the end of the war. It was used as a prison for captured Confederate soldiers during the war.

The road to Fort Pulaski.

Picture of Fort Pulaski.

As we came into the parking area the Ranger was explaining there would be a re-enactment of a funeral for a Civil War soldier in the 'cemetery' just outside the Fort walls.

The Cemetery.

The burial detail.

The Chaplain

The salute.

The ceremony completed, the detail heads back to the fort.

The 'moat' around the fort.

It even had a drawbridge.

Inside the fort.

Quartermasters stores.

Gun ports.

Soldiers barracks.

There were cannons on the lower and upper level of the fort. It should have been very hard to lay siege and actually take the fort. 

The munitions magazine.

Entrance to the magazine.

A mortar. This thing weight a couple of tons.

A model of the fort showing the pilings that were driven deep into the mud. The fort was built on top of the piles and after 150 years there are still no cracks in the fort.

Sunday, November 11
It was supposed to rain most of the day so we decided to head out on a driving tour we had heard about. We headed about 30 miles south of Savannah to the small community of Richmond Hill. Henry Ford spent a lot of time here in the 1920's and he donated a LOT of money to various causes while here. He built a kindergarten, church, community hall, among others. So in his honor they named some streets after him and his enterprises. The local tourism folks also put together a driving tour that took you to some of the key sites he was involved with. It was interesting enough but it was hard to find the sites and some had no parking near them. We found maybe half the sites. The rain held off until we made it back to the campground.

We stopped t the Georgia Visitor Center and picked up an armload of brochures. They had a mockup of the bench that Forrest Gump sat on. The movie was shot in Savannah.

Georgia Visitor Center.

This building was built in 1939 with funding provided by Henry Ford. It was used by many groups throughout the years, although never an actual courthouse.

The Martha-Mary Chapel

Henry and Clara Ford had this chapel built in 1937. The Chapel was named for the mothers of Henry Ford (Mary) and Clara Ford (Martha).

Beside the Chapel was the Community House. Also built with funding from Ford, the building was used for many purposes by community groups.

This was the Kindergarten building, also built by Ford in 1940. He was very generous to the people of Richmond Hill. The 1930's were hard on the economy around here.

Old barbershop building. Very cute.

Kilkenny Road

Kilkenny Plantation House. It was built in 1843-46 and restored by Henry Ford in the 1920's.

The Ogeechee River

They had a very cool way to launch and retrieve boats from the Ogeechee River. They hook up the boat to a sling and raise it up.

Then roll it to the front of the pier and.....

......back the trailer under the boat and lower it!

Fancy houses along the river.

Monday, November 12
Rain was forecast for later today (seems like that is the same forecast every day!). We wanted to head over to Hilton Head on the South Carolina coast. I knew it was likely to be a fancy area.....and it was. We found a public beach access and had a nice walk on the beach. Very white powdery sand here. The tide was coming in and the walking area was quite narrow unless you wanted to walk in the powdery stuff which is very hard to walk far in.

The waterway that connects the mainland to Hilton Head Island

Nice walkway to the beach.

Coligny Beach

Lots of powdery sand.

Lots of beach walkers.

As we came off the beach we were greeted by a guy that had an eight passenger golf car. The decal on it said free shuttle so maybe we could get a lift around the area! Well, as he continued his canned talking points it became quite clear he was trying to get us over to the condo's they were selling. No thanks! What we did learn from him was that nearly all parts of the Island are gated communities, which means 'no tourists'! There was one gated area that would charge you $8/vehicle to pass through their community so you could get to the Marina that had a lighthouse where you could tour it for another $7 or so. Needless to say we got out of the Hilton Head residential areas before they started to charge us for breathing their air!

The rain came down very heavy. Time to head home.

The forecast rain started as we were having lunch. We had seen what we were allowed to see so we headed home. I can't say I was too impressed with Hilton Head. A bit too snobby for my taste, but I'm sure if you live there you feel you are in a paradise.

......and that was Our View From Here!