DUNGENESS WALKING TOUR
STOP 2: THE MARITIME FOREST
As you walk away from Dungeness dock, the road you are on is Coleman Road. This leads to Grand Avenue, the main park road. On the way is the second stop on the walking tour of the Dungeness Historical District at Cumberland Island National Seashore, the Maritime Forest. This is another general information stop where you can listen to the Cell Phone Audio Tour narration about the live oaks that line the road.
With the rise of the ship building industry, and particularly the building of military vessels for the United States Navy after the Revolution, live oaks became a very valuable commodity, and many land owners put their efforts into the harvesting of the trees. By the 1850s, most of the live oaks on the island had been cut down. What you see today are second growth trees.
A short distance past the sign for Stop #2 is a turn to the right that leads to the Duck Pond. This is not officially part of the tour, so if you want to see it, be sure to return back to Coleman Road. You can keep walking past the Duck Pond, but this takes you unknowingly to a private residence, plus in order to continue the Dungeness Area Walking Tour you need to reach the corner of Coleman and Grand Avenue.
The Duck Pond was once part of the landscaping for a Carnegie mansion called The Cottage, a home built for Thomas Jr., one of six sons of Thomas and Lucy Carnegie. The Cottage was built in 1886 and was burned down on purpose in 1949 by Thomas Jr’s son, Thomas III. At the time it was being closed anyway due to the cost of upkeep. The aforementioned “private residence” was built on the location of The Cottage. The Duck Pond survives, and while a little overgrown, it is still quite pretty.
Next Stop: Slavery on Cumberland Island | Previous Stop: Early Inhabitants | Tour Introduction
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Last updated on July 31, 2024