Fort Frederica National Monument Trail Map (click to enlarge)

Fort Frederica National Monument has a trail system that loops around the park property. While the trails do pass some of the historical features, visitors can walk directly to all of these with a lot less effort, so the purpose of hiking around Fort Frederica on the trails is really just to get some exercise. The longest route possible is a little over two miles (see the black path on the above trail map). Trail maps are available at the Visitor Center.

Length:  2.3 miles
Time:  1.5 hours with time to see the historical features
Difficulty:  Easy

There are multiple places within Fort Frederica National Monument where you can hop onto the trails, but starting at either the Visitor Center or the ruins of the Fort Frederica powder magazine on the Frederica River are the most logical starting points. For the record, I began at the Visitor Center and hiked in a counterclockwise direction.

The trail begins next to the old town cemetery. To get there, walk to the back of the Visitor Center and take a right—signs point the way. You’ll first come to a segment of the historical road that once connected Fort Frederica to Fort St. Simons on the south end of the island, but this is not the trail. Continue along the fence to the opposite side of the cemetery (you’ll pass the two remaining stone crypts) and you’ll find the trail just beyond where the fence ends. There is no identification sign, and the trailhead itself is a little nondescript, but it is the only trail you will come to.

Crypt at the Fort Frederica cemetery

Start of the hiking trail at the Fort Frederica cemetery

A tenth of a mile down the trail is the first intersection. A makeshift directional sign points ahead to the OGLETHROPE HOUSE, back the way you just came to the BURIAL GROUND, and to the left to the NE BASTION. The Oglethorpe House and the trail to get to it were not open when I did the hike in March 2022. Heading towards the Oglethorpe House takes you to the park road, and the trail to the house is on the other side (it is shown on the trail map as a discontiguous segment on the upper right-hand side of the map). To continue around the loop, head in the direction of the NE Bastion (Northeast Bastion).

Trail signs at Fort Frederica

All of the intersections on the Fort Frederica trails are marked with directional signs, so it’s hard to get lost. Also, the trails appear to be blazed (marked) with polka dotted ribbons tied around the trees, though these may just be tagging trees that need to be cut down. My doubt stems from the fact that the ribbons were often very close together, which seemed like overkill when marking a trail route. However, if I were a betting man, I’d bet that the ribbons are trail markers.

Polka dotted ribbons mark the trails at Fort Frederica National Monument

The trails on the north side of Fort Frederica are wooded, the terrain is flat, and the trail surfaces are largely free of rocks and roots that can trip you up. On a nice day, they are a pleasure to walk.

Typical terrain on the trails at the north end of Fort Frederica

The second intersection comes at .3 mile into the hike. Taking a left leads to the Northeast Bastion and then on to the Visitor Center. The bastion is a short ways down the trail, but in truth, only die-hard military fans will get anything out of seeing it. If you do make the detour, return back to this intersection and follow the signs to the MARSH, which is the way to go to continue on the loop hike around Fort Frederica.

Location of the northeastern town bastion

The third intersection (.4-mile point) is with the trail that leads around the knob at the north end of the park. You can stay straight to cut off a little mileage, but if your goal is to get some exercise, take a right and hike in the direction of the MARSH LOOP. There are two other intersections on the loop, so stay to the right at each of these as well. This is a really nice route to take, for there are a few clearings in the tress where you can get some photographs of the marsh.

Marsh loop section of the trails at Fort Frederica National Monument

Marsh at Fort Frederica National Monument

The Marsh Loop ends at .8 mile into the hike at a gully on your right that you must cross to keep on the outermost part of the loop. If it weren’t for a trail sign at the intersection, you might just keep on hiking straight, so be on the lookout for it. Logs have been piled at the bottom of the gully to keep hikers out of the mud (if it has been raining). Once you cross, take a left. Just up ahead is the open field of the Frederica town site.

Gully crossing on the loop hike around Fort Frederica

Crossing the gully on the hike around Fort Frederica National Monument

Trail comes to the Fort Frederica town site

To stay on the trail, just hug the tree line to the right. You will see, however, a large structure to the left that may peak your interest. This is all that remains of the barracks of Fort Frederica. Venture over to it if you want a closer look. When done, you don’t have to walk back to the spot where you detoured from the trail, so just cut across the field to the right. In fact, if you can see the powder magazine, the only other large structure that remains from Fort Frederica, just head towards it. While the official trail runs along the forest and then the Frederica River, it eventually comes to the powder magazine, so you’ll end up there no matter which route you take.

Barracks of Fort Frederica

All that remains of the barracks at Fort Frederica

View of the Frederica River from the hiking trail at Fort Frederica National Monument

You’ll reach the Fort Frederica powder magazine at a little over a mile into the hike. This is the only remnant of the actual fort, as the barracks was a separate structure built after the fort was completed. Next to the powder magazine are the foundations of two store houses. The interior of the foundations are filled with oyster shells to help stop erosion and keep weeds from growing. Wayside exhibits give information on all the historical structures.

Fort Frederica powder magazine and foundations of the store houses

When done at the powder magazine, just keep walking along the river. You will soon come to a picnic table, a few benches, and a dock, as well as another trail intersection. There is a bulletin board at the intersection with a trail map that has actual trail names on it (names are omitted on the map you get from the Visitor Center). If you are tired of hiking and just want to get back to the Visitor Center, follow the sign with the word TRAIL painted in green letters to hike the Dock Trail. If you want to hike the longest loop possible, as I was doing, follow the sign with TRAIL painted in white letters and continue along the river on the Yacht Club Trail. This trail gets its name from the Frederica Yacht Club that occupied this area from the 1930s until it was torn down in the 1970s. One of the club’s early managers, Bennie Gentile, left to open his own restaurant in 1954, Bennies Red Barn. Still in business today, it is the oldest privately owned restaurant on St. Simons Island.

Picnic table and dock near the Fort Frederica powder magazine

Intersection of the Dock Trail and the Yacht Club Trail at Fort Frederica

The trail continues along the river for another quarter mile on an old dirt road before turning inland. Stay right at the two remaining intersections to get back to the Visitor Center.

Typical trail terrain on the south end of the Fort Frederica hiking trails

Near the Visitor Center is a newly discovered slave cemetery and a monument erected by Robert Abbott to his aunt Celia and his father Thomas. Abbott was a black man who was born on St. Simons Island in 1868 and went on to become the owner of the largest black-owned daily newspaper in the world. The monument has nothing to do with Fort Frederica. It was erected in 1929, seven years before the park was established, near the actual graves of Abbott’s father, aunt, and other relatives, for he knew exactly where they were buried. It therefore seems odd that the National Park Service touts the cemetery as “discovered in 2019” when it is right next to the monument. You would think that when the park was authorized by Congress in 1936 (it didn’t open to the public until 1945) that somebody would have asked, “What’s this monument doing here?” Robert Abbott was well known and didn’t even die until 1940, so some curious government employee at the National Park Service could have tracked him down and asked. I’m sure his answer would have been, “Because that’s where the cemetery was.”

Abbott Monument and rediscovered slave cemetery at Fort Frederica

Rediscovered slave cemetery at Fort Frederica National Monument

I did my hike around Fort Frederica National Monument in early March when the weather was mild, and it was a pleasurable experience. However, south Georgia is extremely hot in the summer and the bugs are unruly—there are warnings at various locations on the trail that recommend repellent and mosquito nets for your head. I can only imagine how miserable it must be to do the hike in the summertime. If you visit the park when the weather is hot, just stick to walking directly to the historical sites. It’s just a quarter mile from the Visitor Center to the powder magazine on the river, and the entire town site lies between the two.

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