Discover 8 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in Saint Simons Island (United States). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: St. Simons Island Light, Fort Frederica National Monument, and East Beach Station. Also, be sure to include Neptune Park Fun Zone in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in Saint Simons Island (Georgia).
Table of Contents
St. Simons Island Light
Lighthouse in St. Simons, Georgia. The St. Simons Island Light is a lighthouse on the southern tip of St. Simons Island, Georgia, United States. It guides ships into St. Simons Sound and warns of the many sandbars in the area.[1]
Address: 610 Beachview Dr, 31522 St. Simons Island
Fort Frederica National Monument
18th-century fort and settlement. Fort Frederica National Monument, on St. Simons Island, Georgia, preserves the archaeological remnants of a fort and town built by James Oglethorpe between 1736 and 1748 to protect the southern boundary of the British colony of Georgia from Spanish raids. About 630 British troops were stationed at the fort.
A town of up to 500 colonial residents had grown up outside the fort; it was laid out following principles of the Oglethorpe Plan for towns in the Georgia Colony. The town was named Frederica, after Frederick, Prince of Wales, son of King George II. The monument was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.[2]
Address: Off Frederica Rd. just past Christ Episcopal Church, Saint Simons Island
East Beach Station
Military station. East Beach Station is a station of the U.S. Coast Guard in St. Simons, Georgia, United States, located at 4201 1st Street. It was built in 1936 as a part of the Works Progress Administration initiated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Coast Guard Station played a part in World War II when it helped save the crew of two merchant ships, the SS Oklahoma and the Esso Baton Rouge, both tankers. These two ships were torpedoed by a German submarine U-123. The station is one of the forty-five originally built under President Roosevelt, and is one of the few that have survived to this day.
East Beach Station is now operated by the Coastal Georgia Historical Society as the World War II Home Front Museum: Coastal Georgia at War, which brings to life Coastal Georgia's contributions during World War II through the eyes of residents of small communities like Brunswick and St. Simons, in Glynn County.
The Coastal Georgia Historical Society also operates the St. Simons Island Lighthouse and adjacent A. W. Jones Heritage Center on St. Simons Island.
The station was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.[3]
Address: 4201 1st St, 31522-3902 Saint Simons Island
Neptune Park Fun Zone
Relax in park, Park, Theme park, Amusement park, Water park
Address: 550 Beachview Dr., Saint Simons Island
Mildred Huie Plantation Museum at Mediterranean House
Museum, Specialty museum
Address: 1819 Frederica Rd, 31522-2021 Saint Simons Island
Gascoigne Bluff
Gascoigne Bluff is a bluff next to the Frederica River on the western side of the island of St. Simons, Georgia which was a Native American campground, the site of a Franciscan monastery named San Buenaventura, and the site of the Province of Georgia's first naval base.
It was named for Captain James Gascoigne of the sloop-of-war, HMS Hawk, which led some of the first British settlers to the coast of Georgia.
Timber harvested from 2,000 Southern live oak trees from Gascoigne Bluff was used to build the USS Constitution and the five other original US Navy frigates, under the Naval Act of 1794. The Constitution is known as "Old Ironsides" for the way the cannonballs bounced off the hard oak planking.
This area was one of several St. Simons Island plantations owned by John Couper (father of James Hamilton Couper, see below) who lived at Cannon Point, St. Simons Island, and who donated his library of 20,000 volumes to the Library of Congress.[4]
Christ Church Frederica - St. Simons Island
Church
Address: 6329 Frederica Rd, 31522 Saint Simons Is
St. Simons Presbyterian Church
Church
Address: 205 Kings Way, 31522-4317 Saint Simons Island