The isle we know today as Cumberland was originally called Missoe, or `Sassafras,’ by the native Timucuan Indians. The Spanish established a mission here, and for many years the land was known as San Pedro Island.
After the colony of Georgia was founded, James Oglethorpe persuaded Mico (Chief) Tomo-chi-chi of the Creek Indians to return to England with him for a visit. The chief’s son, Toonhowie, became fast friends with the young William Augustus, duke of Cumberland. William presented Toonhowie with a gold watch shortly before the party reembarked for America. By all accounts, the chief’s son prized the watch over all his other worldly possessions. Upon his return to Georgia, Toonhowie requested that San Pedro be renamed Cumberland in honor of his new friend. Oglethorpe and the colony’s leaders were only too happy to comply.
Oglethorpe built a small fort on Cumberland Island’s southern tip. He was so impressed with the island’s beauty and abundant wildlife that he established a hunting lodge nearby, which was called Dungeness. The name was derived from Oglethorpe’s `seat’ in the county of Kent, England.
As the threat of Spanish invasion strengthened, Oglethorpe established a second military stronghold, Fort St. Andrew, on the isle’s northern section. Much as at Frederica on St. Simons Island, a small village known as Berrimacke grew up around the fort. When the site was abandoned by the military after the Battle of Bloody Marsh, the town of Berrimacke disappeared. It is now only a footnote in Georgia history texts.
Cumberland Island passed through a long series of owners over the next several decades. At least one large plantation was established on the isle during this period. The owner of this large farm, known as Stafford Plantation, employed the unique practice of dividing his land and work force into two independent camps that were encouraged to compete against each other. The winners were awarded prizes and privileges.
Following the victorious close of the American Revolution, a grateful state of Georgia presented General Nathanael Greene, the `George Washington of the South,’ with a large plantation outside Savannah. Whether through purchase or gift (historians still disagree), Greene also acquired large holdings on Cumberland Island. The war hero personally selected the site for his new island home and laid out plans for extensive gardens and landscaping. He selected the same name as that used by Oglethorpe years before, and the great general looked forward to many happy years on his Dungeness. But before these plans could come to fruition, Greene was tragically struck down by sunstroke in 1786.
In 1796, the general’s widow, Catherine `Caty’ Littlefield Greene, married Phineas Miller. The new family undertook completion of the grand house that Nathanael Greene had planned on Cumberland Island, and it became a showplace indeed. The house is rumored to have been a 4-story mansion with a foundation of 6-foot tabby walls. It has been described as the most elegant residence on the coast.
Before many years passed, the Greene-Miller household became the center of social activity in southeastern Georgia. Caty was known as the most likable and capable hostess in all of Georgia. Her eldest daughter, Martha, and her youngest, Louisa, both married into prominent Georgia families, and the two young couples made their homes at Dungeness as well. It was a happy and lively time on Cumberland Island.
During the War of 1812, a body of invading British troops surprised the Dungeness household by arriving right in the middle of a large house party. Legend has it that one of the visitors, Ann Couper of Cannons Point Plantation on St. Simons Island, became enraptured with a young English officer, Captain Fraser. This romance has been charmingly chronicled by St. Simons Island’s world-class romantic novelist, Eugenia Price.
In 1818, Nathanael Greene’s old friend `Light-Horse Harry’ Lee arrived at Cumberland to recuperate from a nagging illness. In spite of constant care, the war hero died on the island a scant month later and was laid to rest in the Greene family’s burial ground at Dungeness. Years later, his son, the immortal
Robert E. Lee, sent a headstone to mark his father’s grave. It is said that Robert E. Lee visited the island many times to pay reverence to his father’s grave site.
The Greenes’ and Millers’ many descendants lived happily at Cumberland Island and Dungeness until that dark conflict sometimes called `the War of Northern Aggression.’ The invading Union troops laid Dungeness in ruins. When the family returned after the war, there was literally nothing to be found of the elegant homeplace.
Cumberland lay more or less deserted until 1882, when millionaire Thomas Carnegie purchased the island. The new owner lost no time in raising a third Dungeness on the site of the Greene homeplace. Carnegie’s island home was a huge, turreted Victorian mansion at which guests were in constant attendance. Once again, the shores of bountiful Cumberland Island rang with the laughter and merriment of many a gay party.
Burnette Vanstory’s wonderful “Georgia’s Land of the Golden Isles” describes Carnegie’s Dungeness as having `deep shady verandas with comfortable rocking chairs and hammocks; there were mastiffs and Russian bear hounds and stables of carriage and saddle horses and fat little ponies for the children. Old newspaper clippings tell of hunting and fishing parties and golf on the course with its famous short hole of sixty yards.’
The Carnegies maintained their off-and-on residence for almost 50 years. Some of Thomas Carnegie’s children built their own island `cottages,’ chief among them Plum Orchard and Greyfield. The former still stands and is open to the public, while Greyfield is now one of the most elegant and exclusive inns in the United States. After lying idle for several years, the main Dungeness house burned in 1959, bringing to a close one of the island’s many colorful eras.
Under private ownership for almost its entire history, Cumberland Island has been spared the blight of modern development. In recognition of its natural wonders and impressive history, the island was declared a National Seashore Park in 1972. Ferry service was established from St. Marys, and a Dungeness museum was developed in the estate’s old icehouse.
Today, visitors arriving either by ferry or their own cruising craft have the good fortune of being able to tour magnificent Cumberland Island without hindrance (unless they are attacked by the `no-see-ums’). There is even the possibility of overnight camping, but unfortunately for cruisers, no nighttime dockage is available, but, of course, you can anchor in the “Dungeness Greyfield Channel Anchorage” and dinghy ashore, or anchor on Brickhill River. A hike through the magnificent maritime forests is an experience to be savored for a lifetime.
Don’t overlook a visit to the ruins of Dungeness, the Ice House Museum, and Plum Orchard mansion. Of course, a night or two spent at Greyfield Inn can only be relegated to the dreamlike. Truly, those who have not seen the beauty of Cumberland Island have missed the very best that the Golden Isles have to offer.