The Secret Reason for Cumberland Island National Seashore

by Richard L. Thornton, Architect & City Planner

Cumberland Island, on the coast of the State of Georgia, is a National Treasure. Like Grand Canyon, it is a place that every American should see. You will think that you have been transported to another part of the world. With its 21-mile (33.8 km) long – mile wide beach, maritime jungles, freshwater lagoons, exotic plants, wild animals and 60 feet (18 m) high sand dunes . . . plus literally deserts, where only cactus and yucca plants grow, it seems to be anywhere, but the Peach State, where the movie, “Deliverance” was filmed.

Yet, it was not a concern for the United States’ natural heritage or preserving several important Native American and Colonial Period historic sites that provided initial impetus for the federal government taking stewardship of such a large tract of private real estate, but National Security. We will explain.

View of the Cumberland River at sunset from my tent on Cumberland Island

At the level of lowly US Navy midshipmen, all we were told by Naval Officer professors was that the US Navy was planning a submarine that was as large as destroyer, which could travel underwater at 60 mph ( 97.6 kmh). It was hinted that these monster subs might be based somewhere on the coast of Georgia. Our instructors were trying to persuade some of the engineering students to switch to nuclear engineering.

Near the end of my internship with the Dept. of Natural Resources, Jimmy Carter invited me into his office for a chat. He was quite interested that I had been born near the Georgia Coast and was an Eagle Scout. He already knew that I was a midshipman and seemed to be the only person in the state, other than my NROTC Battalion Commandant, who knew that I had participated in extra-curricular activities for the Navy, while in Mexico. My parents and ex-wife never knew this.

Jimmy seemed to want to know how outdoorsy I was. I told him that almost exactly year earlier I had been in the middle of the Campeche jungle with Ana Rojas, where there were no maps, no signs, no electric lines, no telephones, no ambulances, no doctors, no paved roads and no stores. He asked me if I would like to go camping at a place in Georgia that was like Campeche. I said yes.

The general location of the Kings Bay Submarine Base is between St. Andrew’s Sound, the deepest port on the Atlantic Seaboard and St. Mary’s Sound . . . almost as deep. Neither harbor has any significant maritime activity. Everywhere else on the Atlantic Coast with there is water depth to handle giant submarines, also has ships from around the world, coming and going.

However, in its wild, but privately owned state, Cumberland Island was an ideal location for enemy spies to hide out or at a minimum, plant electronic devices. Jimmy said that state employees did not survey the area of the island, south of the Dungeness ruins, adequately. They only explored, where they could drive their Jeeps. He needed to know what the vegetation and terrain was like at “ground level.” He added that there were Indian mounds and an old Spanish mission site in the southern part of the island that no one had located on the map. Would I like to go camping there and photograph what I saw? Could I also make notes on a map about the historic sites, vegetation and terrain?

I could bring along some friends, as long as I was certain of their loyalty – no Russian or Cuban spies, LOL. Jimmy paused a bit then added that I should not invite anyone, who used illegal drugs. We would be on the island by his special permission. Anything we did, would reflect on the Governor’s Office.

I invited along two fraternity brothers, who were Army and Air Force ROTC cadets. I had dated a nursing student from Darien. Her father was a former doctor in the US Navy. She was supposed to meet us at Cumberland Island at the peer near the Dungeness Ruins with a couple of her friends. They were coming in her Daddy’s big cabin cruisier. If it was stormy, we could just stay on their boat. My friend’s catamaran was just a platform on top of essentially – two large canoes.

So that is how our great adventure began . . .

These are local Atlanta college students about to attend one of our fraternity parties. The drug culture was the norm in 1971, but was actualized in private. It was different matter with alcoholic beverages, however. The drinking age was 18 back then, so the boozed up partying today that would get college age partiers arrested, was also the norm. Jimmy clearly didn’t want any “hippies” on Cumberland Island, while negotiations were underway with remaining property owners and the National Park Service. Where we were camping was still privately owned. No problem! I couldn’t even date gals, who smoked pot, because the Navy’s random drug tests also included hair samples – which absorb marijuana smoke. It was initially a shock for me in Mexico, where all the college gals, smoked pot openly without fear of arrest. Very few Mexican college students consumed hard drugs, though.