Ever want to tap into your inner Tom Sawyer or Jacques Cousteau? For a modern reference, think Bear Grylls without the life-threatening possibilities.
Ossabaw Island, Georgia’s third-largest barrier island, offers opportunities for outside-the-box adventure. The island is about 10 miles long and seven miles wide at its widest point. The Atlantic Ocean and Bear River/Florida Passage, Ogeechee River, and St. Catherine’s Sound offer a diversity that’s off the charts.
The State of Georgia owns this Heritage Preserve site, while the Department of Natural Resources and the Ossabaw Island Foundation manage the island.
Some day trips set in August are perfect ways for adventurous souls to visit the island.
On Aug. 14, the African American History Museum offers a fee-free morning trip to the North End plantation site. See three restored tabby cabins, learn about the enslaved people who lived there and their descendants.
Accompany the Georgia DNR Sea Turtle Conservation Program for a Turtle Hatching Day Trip, set Aug. 21 and Aug. 22. The boat departs at 8 a.m. from Delegal Creek Marina on Skidaway Island for the half-hour boat ride to the island. Participants then travel by pick-up truck to the beach to learn about turtle hatchings and watch as interns inventory nests for eggs. Enjoy your bring-along picnic lunch at Boneyard Beach before returning to the mainland at 2 p.m.
On Sept. 18, 19, 24, and 26, learn the art of Indigo Dyeing. In the late 18th century, Ossabaw Island was a working indigo plantation, and the plants that produce the dye still grow on the island’s north end.
The 20th Annual Ossabaw Island Pig Roast & Art Auction is set on Oct. 22-24. Enjoy the beauty of the island and contribute to the Foundation’s educational, cultural and scientific programs.
Ossabaw Island has experienced 40 centuries of history. The island’s name most likely came from a Creek Indian word that loosely translates to “land of holly,” referring to the Yaupon Holly abundant in the region. The island has been home to farming villages of indigenous people, Spanish missionaries, English landowners, and enslaved Africans and their freedmen descendants. For about 200 years, beginning in the 1500s, European explorers visited the region. And later came sport fishermen, hunters, environmental preservationists, and scientists.
Book a comfortable stay in the two-bedroom Thunderbolt Cottage, located on the Intracoastal Waterway outside Savannah’s Historic District. Your adventure may be an outdoorsy field day, but your accommodations should be charming and luxurious.
