Cumberland Island – Untamed

I’m at Cumberland Island National Seashore in southern Georgia (the U.S. state, not the country) for  my second visit. I visited Cumberland Island a few years ago and saw the southern part of the island. But now the Park Service is offering Land and Legacy Tours to the upper part of the island.

Untamed
Untamed

What a coincidence! I just finished “The book”, Untamed by Will Harlan, about Carol Ruckdeschel, an amateur biologist and the only person who lives on the island full-time. For years, Carol has fought to keep the island wild and the turtle safe from boats. Harlan wrote a wonderful book.

We got to St. Mary. GA, at 4 pm, just as the visitor center was closing. I ran up the steps to get my major question answered. Was the park bookstore selling Untamed? It wasn’t on the shelf. I asked the ranger. “No, we don’t sell it”.

“Do you know why?”

He looked at me hard. “We just don’t.” He closed the visitor center. Any book sold in a park visitor center must be approved by a committee of rangers.

We walked through the historic downtown and found Once upon a Bookseller, an independent bookstore. First it’s amazing that such a small town has a bookstore. They were selling Untamed, as one of many books on Cumberland Island.

Carol R.'s house on Cumberland Island
Carol R.’s house on Cumberland Island

Today, on the Land and Legacy Tour, we went to the top of Cumberland Island. We stopped right in front of Carol’s house. What a coincidence.

What is a Land and Legacy Tour and what do you see? Stay tuned.

 

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