OKEFENOKEE SWAMP in GEORGIA

We moved on from St. Augustine area and stopped south of Brunswick GA where we had spent December of 2008, to say "Hello" to old acquaintances at Blythe Island Baptist Church. They were surprised to see us, and we had good time. While in that area we decided to go out to the beach on St. Simmons Island. Guess what, it was high tide.

So we did not get to walk the beach like we did in 2008 when we were there!

We just enjoyed an ice cream cone and checked out the name of the restaurant where we had that sinful chocolate dessert back in 2008. It was Barbara Jean's and she has cookbooks out in her name also. I have been trying to think of the name for a long time! I knew that it was a catchy name like Paula Dean's or Rachael Ray's.

The next day we went out to see the Okefenokee Swamp.

We took a tour boat out into the swamp canals with about fifteen other people for a leisurely day. The tour guide was very willing to answer questions and tell his tales while pointing out things of interest.

We saw turtles from the wee tiny near the dock, to the large on the tree trunk sticking out of the water.

We also saw quite a few alligators

But I missed taking pictures of the little gators!

We also passed others on tour by themselves in canoes and row boats.

The guide also pointed out birds and flowers.

He stopped to let us take pictures of this hawk's nest. However, we were not in the right position to see the birds in the nest!

We saw many of the water lilies and blossoms and he even told us that the stem in the lower right of the picture is edible when the stem is white and the long point is yellow. We tasted some and it tasted much like some greens that we eat! Notice how the water appears black. It is fresh water but this color is caused by the tanic acid from the decay of the plants and leaves. The canals were dug by hand by prisoners in the early 1900's. It is hard to imagine how long that this must have taken for the canals were quite wide!

After finishing the boat tour, we went on to see the last Homestead in this wilderness. A family by name of Chessler lived in it until they were forced to sell the land to the U.S. government in 1952, the same year that this land was later established as a National Wildlife Refuge.

The main source of income in this area was sugar cane and corn. Of course, a by product of much of the corn was liqueur. It was a hard life with the boys helping in the fields and the girls helping the mother with the work in the home.

Mrs. Chessler returned about thirty years later to help furnish the home much like it had been when they raised their family there.

Gary said that it reminds him of many homes in West Virginia from his young days, even down to the hand pump on the back porch!

Hope you enjoyed this as much as we did. We will only be in this area four days, so check in again and see what else we find!