Today we drove with Kathy and Dave to St Simons Island, toured the waterfront, and Fort Federica
As a bonus a Coast Guard patrol boat—about 85 feet long—was having an open house.
Marcia and I found the boat tour interesting because we had just completed reading The Light Keeper’s Son, by Homer Hickman. The book is set at the breakout of WWII and is partly about a light keeper’s son (you guessed that much) that captained a Coast Guard patrol boat off the outer banks as German U-boats began to take their toll on shipping. The book was very interesting from an historical perspective, covering life on a small outer-bank island in less busy times, but became a bit hokey near the end. Fair warning, if you decide to read it. A fast read, good airplane fare.
Fort Federica was built starting in 1736 by the British under General Oglethorpe in an attempt to secure Georgia and perhaps parts of Florida from the Spanish; Spain had a fort less that a 100 miles south in St Augustine Florida, to secure Florida and claims on Georgia. Both sides knew this was a situation that would end in fighting, and in 1740 Oglethorpe attacked St Augustine without success. The Spanish returned the favor in 1742 moving northward to attack Federica, but in the Battle of Bloody Marsh the Spanish were defeated and withdrew. Later Spain signed a treaty giving the English claim to all areas.
On our visit the Fort docent put the battle in perspective. A lot of archeology work has been done here and the adjacent town of 1000 inhabitants. A worthwhile visit.
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