St. Mary’s is a quaint historic town along the banks of St. Mary’s River which is the state line to Florida. This is historic deep water river that used to have as many as 300 ships in the port including pirates and British ships from the Battle of 1812. The National Park Service manages the national seashore here, a museum, and a ferry to historic Cumberland Island. We enjoyed touring the island and learning the history but goodness it was so hot and humid so we spent more time inside the air conditioned museum!

Near our campground was a hidden little county park and Tabby Ruins so we had to check it out. Massive live oak trees and a 19th-century sugar mill. The ruins are the hand made walls of crushed oyster shells. They melted the oyster shells to create lime, then mix with sand, water and more broken shells to create a kind of concrete and unique to this coastal area. Kind of fascinating and we have not heard or seen anything like this before!

We made a day trip to Jekyll Island. Our first stop was Driftwood Beach. We arrived at low tide so we were able to walk quite a ways among huge driftwood trees. So cool. We also saw many historic sights of Horton House (an 18th-century tabby ruins) and the cemetery of the du Bignon family who owned island in 1800 to 1947 till the State of Georgia bought it. The family had built the Jekyll Island Club for the extremely wealthy. The historic inn and club which still operates, beautiful hundred years old live oak trees, and many of the historic wealthy homes still remain as museums or B&B’s. Along with all the history of the wealthy of the island is the awful history here too. The slave ship, The Wanderer landed here. The slaves were kept here in hiding until they were sold. As Jerry and I walked along the path of this exhibit we read the history and the stories of the survivors. So sad and really showed us the sad dichotomy of the history here. Before we left the island we had a yummy dinner at the historic Wharf Restaurant.

Rating: 
Site Quality:  Asphalt roads and gravel pads. The area surrounding the sites consists of Pine trees, Oak trees and Palmetto palms. As compared to Edisto Beach, the sites were much more “manicured” looking. You still had a feeling of being in the jungle but not the overgrown feeling.
Type:  State Park
Access: From Interstate 95 take St Marys road if travelling north or GA-40 then left on Kings Bay Rd if travelling south. Turn left on Charlie Smith Hwy (GA-40 spur) and on to the park. There were no concerns from low trees along either route.
Staff: The staff were friendly and helpful.
Amenities:  Many long sites with seclusion (area 2) or without (area 1). Picnic table, fire pit and lantern post at each site. There is a restroom/shower/laundry facility in each camping area. There are cabins available for rent adjacent to the campground. There are also playgrounds for the kids and numerous trails for hiking.
Cellular/WiFi:  Verizon and AT&T were both decent at about 6 Mbps.
What we liked: Full hookups, stores and restaurants nearby. Lots of things to do although the right time to be here would be spring or fall (maybe even winter) before the temperatures get too hot. Seclusion and tree cover although we got satellite on site 55. Next time it would be possible that we wouldn’t get it on the same site and other sites are a toss up due to trees.
What we didn’t like: We didn’t do as much as we would have liked because of the daytime temperatures – with feels like temps approaching 110. When the park filled up on the weekend we started having low voltage shutdowns due to low voltage on one power leg. Part of the problem was our monitor which needed to be adjusted but we were still seeing voltages as low as 105 volts. The monitor shuts off power to the RV at 104 volts.
Verdict: Many nice long spots, with most in area #2 being very secluded. This is probably one of the top two or three places we have stayed up to this point. Without the power issues we would have rated it 1/2 to 1 star higher. We would definitely stay here again in cooler weather.

Camping Area #1 has some trees but it is much more open than Camping Area #2. Choose area 1 if you want to interact more with your neighbors and do not want sewer. Many of those sites may also only have 30A. Choose area 2 if you want more seclusion with 50A FHU. We camped in site #55 which was plenty long for the trailer and our truck with the picnic table and fire pit behind the trailer. Several other sites in both areas are also very long. The pull through sites in area 2 also offer good seclusion although many may not exactly be pull through with a rig our size due to sharp bends on one side of the loop. It should be possible to back into these.

The first challenge came about a week before we were scheduled to arrive at Sawnee. One morning I got an email saying that our reservation had been cancelled. We panicked a bit at the thought of finding a place for a week on short notice in the busy summer season. After looking at a few commercial parks that didn’t look all that great we found Duckett Mill campground. Looking back, I think this was the best thing that could have happened as Duckett Mill was fantastic and our site was very secluded. Apparently the issue at Sawnee was that they didn’t have enough volunteers to run the park so they have closed it for the rest of the season. Sounds kind of fishy but who knows… We did notice too that the roads up to Sawnee were somewhat narrow and winding and through residential areas with quite a bit of traffic. There was also a 6 ton limit sign just west of the park that could be an issue. In all, we think Duckett Mill was a better place for us.

The other challenge was the travel distance. Although the route from Rogersville, AL to Sawnee showed up as only about 200 miles we found that the shortest route would have taken us through some small local roads which would have been challenging for our rig. So we decided to take a longer route through Chattanooga, TN which was mostly US highways and Interstates but that added about 75 miles making this one of the longest legs we have driven pulling our rig so far. It took about 6 hours of driving plus we lost an hour due to a time zone change but we held up much better than we expected. Leaving earlier in the day definitely helped. Even Purdy the cat took the long day in stride.

Once we arrived, we had a wonderful afternoon and evening with Bill and Sherry in their beautiful home and look forward to keeping in touch with them. We spent lots of time going over old Dell war stories and talking about changes over the past 14 or so years since we both worked together. It got particularly interesting when Bill brought out some brochures he had for some time about Class A RV’s that even Sherry didn’t know about. Maybe someday we’ll be able to “glamp” together sometime???

At Sherry’s recommendation we took a day trip north up to the town of Sautee Nacoochee and to the Old Sautee Store. The store was established in 1872 and is a local favorite as well as a good place for adventurous tourists willing to get away from the beaten path. Sherry told us we had to try their Farmer Cheese which comes from Sweden. It is the store’s most popular product. It is very mild and VERY good. Of course we had to buy some! While taste testing the cheese the lady providing the samples found out we were full timers and she started telling us about all the places we needed to go in Georgia and Tennessee. I think we spent 30 minutes with her and we got a lot of tips including a nearby store called Mark of the Potter.

In 1928 Robert Watts and his father Allen “Grandpa” Watts purchased the Hill’s Mill property on the Soque River. Grandpa Watt’s knowledge of building and milling proved to be invaluable in the construction of the Mill. This was during the Depression when times were very lean for everyone. About the only businesses around were moonshining and some saw milling. Although wood sold slowly, grist mills seemed to grind on steadily. The Watts successfully ground corn until a flood caused them to close down. In 1969, a couple decided to create a pottery store in the old mill as a retirement project. The store is still open today as Mark of the Potter. Giant trout inhabit the river below the mill where visitors come to feed the fish. Different species like Rainbow, Brown and other types of trout gather below the shop balcony waiting for a feeding so we had to try it.

A final stop on this day trip was to the town of Dahlonega, the site of the first major U.S. Gold Rush and the Heart of Georgia Wine Country. Nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Dahlonega offers expansive mountain vistas, roaring waterfalls and bubbling streams, postcard-worthy wineries and an abundance of restaurants and entertainment. We went through on a Monday and many of the shops and wineries were closed for the day but we were able to walk around the square, visit a few shops and eat dinner at an Irish-American pub called Shenanigans.

About 30 miles northeast of the Duckett Mill campground is a spectacular 729-foot waterfall called Amicalola Falls. It is the tallest cascading waterfall east of the Mississippi River and is breathtaking. It was well worth another day trip to see the falls and hike around the area. We took some extra time to drive through the campground in the park and determined that it wasn’t suitable for our rig. For one thing, the road up to it has some 20+% grades which could be doable as they are fairly short, but once you arrive at the campground it’s very obvious it was only designed for much smaller rigs. The road through the campground is small and somewhat winding and the sites are way to short for our rig. Most people up there were in pop-ups or very small trailers or motorhomes.

Gainsville area, Lake Lannier, and Northern Georgia was a new adventure for us and what a pleasant surprise it was. Georgia peaches, beautiful countryside and rolling hills has us writing this area down for a longer stay in the future.

Rating: 1/2
Site Quality:  Asphalt roads and concrete pads.
Type:  Corps of Engineers
Access: Easy access from GA-53 a bit west of Gainesville, GA.
Staff: The staff were friendly and helpful.
Amenities:  Large sites (we were on site 92) covered in trees. Once in the site we could only see one other site through the trees. Our site had 50A power with water but no sewer. Each site had a picnic table and a fire ring. There were restroom/shower facilities that seemed to be clean and in good repair but we did not use them. There was a marked off beach area for swimming.
Cellular/WiFi:  Verizon was a bit slow at 2.2 Mbps. AT&T was acceptable at 6.35 Mbps with amplification.
What we liked: Beautiful tree covered sites and most have some view of the lake. You could see the lake from site 92 but the view was substantially blocked by the trees. Some sites like ours were very secluded but others were not as much. Large park with plenty of room to walk.
What we didn’t like: No satellite because of the tree cover. We did have marginal local channel reception, however. No sewer kept us from rating the park 5 stars. Due to the length of the driveways and the fact many were curved or had significant slope the long driveways can be considered both a negative and a positive. Another negative was the fact that the outside living space was made of sand and fine gravel. With rain, this mixture splashed up on the rig and was also carried inside on our feet.
Verdict: Thirteen months into full timing, this is our favorite park so far. The sites say they are good for a 45 or 55 foot RV but most have very long driveways leaving plenty of room for parking. We saw some with an RV, a boat and a tow vehicle and plenty of extra room.

Some of the more secluded sites here would be great. Site 92 was near perfect if you want seclusion, other sites could be good candidates as well including 91, 93, 103-105, 1-8, 9-17, 24-29 and 42-44. Nearly all offer some form of lake view.