There is a Swimming Pool Below That Deck

 

Cumberland always has something going on.

A hot button issue at this moment was the release of the Former Reserved Properties Management Plan and Environmental Assessment (FRPMP) by the National Park Service (NPS). Released back in July with a 30 day public comment period,  thousands provided their insight towards the NPS's choice approach to the issue. The considered plan by the NPS is amazing considering that the proposed plan dealt with the management of five expired agreements which included seven properties or tracts that comprised approximately 50 acres of land; seven residential homes; and a number of smaller structures. The environmental assessment associated with the management plan analyzed the potential impacts to the human environment that resulted with two alternative courses of action. Those alternatives are: Alternative A - no action and Alternative B - allow a mixture of removal and adaptive re-use of structures.

The NPS prefers plan Alternative B. This plan will not impair park resources or values. Within the Alternative B plan, the NPS would preserve and protect the historic structures at The Grange, Beach Creek Dock House, and Stafford Beach House as required by applicable law and policy.

Click link below for the FRPMP details.

http://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=371&projectID=28794&documentID=39937

At this same time in America, preservationist are trying to come to grips with the importance of preserving truly ordinary kinds of structures. An issue that I would like to discuss is the historic Stafford Beach House. From the FRPMP report, the NPS list the structure as "potentially eligible for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places and List of Classified Structures". With this quote in the report, I feel that the NPS knows that the beach house is historic, but just how old is this structure?

BUT FIRST

Jump back to the original paragraph of the “30 day comment period”. There is a grassroots organization called Wild Cumberland (WC) dedicated to protecting the ecology, wilderness, and wildlife of Cumberland Island.

Their web site is here:

http://wildcumberland.org/

Wild Cumberland is a chapter of the famous group called Wilderness Watch. Not only does the Wilderness Watch have articles dealing with the recent activities of the FRPMP but Wild Cumberland, too. Located within Wild Cumberland's website are suggested comments for interested people that wanted to respond with comments to the NPS plan about the FRPMP.

The WC comments are located here:

http://wildcumberland.org/?p=751

A portion of the WC suggested comments is located below:

“However, I am concerned about the park’s plan to keep and maintain four additional retained estate houses for internal park use, including a structure within the original wilderness boundaries. None of the structures are historic.............”

 

I wonder how many people associated with Wilderness Watch and WC responded to the NPS in part with this structured suggested comment “None of the structures are historic”.

It is one of amazement as to the resources and manpower of lawyers and people of intellect at the disposal of WC. Considering that, in my opinion it is not fair for them to twist the facts. They will tell you what they want you to know, but you'll see below what I want to show you.

The Journey Begins:

The Stafford Beach House is located within an one acre tract approximately 250 yards from the beach on the western edge of the dune field at the interface with the maritime oak forest. Included within this tract is a small two sectioned beach bungalow with a large wooden deck and a detached small modern addition. The Stafford Beach Cottage tract came into the hands of the NPS in the year 2000.

It is a very detailed and complicated process for this blog to discuss as to how and who used estate properties. The official division of property on Cumberland Island by the heirs of Lucy C. Carnegie didn't take place until 1965.

The Stafford Beach Tract was “inherited” by Millicent Sprague Monks at the death of her mother “Lucy C. Carnegie Sprague Rice”, who was the sister of Nancy Carnegie Rockefeller, and the daughters of Andrew & Bertha Carnegie II, the son of Thomas and Lucy C. Carnegie.

“Just before I inherited the beach house..................not long before she died, mother told me that I would inherent a tract of land beside the small beach house on Cumberland Island. We added a kitchen, small bunk beds for the children, a room for ourselves, a small leaky pool and a deck. The beach house was the only house left intact and livable on the twenty miles of beach.”1

In January 1975 Millicent Monks retained a twenty-five-year right to the Stafford Beach House tract.  Mrs. Monks ended up conveying the property to her nephew and niece, Franklin W. Foster and Lucy Carnegie Sprague Foster.2

Include within the majority of the island, this division of the Stafford Beach House tract provided ownership of a part of Cumby Island that was, since 1783, held majority by just four families for 228 years.

Now to the Georgia Archives:

Last Saturday I was in Atlanta and I decided to take a detour to Morrow to view the Carnegie Family Estate Collection at the Georgia Archives. The goal of this venture - was the Stafford Beach House at least fifty years old. From the photo below, anyone can tell by just looking at the construction and details of the original section of the “shotgun styled” structure that she has a little bit of age to her.

The search did not take long. Included within this search, this is the only help that I will give to WC regarding documentation, I found a letter within a file folder.

File folder: 9-1-009

 

A typed letter dated: March 20, 1953

From: Norman T. Collett “Estate Manager”

To: Leo P. Larkin, Assistant Trust Officer,

Peoples First National Bank & Trust Company

Pittsburgh, 30. Pa.

Titled: Brief Report of Conditions on the Island

This report listed the conditions of buildings within the areas of Dungeness, Greyfield, Stafford, Chimneys, and Plum Orchard estates.

Under the listing of items for The Stafford Estate; Beach House: repairs made to the foundation and steps

Now, how old does a property have to be to qualify

for a National Register listing?

Properties eligible for listing in the National Register

are at least 50 years old.

The Stafford Beach House:

at least 1953 + 50 years = the year of 2003

 WC may want to check out the Historical Map and Chart Collection at the Office of Coast Survey at:

http://historicalcharts.noaa.gov/historicals/search

I see a major change between 1925 & 1927 on the maps in the roads leading from the Stafford House to this area of the beach. Kinda a clue to start from here!

Located here, http://wildcumberland.org/?p=764 WC says,

“Keeping the Stafford Beach House as yet another overnight accommodation place needs justification. The EA section on “Historic Structures” provides no insight to its historical significance, and no one can seem to (or is willing to) provide a date of construction. I have requested that information several times. Increased activities there affect the ambiance at the near-by Stafford campground and beach.”

The Stafford Beach House is located a half mile from the campsite. 

Check out a previous blog post below for the historical significance of the Stafford Beach Cottage:
http://bubbajunk-asmalltownboy.blogspot.com/search/label/Stafford%20Beach%20Cottage

Since Cumby Island is such a concern to WC, they may want to consider in hiring an intern or an architectural historian and dig a little deeper, they will find it way before 1953!

 

 

1.  Monks, Millicent. Songs of Three Islands. New York: Atlas and Company, 2010. Print

2.  Dilsaver, Lary. Cumberland Island National Seashore A History of Conservation Conflict. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2004. Print

The Grange

The forty year reserved estate lease

for the rights of The Grange tract

expired today.

The Georgian styled house rests nestled in oaks and magnolias between Dungeness and the Carriage House. Right outside the recessed main entrance is a view of the former Pool House.

I'm sure that it was heartache for the families watching that structure deteriorate.

In Mary Bullard's book, Cumberland Island: A History, she states "construction on the Grange, the last large house built on the Dungeness Estate, began in 1902 and was completed by the end of 1903, by which time a total of $25,483 had been spent on the house."

Shaded by the trees, 

the side of The Grange is the best view one can get

 walking down Magnolia Avenue.

Roughly 60'x57', the stuccoed finish residence is now in the hands of the park service.

Below is a link to a recent article in the Tribune and Georgian newspaper located in St. Marys.

http://www.tribune-georgian.com/articles/2010/12/10/news/top_stories/1topstory12.10.txt

The Stable and Carriage House at Dungeness

An old postcard of the building from

the Florida Collection Postcard Page

located on the Jacksonville Public Library's web site.

Click the link below

and

check out other postcards

on Cumberland Island...............

http://jpl.coj.net/DLC/FLorida/pc/123.html

An avenue edged in magnolia trees, leads from Dungeness and The Grange to the Carriage House.  In the distance on a cloudy and showery day, the stable's front face is slightly visible from the two house's approach.

Presumably, the date of the erection is around 1900.

The plan of the 1&1/2 story Carriage House is in a H pattern.  The wooden frame structure is clad in a
smooth stucco finish applied on wire mesh.

The combination of stables, upstairs quarters for the stable hands, carriage house, and a garage articulates the unified functional design under one common roof.

The horse stalls are located in the right wing of the building which is approximately 144 feet in length. 

The left wing, approximately 126 feet in length, was used for the housing of the estate carriages,

and

eventually, a garage for the automobiles.

The link below,

an article on a Carnegie Carriage.

http://www.amelianow.com/summer08-carnegie.htm

As the dominant structural element of the building,

the roof's design is viewed with one of varied horizontal roof lines and angled planes that make a distinction in their projections and recesses.

 The wood shingled roof has twenty hipped dormers that

break up the roof lines and the height of the walls.

 

The long facades of the wings are articulated through the repetitive use of fenestration.

The Stable and Carriage House is actually the second stable building built by Lucy Carnegie for the Dungeness Estate. 
The present structure is located southeast of the original
stable house, on or near the site of a former building
used for the dog kennels.

Currently, the Park Service uses the structure as a

maintenance facility.

Three Books You Need To Read

Since my last visit to the island and my recent re-acquaintance with Lary Dilsaver's book, many of my doubts have been answered about the NPS and CUIS.  I recommend to anyone interested in the island to read the three books that I will list at the end of this post.

But first, I would like to share with you Bubbajunk bloggers a few articles on Cumberland Island.



Although you can count my visits to Cumberland Island on one hand, I have continuously collected throughout my life every bit of information about the island that came my way.  Below are three articles that I have from The Atlanta Journal and Constitution Magazine.

1. December 5, 1965

    2. March 9, 1969

3. January 18, 1970

 

 

Now For Your Three Books to Read

Cumberland Island: A History

 Written by: Mary R. Bullard

The best book ever written about the history of the island.  Very detailed and fascinating. The notes are even a book within themselves.

The next two books are on the history of the negotiations between the landowners on Cumberland Island

and the National Park Service.

You can view this book on-line.

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/cuis/dilsaver/index.htm

Joe Graves, a descendant of the Carnegie family, writes a very interesting story about what the Carnegie's endured trying to help create the Cumberland Island National Seashore.

Torpedo Bottles

Previously, I mentioned in an post that my parents and relatives visited Cumberland Island in the summer of 1970. See the link below:

http://bubbajunk-asmalltownboy.blogspot.com/2010/06/plum-orchard-carriage-house.html

Back then, The National Park Foundation had been recently established by Congress for the purpose of purchasing "collecting" property on Cumberland Island for a possible future of a national seashore under the jurisdiction of the NPS. The well established non-for-profit Andrew W. Mellon Foundation contributed to the NPF roughly $5.5 million to  purchase Fraser's two tracts towards the possible seashore. My Uncle Joe had caught wind of that fact and retained permission from Charles Fraser for my family to visit and camp on his southern tract.

 Being the avid antique bottle hunters that they are, my family while camping descended upon the old Dungeness household dump site.  Below are a few photos of some of the antique bottles dug from the old household pit.

 

Torpedo Bottles

The bottles above are known as torpedo bottles. The molded bottles were designed with rounded bases to ensure that they rested on their side so the wired down cork in the blob would not dry out. The torpedo bottles were used for ginger ale, soda, and mineral waters.

The majority of the bottles that are dug or found in this country date from the 1870's to the 1910's and were imported from the United Kingdom. The most common type were ginger ale bottles.

The company that dominated the market in the late 1800s was the firm Cochrane and Cantrell.

The bottles above are worth very little. 

If your fortunate, $10.00 a pop.

 

Tinted aqua or green torpedo bottles with no embossing are very common. Torpedo bottles that are colored amber, emerald green, or cobalt blue are worth more.

Ceramic Jam Crocks

The crocks have the same inscription stamped on the bottom. Only one has a label applied before glazing that is decorated with acorns and leaves bearing the inscriptions: GRAND MEDAL OF MERIT VIENNA 1873 - JAMES KEILLER & SONS - DUNDEE MARMALADE - ONLY PRIZE MEDAL FOR MARMALADE LONDON, 1862 - Great Britain.

It is great that the torpedo bottles and crocks have survived for over a hundred years.  We will donate the many torpedo bottles and ceramic crocks to the CUIS.

 

 

Dawson's Excellent Adventure

Last weekend, my sister and I went to Cumberland Island.  I told her to brace herself for a magnificent scenery of palmetto thickets, a windswept beach, gnarling massive oaks draped with spanish moss, wildlife, and crumblings ruins. What a peaceful setting and natural wonder that we will remember, forever.

It was no cool day as we docked on the island.  In fact, it was 100 degrees on Friday, so we were quite warmed up even before our scenic hike.

No tour guide for us, we took the off beaten path direct to The Cottage and their it lay.  I thought a daily jog got my heart pumping.  Well, seeing this view below for the first time was worth every penny of any oxygen debt that I had.  This concrete ruin was the duck pond at the site of The Cottage.

My sister looked at me kinda crazy when I got to giggling over this small concrete ruin. The first stop and she was stuck. Thank God that horses arrived to occupy her for a while. If that "turtle lady" on the island had had her way, their would have been no horses and she'd would have probably been going crazy! 

Below is a link to an old photo of the duck pond at The Cottage Site.

http://content.sos.state.ga.us/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/vg2&CISOPTR=885&CISOBOX=1&REC=17

Below is a link for The Cottage which burned down in the 1950's.

http://content.sos.state.ga.us/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/vg2&CISOPTR=880&CISOBOX=1&REC=17

The views of the two photos are from the Georgia Archives Collection - Vanishing Georgia Series. They are actually copies taken from a Carnegie photo album now located online at the Georgia's Virtual Vault - Carnegie Family Collection website.

Check them out on page twenty: http://content.sos.state.ga.us/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/carnegie&CISOPTR=475&REC=2

The Tour Begins!

I'm not gonna bore people with the typical photos of the Dungeness ruins and pergola. You'll find plenty on the web.

The Cottage Site 

   Dungeness Estate Support Structures

Another Oxygen Debt Moment

While we were checking out the west side of the kitchen building, I noticed a construction dumpster next to the woods. I knew in an instant why it was placed there. My sister and I were about to be going into the woods to a site that almost every tourist knows not a thing about, notta, no clue what so ever. At the edge, as we peered into the sunlight filtered and diffused forest, I was excited to see that the NPS had started clearing out a former site that I wanted to show her. See Below!!!

Rikart House and Play House Sites

 Check Page 3, lower right, for a photo of an early view of the Rikart House:

http://content.sos.state.ga.us/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/carnegie&CISOPTR=164&REC=16

Check Pages 16,17, & 18 for photos of the Play House:

http://content.sos.state.ga.us/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/carnegie&CISOPTR=1035&REC=9

Miles of undisturbed sand dunes,

a quiet white beach,

 and a lot of dead horseshoe crabs?

 

Wildlife

I guess on this sweltering day, all other wildlife were smart

and napped in the shade.  All we saw were wild horses that ignored us and not to smart turkeys.