Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
There is no sign on Rte. 17 pointing the way to the Harris Neck National Wildlife
Refuge. But it's easy enough to get there: just take the next left after the church, turning
onto Rte. 131 at the tiny hamlet of South Newport, and drive for some seven miles. At this
extensive refuge, nature has been carefully cajoled by conservationists, creating a quilt-
work of wildlife habitats. Nearly two-thirds of Harris Neck's 2,700 acres consists of salt
marsh, which is complemented by freshwater impoundments that attract herons, ibis, and
migrant waterfowl such as widgeons and delicately patterned gadwalls. Deer, raccoons,
opossums, and minks live here as well. Fifteen miles of paved roads snake through the
refuge, including a well-marked eight-mile driving trail that leads from upland stands of
live oaks garlanded with Spanish moss to shadowy swamps, where green-backed herons
stalk their prey among the buttresslike roots of old cypresses.
5. Altamaha Historic Byway
Near the town of Darien, Rte. 17 passes through miles of pine forest harvested for the
paper industry. For a distance, it also parallels the Colonial Coast Birding Trail—each site
is marked and worth visiting. If you are hungry, stop for pork barbecque served at many
local gas stations, or sample the seafood in Darien. Its wharf is crowded with shrimp boats
and other fishing vessels, their salty nets drying in the sun amid the swoops and cries of
gulls. A mile east of Darien stands restored Fort King George, built by the British in 1721
as a bulwark against the Spanish in Florida.
The seven-mile Altamaha Historic Byway, as Rte. 17 south of Darien is often called,
weaves a long skein of social and natural history. Exhibits at the Hofwyl-Broadfield Plant-
ation, for example, hark back to the days when rice—not cotton—was king in this part of
the South.
Centuries of fortification and agriculture seem to melt away as you enter the Altamaha
Waterfowl Management Area, 26,000 timeless acres of hummocky marshland where the
booming of an old bull alligator is as likely to pierce the air as any human sound.
6. Marshes of Glynn
Farther south, Rte. 17 swings into Brunswick, the second-largest city on the Georgia coast
andthegatewaytotheGoldenIsles,astheyareknownlocally.OnceyouturneastatBrun-
swick onto the causeway that heads out to St. Simons Island, you are surrounded by the
vast and magnificent expanse of salt grasses dubbed the Marshes of Glynn. In the words
of the 19th-century poet Sidney Lanier, the marshes make up a domain where “all is still
and the currents cease to run, / And the sea and the marsh are one.” The poet affection-
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