Vegetation holds dunes in place providing a barrier to erosion forces and creating essential interdune meadows to support island life.
St Marys is the gateway to Cumberland Island, Georgia's largest and southernmost barrier island. Here pristine maritime forests, undeveloped beaches and wide marshes whisper the stories of both man and nature. Natives, missionaries, enslaved African Americans and Wealthy Industrialists all walked here. Cumberland Island is also home to over 9,800 acres of Congressionally designated Wilderness.
Cumberland Island National Seashore has finalized a new Visitor Use Management Plan that amends the 1984 General Management Plan and establishes clear, adaptive strategies for visitor access, recreation and resource protection to this historic and ecologically rich barrier island.