A trip to Little St. Simon's Island

Every year the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Natural History plan a trip or two to some wonderful location in Georgia.  This past spring's trip was to Little St. Simon's Island.  A Privately owned Barrier Island off the Georgia Coast.  The island was opened to the public as a private nature preserve/resort in 1979.

Our group of 14 spent 3 days exploring the 10,000 acres of maritime forest, marshlands and beaches.  We biked, hiked, canoed, swam, fished and enjoyed the wonderful food and accommodations the island offers.  Above is a photo of the Hunting Lodge, the central building which houses the dinning room, lounge and offices.  The lodge was as interesting to paint as the ever changing marsh viewed through the trees.  The breeze kept the copious spanish moss moving.

Our group stayed in River Lodge (shown at left) and Cedar House.  They were perfect for our group, as they are next to each other, and each has a large shared great room, screened porch and large deck with views of the marsh.  This allowed us to occasionally gather as a group.

The porches and decks also gave me comfortable locations to sketch and paint from.  Below is a two page view from one of the decks.

Sketching and painting were great early morning activities I could do while drinking coffee and bird watching with the rest of the group.  There are well stocked bird feeders around all the buildings, and one of the frequent visitors at that time of year are Painted Buntings.  I was glad to have a seat and table to balance coffee, binoculars, camera and watercolor kit!


The below are a set of pages from my journal show the marsh next to the feeder and a pair of Painted Buntings at the feeder.