The Ice House Museum is housed in the former ice house built by Thomas and Lucy Carnegie around 1890. Situated near the Dungeness ferry dock, the Ice House was used to store huge blocks of ice brought down from the north by ship. By the turn of the 20th century it had become obsolete as an ice storage facility due to the invention of ice making equipment, and was thus used for other purposes. In addition to the museum, restroom facilities are located on the back side of the building. The museum is a smaller version of the mainland Cumberland Island National Seashore Museum in St. Marys, Georgia. It covers the same topics but doesn't have the large artifacts found at the mainland museum, like a display of carriages. Both museums focus almost exclusively on human history. Exhibits are set up in chronological order and are easy to follow. They start with Timucuan tribes, the original inhabitants of Cumberland Island. They end with the Carnegies, who owned most of the island from the late 1800s until selling their land to the National Park Service in the early 1970s. They also have information on the very early English settlers, the slave plantations, the Civil War on Cumberland Island, and the hotel industry.

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The Ice House Museum is a smaller version of the Cumberland Island National Seashore Museum on the mainland. It's located next to the Dungeness dock. The original structure was built in the 1890s to store large quantities of ice that was cut from frozen ponds and lakes in the winter months, and was shipped to the island for the Carnegie Estate. It featured a ventilated roof and walls that were 2 feet thick and have sawdust insulation. The building was restored by the National Park Service and now serves as a small, self guided museum about the history of the island and the Carnegies.



Ice House Museum (Cumberland Island)

The recorded history of Cumberland Island spans the 1560s to the present. Before that, natives lived here for thousands of years. Spain initially occupied the island starting in the 1560s. In the 1730s, the English colony of Georgia was established. As part of the U.S. state of Georgia, it was occupied by plantation owners, including heirs and descendants of Revolutionary War general Nathanael Greene. Most of the island became the property of the Carnegie family in the late 1800s and the early and mid 1900s. The Cumberland Island National Seashore was created in 1972. 

James Oglethorpe, who founded the Georgia colony, built the first stage of this historic mansion on Cumberland Island in 1736. In that year, he built a hunting lodge that he named Dungeness in reference to an English county seat of which he was the owner. There was also a post office near the southern end of the island and he also built two forts. The next version of Dungeness was the legacy of Revolutionary War hero Nathanael Greene, who had acquired 11,000 acres land in exchange for a bad debt. In 1803, his widow Catharine Littlefield Greene built a four-story tabby mansion over a Timucuan shell mound. During the War of 1812, the island was occupied by the British, who used the house as a headquarters.In 1818, Henry “Light-Horse Harry” Lee, a cavalry commander during the Revolutionary War and father of Robert E. Lee, stayed at the house until his death on March 25, 1818. He was cared for by Greene's daughter Louisa, and was laid to rest in nearby cemetery with full military honors provided by an American fleet stationed at St. Marys, Georgia. The house was abandoned during the Civil War and burned in 1866.In the 1880s, the property was purchased by Thomas M. Carnegie, brother of Andrew Carnegie. He began to build a new mansion on the site. The 59-room Queen Anne-style mansion and grounds were completed after Carnegie's death in 1886. His wife Lucy continued to live at Dungeness and built other estates for her children, including Greyfield for Margaret Carnegie, Plum Orchard for George Lauder Carnegie, and Stafford Plantation. By this time, the Carnegies owned 90 percent of the island.The Carnegies moved out of Dungeness in 1925 because of costly upkeep. But the estate was maintained through Lucy Carnegie's estate. In 1959, the Dungeness mansion was destroyed by fire. It's widely thought to have been arson. The ruins remain, though, and include what is called Tabby House, the oldest house on Cumberland Island and the only building the Carnegies spared when they rebuilt the area from the ruins of the Greene estate.Greyfield is still owned by the Carnegie family and still operates as a hotel. It is the only way to stay overnight on the island. Plum Orchard is owned and operated by the National Park Service. Stafford is still owned by the Carnegie family, and is private property.

These ruins on Cumberland Island are all that is left of Dungeness, a mansion that was destroyed in a 1959 fire and is part of a historic district that was the home of several families significant in American history. This includes James Oglethorpe, who founded the Georgia colony, Revolutionary War hero Nathanael Greene,  Henry “Light-Horse Harry” Lee, a cavalry commander during the Revolutionary War and father of Robert E. Lee, and the Carnegie family. In 1959, the Dungeness mansion was destroyed by fire, a fire that was believed to be an act of arson. The ruins are today preserved by the National Park Service as part of Cumberland Island National Seashore. They were acquired by the Park Service in 1972. The main house comprises a portion of the larger historic district, which includes servant's quarters, utility buildings, laundries, cisterns, and a variety of other structures. The district forms a planned, landscaped ensemble. The most significant supporting structure is the Tabby House or Nathanael Greene Cottage, which dates to the Greene family's tenure.

Dungeness (Cumberland Island, Georgia)

At one point, the Carnegie family owned 90 percent of Cumberland Island. Although the island was considered the winter home of the Carnegies, it had the capacity for being a year-round residence. Living a life of such luxury required a large staff. As you walk east of Dungeness and the recreation building, you enter the service area of the estate known as the Grange, where many of the Carnegie’s 200-300 servants lived and worked.In 1890, Lucy Carnegie hired a Harvard graduate named William Page as a tutor for her sons. Highly impressed with Page, she made him the manager of the entire Dungeness estate the next year. As manager, Mr. Page oversaw the day-to-day running of operations for the entire island. He was responsible to order supplies, hire and pay employees, and oversee the building of some of the other structures on the island.To keep Page from wanting to leave, in 1895 she built two-story mansion known as The Grange for him and his family to live in. Page remained in service to the Carnegies until his death in 1922. At that time Florence Carnegie, one of Lucy’s three daughters, moved into the house. She died in 1962. From that time until 2010, the site was considered private property. Since 2010, the property is public land, part of the Cumberland Island National Seashore.It is not yet open to the public, but for now you are welcome to walk around the property and look in the windows.

The Grange is located southeast of the Dungeness ruins. Those ruins were once a mansion owned by the Carnegie family. This house was built in 1901 as a residence for William Page, tutor for the Carnegie sons and later estate manager. Page died in 1922, after which Carnegie daughter Florence used it as her residence until she died in 1962. Her death dissolved the trust Lucy Carnegie had created in her will which kept the island property intact until all children agreed to sell or until the last child passed away. Purchase of property by developers pushed family members to consider their options to protect the island from development. Plum Orchard and the 12 acres surrounding it were donated by the Johnston families to the National Park Foundation. The NPF then conveyed it to the National Park Service. Other properties were sold to the NPS for the formation of Cumberland Island National Seashore. In exchange for the Plum Orchard property, these families were given the Grange under a 40-year retained rights agreement. During this time, this was considered private property. This agreement ended in 2010 and the property is now public land.

The Grange

There have been three homes named Dungeness on Cumberland Island. The first home was built by James Oglethorpe, founder of the Georgia colony. Cumberland Island was given to General Nathanael Greene to repay the debts that he incurred in the Revolutionary War. Greene and his wife built the second Dungeness, a four-story tabby mansion on the site. His widow Catharine married Phineas Miller. This house was abandoned during the Civil War and burned in 1866. The third Dungeness was built by Thomas M. Carnegie, brother of Andrew Carnegie. The Carnegies moved out of Dungeness in 1925. In 1959, the Dungeness mansion was destroyed by fire, widely thought to be arson.The Greene-Miller Cemetery, named for the families of Greene and Miller, is east of the house. It's the final resting place of Catharine Greene-Miller, her daughter Louisa and Louisa’s husband James Shaw. It's also possibly the final resting place of Catharine Greene-Miller's second husband Phineas Miller. If true, his grave is unmarked.Catharine's first husband was American Revolutionary War General Nathanael Greene. Greene had acquired a large section of Cumberland Island after the war. He also had a plantation called Mulberry Grove in Savannah, Georgia, where Miller worked as the plantation manager and tutor for the Greene children. Greene died in 1786. He is buried in Savannah. She married Miller in 1796. The two ran the Mulberry Grove and Cumberland Island plantations. After financial hard times, the two sold Mulberry Grove and moved to Cumberland Island. Miller died in 1803. The cemetery was officially established in 1814, when Catharine died. The property remained in the family until it was sold to William Davis, first cousin of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. It is from Davis that the Carnegies bought the land in 1881. Bernard Davis, the son of William Davis, and his son George Davis are buried in the cemetery. George Davis died in a gunshot accident, and later Bernard Davis killed himself. This prompted Davis to sell. Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee, father of Robert E. Lee, was also buried in the cemetery for a while. He had died while visiting Dungeness. As the Revolutionary War hero was traveling north to Virginia, he stopped here to rest and regain his health to be able to continue home. After several weeks under the care of Louisa and James, he passed away. In 1913, his remains were removed, and he was reburied with the rest of the Lee family in Lexington, Virginia.The two graves on the east side of this cemetery belong to Catherine Rikart and her husband John, both servants for the Carnegie family. Catherine worked as a housekeeper at Dungeness but also looked after the young Irish maids working in the house. Because they were unrelated to the Greene-Millers, they were buried outside the walls.

The Greene-Miller Cemetery, named for the families of Revolutionary War General Nathanael Greene and Phineas Miller was established in 1814. It is located to the east of the ruins of the Dungeness, a mansion that was owned by the Carnegie family. It is the resting place of Catharine Greene-Miller, her daughter Louisa and Louisa’s husband James Shaw. It is believed that Catharine’s second husband Phineas Miller was buried here. If so, he is buried in an unmarked grave. Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee was originally buried in this cemetery when he died while visiting Dungeness. Lee's remains were removed in 1913 to be re-interred at Lexington with his son Robert E. Lee and the rest of the Lee family. Most of the graves are of Greene-Miller descendants and spouses.

Greene-Miller Cemetery

In the 1880s, the Dungeness property was purchased by Thomas M. Carnegie, brother of Andrew Carnegie. He began to build a new mansion on the site. The 59-room Queen Anne-style mansion and grounds were completed after Carnegie's death in 1886. His wife Lucy continued to live at Dungeness and built other estates for her children, including Greyfield for Margaret Carnegie, Plum Orchard for George Lauder Carnegie, and Stafford Plantation. By this time, the Carnegies owned 90 percent of the island. The Carnegies moved out of Dungeness in 1925 because of costly upkeep. But the estate was maintained through Lucy Carnegie's estate. The main house, also called Greyfield, is a two-story mansion house with a raised basement and a finished attic built beginning in 1901. The house is on the western side of Cumberland Island, along the Intracoastal Waterway and facing east toward the Main Road and the Atlantic Ocean. The house is a large, frame, rectangular-shaped Colonial Revival-style building that is weatherboarded front and back, stuccoed on its exterior ends, and on its original brick footings. The Carnegies own and operate the hotel.Today, the hotel's furnishings and style remain true to the building's history. Greyfield Inn offers 15 rooms in the main house and two additional cottages. The hotel has Fireplaces and a veranda. The library, dinner bell, and a serve-yourself bar all are also features.The hotel is a mile from a private beach on the Atlantic Ocean. Its country-chic rooms offer shared or en suite bathrooms. Some have antique decor and/or 4-poster beds. Suites add living rooms. There are no TVs, phones, or Wi-Fi. Meals are included and served in a refined dining room, in a sunroom or in the garden. Drinks are extra. Resort fees include use of kayaks, nature tours and fishing equipment, as well as round-trip ferry transportation and parking. Minimum-stay rules may apply.

Greyfield is an estate with a Colonial Revival-style house of the same name on Cumberland Island in Camden County, Georgia; it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. It has also been known as Greyfield Inn since opening to the public as an inn in 1962. The house was built during 1901 to 1905 for Margaret Carnegie Ricketson and her husband Oliver Ricketson, and was one of several built for Carnegie family members within a large Carnegie family estate on Cumberland. The NRHP-listed area is 203 acres and includes six contributing buildings and four contributing structures. 

Greyfield (Cumberland Island, Georgia)

Robert Stafford acquired portions of lands belonging to General Nathanael Greene through auction, and continued to assemble former Greene family lands so that by 1830 Stafford controlled 1,360 acres with 148 slaves. In 1843 Stafford acquired 4,200 acres from P.M. Nightingale, a Greene descendant who retained Dungeness. The primary crop was Sea Island cotton. All that remains of Stafford's house is a ruin known as "the Chimneys," a series of 24 hearth-and-chimney structures representing Stafford's slaves' housing, about one kilometer east of the main house.Stafford continued to live on his plantation, but was left with no slaves to work the fields. His former slaves wouldn't work for him but still lived in the cabins. There's speculation that he burned the slave cabins because they were now freedmen. However, archaeological evidence is uncertain. All that remains are three parallel rows of chimneys in the forest. In 2004, work began on stablizing them. At one point, the lessee of the plantation threatened to remove the chimney ruins. The NPS stopped him. There have been no further issues.Stafford died in 1877. His heirs sold the property to Thomas M. Carnegie and his wife Lucy, who had also acquired Dungeness. She built other estates for her children, including Greyfield for Margaret Carnegie, Plum Orchard for George Lauder Carnegie, and Stafford Plantation. By this time, the Carnegies owned 90 percent of the island. The property is privately held under a life estate by a Carnegie descendant within Cumberland Island National Seashore.

The Stafford Plantation was a plantation on Cumberland Island in Camden County, on the southeastern coast of Georgia. It was established in the early 19th century by Robert Stafford. The Stafford Mansion was built by Lucy Carnegie in 1901, for one of her children. It was one of a series of Carnegie houses on the island, including Plum Orchard, Greyfield, and the main Carnegie residence at Dungeness. The property is privately held under a life estate by a Carnegie descendant within Cumberland Island National Seashore. The site also includes The Chimneys, the remains of former slave cabins. The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

Stafford Plantation (The Chimneys)

Plum Orchard was designed by Peabody and Stearns for George Lauder Carnegie, a son of Thomas M. Carnegie and named after his uncle, Scottish industrialist George Lauder, it was formally dedicated on Oct. 6, 1898. Peabody and Stearns also designed various additions to the mansion in the several following years, probably in 1906. The Classical Revival-style mansion includes a rare squash tennis court.It is a very large three-part, 255-foot-by-95-foot, two-and-a-half-story mansion with a colossal Ionic portico, piazza, and round-arched windows. It was constructed of wood with a stucco finish. Although it has been altered, it retains its classical symmetry. The house served as the couple's primary winter residence until George Lauder died in 1921.After he died, his widow, Margaret Copley Thaw, remarried and moved to Africa. Most of the original furnishings were sold, and furniture from Dungeness was brought in to furnish the house. The house was then occupied by the Johnston family, from Nancy Trovillo Carnegie Heaver/Johnston's branch of the family. The estate is now part of Cumberland Island National Seashore.

Plum Orchard is an estate located in the middle of the western shore of Cumberland Island, Georgia. The estate and surrounding area are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Visitors can take a free tour of the 22,000-square-foot mansion. On display are the architecture, furnishings, and machinery of the mansion. The site offers a glimpse into Edwardian High Society at the turn of the 20th century and the importance of recreation, indulgence, and rejuvenation in nature. But further exploration tells the story of a family who valued the island, and their time spent with friends and family there. The site is 7 miles north of the Sea Camp dock. There is no drinking water in route. Free tours are offered.

Plum Orchard (Cumberland Island)

The Settlement is the name given to an area at the northern end of Cumberland Island National Seashore that was settled by former slaves in the early 1890s. Before the Civil War, the largest plantation owner on Cumberland Island was Robert Stafford. He had an unorthodox way of managing his slaves. Work was done on a task system, which meant that slaves had a set amount of work to do each day and once finished they could spend time as they saw fit. This included hunting with guns provided by Stafford, raising vegetables, and even hiring themselves out to other plantation owners or doing work on the mainland at St. Marys. Any money they made they got to keep and spend as they wished. After the Civil War, this meant that Stafford’s former slaves were well ahead of the game when it came to freedom.Before the Civil War, there was a hotel and resort business at the northern end of Cumberland Island. It was run by the Clubb family. They sold their hotel in 1881 to Martin Burbank. He ran it under the name High Point Hotel. In 1893, Burbank purchased a few acres west of the hotels. He had the idea of dividing it into small plots and selling it to the former slaves who were living in the area. This community would provide him and the other hoteliers on the island, of which there were a few by then, with a supply of labor. That community came to be called the Settlement. The most famous of the buildings on the Settlment is the First African Baptist Church. It was originally a log structure built when The Settlement was founded. The current structure is the log cabin’s replacement that the remaining community members built in 1937. The hotel business thrived until the Great Depression hit. Afterwards, most of the Black residents moved to the mainland. A few stayed on to work as servants for the wealthy home owners or in the logging and agriculture businesses that operated on the island. They remained at the Settlement for a few more decades. By the time the National Park Service took over the property only four buildings remained intact. Today only two remain today.John F. Kennedy Jr. married Carolyn Bessette at the church on Sept. 21, 1996. Kennedy had been coming to Cumberland Island for years as a guest of some of the Carnegie descendants. He chose the island for his wedding because it was the only place where the paparazzi could not get to him. Anyone can get married in the church, but the National Park Service does not provide transportation.

This humble, one-room church was established in 1893 by African American residents of the island and their families. Some of the founders were born into slavery and emancipated following the Civil War. The church served as a free place of worship and community center for the Northend community known as the Settlement. The church was rebuilt in the 1930s. It was the site of the September 1996 wedding of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette. The church is located 14 miles north of the Sea Camp dock. Due to the distance, day visitors should not attempt to visit the church unless taking part in the park's Lands & Legacies Tour. The doors are open. This facility is not staffed.

First African Baptist Church (Cumberland Island)

The need for a lighthouse at the entrance to St. Andrew Sound was recognized as early as 1802, when money was appropriated by Congress for this purpose. In 1817, John Floyd sold 6 acres on the north end of the island to the United States government for $500. The 60-foot-tall Little Cumberland Island Lighthouse was designed by Winslow Lewis and built in 1838. The compound included the lighthouse, a keeper's cottage, a warehouse, and a privy. It had 14 Lewis lamps generating a fixed light. This distinguished it from the older tower to the south that had a revolving light. The lantern room received its third-order Fresnel lens, manufactured in France by Henri LePaute, in 1857. The new light had a range of 14 nautical miles (16 miles) with a focal height of 71 feet about sea level. In 1858 the last slave ship to reach the shores of the United States, the "Wanderer," enlisted the help of the lighthouse keeper to safely guide the ship through St. Andrew Sound to Jekyll Island, the island just north of Little Cumberland. It was damaged during the Civil War. In 1874, a brick wall was built around the lighthouse to protect it from the encroaching sea. The lighthouse was in service until 1915, when it was deactivated.The keeper's house and all other light station buildings, are long since gone. While the known outbuildings have all been destroyed, the foundation of the keeper's cottage is partially visible. Thanks to dedicated owners, the lighthouse has been restored and remains in pristine condition. The lighthouse was renovated by the owners from 1994 to 1998 and again in 2016 by the nationally acclaimed company The Durable Restoration Company.On the interior there is a replacement wooden spiral stair supported by a central wooden post with a mid-level mezzanine wooden platform and then at the top of the wooden stair another wooden platform. From that platform to the next wooden platform/floor there is a cast iron beam which supported the firepot which was used for the original light. There is a small metal ladder leading to this platform/floor. At this upper level, where the light once was, there are now jalousie glass windows on all sides. The site is behind a sand dune and is covered with vegetation, including live oaks, pines, and native shrubs. The lighthouse house and surrounding property is privately owned and is not open to the public. A large dune protects the lighthouse from the ocean, and as a result, the tower is now barely visible from the water.

The Little Cumberland Island Lighthouse is a privately-owned lighthouse on the north end of Little Cumberland Island adjacent to main Cumberland Island, in Camden County on the southeast coast of Georgia. When in service the light marked the entrance to St. Andrew Sound and the Satilla River. It also marked a shoal that extends about 6 nautical miles (6.9 miles) south-southeasterly of the light. The Little Cumberland Island Light is a private property, and access in not permitted without permission from the owner. However, it is viewable from Jekyll Island from the north. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. It is one of the five remaining examples of lighthouse construction in Georgia.

Cumberland Island

Ice House Museum (Cumberland Island)

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