Dungeness at Cumberland Island

During my Christmas vacation, I will be visiting Cumberland Island on my way to Charleston, South Carolina. In researching for my trip, I found that, in addition to having wild horses, Cumberland Island was once home to a Carnegie estate.



The Carnegie Dungeness.

Cumberland Island is located on the coast of Georgia and is only accessible by ferry from St. Marys. Originally settled by Native Americans and later by Spanish missionaries, the small island was named after the Duke of Cumberland by English General James Oglethorpe when he arrived on the Georgia coast in 1733. Oglethorpe established a hunting lodge named Dungeness in 1736, which was eventually destroyed. The next Dungeness was designed by Revolutionary War hero Nathaniel Greene and built after his death by his widow in 1803. During the War of 1812, the four-story tabby mansion was used as British headquarters. Henry Lee III, father of Robert E. Lee, also lived and died there. Both Greene's widow and Lee maintained a plantation, and, in 1846, records show there were 36 white people and 400 slaves. The house was abandoned during the Civil War and burned in 1866. During the 1880s, Scottish industrialist Thomas M. Carnegie began building another Dungeness on the site. Construction was completed after Carnegie's death in 1886 and resulted in an 89-room Queen Anne mansion. The Carnegies, who previously owned 90% of the island, moved in 1925, and Dungeness was burned in 1959, reportedly due to arson. The ruins are currently preserved by the National Park Service.



Current day ruins of Dungeness.