Imagine an island with towering ancient oaks, covered in glistening Spanish moss. The dirt roads are closed to cars, but visitors can bike from the beach and sand dunes to the woods, and even to the ruins of Carnegie family mansions lost in time. All while seeing feral horses – generations of equines now free from their domesticated ancestors left behind on this barrier island along Georgia’s southernmost coast.
History and nature meet at the Cumberland Island National Seashore, managed by the National Park Service and home to over 9,800 acres of Congressionally designated wildness. Here park-goers will discover maritime forests, undeveloped beaches and a long complicated history which includes native tribes, Spanish missionaries, enslaved African Americans and wealthy industrialists. But for equestrians, it’s the unmanaged herds likely introduced to the island when the Spanish missions were established in the late 1500s that is the main draw.
I visited Cumberland Island for the first time this summer and it was a true delight. The island is only accessible by boat. We took a twice-daily ferry service from the nearby St. Mary’s Island. Being a national park, the facilities at Cumberland Island are scarce. Visitors come to camp or just for the day, and are expected to pack out what they pack in. The only commercial facility on the island is the historic Greyfield Inn, which offers 15 rooms for overnight stays.
My husband and I stayed on Jekyll Island, another charming, and very southern, beachside community just under an hour north of Cumberland. It was easy to take our bicycles with us from Jekyll, onto the ferry, and out onto the trails of Cumberland on a hot summer day in search of wild horses.
Cumberland Island is home to the only herd of feral horses on the Atlantic Coast that is not managed by the Bureau of Land Management. That means the government does not provide any food, water, veterinary care or population control to the upwards of 120-150 horses who live there. The herd must endure the stressors of all natural life on the island, from native wildlife to challenging weather conditions.
Many of the horses we saw on our day trip were skinny. It was June, and several mares had young foals at their side. But many others were round in their barrels and moved on sound hooves. Nature take its course without human intervention.
The earliest account of horses on Cumberland Island is 1742, according to the National Park Service. Up to 60 horses were accounted for in the battle between the Spanish and English over Fort St. Andrews on the north end of the island.
By the 1700s, there was a reported 200 domestic horses and some mules kept as livestock. During the 1800s, plantations were in operation on the island and required horses for working farm roles. It wasn’t until the Civil War that most horses left or were no longer needed on the island.
The famous Carnegie family moved to Cumberland Island in the 1880s, building large homes and bringing horses along for hunting, carriages and other activities. Now descendants roam the ruins of those old mansions.
These small horses, most around 13 to 14 hands, come in all colors and of course with different personalities. We’d discover small herds grazing or in search of water in flat, pasture-like openings across the island. Some dozed under the trees on the hot afternoon. Some bachelor bands of young stallions challenged others with small herds of mares and foals.
The horses are very much apart of the history of the island, which is now a tourist destination for nature and knowledge. They receive the right-of-way on the roads and roam the beaches and forests freely, as they should. While their lifespans are often short (up to 10 years, park officials estimate) they live their lives on Cumberland Island naturally and free.
If you get the chance to visit, it’s a dreamy place to admire them and respect their place in history.