This small tidal creek [sometimes cited as the Kilkenny River] gets its name from Kilkenny Plantation, which was built along its banks in the 1840s. It’s located to the west of Ossabaw Island.
Kilkenny Creek, Bryan County
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Tag Archives: Georgia Natural History
Cay Creek, Liberty County
Cay Creek is a tidal waterway in eastern Liberty County, originating near Midway and meeting the coast near Harris Neck. Originally known as Salter’s Creek, it was renamed Cay Creek for Raymond Cay, Sr. (1805-1883), who owned a plantation near the present-day Cay Creek Wetlands Interpretive Center. The relatively short waterway features an amazing variety of ecosystems, including upland forest, open wetland, tidal swamp, brackish marsh, and finally tidal creek.
Longleaf Pine Plantation, Baker County
It’s always encouraging to see Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris) in the landscape, and there is quite a lot of it in Baker County, like this stand on Williamsburg Road.
The savanna [grassy woodland] is the habitat most associated with Longleaf and is essential to the health of numerous keystone species, including the Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus), Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Leuconotopicus borealis), Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus), and Indigo Snake (Drymarchon couperi). Many of the plants and animals the environment supports are threatened or endangered.
Reynoldsville Landing, Lake Seminole
No matter where I’m traveling, I always try to make at least one stop at a public park or natural area for a moment of decompression. There are many such places in Georgia just waiting to be seen. If you love water, you’ll love Georgia’s “Other Coast”. Sure, there are other big lakes in Georgia, but Lake Seminole lies near farmlands dotted with oaks as big as you’ll find on the actual coast. In your drive to get there, you’ll most likely see them. It’s just beautiful country.
Reynoldsville Landing is located on a finger of Lake Seminole. It’s a public landing and day-use park overseen by the Army Corps of Engineers.
Alapaha River at Pafford’s Landing, Lanier County
This view of the Alapaha River looks north from the US 221/US 129 bridge just east of Lakeland at Pafford’s Landing. Heavy winter rains have resulted in a much higher water level than normal. The privately owned launch and beach are publicly accessible at the landing, but not all of the property is open to the public.
The Alapaha is popular with fishermen and kayakers today. It’s also of historical importance as an integral feature in the settlement of this section of the Georgia Wiregrass region.
Brickyard Branch, Long County
Brickyard Branch is located on the edge of Ludowici, bordering both sides of US Highway 301. It’s part of the Altamaha River floodplain.
I first thought it was named for the brick and tile yard of the Ludowici Celadon Company which gave the town its name, early in the 20th century, but after discussion with a longtime resident believe there was a brickyard near the creek which was operational before the Celadon Company. It may have been what attracted them to the area.
Branch is another term for swamp [or creek]. A typical Southeast Georgia landscape, reminiscent of the Okefenokee Swamp, it’s characterized by brackish streams, ponds, and prairies.
Though not a publicly accessible area, it can be viewed from the highway right of way in several locations.
No other river in Georgia that I know has floodplains as extensive as the Altamaha, which reach over ten miles from Jesup to Ludowici.
It’s very important for wildlife and native plants, many of which are found in greater numbers here than almost anywhere else.
Most of the area is protected, be it by wildlife management areas or private ownership.
Top Ten Posts of 2022
With nearly a million views, these are our most popular posts of 2022. Thanks for traveling with me and for making all this possible.
#1- House Creek Boils, Wilcox County
#2- Apartment Houses, St. Simons Island
#3- Peches Stand, Putnam County
#4- Elizabeth Durden House, 1840s, Emanuel County
#5- Hunter’s Cafe, 1951, Shellman Bluff
#6- Package Store, Jeff Davis County
#7- Best Biskits by a Dam Site, Hartwell
#8- Flint River Diving Trees, Meriwether County
#9- Amanda America Dickson House, 1871, Hancock County
#10- Stonewall J. Williams Plantation, 1880s, Screven County
Cypress Swamp, Irwin County
One of my favorite things about riding dirt roads is encountering little swamps and wetlands. In fall and winter, they are at their most colorful.
Yam Grandy Creek, Emanuel County
The name of this creek has always fascinated me and I don’t think there’s agreement on what it means. It’s possibly based on a Native American name but I just can’t find anything about it. I somehow don’t think it’s related to sweet potatoes. A relatively small stream, it rises northwest of Swainsboro and joins the Ohoopee River near Oak Park.
Creighton Island, Georgia
The tiny sliver of land visible on the horizon in this image is Creighton Island, a wonderfully obscure place on the McIntosh County coast.
The abridged sketch which follows, archived from an older website, was written by Jeannine Cook and details the island’s fascinating history.
Creighton Island is a privately-owned, inner barrier island in McIntosh County… It was formed by aeons of rising and falling ocean levels combined with ever-changing deposits of sand ridges. The roughly 1,100 acres of high ground on Creighton date mainly from the Pleistocene era (40,000 B.C.), but are still being shaped afresh by wind, waves, tides and storms. Today, the island is roughly 2 1/2 miles long and a mile wide.
Creighton bears testimony to human activities during at least the last 3,500-4000 years. Archaeologist Clarence B. Moore uncovered important funerary materials – urns, stone and copper chisels, hatchets…- on Creighton’s north end in 1896-97. It is said that the Guale Indians considered the north end of the Island as a very sacred burial ground. Later, it is possible that the first European colony on the eastern seaboard of North America, San Miguel de Gualdape, took brief root on Creighton in 1526 when Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon tried to establish 600 Spanish and African settlers on this coast. By 1756, Daniel Demetre had acquired “John Smith’s Island”, as Creighton was then designated. In the 1770s, William DeBrahm, Surveyor General to King George III, noted the existence of unexplainable entrenchments and ruins on the Island. The mysteries DeBrahm created about Creighton have lingered to this day.
The Island acquired its present name from its 1778 owner, Alexander Creighton, a Savannah businessman. Timbering and farming (especially cotton, sugar cane and corn) were important activities, despite occasional devastating hurricanes…Thomas Spalding worked with his son-in-law, William Cooke, owner of Creighton after 1838, and during that period, tabby dwellings were built at the north end. Their vestiges remain today. Freed slaves, based at the north end, remained on the Island after the Civil War. The north end was also a focus of important timber-loading facilities for large ships at the “Sapelo port” in 1880-98, complete with US post office and telegraph lines connecting Creighton to Darien. The 1898 hurricane destroyed these port facilities; they were rebuilt but by 1910, the timber boom era in McIntosh County had finally ended. In 1947, Creighton Island was acquired by the present owners…
…The Island’s long, diverse history combines with great natural beauty to represent a unique microcosm of Georgia’s coast. Today’s owners deeply respect the environmental importance of their island sanctuary…