2 posts tagged “cumberland”

rusted cars (including a model t) on a small lot at dungeness.

i'm back from a week long camping/biking/hiking trip on cumberland island. there were many amazing things about this trip from the 30 mile bike ride from sea camp to high point back to dungeness (started on the main road came back on the beach) to seeing the first african baptist church and the ruins of my ancestor's houses for the first time to getting a tour of the teeny cumberland island museum...here is a photo of the church which has relatives names on the cornerstore. yes, it is that little church where jfk jr. and caroline bissett got married but so much more than that...my grandmother and other older relatives have passed on so many stories about this area that i felt like i knew it before i arrived and when i did get there, it was all so familiar. in most of the guidebooks, including the brochure issued by the national park service, one of my distant cousins is mentioned and pictured, george merrow. he and his wife were the last blacks to live on cumberland. all of the private property now is in the hands of descendants of the wealthy white families or folks who had sense enough to buy land in the mid-70s from old timers. it is a shame because blacks owned a lot of property but the transfer of land/taking over by the feds was so swift that enough people didn't have time to act to save their lots. to see more photos of cumberland, visit my vacation photostream.