SSI Archives

Summers in Paradise

Summers on St. Simons Island were “more fun than Heaven,” according to Frances Peabody McKay. Indeed, she used that phrase as the title for her book about the Waycross Colony, the cluster of cottages that once stood next to the Lighthouse. Between the 1890s and 1934, her family spent 36 summers in one of the simple frame houses near the beach. The colony was destroyed by fire in the mid-1930s.

Each June, Frances’ family took a three-hour train ride from Waycross to Brunswick. She and her two brothers passed the time by counting cows until they could “smell the marshes.” Upon arrival, they boarded a horse-drawn “hack” to go straight to the Brunswick docks where they had a two-hour wait before the steamer Sea Gate left for St. Simons. Once on board, they ate the lunch that had been packed that morning in Waycross: fried chicken legs, potato salad, tomatoes, pimento cheese sandwiches and a big chocolate cake. The children were fascinated by the arrival and unloading of the ice wagon that carried 500-pound slabs of ice wrapped in “croker” (burlap) sacks – bound for island iceboxes and the tremendous ice chests used in the Waycross Colony.

As the steamer got underway, the children ran to the bow to take in the familiar sights. At the various docks along the river, they spotted the other boats that ferried people back and forth to St. Simons, including the Atlantic, the Hessie, and the Attaquin. As the steamer turned into the Turtle River, a contest began: who will see the St. Simons Lighthouse first? After spotting the white tower, they went below to get candy from their mother, taking some of it to Captain Berry in the wheelhouse. When the boat reached the St. Simons pier, the children waited impatiently for the gangplank to be secured. Then, as Frances described, they raced off the pier “to sink our toes in the deep, white sand. We had arrived in Paradise.”

Frances McKay (1905-1986) lived in Waycross until she enrolled in Wesleyan College at the age of sixteen. After graduating, she edited the Wesleyan Alumnae Magazine and wrote for the Atlanta Journal. She later lived in Florida, where she and her husband founded a newspaper. In addition to More Fun than Heaven, she wrote a popular book about shells.

This month’s image shows the steamer Sea Gate near the pier on St. Simons Island. At the center is the wheelhouse where Frances and her brothers delivered candy to Captain Berry.

Since its founding in 1965, the Coastal Georgia Historical Society’s archival collection has grown to over 15,000 historically important artifacts, documents and photographs.

Our monthly images on this page are from the vast archives of the Coastal Georgia Historical Society. The Society’s mission includes the “administration, restoration and maintenance of historic facilities and resources … preserved as a living part of the historical and cultural foundations of our coastal community.” Society facilities include the St. Simons Lighthouse and Museum, the A.W. Jones Heritage Center, and the Maritime Center (formerly the U.S. Coast Guard Station). To learn more about the Society, its diverse programs, and the benefits of Society membership, please call (912) 638.4666, or visit www.saintsimonslighthouse.org.