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On March 16-17, 2011; Jim and Judy took a trip to the Okefenokee Swamp in south Georgia. We drove from Valdosta to Fargo and St. George on highway 94. In St. George we turned north on highway 121. We arrived at the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge just south of Folkston. We ate lunch in the Okefenokee Adventures Cafe, toured the Visitor Center, and took a 90-minute boat tour in the canal dug around 1895 to 1900 to attempt to haul out cypress timber. The canal didn't work; so, a railroad came and were successful at hauling out timber. We left the refuge and drove north to Folkston and enjoyed visiting the Folkston Funnel, a high-tech shelter for observing, logging, photographing, and videoing north and south bound trains. Finally we drove further north to Waycross to spend the night at a Hampton Inn which had complimentary high-speed Internet that worked. We enjoyed a dinner of blackened fish at Cedar River Seafood Restaurant in Waycross.
We spent Wednesday night in Waycross, GA and took a round-a-bout way home. We drove to Blackshear, GA and saw the old home where Jim's grandparents lived. Then we drove to Alma, GA where his first cousin had lived before he died as a teenager. Next we drove through Nicholls and Douglas, GA. We came back home through Pearson, Lakeland, and Hahira. We ate lunch-supper at Smok 'n Pig in Valdosta.
Okefenokee Swamp Park, Waycross, Georgia.
The next day it was still raining, and it rained all day. Normal people would have stayed indoors.
But no ... we drove up to Georgia, to the Okefenokee Swamp.
We didn't see a bobcat ... they were keeping out of the rain!
The bobcat (Lynx rufus), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 2002, due to its wide distribution and large population. Although it has been hunted extensively both for sport and fur, populations have proven stable, though declining in some areas.
It has distinctive black bars on its forelegs and a black-tipped, stubby (or "bobbed") tail, from which it derives its name. It reaches a total length (including the tail) of up to 125 cm (50 inches).
It is an adaptable predator inhabiting wooded areas, semidesert, urban edge, forest edge, and swampland environments. It remains in some of its original range, but populations are vulnerable to extirpation by coyotes and domestic animals. Though the bobcat prefers rabbits and hares, it hunts insects, chickens, geese and other birds, small rodents, and deer. Prey selection depends on location and habitat, season, and abundance. Like most cats, the bobcat is territorial and largely solitary, although with some overlap in home ranges. It uses several methods to mark its territorial boundaries, including claw marks and deposits of urine or feces. The bobcat breeds from winter into spring and has a gestation period of about two months.
Okefenokee Swamp Park, Waycross, Georgia.
The next day it was still raining, and it rained all day. Normal people would have stayed indoors.
But no ... we drove up to Georgia, to the Okefenokee Swamp.
After the boat trip and the train ride there was one more thing that just had to be done ... a walk through the swamp on the boardwalk, to the observation tower.
Okefenokee Swamp Park, Waycross, Georgia.
The next day it was still raining, and it rained all day. Normal people would have stayed indoors.
But no ... we drove up to Georgia, to the Okefenokee Swamp.
The entry to the Park includes a boat trip ... although we appeared to be the only two visitors that day, they still ran it. It was brilliant ... and really wet and swampy!
We were once alive, like you are now.
But we complained and hollered anyhow.
So love each day, don't pass it by ...
Sooner or later you too will die!
Okefenokee Swamp Park, Waycross, Georgia.
The next day it was still raining, and it rained all day. Normal people would have stayed indoors.
But no ... we drove up to Georgia, to the Okefenokee Swamp.
Okefenokee Swamp Park, Waycross, Georgia.
The next day it was still raining, and it rained all day. Normal people would have stayed indoors.
But no ... we drove up to Georgia, to the Okefenokee Swamp.
The entry to the Park includes a boat trip ... although we appeared to be the only two visitors that day, they still ran it. It was brilliant ... and really wet and swampy!
In the late 1850s, W.T. Chesser and his family settled a small island on the eastern edge of the Okefenokee Swamp.[2] The Chesser's were a rugged family, carving out a life in the often harsh conditions of the area. Their history is typical of many area settlers; they ate what they could shoot, trap, catch and grow on the sandy soil. Cash crops were primarily sugar cane, tobacco, and turpentine. They lived simply, worked hard, and played hard, when possible.
W.T. Chesser came from the area of Tattnall and Liberty counties in Georgia to settle on the edge of the Okefenokee Swamp. He settled the area currently known as Chesser Island, a 592-acre (2.40 km2) island filled with forests of longleaf pine, slash pine and pond pine in low areas, and an occasional oak hammock.
The original homestead was south of the current buildings. W.T. Chesser had six sons. Son Robert Allen Chesser married Lizzie Altman and had 13 children. Son Sam Chesser married Sara Altman and had nine children. Tom Chesser, the youngest son of Sam and Sara, built the current homestead in 1927, with his wife Iva.
The home is built of yellow pine and reportedly cost $200.00 to build. Originally, the building had four rooms and it featured an indoor kitchen. Bathroom facilities were outside, but a bathtub was located on the back porch. Two bedrooms were added as the family grew to seven children. Outbuildings include a smokehouse, syrup shed, chicken coop, corncrib, and hog pen. The yard retains its original character - it is free of all vegetation, as was the custom of the time to reduce fire danger and increase visibility of snakes.
For the little cash they needed, they grew corn, tobacco, or sugar cane; they also tapped pine trees for turpentine. Work and play often came together - hog butchering and syrup grinding were times when families got together to visit, work, and play.
Typical of families at the time, they told stories, attended church all day on Sunday, and played with toys made at home. The Chessers were fond of a distinctive type of music - four-note or sacred harp singing. Chesser descendants continue to sing these primitive, a cappella, harmonies today.
Okefenokee Swamp Park, Waycross, Georgia.
The next day it was still raining, and it rained all day. Normal people would have stayed indoors.
But no ... we drove up to Georgia, to the Okefenokee Swamp.
The Okefenokee Swamp is a shallow, 438,000 acre (1,770 km²), peat-filled wetland straddling the Georgia–Florida border in the United States. A majority of the swamp is protected by the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and the Okefenokee Wilderness. The Okefenokee Swamp is considered to be one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Georgia. The Okefenokee is the largest "blackwater" swamp in North America. The term Okefenokee in Native American is "land of trembling earth". The swamp was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1974.[1]
Okefenokee Swamp Park, Waycross, Georgia.
The next day it was still raining, and it rained all day. Normal people would have stayed indoors.
But no ... we drove up to Georgia, to the Okefenokee Swamp.
The entry to the Park includes a boat trip ... although we appeared to be the only two visitors that day, they still ran it. It was brilliant ... and really wet and swampy!
The larger variant of Sarracenia psittacina is commonly observed in flooded habitats in the few areas where it occurs naturally. These primary localities are Okefenokee Swamp, west central Georgia along the fall line sandhills, and the Florida panhandle - most notably on Eglin Air Force Base.
In almost all natural occurences with habitat unaltered by man, the plants are found floating or associated with deep water in which the plants are not attached to any terra firma. It is unknown if the larger size is an adaptation to this habitat or if this large size has been selected by the habitat. Rarely is the much smaller S psittacina var. psittacina ever observed co-occurring with this larger variant in aquatic habitats.
The sill or spill water embankment was built to retain water in the swamp during drought years but it turned out that it only affected a very small area of the swamp and today it is being systematically dismantled to restore the historic flow of the Suwannee River which flows from the Okefenokee Swamp.
Scan of older 35mm print.
Okefenokee Swamp Park, Waycross, Georgia.
The next day it was still raining, and it rained all day. Normal people would have stayed indoors.
But no ... we drove up to Georgia, to the Okefenokee Swamp.
The entrance also included a little train ride around the swamp. Again ... just for the two of us.
Contrary to popular beleif, Bills Lake & Billys Island in the Okefenokee Swamp was not named after the famous Seminole chief Billy Bowlegs (or Boleck). There is no historic evidence that Bowlegs was ever in Okefenokee. However there was an old indian named "Billy" living on the Island when the soldiers first went there during the Seminole wars, this is where the name came from. Blyys Lake is one of the most beautiful areas in the swamp and is known for its reflections in the tannin tinted waters as you can see in this image.
Scan of old 35mm Kodachrome slide.
File name: 06_10_013325
Title: Observation tower, Okefenokee Swamp Park, Waycross, Ga.
Date issued: 1930 - 1945 (approximate)
Physical description: 1 print (postcard) : linen texture, color ; 5 1/2 x 3 1/2 in.
Genre: Postcards
Subject: Parks
Notes: Title from item.
Collection: The Tichnor Brothers Collection
Location: Boston Public Library, Print Department
Rights: No known restrictions
Okefenokee Swamp Park, Waycross, Georgia.
The next day it was still raining, and it rained all day. Normal people would have stayed indoors.
But no ... we drove up to Georgia, to the Okefenokee Swamp.
The entry to the Park includes a boat trip ... although we appeared to be the only two visitors that day, they still ran it. It was brilliant ... and really wet and swampy!
Okefenokee Swamp Park, Waycross, Georgia.
The next day it was still raining, and it rained all day. Normal people would have stayed indoors.
But no ... we drove up to Georgia, to the Okefenokee Swamp.
The entrance also included talks and demonstrations by park staff. Again ... just for the two of us.
Effortlessly uploaded by Eye-Fi
On March 16-17, 2011; Jim and Judy took a trip to the Okefenokee Swamp in south Georgia. We drove from Valdosta to Fargo and St. George on highway 94. In St. George we turned north on highway 121. We arrived at the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge just south of Folkston. We ate lunch in the Okefenokee Adventures Cafe, toured the Visitor Center, and took a 90-minute boat tour in the canal dug around 1895 to 1900 to attempt to haul out cypress timber. The canal didn't work; so, a railroad came and were successful at hauling out timber. We left the refuge and drove north to Folkston and enjoyed visiting the Folkston Funnel, a high-tech shelter for observing, logging, photographing, and videoing north and south bound trains. Finally we drove further north to Waycross to spend the night at a Hampton Inn which had complimentary high-speed Internet that worked. We enjoyed a dinner of blackened fish at Cedar River Seafood Restaurant in Waycross.
We spent Wednesday night in Waycross, GA and took a round-a-bout way home. We drove to Blackshear, GA and saw the old home where Jim's grandparents lived. Then we drove to Alma, GA where his first cousin had lived before he died as a teenager. Next we drove through Nicholls and Douglas, GA. We came back home through Pearson, Lakeland, and Hahira. We ate lunch-supper at Smok 'n Pig in Valdosta.
Okefenokee Swamp Park, Waycross, Georgia.
The next day it was still raining, and it rained all day. Normal people would have stayed indoors.
But no ... we drove up to Georgia, to the Okefenokee Swamp.
After the boat trip and the train ride there was one more thing that just had to be done ... a walk through the swamp on the boardwalk, to the observation tower.
The view was brilliant from up there ... you get a better idea of just how big the Okefenokee really is. You can't see any end to it ...
The Great Okefenokee Swamp is the largest, intact and un-fragmented wetland wilderness swamp in North America.
Long before Europeans or their descendants discovered "The Land of Trembling Earth", the indigenous tribal peoples who lived in and around the Okefenokee held a fear and reverence for certain supernatural aspects of this swamp.
The Okefenokee is a vast bog inside a huge, saucer-shaped depression that was once part of the ocean floor. The swamp now lies 103 to 128 feet above mean sea level.
Native Americans named the area "Okefenokee" meaning "Land of the Trembling Earth". Peat deposits, up to 15 feet thick, cover much of the swamp floor.
These deposits are so unstable in spots that trees and surrounding bushes tremble by stomping the surface.
Okefenokee Swamp
Waycross, Ga.
On March 16-17, 2011; Jim and Judy took a trip to the Okefenokee Swamp in south Georgia. We drove from Valdosta to Fargo and St. George on highway 94. In St. George we turned north on highway 121. We arrived at the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge just south of Folkston. We ate lunch in the Okefenokee Adventures Cafe, toured the Visitor Center, and took a 90-minute boat tour in the canal dug around 1895 to 1900 to attempt to haul out cypress timber. The canal didn't work; so, a railroad came and were successful at hauling out timber. We left the refuge and drove north to Folkston and enjoyed visiting the Folkston Funnel, a high-tech shelter for observing, logging, photographing, and videoing north and south bound trains. Finally we drove further north to Waycross to spend the night at a Hampton Inn which had complimentary high-speed Internet that worked. We enjoyed a dinner of blackened fish at Cedar River Seafood Restaurant in Waycross.
We spent Wednesday night in Waycross, GA and took a round-a-bout way home. We drove to Blackshear, GA and saw the old home where Jim's grandparents lived. Then we drove to Alma, GA where his first cousin had lived before he died as a teenager. Next we drove through Nicholls and Douglas, GA. We came back home through Pearson, Lakeland, and Hahira. We ate lunch-supper at Smok 'n Pig in Valdosta.
Okefenokee Swamp Park, Waycross, Georgia.
The next day it was still raining, and it rained all day. Normal people would have stayed indoors.
But no ... we drove up to Georgia, to the Okefenokee Swamp.
The entrance also included talks and demonstrations by park staff. Again ... just for the two of us.