Cumberland Island National Seashore

Located off the coast of Georgia, Cumberland Island was once the retreat of some of America's wealthiest families, most notably the family of Thomas Carnegle, brother of steel magnate Andrew Carnegle, and his wife Lucy. The death in 1962 of their last child, Florence Carnegle Perkins, ended the restrictions of a complex family trust arrangement, and led to the division of their land among Carnegle descendants. These parties and the other landowners, both old and new, clashed over their conflicting interests in retaining land for personal use, selling to developers, or entrusting parcels to the National Park Service for public use. Today, more than three decades after its legal designation as the Cumberland Island National Seashore, the island is home to a magnificent array of natural resources including a seventeen-mile beach and the largest surviving stand of maritime oak forest in the United States; more than half is currently designated a wilderness area and is a serene and beautiful public space. The story of how the park arrived at its current status, however, is as rugged and wild as the land itself. In Cumberland Island National Seashore: A History of Conservation Conflict,