Cumberland Island's Next Chapter
A beloved barrier island that has hosted the Carnegie's, the Candler's, and the Kennedy's, faces expired contracts and a fight for sacred land
JFK Jr and Carolyn Bessette, the beautiful TriBeCa couple with chic, private destinations lining the coast of America.
Their September 21, 1996 wedding on Cumberland Island was so understated, it was explosive. A small church on a mysterious island shrouded with exclusivity, a small chapel and a handful of mostly abandoned Carnegie mansions. Cumberland Island is only accessible by boat or private aviation, and the historical southern Georgia island has remained every bit of an exceptional backdrop since its first settlement 4,000 years ago.
The charm of the 18 mile long, 3 mile wide, Cumberland Island is a reminder of patriotism. With undisturbed beaches, canopy trees, and wild horses, it is America’s most biologically diverse barrier island. Cumberland is a rare glimpse into the view of America’s early settlers.
Evoking the memory of the 1996 Kennedy wedding serves to express the experience that only a barrier island without a grocery store can offer. Its rare preservation of nature, and elusive stories of elite families, envelopes the island in a protection of sorts. But of course, it was designed to be protected.
Of the twenty-one lifetime rights holders, sixteen were Carnegie and Candler families, two were longtime “north end” families, two were attorneys (Carnegie attorney Thornton Morris, and county attorney Grover Henderson) and one, an untamed, electricity free, by the dirt of God, naturalist named Carole Ruckdeschel.
JFK JR + CAROLINE BESSETTE SAY ‘I DO’
Cumberland’s neighboring island is less than a mile away by boat, it is named Amelia Island. With a historic downtown and bustling restaurants, Amelia Island has a population of nearly 40,000, making its proximity to hospitality professionals far outreach Cumberland’s nearly non-existent population. The preparation for the 1996 Kennedy nuptials created a gossip economy amongst locals that lives on to this day.
The story goes that a few weeks before the wedding, some local restaurant owners were tapped for staffing front and back of house of the Kennedy reception. The best of the best were included, asking few questions about what this mystery assignment could possibly be.
The celebration began Friday evening at the Island’s only Inn, the Greyfield. A nine-bedroom mansion that once belonged to Andrew Carnegie’s brother, Thomas. At the rehearsal dinner, John Junior toasted his bride for having made him “the happiest man alive.”
The following evening, their wedding ceremony took place in a tiny, wood-frame First African Baptist Church. Built in 1893 by former slaves, the chapel’s eight wooden pews were full of a group about 40. This included Sen. Ted Kennedy and his wife, Vicki; Jackie’s sister Lee Radziwill Ross, her son Anthony Radziwill, who was best man, and his wife Carole; Jackie’s longtime companion, financier Maurice Tempelsman; John’s sister Caroline and her husband, architect-planner Edwin Schlossberg, and their three children Rose, Tatiana, and Jack; and Bessette’s mother, Ann Marie, sister Lisa and brother-in-law Michael Roman.
NOTES ON A VISIT
Today, tourists can take a ferry to Cumberland and either explore on their own or embark on a six hour guided tour by bus.
Tour guide stories include lore of the wild horses, contracted Carnegie family mansions, land rights, and of course, tales from September 1996.
One tour guide shared stories of the infamous wedding day, about how John and Carolyn arrived to the church hours behind schedule, with John sparing his bride from revealing her fashion emergency.
”It gets to be 7:30 and the couple finally shows up. Now, John took the blame for it and he said that the reason they were late was because he wanted to wear his dad’s shirts and cufflinks to get married and they had misplaced those things… Well, you find out later that it’s actually Carolyn’s issue. She had a Cuban designer design a beautiful wedding dress. She was a thin lady and she had that dress made to fit her like a glove. It was cut at the boddess, there was no zipper and she did not take into consideration the heat and humidity out here on this island. She swelled up so much she could not get that dress on and that was really the reason they were late. So, somebody at Greyfield had the bright idea of gathering all the scarfs they could find and they wrapped her up like a mummy until they were able to get that dress on.”
The sun had set before the ceremony began so the wedding party borrowed lanterns and candles from one of the island’s only residents, Carol Ruckdeschel. Ruckdeschel, a naturalist living just a few feet away from the church, in a home she built herself.
After the ceremony, guests piled into trucks and headed back to the Greyfield Inn for an intimate reception and three-tiered vanilla cake. While at the church, the bride and groom stayed back for photos, where a wild horse allegedly ate Carolyn’s bouquet and the couple found their way back to their party on four-wheelers.
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EXPIRED CONTRACTS + THE VULNERABLE FUTURE OF CUMBERLAND ISLAND
In 2014, Will Harlan published a book about Carol Ruckdeschel, titled “Untamed: The Wildest Women in America.” Untamed tells the tale of Carol’s life, her journey to becoming a naturalist, her instinctual relationship with animals, and her uninhibited soul. Carol, both in person and in text, inspires others with her principals of earth. Her integrity serving land before man.
Today, the contracts between America’s most historical families and the National Parks Service grow closer to expiration, and the conversations of protecting land grow more tense and incredibly urgent.
While some locals whisper of plans to build hotels, other discuss unwanted subdivisions. The fear of new development for residential or commercial properties is a threat to the many species of voiceless animals and plants that exist peacefully on an island with yearlong sunshine and plenty of moisture.
The land itself feels like the largest museum I’ve ever walked through. Each trail telling a story, evoking a feeling, leading to the next fresh thought.
Families on the island drive around with their kids in the back of pickup trucks and fishing poles sticking out. They watch tourist busses go by and wonder the definition of neighbors, of America, of preservation, of money.
INTEGRITY OF LAND + LAW
It’s like a real-life Yellowstone. Well-meaning elites bumping up against what they believe is a natural evolution of land come nose to nose with humans who identify closer with animals than their own kind.
When humans maintain a voice for what cannot speak, the original arguments of America find themselves in modern conversation.
It’s almost heartachingly wholesome to imagine an island of people fighting over who drew the most accurate maps, naming each tree like it’s a litter of puppies. Power is power is power.
The implications of losing this land would be another expired American agreement that couldn’t find its way into the millennium. A proud brag of ecological conservation would turn into a land of “what used to be.”
How many more memories of America are just that, memories?
On October 20, 2024, preservationists from Wild Cumberland responded to a proposed land transfer, accusing Cumberland’s elite of using vague statistics, incorrect maps, and clout -chasing lawyers to rewrite the rules of an American agreement.
”After all, this exchange is happening because one family cannot develop a subdivision where they want to, which County zoning has prevented.”
The 12 page document highlights:
Other potential projects or actions that might affect, or be affected by, this project:
● The agency has not disclosed to the public how these exchanges or any park plans may be affected by, or tied to, recent changes in policy, such as housing/lease agreements, public/private partnerships, etc.
● More permanent residents will result in significantly more vehicular use of the island road, which bisects the barrier island’s entire Wilderness area.
● Use of septic systems or any water resource impacts have not been evaluated.
● It will also increase use and authorization of beach driving in critical habitat, which is managed/authorized by the state of Georgia. More beach driving permits are issued on Cumberland Island than any other island in the state.
● Any data or results from recent funded coastline erosion studies and/or Coastal Resiliency or Climate Change plans for the Seashore are not available for public evaluation. Several of the parcels proposed for private ownership are located within one narrow strip of the island.
● The status of the agency’s former proposed Visitor Use Management Plan (VUMP), which also proposed significant changes to the categories, types, and number of visitors, is still not available to the public.
Wild Cumberland recommends the following alternative approaches:
1. Immediate development and implementation of a Wilderness Management Plan before any land use changes are considered. The Management Plan may or may not include boundary adjustments.
2. A full Environmental Impact Statement is necessary for public consideration. This should include a complete analysis of alternatives, as well as the direct, indirect, and reasonably foreseeable impacts so that the public can properly assess the proposed land exchanges.
3. Acquisition of any remaining inholdings, with no land exchanges considered. This may warrant the Department of Interior’s use of condemnation and/or imminent domain.
4. The agency should affirm for Camden County that NO increase of development density will be accepted.
5. Termination of any retained right agreements by the parties involved in these “land exchanges”. Page 10 of 12 If the agency is renegotiating deals with certain families, every fee simple & retained right landholder should receive an opportunity to do so. History repeats itself: the proposed plan, again, only provides provisions for the Seashore’s most privileged families.
My Godmother, Mary Ricketson Bullard, wrote a book on the history of Cumberland Island. She had a house there until her death. She was an archeologist. Cumberland was like no other place I'd ever visited. I am sad to read this. And BTW - the Kennedy wedding sadly brought unneeded publicity to this quiet place.
Protect Cumberland island! Who needs another freaking subdivision or hotel? That place is a natural treasure.