Exploring Little Towns

Our first town was Brunswick, GA

Brunswick has a lovely downtown area with a lot of shops and restaurants and beautiful buildings. There is also a water front park but you have to cross a bunch of lanes of traffic without the aid of a traffic light.

The day we visited was quite chilly but it felt like they put a lot of time and effort into their downtown and there are probably events when it isn’t February and frigid. We will come back to this town as it is just a 30 minute ride from our current location.

Gary gave it a 7 out of 10.

I found a tea shop. Although she wasn’t technically open she let me purchase teas. The teas are blended on site. The owner and the teas are quite lovely and I recommend you stop by Biron Teas if you are ever in Brunswick.

Amelia Island/Fernandina Beach

Gary and I explored Amelia Island. We first went to the beach for a little while, then we had lunch and then we drove to the Fernandina Beach Historic District. I will caution you, they have added meters to the street parking. This seems to have caused quite the uproar among the businesses. We just chose a side street and added two blocks to our stroll, for free. No biggie!

Our first stop was The Lavender Store. I made a good bit of lavender products for my girls for Christmas gifts so I was looking for ideas more than merchandise. The woman working there was quite pleasant. The store is lovely. It features local made products for yourself, your pet or gift giving. If you love lavender, I would highly recommend stopping by!

I absolutely love this area. I love the beautiful historic architecture, I love the little shops. The sidewalks are nice for walking, there are plenty of benches for stopping to enjoy your treats along the way. People are friendly in the shops and in passing. This is definitely one of my favorite small towns.

Speaking of treats, Downtown Fernandina Beach has Gary’s favorite stop for treats! Watanut is a little shop that sells lots of take along treats but Gary’s favorite is their ice cream sandwich cookies. He ordered the Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Pecan cookie with Oatmeal Cookie ice cream. I was NOT hungry but did try a bite. Wow. Just wow. The cookies are soft, the flavors are amazing. Gary LOVES this place. He has tried ice cream cookie sandwiches other places and has been very disappointed. We will be back before we leave Georgia!

We headed back to Amelia Island for more exploring. I realize we have only been at this for two months and have only been in three states….however….if God were to want to gift me with a home any where I wanted one… We LOVE Amelia Island. The beaches are lovely, although they are missing the lovely sand of the Gulf. There is the beautiful downtown and Friday we explored Fort Clinch which is one of two state parks on the island. Rendering this space a state park essentially guarantees this space is preserved. And preserved it is. Fort Clinch is beautiful. You can pay for a day pass to spend the day on the beach, exploring the historic Fort or riding bicycles. We rode on the road but there is also a mountain bike trail. The canopy is just gorgeous.

Add to that the lovely historic district, the pretty suburbs, the lovely dedicated green space and playgrounds….Amelia Island has it all.

St. Mary’s, Georgia

St. Mary’s, GA is a little town outside of the Kings Bay Submarine Base. We will be back to check out this little town during the day, but I must tell you, the sunsets are lovely.

We had been out to dinner outside of town and the night was still young so we ventured into St. Mary’s. The town has preserved very large live oak trees with a divided street. The Waterfront Park is absolutely lovely and I would highly recommend a trip any time of the day.