# Golden Isles & the First Coast *US 17 and A1A to the oldest city* Golden Isles & the First Coast is a ~210-mile back-roads route from Savannah to St. Augustine on US 17, GA 99 and FL A1A, driven in 2–3 days, that stays off I-95 through the Atlantic Coast. - **Drive:** Savannah → St. Augustine - **Distance:** ~210 mi - **Days:** 2–3 - **Highways:** US 17, GA 99, FL A1A - **Avoids:** I-95 - **Region:** Atlantic Coast - **Themes:** Natural Beauty, History & Markers, Oddities & Roadside Wonders, Eats & Institutions Georgia's hundred-mile marsh (Sidney Lanier wrote it an ode) hides Gilded Age ruins, wild horses, a church that seats twelve and the ferry-dependent remnants of Gullah Geechee island life. Cross into Florida for eight flags' worth of Fernandina, a boneyard beach, the last river ferry on A1A — and St. Augustine, where America's oldest city wears its 1565 pedigree under a thick coat of glorious kitsch. Markers: Georgia's coastal markers plus Florida heritage plaques; the Gullah Geechee Corridor continues to the state line and beyond. ## The drive, segment by segment ### The Geechee Coast *Savannah → Darien · ~60 mi* Midway's 1792 meetinghouse, the smallest church in America, and Darien's shrimp fleet beside rice-plantation ruins — with the Sapelo ferry spur into living Gullah Geechee history. Stops: - **Midway Church** (Midway) · History & Markers — A 1792 New England-style meetinghouse in the Georgia pines — its tiny congregation produced two signers of the Declaration. The cemetery's live oaks predate the nation that resulted. - **Smallest Church in America** (South Newport) · Oddities & Roadside Wonders — Memory Park Chapel (1949): about a dozen seats, stained glass, door never locked. Rebuilt by donations after a 2015 fire — the congregation is whoever pulls over. - **Darien & Butler Island** (Darien) · History & Markers — Shrimp boats beside the brick chimney of a rice empire — Fanny Kemble's 1838–39 journal from this plantation helped turn British opinion against slavery. Black Union troops burned the town in 1863, the raid that troubled Glory's Col. Shaw. - **Sapelo Island (spur)** (Sapelo Island) · History & Markers — Reservation-only ferry to Hogg Hummock — one of the last intact Gullah Geechee communities, holding on against tax pressure and time. Tours by community members; book well ahead, tread gently. ### The Golden Isles *Darien → St. Marys · ~60 mi* Brunswick's stew pot, St. Simons's tree spirits, Jekyll's millionaire ghosts and driftwood boneyard — then St. Marys, gateway to Cumberland's wild horses. Stops: - **Brunswick** (Brunswick) · Eats & Institutions — Brunswick stew's contested birthplace (Virginia objects; the 1898 'original pot' is displayed here regardless) and a working shrimp port. Lover's Oak downtown has hosted courtships for a claimed 900 years. - **St. Simons Tree Spirits (spur)** (St. Simons Island) · Natural Beauty — Faces carved into the live oaks (find them; locals will hint), Fort Frederica's 1736 ruins, and the lighthouse whose keeper's ghost still climbs the stairs, by reliable report. - **Jekyll Island (spur)** (Jekyll Island) · History & Markers — The Gilded Age's most exclusive club — Morgans and Rockefellers wintering together; the Federal Reserve was secretly drafted here in 1910. Driftwood Beach's oak boneyard at dawn, the Sea Turtle Center after breakfast, and the Wanderer memorial on the south end remembering one of America's last slave ships (1858). ### The First Coast *St. Marys → St. Augustine · ~90 mi* Eight-flag Fernandina and Florida's oldest saloon, Big Talbot's boneyard beach, the little Mayport ferry — and the coquina walls and ancient kitsch of St. Augustine. Stops: - **Cumberland Island (spur)** (St. Marys) · Natural Beauty — Ferry from St. Marys to wild horses grazing the ruins of Carnegie's Dungeness; JFK Jr. married in the one-room First African Baptist chapel at the island's north end (1996). Book the ferry weeks ahead; bring everything, buy nothing — there's nothing to buy. - **Palace Saloon** (Fernandina Beach) · Eats & Institutions — Florida's oldest continuously operating bar (1903), mahogany and murals intact, in the eight-flags town where the modern shrimping industry was born. Pirate's punch; reasonable people order two. - **Boneyard Beach** (Big Talbot Island) · Natural Beauty — Salt-bleached oak and cedar skeletons toppled along the bluff — the Atlantic slowly eating the maritime forest, beautifully. - **Mayport Ferry & Singleton's** (Mayport) · Eats & Institutions — The little St. Johns River ferry keeps A1A unbroken (cars, gulls, five minutes of brine); Singleton's Seafood Shack at the landing fries what the boats brought. - **Castillo de San Marcos** (St. Augustine) · History & Markers — America's oldest city (1565) and its coquina fortress — the shell-stone walls absorbed cannonballs like a sponge; the fort was besieged repeatedly, never taken. Fort Mose, two miles north, was the first legally sanctioned free Black settlement in what's now the US (1738). - **Fountain of Youth & the Alligator Farm** (St. Augustine) · Oddities & Roadside Wonders — Venerable Florida kitsch: the Ponce-themed park has poured sulfurous 'youth' since the early 1900s (peacocks included); the 1893 Alligator Farm keeps every living crocodilian species. Finish with Minorcan clam chowder — datil-pepper heat found nowhere else. ## Tips and best time to go - Three ferries (Sapelo, Cumberland, Mayport) define the route — only Mayport is walk-up; book the others first, then plan around them. - Sea-turtle nesting (May–Oct): Jekyll's center does dawn patrol walks in June–July. - St. Augustine's old town is a parking duel — stash the car once and walk. ## Worth a detour - **Kingsley Plantation** — Fort George Island: Florida's oldest plantation house and the extraordinary story of Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley — enslaved, freed, then a planter herself; the tabby slave cabins make it concrete. - **Okefenokee east entrance** — Folkston is 40 minutes west — this route and 'Sherman to the Swamp' shake hands there. - **GA 99 marsh loop** — The slow inner loop through Hofwyl-Broadfield's rice ruins and shrimp-town crossroads. ## Spurs & side-roads - St. Simons Island - Jekyll Island - Sapelo ferry (reservations) - Cumberland Island ferry ## Frequently asked questions ### How long is Golden Isles & the First Coast and how many days does it take? Golden Isles & the First Coast is about 210 miles and takes 2–3 days at a back-roads pace. ### Where does Golden Isles & the First Coast start and end? It runs from Savannah to St. Augustine. ### Which highways does Golden Isles & the First Coast follow? It follows US 17, GA 99 and FL A1A. ### Which interstate does Golden Isles & the First Coast replace? It avoids I-95, using US 17, GA 99 and FL A1A instead. ### How many stops are on Golden Isles & the First Coast, and what are the highlights? 13 stops are mapped, including Midway Church, Smallest Church in America, Darien & Butler Island, Sapelo Island (spur) and Brunswick. ### Which ready-made itineraries include Golden Isles & the First Coast? The Whole Hog (28 days), Golden Isles Getaway (3 days) and US 17: Outer Banks to Florida (8 days). ### When is the best time to drive Golden Isles & the First Coast? The atlas’s seasonal note for this route: “Sea-turtle nesting (May–Oct): Jekyll's center does dawn patrol walks in June–July.” ## Ready-made itineraries using this route - [The Whole Hog](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/whole-hog) — 28 days, ~4300 mi - [Golden Isles Getaway](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/golden-isles-weekend) — 3 days, ~260 mi - [US 17: Outer Banks to Florida](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/us17-end-to-end) — 8 days, ~820 mi ## Connects with - [US 90: The Florida Backbone](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/ost-florida) — St. Augustine → Pensacola - [Sherman's March to the Sea](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/sherman-march-sea) — Milledgeville → Savannah - [Kings Highway & the Lowcountry](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/us17-lowcountry) — Wilmington → Savannah --- Canonical URL: https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/golden-isles Publisher: Dixie Media (Dixie Road Trip, https://dixieroadtrip.com/) Last updated: 2026-10-05