Visitors are drawn to the Island for its warm climate, beaches, variety of outdoor activities, shops and restaurants, historical sites, and natural environment.

[citation needed] Cannon's Point, on the north end of St. Simon's Island, is an archaeological site that includes a Late Archaic shell ring.

[13] The Cannon's Point site has yielded evidence of occupation by Native Americans since at least as early as the appearance of ceramics in the southeastern United States.

On hearing of the presence of the pirates, Lorenzo de Santiago, chief of San Buenaventura, moved the people of his village, along with most of their property and stored maize, to the mainland.

During the early stages of the war, Confederate troops occupied St. Simons Island to protect its strategic location at the entrance to Brunswick harbor.

[34] In contrast to the post-Civil War era, the decline of lumber did not open a new period of economic hardship; for a new industry was taking hold on St. Simons Island.

The arrival of the automobile and the opening of the Torras Causeway in 1924 ensured the continued growth of tourism on St. Simons, the only one of the Golden Isles not privately held.

[37] On April 8, 1942, World War II became a reality to residents of St. Simons Island when a German U-boat sank two oil tankers in the middle of the night.

[38] Security measures were tightened after the sinkings, and anti-submarine patrols from Glynco Naval Air Station in Brunswick ultimately ended the U-boat threat.

[41] During the postwar years, as resort and vacation travel increased, permanent residential development began to take place on St. Simons Island and surrounding mainland communities.

[49] Commonly sighted land and amphibious animals include white-tailed deer, marsh rabbits, raccoons, minks, alligators, armadillos, terrapins and frogs.

Species include sandpipers, plovers, terns, gulls, herons, egrets, hawks, ospreys, cormorants, white ibis, brown pelicans, and the southern bald eagle.

[50] The area surrounding St. Simons Island and the Altamaha River delta is an important stopover for migrating shorebirds traveling between South America and their spawning grounds in the Canadian arctic.

As a result of all this avian activity, Gould's Inlet and East Beach on St. Simons Island have designated stops on the Colonial Coast Birding Trail.

[51] The waters off St. Simons Island are likewise home to a great variety of sea life, including dolphins, right whales, a wide diversity of gamefish, and the occasional manatee.

The acreage includes maritime forest, salt marsh, tidal creek, and river shoreline, as well as ancient shell middens and remains of the John Couper plantation of the early 19th century.

[75] Visitors have been coming to St. Simons Island since the late 19th century, first by boat, disembarking at the pier on its south shore, and later by car via the F. J. Torras Causeway.

Visitors come to St. Simons Island for its beaches, scenic vistas, water sports, fishing, sailing, golf, historical sites, and laid-back lifestyle.

[81] After the American Civil War, many Geechee people who had been enslaved remained on St. Simons Island, subsisting on whatever they could harvest from their gardens and the surrounding waters.

Today, the coalition conducts tours of historic sites and produces the annual Georgia Sea Islands Festival to celebrate traditional Geechee African-American music, food, and crafts.

The Neptune Park Fun Zone, on the south end of the island, near the Pier Village, includes a public swimming pool, miniature golf, two playgrounds, picnic tables, and restrooms.

[88] Hikers, walkers, and bikers can enjoy the St. Simons Island-wide Trail System that stretches from the Village area to East Beach and Hampton Point at the north end.

ft. event hall available for rent, a research library, and the Society's vast collection of objects, artifacts, and archival materials from hundreds of years of coastal Georgia history.

The Moore Museum is the official repository of the archives of the South Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church and is open to the public Monday through Saturday.

At the Battle of Bloody Marsh on July 7, 1742, an outnumbered force of British soldiers ambushed and defeated Spanish troops, halting a planned attack on Fort Frederica.

Markers and information panels at this outdoor observation site explain the battle, which permanently ended Spain's claims to the Georgia territory.

Owned by the St. Simons Land Trust, the Preserve includes a salt marsh, tidal creek, river shoreline, 4,000-year-old shell middens, and ruins of a 17th-century plantation house and slave quarters.

When General Oglethorpe and the British arrived in 1736, they established a naval facility at the bluff and granted 500 acres (200 hectares) of its land to Captain James Gascoigne, of the sloop-of-war Hawk, and the name persists to this day.

Step back to April 8, 1942, when the crew from this station rescued survivors of two American ships torpedoed by a German U-boat 13 miles off St. Simons Island.

Rebuilt in 1872, it continues to operate today, owned by the Coastal Georgia Historical Society and maintained by the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary.