All Day Sapelo Island Tour

On the Whole Day Tour of Sapelo Island, we first tour the University of Georgia Marine Institute and its famous turkey fountain, which begins the fascinating story of multi-millionaire R.J. Reynolds and his four wives and five divorces!

Then we visit the impressive R.J. Reynolds Mansion, built in 1810 by Island plantation owner Thomas Spaulding, followed by the scenic Sapelo Island Lighthouse, built in 1810, where we add Sapelo's interesting military history. The lighthouse is open for climbing only at 11 a.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Next comes the beautiful unspoiled Nanny Goat beach, with no hotels, motels, condos, or houses, where giant seat turtles next every summer Then we tour the Hog Hammock National Historic District, home to the Island's Gullah-Geechee descendants of plantation slaves, and stop for lunch at historic Farmer's Alliance Hall.

Then we enter the R.J. Reynolds Wildlife Management Area, home to whitetail deer, wild hogs, wild cattle, alligators, raccoons, armadillos, and bald eagles, driving to the restored 1899 First African Baptist Church at Raccoon Bluff on Blackbeard Creek facing the scenic Blackbeard Island National Wildlife Refuge beach.

Crossing the Island, we stop at the mysterious 4,500 year old Indian Shell Ring, the Chocolate Plantation tabby slave cabin and manor ruins, restored tabby barn, and Sears house, followed by the Moses Hammock Hunt Camp, possible Spanish mission site at Log Landing, R.J. Reynolds' cotton gin, Howard Coffin Island Commissary, the "Three sister's houses", and tabby ruins of Thomas Spaulding sugar mill and restored Long Tabby sugar house.

Our final stop is the haunted Behavior Cemetery, still in use by descendants of the former Island plantation slaves, before returning to the Island dock for the ferry trip back to the mainland.