Mystery Material Identified (see below)Another most beautiful day, but it does seem that there have been many such days since we started this adventure. We've had only one morning of a bit of rain, several days of relatively high winds and a number of chilly nights, but mostly the days could not have been better (sorry about all the snow, rain, etc. those of you in PA have been 'enjoying' lately).
Today's travels took us from Folkston (well, perhaps it is really Hometown, but that's another story) to Kingston to Kings Bay to Crooked River and finally a third trip to St. Marys before returning. The 20 miles between Folkston and Kingston along GA 40, a road we have traveled a number of times now, is mostly wilderness like most of the area that surrounds us; however, it seems to us (although we've not actually made a count) that there is an inordinate number of churches, of many denominations, more churches, it seems, than houses. We've seen this in other areas as well. They are mostly quite small, but in good condition and obviously well attended as shown by the number of cars in the parking lots on a Sunday morning. Evidently we are on the Eastern end of the 'Bible Belt' and it appears to be alive and well.
Our visits today included the Kings Bay Submarine Base - well, not actually on the base but just outside the fence. It is obviously a very secure area since I was (not quite politely) told "NO Pictures" by the guards at one of the main gates as I prepared to take a shot of just the name of the place. The best we were able to accomplish was to visit and photograph a memorial that was erected outside of the fence. The conning tower you will see is from a decommissioned Triton sub.
Our next stop was at Crooked River State Park, another really nice preserve with camping spots, very nice cabins, trails, boat dock, etc. that you will see in the pictures. There seems to be no shortage of nice places to visit throughout this region. In our trip South and East from the River (which empties into Kings Bay) we stop to see the ruins of a sugar mill before proceeding to our third visit to St. Marys which has become one of our favorite spots in this area. St. Marys is a small, sea shore type town at the mouth of the St. Marys River which flows into the intercoastal waterways that seperate the mainland from the various off-shore islands that we've been visiting.
As the sun began to approach the horizon, we enjoyed a dinner of fish and chips on an outdoor balcony overlooking several marinas. As we watched boats come and go as well as pellicans preening and listened to the gulls screeching, it seemed the perfect end of another grand day.
Oh yes, there is another problem to be solved. Can you identify the material that was used in building the walls of the sugar mill? The material is TABBY - see comments below.
For the pictures, go to:
4 comments:
regarding the construction material - it looks a lot like recycled asphalt/pavement... but also like very small rocks, possibly with some kind of tar as mortar... but I'm sure I'm way off base. My crazy answers would be either chunks of raw sugar cane, or the bones of the laborers who were overworked to death. If none of those are right... how about briquettes of burnt timber, or solidified waste materials? No? None of those right either. Well, then - I guess I'm stumped. My guess is steve or vicky will know - cuz they know, like, EVERYTHING! ;)
Tabby is a concrete-like substance made of lime, water, powered oyster shells, and crushed (but chunky) oyster shells. As the process of making tabby was very labor intensive is faded out of fashion once slave labor was no longer available.
We also had Lisa respond with "Are there shells mixed into that wall?" which was a good guess but only a partial description when compared with Vickie's which was right on the money. Of course there was a big hint in the "Tabby" that was shown in picture of the marker for the site, but if you've never heard of the material before it might have been a bit tough to pick up on that. Congrats once again Vickie & keep up the excellent and speedy investigations. I sure hope the rest of you are not going to let Vickie run away with this thing!
Hi! My name is Vicky and live in Folkston. I came across your blog by accident and just wanted to say that I'm glad you are enjoying your trip in our corner of the ountry. Happy Thanksgiving!
Post a Comment