Please sign the petition against developing Cumberland Island, Georgia. https://www.addup.org/campaigns/prevent-development-of-cumberland-island/petition/urgent-prevent-development-of-cumberland-island
This is one of the most magical, amazing places I've ever visited. The southeast coast has so many overdeveloped barrier islands like Isle of Palms and Hilton Head, we dont need another one. Cumberland Island is really the last place of its kind that hasn't been touched by developers and should be protected as a national treasure
I spoke to a friend of mine who lives on St. Simon's Island and she says she can see Cumberland from there. She says she figures it won't be developed and the horses are safe.
A few horses were probably brought to Cumberland as livestock when Spanish missions were established in the late 1500s although evidence is scarce. The earliest historic account of horses on Cumberland Island was in 1742. During the battle between the Spanish and the English over Fort St. Andrews on the north end of Cumberland, the Spanish found “fifty to sixty horses in a corral within the fort.” By the end of the 1700s, island landowners were reporting an estimate of 200 domestic horses and some mules kept as free ranging livestock on Cumberland. During the early 1800s, several plantations were in operation on the island and horses played an integral role in transportation, work and recreation. In the turmoil during and after the Civil War, most of the horses were sold or otherwise removed from the island. When the Carnegie family moved to Cumberland in the 1880s, they brought horses for pulling carriages, riding, hunting and other recreational activities. Over 50 horses were stabled at Dungeness alone. Throughout the 1900s, new stock was introduced and some horses were taken off the island for sale. Property owners on Cumberland managed horses as free ranging livestock from the 1940s until the 1960s. By the time the park was established in 1972, horses had become feral on the island. https://www.nps.gov/cuis/learn/nature/feral-horses.htm
