Top Golden Isles How to Get Around in 2026

St. Simons Island is almost exactly the same size as Manhattan, but instead of skyscrapers, it has live oaks, and instead of eight million people, it has 6,000 years of layered history. On this audio driving tour, you'll trace the island's story from Indigenous shell rings to World War II submarine attacks. The tour starts at the Pier Village parking lot, beside the old fishing docks. From here, you'll drive past the St. Simons Lighthouse, built in 1872 on the footprint of an earlier light whose Confederate-hidden Fresnel lens has never been found, and along the coast where German U-boats torpedoed American oil tankers just offshore in 1942. Along the way, you'll hear the story of Igbo Landing on Dunbar Creek, where a group of West Africans chose defiance over enslavement in 1803. The tour ends back at Neptune Park by the pier, named for Neptune Small, a man born into slavery on Retreat Plantation whose name now marks the land he eventually owned.