A woman riding a horse and buggy in the Waycross Colony,
Source: Sandy Jones Private Collection via Golden Isles History Facebook Group.
In the 1890s, two rows of cottages were erected just west of the St. Simons Lighthouse. This area was called the “Waycross Colony” because almost all of the cottage’s owners were from Waycross, Georgia, located 65 miles inland. These cottages were summer vacation homes, and most were without heating, electricity, or plumbing.
The owners of the Waycross cottages would migrate over to the coast in the summer. Women, children, and grandparents would bring horses, pigs, cows, chickens etc. with them via the ferry system, and some families would even hire cooks and handymen for the summer. Working husbands would travel from Waycross to Brunswick by train, and then take the ferry to the island to visit their families.
After the hurricane of 1898, the Waycross Cottages were destroyed, but they were soon rebuilt. However, in 1935, a fire burned down the remaining houses.
