Hitch 7

Chapter 7: Fort Frenderica and Cumberland Island

Ticked Off

Fort Frederica was settled by a mismatched group of wanderers who were far from where they came, looking for a new home. We also went far from home to explore the Southeastern Georgia settlement, but only stayed a couple days. We surveyed the dense forests of the National Monument and found unwelcomed settlers, such as Japanese Privet, Japanese Wisteria, Japanese Honeysuckle and Salt Cedar. While carefully charting the location of these invaders, certain locals were keeping tabs on us. The canopy rained ticks upon us, saturating our clothes with the bloodthirsty villains. Some of us plucked upwards of 115 little monsters off of our persons. As the ticks executed their siege from all angles, we were struck from below by stealthy chiggers, which gnawed our ankles and waistlines to splotchy, itchy messes. We fled the 18th century settlement to an island where the Carnegies once found refuge.
Amongst the wild horses and grazing deer, we brush cut, lopped, chainsawed and hand sawed invasive bamboo, we could not be dragged away. The new shoots would be foliar sprayed later. We also hunted and attacked Tungoil Tree, pulling out the small ones by the root with the help of a weed wrench. We also sliced and diced salt cedars that were infesting the coasts, using the chainsaw to reduce them to blue stumps. The island was once the vacation spot of the elite and powerful and now is stewarded by the National Park Service. Our crew helped restore the islands ecosystem closer to what it was prior to European settlement.