Ruins To The Sky
by D Hackett
Title
Ruins To The Sky
Artist
D Hackett
Medium
Photograph - Digital
Description
Ruins To The Sky by D Hackett
As the 19th century faded, the 20th century rose as The Gilded Age, an explosion of wealth and excess. Pittsburghs Thomas (brother to steel magnate Andrew) and Lucy Carnegie decided on Cumberland Island as their winter home. Built in an even grander style than the original structure a century earlier, the 59-room, 37,000 square feet, turreted Scottish castle, also called Dungeness, was completed with 40 additional buildings that included a staff of 200. When Thomas died he left Lucy with nine children and a large inheritance. Lucy went on to acquire 90% of Cumberland Island, turning it into a vast, self-sufficient family preserve staffed by about 200 employees. She set about expanding the Dungeness complex to include more than 20 buildings, as well as walls, decorations, and a pergola (colonnaded walkway that supports climbing plants). A guest house east of the mansion included a heated pool, a steam room, a recreation room, a squash court, and several bedrooms. Other houses, docks, and structures were built all over the island. Seven of Lucys nine children married, and she presented four of them with mansions on Cumberland Island.
When Lucy died in 1916, Andrew II, Thomas II, and Margaret remained trustees of the estate. Initially, the Carnegies maintained their affluent lifestyle, but finances grew tight in the mid-1920s and tighter with the stock market crash of 1929. Although the Carnegies valued the primitive nature of the island, financial difficulties forced the family to generate income by closing Dungeness and capitalizing on Cumberlands resources. In the 1920s, A.A. Ainsworth of New York almost purchased Cumberland to found a major development similar to Coral Gables, Florida, but the project never materialized.
By the 1950s, the gardens at Dungeness were no longer maintained. In 1959, Dungeness was destroyed by a fire that could be seen for miles along the mainland coast. Several Florida poachers were the likely culprits, but nobody was ever arrested for the crime. Some say the poachers were hell-bent on destroying this forbidden land flourishing with game and modern conveniences. Seen from as far away as St. Marys, the Dungeness burned for three days. The ruins of Dungeness remain a popular feature of Cumberland to this day, and wild horses favor grazing on the grassy grounds Orchard and Greyfield.
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June 12th, 2016
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