Tybee Island and Fort Pulaski--Hollywood and History

We wanted to take Denisa's Mother, Betty, to see the Atlantic Ocean, so we planned a day at Tybee Island. Knowing that Denisa was in charge of the agenda, we had to stop at the Tybee Lighthouse.

Then we headed to the beach, where Mark escorted his mother-in-law across the hot sand to the ocean.

We had to take the obligatory picture of the Atlantic Ocean at the edge of the wet sand . . .

and Mark thought it would be funny not to warn us about that really big wave that surprised us.

This is our fifth island to visit since we arrived on the Atlantic coast. But it will also be our last for a while, as our next path will take us in-land.

We thought it was curious to see they were having lifeguard tryouts--but for 2017? and for Emerald Bay?

But when we saw the movie lights and cameras a short distance away, we realized we were on the set of a Hollywood production.

They were transforming Tybee Island Pier into Emerald Bay Community Pavilion.

We had planned to walk the pier, but it was closed to the public because they had erected metal towers on each end of the pier. The wires that ran between the towers were used to run a camera beside the actors as they moved along the length of the boardwalk.

It was hard to take pictures from the sand below the pier. But we could see the complicated camera equipment hanging from the wire, as well as some of the props and sets. We watched as they rolled more props out, but they weren't doing any filming while we were there.

We found out that they were filming scenes for an upcoming season of Baywatch. Denisa tried to look like a life guard, as she posed by another prop on the beach.

We tried to figure out the plot of the episode they were filming. We are guessing they are signing up potential lifeguards for the mythical Emerald Beach. It looks like part of the lifeguard job interview was running through this obstacle course that was set up on the beach. There were orange cones and security officers all over the area, but it was a fascinating part of our visit to Tybee beach.

So we didn't see many shells or sea creatures on the beach this time, but it was certainly an interesting trip. On the main street of Tybee Island, a big parking lot was filled with the trucks, trailers, and support vehicles of a Hollywood cast and crew.

Besides our brush with Hollywood, we also had a brush with history this day. We stopped in at Fort Pulaski National Monument. Built in 1829, it is a 5-sided fort surrounded by a 7-foot-deep moat. Mark is enticing his mother-in-law to say "Oh Mercy!" as he steps off the draw-bridge and balances over that moat.

This is one of the most intact of the forts built in the 1800's, and it features arched entry ways with openings for cannons at regular entry ways.

Again, Betty was saying, "Oh Mercy!" as Mark climbed up into an empty cannon look-out to see the view over the moat and beyond. She's obviously not used to traveling with a mountain goat like Mark.

The old brick walls and peeling white paint make interesting arch pictures.

There are two levels of the fort, with another row of cannons on top. We can see Betty walking in the shadow on the ground level, muttering "Oh Mercy!" as Mark stands on the edge to take the picture.

The view from the top showed the surrounding area, and lots of beautiful blue skies this morning.

Fort Pulaski was a confederate stronghold during the Civil War, and Robert E. Lee spent months fortifying it against the union soldiers approaching from Tybee Island. The island is a mile across the river, and civil war era cannons cannot accurately shoot that far. With its 7.5-foot-thick walls, it was believed that you "might as well bombard the Rocky Mountains" because this fort was impenetrable. It was obviously a great place to store the supply of 40,000 pounds of confederate gun powder.

But they didn't know that the union army had some new-fangled weapons known as rifled cannons. These new cannons could spin a bullet-shaped ball out of the barrel in such a way that it could be aimed more accurately. When shot from their secret locations across the river, they were hitting their target soundly on the outside wall of the fort.

This new artillery would change the way that battles were fought, and made forts more vulnerable to cannon fire. After 30 hours and 5,275 cannon shots made by the union forces, one wall of the fort had been breached. Knowing that another cannon shot could now ignite the supply of gun powder inside the fort, the confederate commander was forced to surrender. Once in union hands, Fort Pulaski became a prison for confederate soldiers (and ornery visitors that cause their gray-haired Mother-in-law to say "Oh Mercy" too many times).

Once a focus of war, today it was a peaceful place to explore. Having Betty with us means we can have more couple shots, and a refreshing level of "Oh Mercy!"