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Kids can dress up in period costumes at Fort Frederica.
What:Fort Frederica National Monument
Where:6515 Frederica Rd., St. Simons Island, Ga. | 912-638-3639
When:9 am – 5 pm Monday – Friday (Execpt Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day)
Cost:$3 for adults, Free for children 15 and younger
Although the south is well known for Civil War history, St. Simons Island off the coast of Georgia is also the site of a Colonial English settlement that pre-dates the American Revolution by forty years.
Fort Frederica guarded the coast from the Spanish who occupied nearby St. Augustine (at the Castillo de San Marco – another one of our favorite field trips). The fort is now a National Park Service site that is an exceptional place to bring history alive for children and adults. My kids had a great time and were eager to return. Here’s why.
The Junior Ranger program at Fort Frederica is the best I’ve seen.
Fort Frederica Museum
Fort Frederica has a small, but engaging museum where children can dress up in period outfits, sit at a Tavern table, play colonial games and even write a letter with a quill. There is a short film that explains the site’s history. The movie is well done and engaged our group of children from ages 6 – 8 years old.
Fort Frederica Junior Ranger Program
Whenever we visit a state or national park, we always inquire about the Junior Ranger program. Fort Frederica’s program is the best one I’ve ever seen. Kids pick up a haversack of materials along with a booklet and a colonial hat. The booklet is more than just puzzles and games. It takes children and a hunt through the town of Frederica to find Mr. Demere and give him an important letter from General Oglethorpe. Along the way they learn about interpreters, tavern keepers, candle makers, soldiers, and what it was like to be a kid in the town of Frederica. When kids finish the activities, they bring the booklet back to the ranger station for a certificate and Junior Ranger badge.
Fort Frederica Tips for your Visit
Fort Frederica is located along the coastal waters of Georgia, which means in summertime it can be hot and buggy. The National Park Service site warns visitors to keep away from the Spanish moss which is loaded with chiggers (small biting bugs), wear bug spray with DEET to keep the mosquitos, biting flies and sand gnats away, and warns to check everyone for ticks once you leave. With that glowing recommendation, we opted to visit Fort Frederica in December. It was a bit windy and cold, but completely bug free.
The live oaks in the town of Frederica are beautiful.
Kids carry a haversack as part of the Jr. Ranger program and use items within it during their journey to deliver a message from General Oglethorpe.
The messages in the Jr. Ranger booklet lead children to different houses in the Frederica settlement.
This was the solider’s barracks.
Keeping an eye out for Spanish ships. The telescope was in our Jr. Ranger haversack.
Fort Frederica was an English settlement
Solider’s from Fort Frederica fought the Spanish back at the Battle of Bloody Marsh. The boys had so much fun at Fort Frederica, they asked to see the site of the Battle of Bloody Mash – also on St. Simon’s.
