In the fall of 1996, John F. Kennedy Jr. quietly married Carolyn Bessette in an old slave church on the island, then retreated to the seclusion of Greyfield Inn to begin married life. Few people had heard of this remote spot before the Kennedy wedding thrust it into the headlines. Greyfield Inn is one of the last remaining privately-owned sections of Cumberland Island. About eighty percent of it is undeveloped National Seashore, while the balance is still owned by the Carnegie family. The Carnegies' once laid claim to the entire island, and most of the feral horses that roam there descend from stock brought to Cumberland by the family.

Cumberland islands limits visitors to only 300 per day. I didn't realize that this made reservations essential during the temperate months of spring and fall. I missed my anticipated springtime visit, and wound up scheduling my visit for the end of June. By then, the steamy Georgia summer was already well-established, and the ferry ride to the island was hot and sticky even though it was still fairly early in the day. Two bird watchers sat nearby, on their way to Cumberland in hopes of spotting a painted bunting. They looked the part: wide brimmed hats, binoculars, pockets bulging with Peterson guides. "I just want to see the horses!" I told them. The birdwatchers stiffened slightly. This seemed to be a sore subject for them.

"The horse shouldn't be there at all!" asserted one birder, a retired pediatrician. "They aren't native wildlife, and I don't understand why the park service allows them to remain at all!"

"But they are pretty!" her companion chimed in helpfully. The pediatrician raised an eyebrow at her friend, then conceded, "Yes, they are beautiful animals. They just have no business roaming on a National Seashore."

The first census of the horses was taken in 1981, and 144 individuals were counted. By 1995, this number had grown to at least 239 horses. Genetically, these horses are supposed to be quite similar to the North Carolina feral horses. Phenotypically, I discovered, they bear no resemblance. Most of the North Carolina island horse populations have many similarities. Most of them had distinctive Spanish characteristics, and a stocky build. Not so the Georgia horses. The equine population I observed on Cumberland stood an average of about 15 hands high and had longer backs and legs.

Most surprising of all, the dominant coloration was appaloosa! I had not seen a single "appy" in any of the other island herds. As was typical of appys, these horses represented a wide spectrum of coat colors: roan with white blankets, dark with white "snowflake" markings on the rump, bay with spotted blankets across the hindquarters. They displayed other Appaloosa characteristics besides coat color, such asthe tendency towards a sparse mane and tail, striped hooves, mottled skin, and the white sclera of the eye always apparent.

The earliest record of horses on Cumberland dates to 1742. The Spanish and English were battling over Fort Andrews on the north end of the island, when the Spanish discovered fifty to sixty English mounts corralled inside the fort. Unfortunately, the animals were all shot, and the fort was burned. Legends claim that 10,000 pounds of silver were hidden in a well during this skirmish. It has never been found, and if it ever existed, it may well still be on the island, well-buried by centuries of shifting sands.

At the beginning of the Revolutionary War, Cumberland was utilized as a staging area for American troops, and military mounts were kept on the island. At one point, provisions ran low, and the soldiers survived on a diet of "alligator meat, Madeira wine, and horseflesh".

General Nathanael Greene wrote that in 1785, at least 200 horses and mules roamed the island. (foot) Horses were necessary for working plantations and for traversing its 18 mile length. Free-roaming horses were periodically corralled and sold by plantation owners for five dollars each. However, during and after the civil war, most if not all of this stock was removed from Cumberland. After the revolutionary war, General Green acquired Mulberry Grove plantation near Savannah. He later bought extensive property on Cumberland Island, intending to build a summer house for his family on the site of a hunting lodge named Dungeness. Unfortunately, he died, before he could begin to build. In 1796, Green's widow Catherine was remarried to Phineas Miller, who built not a summer home, but a palatial year-round mansion- also named Dungeness. When the civil war began, the planters of Cumberland retreated to the mainland for safety. This appears to have been a wise move. The families returned to find that all but Dungeness' stone walls and chimneys had burned to the ground.

After that, Cumberland Island remained relatively undisturbed by people until 1881, when Thomas Carnegie, brother of Andrew Carnegie, bought most of the island as a winter retreat. Another Dungeness mansion was erected on the site of the first, graced by verandahs, turrets, and gables. Thomas and his wife Lucy welcomed guests, and there were plenty of activities for all, including hunting, fishing, golfing, and cruising aboard the Carnegie yacht, also named Dungeness. Eventually, the Carnage children and their families constructed smaller vacation mansions, and Dungeness was no longer maintained and it was subsequently destroyed by fire.

In 1968, 3,000 acres of Cumberland were sold to the same developer who turned South Carolina's Hilton Head Island into a resort center. The Carnegie's prized the natural beauty of the island, and together with a group of conservationists, succeeded in blocking the development of the island. In 1971, most of the Carnegie property was sold or donated to the Park Service, and in 1972, the island became a national seashore. In 1982, the northern 8,840 acres were designated a wilderness area.