Though the Georgia coast is a mere 110 miles long, a wealth of historic beauty-natural and manmade-lies between the Savannah and St. Mary's Rivers. The last-settled and poorest of the original thirteen colonies of the United States, Georgia is a unique combination of war-torn history and genteel character. Here you'll find stories of Civil War soldiers, pioneers and settlers, Native Americans, seafarers and pirates (including Blackbeard), and even a ghost or two. Some of the places you'll visit:

• First Presbyterian Church, where smugglers hoisted a horse into the belfry to divert the townspeople's attention from their nefarious activities.
• St. Simons Lighthouse, one of America's oldest continuously working lighthouses and home to the ghost of keeper Frederick Osborne, whose footsteps can be heard in the tower at night.
• Jekyll Island Club, an elegant, posh retreat established in 1886 by some of the wealthiest families in America, including the Astors, Rockefellers, and Vanderbilts.

Kevin McCarthy is professor emeritus and a distinguished alumni professor of Florida studies and English at the University of Florida in Gainesville, where he taught for 33 years. He has written many books for Pineapple Press.