Pat’s Wildways: Darien walkabout

Darien, Georgia is only an hour north of Fernandina but it is years in the past from the bustling town we now call home. Bucko and I go there for a night or two to savor the quietness and history of this small town. It has been three years, amazingly, since our last overnight in Darien and things have changed, but in a good way. There are now more restaurants and lodging, but so far the additions seem tasteful and not overwhelming. We shall see.

I always start my mornings in Darien with a walkabout from our usual hotel, the Darien Dockside Inn, located on Broad Street across the parking lot from our favorite restaurant there, Skippers. The crumbling tabby building next door has now been restored (as much as possible) and has been opened as the Tabby House Brewing Company and down at the docks another new establishment, the Marsh Pirate has opened up serving beer and wine as well. But in the morning neither of these new places appeals to me. I just want to walk.

I followed the shore-side path past old tabby ruins, then under U.S. Highway 17 and along a boardwalk bordering a small town park, and up to Broad Street again to continue east. My goal this morning is Boone dock, where shrimp boats unload their catches. In years past I could walk all along the water’s edge to get there, but now a boutique hotel and restaurant, Oaks on the River, blocks this direct route. I walked a few blocks east on Broad Street to the historic Saint Cyprians Episcopal Church and turned right on Boone Dock Road past a bit of natural vegetation to the shrimp docks. This was not as idyllic as it sounds — this bit of greenery apparently is breeding grounds for noxious yellow flies that harassed me all the way down the hill. Bummer.

But all was worth it when I hit the docks. As luck would have it a shrimp boat was unloading and the crew and workers had no objection to me watching the show and, later, to bringing Bucko down to watch it with me. The shrimp being unloaded had already been “headed” with the heads laboriously removed by hand by the boat crew in between sets of the trawl. Boone’s shrimp often appears in the Harris Teeter store on Amelia Island — it’s fun to see its origin.

Back on my walk I swatted yellow flies and hurried past the natural area back up to Broad Street and on to the central park at Vernon Square. Along the way I noticed wasps flying into a hole in the ground. With a bit of Googling I found out that these were great golden digger wasps — a predatory species that hunts grasshoppers, crickets and other insect prey, but sadly not yellow flies. Too bad.

Vernon Square is a central park complete with a fountain, shadowed by Spanish moss-dripping live oaks and surrounded by historic churches — you couldn’t ask for a more scenic view of life in the South. On my way to meet Bucko for breakfast I passed by a real estate office with a newspaper receptacle in front of it. A yellowed paper inside had the headline “Rain can’t dampen Christmas spirit at annual parade.” Yes Darien is indeed a place lost in time.

Enough with my walk, it was time to enjoy the new additions to the Darien I once knew — breakfast at Oaks on the River where I was meeting Bucko. And what an amazing place that turned out to be! The boutique hotel lobby was well decorated and equipped with a player piano churning out relaxing music for the restaurant goers sitting on tables by large windows overlooking the river. The ambiance was right up there with the best upscale restaurants, with white linen tablecloths, crystal glasses — the works. And the food! Wow! We both had coffee and a basic breakfast of eggs, cheese grits, bacon, and biscuits. I added sausage gravy to mine and Bucko had an orange juice and all of this came in giant tasty proportions. And the total cost? $25 including tip! We couldn’t eat at McDonald's for this price!

I hope this has inspired you to check out Darien for yourself, for a day or for an overnight or more. We spent two nights there this time and I have much more to tell. Stay tuned for my second Darien report next week.

Pat Foster-Turley, Ph.D., is a zoologist on Amelia Island. She welcomes your nature questions and observations. patandbucko@yahoo.com