Before John F. Kennedy Jr. married Carolyn Bessette, both she and the location for the wedding were virtually unknown.

Advertisement

The good news is that all the hoopla is over. Cumberland Island (a national seashore and Georgia's largest and southernmost barrier island) and The Greyfield Inn, the island's only lodging and the site of the Kennedy-Bessette pre-dinner and post-reception, have returned to relative normalcy. In part, that's because Cumberland Island isn't that easy to reach, unless you stay at the Greyfield Inn, and even then you have to hope that the room you want to occupy is available. Only five of the 15 rooms have private bathrooms. One is in the main house, the others in two freestanding cottages on the grounds. Figure on about $350 per night for the two of you, but that includes transport by round-trip ferry (which departs from Fernandina Beach, Fla.), a lavish Southern breakfast, a picnic lunch, a fabulous gourmet dinner served at candlelit tables in a dining room with fireplace, an island tour, and bicycles.

Talk about privacy: Only 300 people per day are allowed on the island, yet none but registered guests are allowed on the Inn's 1,300 acres. Still, most of the island feels as if you have it all to yourself. It's rare that you'll see another soul on the 17 miles of beaches edged by sand dunes as tall as 40 feet. But you will see wild horses (a scene straight out of a Hallmark card), the island's sole donkey, and hundreds of shore birds, mole crabs and coquina crabs following the waves. For more information and reservations at the Greyfield Inn, call 904-261-6408. For information on Cumberland Island, call 918-882-4335.