• info@wildcumberland.org
  • PO Box 872 Scottdale, GA 30079

The Gravest Danger

If you sell your home, do you expect to be able to keep living in it? That’s what one island family is trying to do.

If there is one single island issue that you should absolutely care about and act upon, it’s the dangerous, precedent-setting plan to extend the retained rights of The Grange, a historic house on the south end of the island. Right now, the park is deciding whether to extend the retained rights of the former island residents at The Grange. Their retained rights expired last year, but they are trying to work a deal to continue living on the island through a historic lease. Make no mistake: a historic lease is simply an extension of one family’s retained rights to keep living on the island indefinitely, even though they already sold their lands to the park service decades ago.

The family claims that the Park Service lacks the resources to maintain the structure. This simply is not true. The Park Service has the resources available to maintain The Grange and any other historic structures it deems worthy to preserve. It does not need to lease the structure, especially to its previous residents.

Already three island families—the Goodsells, Phillips, and Middletons—have fairly and graciously accepted the end of their retained rights and left the island. It was not easy for these families, but they honored the agreement they made when they sold their land to the National Park Service and the American taxpayers 40 years ago. We very much appreciate the good stewardship of these families, as well as their graciousness in honoring their contracts with the park and American people.

Extending the retained rights of the Graves family at The Grange would be unfair to these families and to the American people who paid millions of dollars to purchase The Grange. This structure should be open and avialable to the public, especially because of its location right beside Dungeness. If the family’s retained rights are extended through a historic lease, The Grange would remain essentially private and off-limits to the public who already bought and paid for this historic structure years ago.

Cumberland Island is envisioned to become more natural and less inhabited as retained rights expire. This is the founding vision of the national seashore. Eventually there will be fewer cars and more wildness.

Extending one family’s retained rights is the single biggest threat to the future of Cumberland Island. If retained rights are extended for The Grange, then eventually every other family on Cumberland Island will expect the same extensions.

Superintendent Boyles says that the historic lease is only one of the alternatives it is considering for The Grange. Public input can still determine what the Park Service decides to do with the Grange. A draft plan for the Grange and the other expired retained rights properties will be released in the next few months, and public comments will be essential.