Greyfield Inn — Hotel in Cumberland Island

My spouse and I just returned from a long weekend at Greyfield. The experience was beyond 5 stars. I had a few reservations about some of the issues addressed in previous reviews and wanted to provide my own detailed review for anyone staying for the first time.

To begin, you arrive at the Inn via their ferry, the Lucy R. Ferguson, which departs from Fernandina Beach. The Inn provides an emailed parking pass and instructions on where to park, though we found there was plenty of public parking near the dock. You check in with the captain prior to departure and the staff will load your luggage onto the boat - no need to wheel it down the ramp to the boat. The ride is about 45 minutes long and the majority of the seating is open air, so plan accordingly. There are no drinks or food available during the short ride over.

Your luggage will be delivered to your room. There is the "big house", which has two floors of rooms in addition to the dining area, library, and bar and two cottages that have addtl rooms. We stayed in the large back cottage room, which I was told later by multiple staff members is the best room. It has a private back porch and another shared back porch. The cottages are a quick walk to the main house. It is worth noting that some of the rooms in the main house share a bathroom with other guests, so read the descriptions carefully. The cottages are quiet and just removed enough from the main house that they feel very private.

A few Covid precautions have been lifted since some of the recent reviews below. Cocktail hour has not yet returned, but the Honest John bar is open and self-serve. You make your own drinks and write down the ingredients you use on a paper, which you are charged for at the end of your stay.

Besides alcohol, everything else is included in the price of your room. Breakfast was scrambled eggs with a rotating breakfast meat, grain (grits one day, peach pecan scone the next) and fruit and yogurt. We also had fresh squeezed orange juice one morning and a mango strawberry banana smoothie the next. You also have the option of granola, yogurt, fruit, bagels and English muffins, if you prefer. Coffee, hot tea, sweet/unsweet tea, water and mint lemonade are available all day at a self-serve beverage station.

Lunch is a packed picnic that you can pick up at anytime beginning around 10:45a, with the idea that you can take your lunch to the beach, on a bike ride, or have it on the huge front porch of the Inn. The first day we had a green salad with smoked trout salad and homemade seed crackers; the second day we had a chicken caesar salad with marinated field peas. Homemade cookies were included each day. I had some reservations about the portions after reading a few reviews about the meals, but there is plenty of food. You can also request mixed nuts, fruit, dates and extra cookies from the kitchen. The staff is very gracious and helpful.

Every meal was delicious, but the dinners each night were the star of the show. Many of the ingredients come from the Inn's on-site garden and the chef is incredible. Dessert is served after dinner. They have a lengthy wine list and provide recommendations for dinner pairings.

Greyfield offers tours throughout the day that you can opt to sign up for. Tours during our stay included a fossil hunt, naturlist tour, nature hike and tours of Dungeness, Plum Orchard and the North End. There are also plenty of bikes provided and the beach is just .25 mile walk down a beautiful live oak-lined road. The Inn offers reusable water bottles, backpacks and coolers at no charge, if you wish to use them. They also have plenty of beach chairs and umbrellas in cubbies on the beach for your use.

There was little cell service on the island and no television or wifi. This is truly a place to unwind, relax and enjoy the serenity of the island. The wild horses were abundant around the Inn. This was a bucketlist-worthy stay and we will...

Dear Mrs. Ricketson,

Thank you so very much for allowing my wife and I to be guests in your exquisite home, Greyfield. It was the respite we both desperately needed. We are sorry you weren’t able to be present, but rest assured, your staff did an impeccable job caring for us in every way.

The room we were in was beautiful, cool and comfortable, with a wonderful view of the front lawn, the dignfied oaks, and occasional wild horses that wandered in to graze.

It was so nice to meet your family. We were not treated as guests at an inn, but as dear friends welcomed with open arms and encouraged to make Greyfield OUR home for the five days we were there. Your chef Luke made the most exquisite and delicious meals from the garden and local sources, and we appreciated being able to wander into the kitchen at any time for snacks and drinks. We haven't eaten healthier or better in quite a while. We certainly did not go hungry!

I have to mention how delightful Patrick, Chris, Hannah, Marley, Christina, Cici, Zachary, and all the others of your staff were. They made us and everyone feel so special. Any questions we had, they would, without fail, stop what they were doing to help us. They are the ones made our visit the most wonderful vacation we've ever had.

We had luxurious, unhurried dinners and conversations with a sweet family from Oak Ridge, Tennessee, a delightful couple from Fairhope, Alabama, a very interesting and kind couple from Southern Pines, North Carolina, and a sweet and hilarious couple from Alma, Georgia. Having extended conversations with other guests each day was certainly one of the best part of our visit.

We greatly enjoyed touring the island. It was quite a sight to see your father and mother's former home, Dungeness, and get a glimpse of what it, and life, was like before the most unfortunate fire. I think of them often. Plum Orchard was an opulent wonder, and we were fascinated touring it and seeing how life was like 100 years ago on the island.

"Island life" on Cumberland is unequalled. Perhaps some may find the lack of bustle and noise unpleasant, as one who is allergic to quiet and their own thoughts. I pity them. The natural, unspoiled beauty that surrounded us reminded us that we, indeed, are a part of the Lord’s majestic creation, one that man cannot come close to imitating. Seeing the sunrises over an empty beach with no grand hotels or resorts behind us felt like the Almighty made this day just for us. During our time there we were amidst wild horses, manatees, dolphins, wild turkey, a wild boar, many deer, a cute little possum, an aligator, crabs, terns, pelicans, seagulls, and more. Such a menagerie! The flora was varied and stunning. We were truly blessed.

I could go on and on, the bike rides under the canopy of oaks, the history the island and its inhabitants, and being able to sit in tiny African Baptist Church at the north of the Island and thank the Lord for His and your generosity, all unforgettable.

We will certainly be back, if you would have us!

Your friends, Tom and Susan Holly Hill, South Carolina

PS Please give Apple kitty some some pets for us when you can. She is the queen of the...

My husband and I stayed here Friday-Sunday in early March. We stayed in one of the two large top bedrooms on the 4th floor. It was overall very peaceful and relaxing and we would definitely recommend it to anyone. Every bite of food was delicious and the chef is amazingly talented.

With that said, here were the cons:

1. there was not very much food. On Friday we were to be picked up “promptly” at 12:15 but we did not actually get picked up until 1:15. Then a 45 minute ferry ride (dress very warm in winter as the ferry is 80% open air) We arrived with 4 other couples and received our bag lunches. The lunch was a small salad with raspberries and a small side of cous cous. Because the lunch was light I assumed we’d have a decent size dinner (and I really hoped after biking for miles all over the island) but then for dinner the first course was actually the side for the entree- it was a few pieces of brocolini (delicious but definitely a side), then the second, main course was a small square of snapper. No sides or anything. Then dessert. We were also told they were not doing hors-d’oeuvres but instead would do an app before dinner- the app was ONE tiny hush puppy! It just seemed that they were on a shoestring budget with the meals. Bring snacks.
2. The service (outside of breakfast and dinner) was not only virtually non-existent but at times downright rude. If you want or need anything outside of the 2 meals served in the dining room, you have to go all the way down to the bottom floor and knock on the wall and ask. Anything asked for was done begrudgingly- like if you asked for a drink with your picnic lunch. Then the worst of all was Catherine. She was responsible for taking us on a 3.5 hour drive to the north end of the island (spoiler alert: there is nothing up there except the tiny Baptist church- which is not worth a 3.5 hour drive) and in our case it was in the low 50s and raining! Our group of 8 asked if it was being pushed back later due to the rain and she told us no it’s now or never and added that unless we were snowmen we would not melt with the rain, and if we really thought it necessary she had ponchos. When asked if we would turn around if it was pouring she told us no. When asked to confirm she would be inside a warm dry truck while we were out in the wind and rain she told us unless We invented a remote control for her to drive the truck, then yes. She then proceeded to drive over 30mph on the beach in the rain and cold. No one could even hold on to the benches because we were holding our ponchos and masks we were required to wear. THEN when we got to the wooded parts, when there was an overhanging branch she would literally stomp on the gas and say duck AS the branches hit us all. We had to start watching ourselves as she was clearly enjoying the game off whack a mole with the 8 of us. There were a lot of other things she said and did but I’d say ultimately she should not be involved with any guest interaction. Also, at the Baptist church you are to pee...