Woodbine Riverwalk and Other Trails

Planting for the Future in Woodbine, Georgia

(Printed in Tree Talks - Georgia Urban Forest Council - Summer 2008 edition)

Strolling through the shady calm of Woodbine Georgia is a bit like stepping into the past, as if the overcrowding and bustle of today sort of missed this place. That wasn’t always the case, though; for once it must have looked like Woodbine was going to be consumed by the future. The town itself was founded at the site where the first railroad through the area crossed the Satilla River. The Dixie Highway, now US17, was the town’s main street. By the middle of the 20th century, Woodbine sat atop three of the main arteries of commerce pulsing into the county and looked set to boom.

But funny things happened on the way to the future: commercial river traffic ceased, US17 was supplanted by I-95, and finally, in the late 1980’s, the place was forsaken by the very railroad that was the initial reason for its existence. And it’s the last remnants of that rail line, the railroad bed itself, that forms the foundation of one of Woodbine’s most pleasant surprises; the Woodbine Riverwalk.

Rising up from the marsh at the Waterfront Park, the Woodbine Riverwalk begins as a wide boardwalk that travels west along the river’s edge, underneath the US17 bridge and up onto the old railroad bed. From there, for about a hundred yards northward, the walkway extends out into the Satilla River on what remains of the railway trestle, which has been resurfaced and transformed into an observation pier. Leaving the riverside, the wide concrete path travels south through an overhang of cedar, pine, live oak, cypress, maple and cherry trees. It emerges out of the river swamp and then wanders through town along the old railway line. A handful of historical homes, which once endured the cacophony of the railroad, now look out across a quiet walkway shaded by moss-draped live oaks, cabbage palms, and azaleas.

From GA Hwy 110 south, there are plantings from 2007 on the newly expanded part of the walk, young trees who’s shadows grow with each passing season. These focus mostly on native species like cabbage palm, live oak, red maple, magnolia, cypress, and the three pines native to the area. Along the way, the path crosses two small bridges over low areas and ends (for now) on 11th street, though plans stretch further. As it is now, for a complete circuit, walkers can either turn around and retrace their steps, or go one block east and follow the sidewalk along Bedell Avenue (US17) back to the Waterfront park.

So 2008 finds Woodbine more accurately cast as a ‘bloom town’, preparing to grow into the future instead of being swallowed by it. The Riverwalk, like the trees planted along it, is still growing. ISTEA Grants, DNR Coastal Incentive Grants, local tax monies, a lot of hard work from the Kings Bay Area Chief Petty Officer’s Association, the Woodbine Tree Board, many other volunteers, and the old railroad bed itself were blended into a wonderful, easily accessible boardwalk and meandering walkway that stretches along the river and through the shade in the heart of old Woodbine, putting a fresh cast on a place very much in touch with it’s past and planting for it’s future. Please come and visit us when you get the chance.

The Woodbine Riverwalk is also a part of the East Coast Greenway, the Coastal Georgia Greenway, and the Rails to Trails Conservancy.

LaVon Gowen



Georgia Coastal Greenway