The St. Augustine Lighthouse has been beautifully preserved - all 219 steps and 165 feet of it! I've never been afraid of heights, but I admit the higher the steps, the more queasy I felt. Once I made it to the top, there was a great view of the Intercoastal Waterway and the marinas. 
After leaving St. Augustine, I drove up the coast to St. Simons Island and stopped for lunch in St. Mary's, Georgia. St. Mary's is a small town on the coast and the "gateway" to Cumberland Island. Cumberland Island is only accessible by boat and is managed by the U.S. Park Service, so the timing didn't work for me to go there this trip. Cumberland is definitely on my list for future photo opportunities. The only photos I took in St. Mary's was of the Oak Grove Cemetery-just one of three cemeteries I shot while on vacation. Spanish Moss hangs from the many trees in the cemetery and adds to the atmosphere.
I happened to meet the historian of the cemetery who told me the history of the angel statuary which was the most unique tombstone in the cemetery. The story goes that the wife of the first man buried in this plot didn't like where her second husband's family buried him. Two days after the funeral, the grave was found empty because she had had him removed and placed next to her first husband. Later she had the fence built which surrounds the two graves and the angel. Where is she buried? Rumor has it that she is somewhere in Florida!
As I was leaving the cemetery, I noticed a lady sitting in a pickup truck next to the fence. When I got close to the truck, she hopped out of the truck and asked if I had relatives in the cemetery or if I was just another kooky person who liked cemeteries! She then proceeded to tell me about gravestones she had noticed in another part of the cemetery. A wife had died just a few months after her husband of 60 years. Did she die of a broken heart? What a love story...
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