Landmark · St. Simons Island, GA
Mary the Wanderer
In the antebellum era, a young woman named Mary of St. Simons Island was betrothed to her beloved, who set out by rowboat across the storm-churned Frederica River and never returned, his small craft splintered against the tide. Half-mad with grief after the search turned up only fragments of his boat, Mary is said to have walked into the same dark water to follow him. Ever since, on moonless nights along the island's marsh edges, beaches, and live-oak forests, locals and visitors describe a pale figure in a flowing white dress drifting through the dark. She holds a lantern lifted high, its light bobbing over the dunes as she searches the shoreline for the love the sea took from her. Those who see her say the glow simply fades into the mist before they can draw near.
📍 St. Simons Island, GA 31522, St. Simons Island, GA · Get directions