St. Mary’s Gilman Memorial Waterfront Park

This charming waterfront park features a 180-foot fishing pier as well as a large boat ramp and plenty of parking. With a playground, restrooms, water fountains, picnic areas, and a stage along the waterfront, this park serves as the town center for St. Marys. It is the location of many festivals and events. Shops and restaurants of all sorts are a short walk from the docks. Launch your canoe or kayak and enjoy some peaceful time fishing or paddling. This is also where visitors catch the ferry to the historic and pristine Cumberland Island State Park. Photo courtesy of saltchef.com.

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COVID-19

Keep your distance from other people.

Practicing social distancing is still essential. Only go to the beach if you are able to keep 6 feet or 2 meters away from others. Follow the instructions provided by your local health authorities. If your community has asked that you remain indoors and away from others, do so. Spending a day in any crowded place is the worst thing we can do for our most vulnerable right now and will counter our efforts to curb the virus’s spread.

Water Quality

No data available
Current Status
This status is based on the latest sample, taken on May 12th, 2021. St. Mary's Riverkeeper updates the status of this beach as soon as test results become available. These results were posted to Swim Guide on May 12th, 2021 at 1:41 PM.

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Monitoring Frequency

Source Information

St. Mary’s Riverkeeper monitors water quality at 45 sites throughout the watershed in Florida and Georgia. Anna Laws is the Riverkeeper. If testing results raise an alarm, we assess the situation and often do additional testing and follow the science upstream to identify and hopefully initiate corrective action to relieve the problem.

Water at most sites is sampled for E. coli bacteria. Some sites have additional chemical data gathered on a regular basis which may include: specific conductance, Dissolved Oxygen, Total Dissolved Solids, PH, Salinity, Temperature and Turbidity.

Results are communicated to the public on the St. Mary’s Riverkeeper web site as well as Georgia’s Adopt-A-Stream database. Press releases to local media outlets often result in visibility in local publications.

The EPA E. coli standards for human recreation are or a one-time measurement equal to or less than 235 cfu/100 ml (Note: EPA BAV: 235 E. coli/100 mL)

A swim is marked GREEN when it meets the EPA’s recommended limit of E. coli for recreational waters, or less than 235 cfu/100 ml.

A beach is marked RED when results are equal to or more than 235 cfu/100 ml.

A beach is marked GREY when reliable information is not available.

Water Quality Graph