St. Simons Island (or simply St. Simons) is a barrier island and census-designated place (CDP) located on St. Simons Island in Glynn County, Georgia, United States. The names of the community and the island are interchangeable, known simply as “St. Simons Island” or “SSI”, or locally as “The Island”. St. Simons is share of the Brunswick metropolitan statistical area and according to the 2020 U.S. census, the CDP had a population of 14,982.

Located upon the southeast Georgia coast, midway between Savannah and Jacksonville, St. Simons Island is both a seaside resort and residential community. It is the largest of Georgia’s well-known Golden Isles (along once Sea Island, Jekyll Island, and privately owned Little St. Simons Island). Visitors are drawn to the Island for its warm climate, beaches, variety of outside activities, shops and restaurants, historical sites, and its natural environment.

In auxiliary to its base of enduring residents, the island enjoys an influx of both visitors and part-time residents throughout the year. The 2010 census noted that 26.8% of sum housing units were for “seasonal, recreational, or occasional use”. The huge majority of advertisement and residential spread is located on the southern half of the island. Much of the northern half remains marsh or woodland. A large tract of estate in the northeast has been converted to a nature preserve containing trails, historical ruins, and undisturbed maritime forest. The tract, Cannon’s Point Preserve, is approach to the public upon specified days and hours.

Originally inhabited by tribes of the Creek Nation, the Place of South Georgia that includes St. Simons Island was contested by the Spaniards, English and French. After securing the Georgia colony, the English cultivated the house for rice and cotton plantations worked by large numbers of African slaves, who created the unique Gullah culture that survives to this day.