One tank trip: Brunswick

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By Beth Malone

For the AJC 

Dilapidated country stores and fast-food joints dot U.S. 82 as travelers leave Brunswick and head deeper into the South Georgia wilderness. Ten miles west of town, a sign for “The Hostel” appears — just barely, as it’s obscured by palm trees and easy to miss. But those who enter its gate will find themselves on the grounds of an unusual spiritual eco-retreat.

A treehouse offers lodging for guests of the Hostel near Brunswick.

The accommodations at The Hostel in the Forest are sparse, and there are few amenities other than a mattress and window.

Visitors to the South Georgia retreat 10 miles west of Brunswick come to commune with nature.

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The Hostel in the Forest is the creation of Tom Dennard, an environmental lawyer in Brunswick, who has transformed the 131-acre parcel of wooded land into a self-sustaining retreat where guests sleep in treehouses and the evening meal is prepared with organic vegetables grown on site.

Accommodations are small wooden structures installed in the forest canopy. They come with two amenities — a mattress and a window. Expect no AC, TV or DVD player — visitors come here to commune with nature. And every effort has been made to reduce the retreat’s carbon footprint. In addition to gray-water disposal and on-site recycling, human waste is used to fertilize the azaleas that bloom in spring.

Guests come from all walks of life and conversation flows freely over nightly campfires, communal dinners and daily hikes. Visitors are as likely to meet a lawyer looking for peace as an artist looking for inspiration. Some people come for just a few days while others uproot their lives and remain in the forest indefinitely.

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