Seawall Repair in St. Marys, GA

St. Marys is the Georgia town you can see from Florida. It sits on the St. Marys River with Florida across the water. Its charter was signed on Cumberland Island on November 20, 1787. For most of the 20th century the town revolved around the Gilman Paper mill, which ran from 1941 to 2002. Today Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay is the largest employer, and visitors come for the historic waterfront and the Cumberland Island ferry. The population grew from about 3,600 in 1980 to more than 18,000 in 2020. Our Jacksonville seawall repair team, about 28 miles south, is the closest hub to St. Marys and handles its scheduling.

What Rivers Shape St. Marys Walls?

Two of them. The St. Marys River runs along the town's southern edge. The North River winds through marsh on its eastern side. NOAA's St. Marys station lists a mean tide range of 5.86 feet and a daily high-to-low range of about 6.4 feet. Downstream at the Kings Bay submarine base pier, the mean range is 6.37 feet.

The old paper mill land sits on the North River. A 2018 state permit application for the Wharf at St. Marys marina, on the former mill site, called for about 2,720 feet of steel sheet-pile bulkhead with a cast-in-place concrete cap and riprap. Private walls on smaller lots face the same tide.

Why Do St. Marys Bulkheads Fail?

Water moving through the soil does most of the damage:

• Drain-down. As the river falls six feet, water trapped in the backfill pushes out through seams and weep holes, carrying sand and silt.
• Toe scour. River current along the bank cuts away mud at the base of the wall.
• Storms. The National Hurricane Center measured 3 to 5 feet of inundation along the Georgia coast during Irma in 2017. That water sits against walls and soaks the soil behind them.
• Aging wood. On timber walls, boards near the tide line rot and hardware corrodes.

Which Repairs Work Here?

Void fill. NCFI polyurethane injected behind the wall fills hollows, binds loose soil, and closes leaking seams. It's done from the yard, without trenching into the marsh. Read about polyurethane injection behind bulkheads.

Cap, board and drain repair. These methods are on our bulkhead repair page for the Jacksonville region. The repair techniques are the same on both sides of the river. Only the permits change.

Tiebacks. Walls leaning outward need anchoring. Seawall reinforcement from our Jacksonville crew explains how helical tiebacks hold a wall in place.

Which Georgia Permits Apply in St. Marys?

Georgia DNR first. The Coastal Resources Division requires a permit to put a bulkhead or riprap on any tidally influenced creek or river bank. It asks owners to contact it before doing maintenance on an existing structure. Bank stabilization in marsh is regulated under the Coastal Marshlands Protection Act. Private docks from your own lot need a Revocable License.

Then the city. The City of St. Marys Building Department issues permits and does inspections. Since January 25, 2024, all applications and inspection requests go through the city's CloudPermit portal. Lots outside city limits go to Camden County.

How Does St. Marys Relate to Its Neighbors?

St. Marys is where our Georgia and Florida coverage meet. Across the river, Fernandina Beach seawall repair covers Amelia Island under Florida's rules. Inland, seawall repair in Kingsland serves the rest of Camden County's tidal creeks. Up the coast, Jekyll Island seawalls need an extra approval from the island's own authority.

Why Solid Foundations?

Seawall Repairs by Solid Foundations is an NCFI-certified polyurethane installer. We've served Florida, Georgia and South Carolina since 1996 and are licensed to perform marine construction in Georgia and South Carolina. Request a free inspection or call 866-398-9323.