this is the latest installment of It’s still a big worldOur series on underrated destinations.
I arrived at Jekyll Island, a verdant barrier island in the heart of Georgia’s “Gold Coast,” not knowing what to expect. Growing up in the South before moving to New York in my twenties, I knew I was going to eat healthy (and I did). I also knew I would enjoy the legendary Southern hospitality, the laid-back fun everyone exuded despite the region’s difficult history. I picture iced tea and cool breezes blowing through the shadows of old oak trees covered with Spanish moss. What I did not expect from Jekyll was the intense affection its people had for the island itself and for the preservation of its natural and historical wonders.
Halfway between Savannah and Jacksonville, Jekyll Island is separated from the mainland by a large wetland grassland. “Run through the terrain” signs line the 6-mile road to Jekyll, warning drivers to slow down as they approach toll booths (costs $8 per day or $75 per year for single parking). Proceeds go to conservation and conservation efforts of Jekyll Island Governmentan organization appointed by the governor whose mission is to keep the island’s heritage intact.
Jekyll is home to just 1,000 full-time residents spread across 5,700 acres of lush oak and palm trees. By comparison, more than 20,000 sea turtles have hatched on the island’s beaches by 2022. Nature is a prominent feature of the island’s landscape. It feels far removed from the modern world. The day passes slowly and quietly, but that is always the crux of its charm.
During the Gilded Age, Jekyll was one of the nation’s most exclusive winter resorts. Jekyll is less ostentatious than northern retreats like Newport, Saratoga, and Bar Harbor—social life here revolves around the Jekyll Club, founded in 1886 as a grand hotel and hunting lodge. Its roster includes such celebrities as J. Pierpont Morgan, William Kissam Vanderbilt and William Rockefeller, and it is said that when all its members were present, one-sixth of the planet’s GDP was under one roof.
The Jekyll Club closed in 1942, a victim of wartime complications, and the club now functions as a hotel. Life on Jekyll Island has become a little less scarce, but the qualities that have attracted giants over the years continue to draw visitors to its peaceful shores.
The original Jekyll Club.
Jekyll Club Island Resort
Perhaps the most notable change to Jekyll was in 1954, when its 6-mile causeway was completed, connecting it to the mainland for the first time. Before that, a trip to Jekyll Island required a boat ride. Most guests head south by train to the port town of Brunswick, where a ferry will take them across the marsh. Some of the wealthier guests arrived by private yacht, but even for them, getting to Jekyll took time and effort. For that, they’ve been rewarded with a sort of tranquillity in paradise that most other resort towns can’t achieve.
While sightseeing, I stayed at the former Jekyll Island Club, now active as Jekyll Island Club Resort. Its vast grounds, including the clubhouse, are beautifully restored and maintained. There are also a number of adjoining “summer cottages”, villas built by the club’s wealthiest members, especially popular for wedding receptions. There’s even a gorgeous little inter-denominational chapel with Tiffany glass windows (currently under construction). recoverwindows is expected to be reinstalled with great fanfare in the fall of 2023).
Jekyll Club Island Resort
In total, the resort boasts 157 guestrooms, a swimming pool, a gym, multiple bars and cafes as well as a formal dining room, all surrounded by deep patios that invite guests to escape the heat of the day in luxurious comfort. Most interestingly, many of the former guildhouse’s outbuildings have been adapted for use as shops and galleries: its stables are now the highlight. Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museumand its jetty is now a restaurant with stunning sunsets. The entire complex is entirely pedestrian, a rare luxury in such a concentrated place of cars in the world.
My itinerary keeps me busy, visiting the island’s museums and other historical sites, trying local restaurants and even going ride a horse At the beach. Jekyll is a place that is easy to love, peaceful and filled with natural beauty. But I was most impressed by the people’s unified and unblinking understanding and respect for the complex history of the island and its fragile ecosystem.
Jekyll Club Island Resort.
Jekyll Club Island Resort
Georgia Sea Turtle Center, a short walk from the resort, runs a rehabilitation center for injured turtles. Its staff also oversee the protection and monitoring of local nesting sites along the island’s dunes. Those dunes exist in large part thanks to the Jekyll Island Authority, which asserts that 65% of the island will remain permanently unspoiled.
That wilderness has allowed not only sea turtles but alligators, horseshoe crabs, and countless species of birds (including bald eagles) to thrive in harmony with the island’s residents and guests. When allowed to develop on Jekyll, it is done with as little impact on nature as possible. This is most evident on the shores of the island, where almost no buildings are built directly on the beach. This allows the island’s aforementioned sand dunes, piled with mature trees and shrubs, to do their job of protecting against erosion. Thanks to them, Jekyll maintains some of the widest, most intact beaches in the area.
Georgia Sea Turtle Center.
Georgia Sea Turtle Center
Beach St. Andrews, at the southwestern tip of the island, was the site of one of the more shameful events in Jekyll’s long history. In 1858, just 28 years before the founding of the Jekyll Island Club, a ship called The Wanderer anchored there, carrying 407 African slaves who had survived a horrific 42-day voyage across the ocean. Despite the nation’s abolition of the transatlantic slave trade in 1808, an extensive smuggling network continued through the Middle Passage, bringing thousands more enslaved Africans into the United States over the next half century.
The identities of most of those brought to The Wanderer are lost. Most are smuggled out of Jekyll for sale in Savannah or other nearby cities. But their story persists as part of “The road of Gypsy memory,” a UNESCO-designated Slave Route Project Site, interprets the ship’s story through the recollection of Umwalla, an African boy who survived the voyage in 1858.
Through interactive and informative displays, visitors walk through the sandy forest, tracing Umwalla’s life from his memories of Africa, through the arduous journey on board Homeless, to the golden shores of Jekyll. The path ends with a climb up a wooden tower that offers panoramic views of the beach where Umwalla and his fellow prisoners landed 165 years ago. Its gravity casts a veil over an otherwise beautiful landscape.
Jekyll Island driftwood beach.
Jekyll Club Island Resort
Back at the resort, I was taken by curator Andrea Marroquin to visit the Mosaic Museum, Jekyll Island. The name Mosaic speaks to the museum’s commitment to examining and contextualizing the many pieces that make up the island’s rich history. Recently renovated and expanded, the museum impresses with the breadth of its collection and the flexibility with which it weaves so many seemingly disparate stories.
Everything is on display, from the island’s more recent history as a state park, through its days as a Gilded Age retreat, to its years as a cotton plantation and before that, centuries of Native American hunting. Perhaps most poignantly, the museum reconstructed part of the bunker below deck Homeless, where people like Umwalla would be held for more than a month in unfathomable conditions. The ship’s large iron cooking pot, on display nearby, is said to have been used to cook the first meal for the captives on St. Andrews in 1858.
Such commitment to conservation and storytelling is common on Jekyll Island. Very little is done there without intent and looking to the future. This island is special and the people tasked with looking after it know it. Yes, it boasts beautiful sunsets, a luxurious resort, great restaurants, and beautiful beaches. But it’s also been a place haunted by every sin and triumph for the past three centuries. With the commitment of its caretakers and with guidance from the Jekyll Island Government, its stories will continue to enrich visitors for the next three centuries.
