Jekyll Island, Georgia

Visited Jan. 20-22, 2021

By Marty

What a find this place was! Just 90 miles down the coast from Savannah, Jekyll is Georgia's smallest barrier islands. We spent only three nights on the Island, one of our shorter stops. Our modus operandi is to spend 5-7 nights in each location. This gives us 4-6 full days (i.e., not counting the travel day) to explore an area (or to run errands, or stay "home" and do chores, research, relax, etc.) 

With just the three nights on Jekyll Island we had one full day to explore the small island but were precluded by rain from doing very much on our other day. 

Jekyll Island’s long ago claim to fame was the Jekyll Island Club, founded in 1888 as an exclusive hunting and recreational club. Its members came from many of the world’s wealthiest families, including the Morgans, Rockefellers and Vanderbilts. The club thrived through the early 20^th century but closed in 1942 due to the Great Depression induced declining wealth of its members and labor supply challenges during World War II. In 1947 the island was purchased by the State of Georgia from the club’s remaining members for $675,000  (As Pete Townsend of The Who once wrote “I’d call that a bargain… the best I’ve ever had.”)

The Jekyll Island Club was restored and reopened as a hotel. We did not have our crisp white croquet outfits on hand so we were not invited to play with these folks...  Cheerio?

Jekyll Island is one of Georgia’s barrier islands, one of only four islands that have a paved causeway connection to the mainland. The state owned island includes Jekyll Island State Park, where we stayed in the campground.

Driftwood Beach at sunrise

Reading about Driftwood Beach was the primary reason we chose to visit Jekyll Island.  Driftwood Beach did not disappoint!  We got up early to be there at sunrise (fortunately for us sunrise wasn't until 7:23 a.m. AND the beach was only a half mile from our campground.)

The beach is littered with dead pine and oak tress, some standing, some not. This is due to the island slowly eroding away and being deposited on the south end of the island.

There is a 20 mile multi use trail circling the island. Wherever we visit we look for off street bike trails, preferably paved but a dense crushed rock will suffice. My 3,800 miles of pedaling in traffic lanes in 2019 rather wore me out on competing with cars while we pedal. Jekyll Island has one of the best bike paths we've pedaled on our trip.  The pavement was in great condition and the scenery (water views, beautiful vegetation, and Spanish moss draped trees) was outstanding!

This house was built in 1743 by Major William Horton, the first English resident of Jekyll Island. If you're looking for a home with plenty of fresh air, this is the one for you! The home was constructed with “Tabby”, a type of concrete made by burning oyster shells to create lime, them mixing it with water, sand, ash and broken oyster shells. Tabby was normally protected with a coating of plaster or stucco.  Look closely at the exposed parts of the wall and you can see the oyster shells.

Intruder!