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02-22-10 Jekyll Island Historic District

[Rick] This morning we borrowed the marina courtesy car and went to the “Historic District” of Jekyll Island. This consists of a museum and a large section of town with old homes. However, these are not just homes, but the homes of some of the richest people in American History. People like Goodyear, Rockefeller, Crane, McCormick to name just a few. These people built what they called “cottages” but were more like mini-mansions. Many with 6-10 bedrooms, indoor plumbing (this was 1890), servants quarters.

The central attraction of this area is the Jekyll Island Club. Surrounding the club was an infirmary, post office, chapel, and about 15 of the “cottages”. Historical note: These people were building winter quarters here at the same time that Flagler was developing St. Augustine in Florida. Same principle, just give the rich a place to get out of the northern climate in the winter. The grounds are beautiful.

The museum offers a 90 minute tour on a trolley, if one has time to take it. Sadly for us, it started raining very hard as we toured the district. After getting wet, we had to return to the boat and spend the afternoon on the boat waiting for the rain to stop. It finally stopped about 1700.

We plan to leave tomorrow but we would recommend Jekyll Island to anyone for a stopover, and to see the whole place, 2-3 days will be required.



The grounds of the "Club"










The Jekyll Island Club
The Chapel
One of the "Cottages"

1 comment:

  1. I don't know why more people traveling north or south on I95 don't take a few extra hours to drive the short distance to Jeckyll Island, especially retirees. There is such great history there and a great story.

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