14/09
Review: Jekyll Island, Georgia
Once you clear the six-mile causeway that links Jekyll Island with the mainland, you may as well resign yourself to the fact that you’re leaving the 21st century behind.
The smallest barrier island off the Georgia coast – from 7-1/2 to 8 miles long depending upon the tides – Jekyll Island is halfway between Savannah and Jacksonville, Florida.
Live oak trees dripping with Spanish moss dot the island along with magnolia, cedar and palm trees. Though Jekyll’s earliest recorded history dates back to the early 18th century when it served as an English cotton plantation, the focal point of the island is clearly the Jekyll Island Club, a well-manicured resort that harkens back to America’s Gilded Age.
Jekyll Island - A Review
In 1886, a group of wealthy Northern industrialists – including Rockefellers and Pulitzers – decided to form an exclusive hunting retreat where they could escape and commune with their own kind. Their criteria: it had to be in a semi-tropical environment and no more than 24 hours away from New York City by train, and Jekyll Island fit the bill. A plan was drawn up to have 50 of the “right” families buy lots and build modest cottages, an oxymoron, since they were the size of today’s mansions.
The self-described “Millionaire’s Club” officially opened two years later and operated until 1942, when it had fallen into disarray. In 1947, it was reorganized as a state park and opened to the public, which would no doubt shock the club’s original inhabitants, who typically required seven servants for every one guest on the premises.
What to Do
Don’t let the island’s rich history and placid well-manicured demeanor fool you; there are plenty of activities to keep you going from dawn to dusk. While croquet, horse-drawn carriage rides and Victorian tea are readily available, more modern-day activities also beckon.
Golfers flock to four separate courses with a total of 63 holes – along with the obligatory miniature golf course across from the beach – and cyclists can enjoy a leisurely tour around the island primarily on bike paths. And depending upon the season, visitors can take classes in pottery, weaving and painting. The Jekyll Island Tennis Center offers 13 clay courts and you’ll find a large soccer complex on the island’s north side. Tel. 912-635-3154. In the summertime, kids can play at a water park, shoot some mini golf, attend a bird workshop, and even swim with the dolphins.
Tram tours of the Historic District, located at the Jekyll Island Museum, are a must to gain entrance into some of the cottages. Tucked behind the cottages are a number of small buildings – which more accurately fit the description of what us non-Rockefellers refer to as a cottage – which originally housed servant quarters and support buildings. Today they constitute the shopping district with a number of gift and souvenir shops.
Adjacent to the shops is The Georgia Sea Turtle Center, a combination gift shop, educational center, and hospital that show how stranded sea turtles are rehabilitated. Out back you can visit injured turtles on the mend. Tel. 912-635-4444.
Where to Stay
Though several motels and inns and condos are available on the island, the best way to experience the true Victorian feel is to stay at The Jekyll Island Club Hotel, originally the main house of the millionaires’ retreat. Tel. 912-635-2600.
With 155 rooms spread throughout several interconnected buildings, the hotel mixes the romance of the Queen Anne style with the feel of an Adirondack lodge. Facing the Jekyll River, the hotel is in the Historic District and miles of asphalt paths provide plenty of opportunities for an easy stroll.
Christmas is a special time at the hotel, with an event at Jekyll almost every day for the month of December. At the Dickens Feast, an acting troupe comes in from Atlanta to wander the dining room as the characters from A Christmas Carol.
Where to Eat
The Grand Dining Room at the Club Hotel only continues the feeling that you’re stepping into a time machine. Soaring ceilings, white tablecloths, silver-domed serving platters, and live piano music each evening. 29-year-old executive chef Abigail Hutchinson presides over the kitchen, where the focus is on preparing traditional cuisine with a new Southern flair that takes full advantage of the region’s abundant seafood. In warmer weather, Hutchinson brings her interns – who hail from Le Cordon Bleu in Atlanta – out to local farms to pick potatoes and herbs and to play with it.
The Latitude 31 restaurant is just across the sprawling lawn from the Hotel on the Jekyll Wharf. You can eat in the main dining room – Surf & Surf is the featured combo dinner – or head outside on the “Rah Bar” deck which offers a more limited menu: oysters – “rah” or steamed – peel-and-eat shrimp, and a traditional Lowcountry boil are among the offerings. 912-635-3800.
Romance
Given the aura of understated elegance and romance of Jekyll, chances are good that you’ll bump into at least one nervous bridal party during your stay. At least three weddings are held on the island each weekend year-round.
No matter what time of day or night you stroll through the lush manicured grounds, it’s easy to imagine yourself temporarily back in a bygone day. You may even be tempted to leave your cellphone turned off until you recross the Jekyll River to return to the present day.
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