Jekyll Island
Photo Courtesy of the Jekyll Island Club Hotel
Jekyll Island Club Hotel.
Further down South in Georgia’s Golden Isles is a barrier island known as “Georgia’s Jewel” to repeat vacationers who have been relishing its treasures since childhood. An easy three-and-a-half hour drive from Charleston, Jekyll Island is a wildlife haven that has been protected by a 35 percent building cap reached in the 1970s, leaving the remaining percentage of state-owned land undeveloped. Amidst its garden of oaks and on the banks of its waterways are a handful of classic family resorts and vacation amenities that blend naturally into the majestic, wooded landscape. Never does this jewel shine more brightly than during the holidays when its shimmering sea of lights and festivities draw yuletide guests from across the East.
THEN
Jekyll Island has been open to the public since the 1940s, but its proud legacy is that it was originally a private club destination for some of America’s most distinguished families: the Rockefellers, Pulitzers, Vanderbilts and Morgans, who used it as a winter homestead for hunting, entertaining and seclusion. Although its history transcends its famed Club Era, with significant American Indian, Colonial, and African-American contributions, the elite spirit established by its most notable historic residents is what predominately lingers today.
NOW
While the entire community is enthusiastic about putting on the glitz during the holidays, credit for the most impressive month-long presentation goes to the landmark Jekyll Island Club Hotel. The Queen Anne-style clubhouse was built by the wealthy as an accessory to their European-influenced cottages and decadent riverside residences. Today it serves as a genuinely elegant resort with valet parking, a heated riverfront pool, regulation croquet green, oversized rooms with private piazzas, awe-inspiring period architecture, and a truly grand dining room that was undoubtedly famous long before its cameo in the movie The Legend of Baggar Vance.
To say that history is alive here is an understatement, especially during the hotel’s Holiday Island celebration, which from Nov. 24 to Jan. 1 features more than a dozen events rooted in Colonial tradition. The Community Christmas Tree Lighting kicks off the season the Saturday after Thanksgiving with an evening of hayrides, entertainment, faux blown snow, and an appearance by St. Nick.
From Dec. 10 to 13, the usual afternoon high tea served in the Grand Dining Room is dressed up with instrumental holiday music and fancier fare. The Dickens Feast on the 15th, brought to life by the Atlanta Acting Company, is a musical dinner theater that is a favorite among regular holiday guests. The following day, the St. Simons Presbyterian Church 32-tone bell choir rings in the season with an afternoon concert, and during the week following, Scottish bagpiper Tim Akins pipes each evening at dusk.
Photo Courtesy of the Jekyll Island Club Hotel
Jekyll Island Club Hotel.
From caroling at The Club to animated holiday storytelling, the spirit of the season touches everyone who steps foot down the hotel’s Hall of Mirrors or stands in child-like wonder beneath one of its appointed, towering live trees. With Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day cuisines that rival any five-star restaurant, the holiday banquets are most memorable. The party doesn’t end until New Year’s, when January is escorted in by an orchestra, singers, a disc jockey, and big band music.
Even during the early winter months, the two preferred ways to travel the island are by bicycle or in a GEM (Global Electric Motorcar) – a golf-cart-sized, electric, open-air car that is all the rage on Jekyll. Twenty miles of mapped out bicycle/walking paths wind through the island.
In a Red Bug Motors car, Jekyll’s version of the GEM, adventurers can participate in a popular game now practiced worldwide called geocaching, which utilizes onboard GPS systems to lead players to treasures in fascinating locations like Jekyll’s dreamy Driftwood Beach. Of course, the Red Bug has more practical uses like scooting to one of the island’s four golf courses, pushing off to St. Andrews Beach for some wonderful winter shelling, or heading on a hunt for one of Jekyll’s hidden hand-blown glass floats – colorful, custom-made globes resembling the glass balls that escape from old, damaged fishing nets. (Jekyll Island places these collectors items around the beaches during January and February for winter beachcombers to find and keep!) Red Bug roadies even have their own Christmas parade during the tree lighting ceremony. Any family can reserve its own “buggy” in advance for the parade – and even Santa arrives by GEM.
Just note that nearly everything on the island requires reservations and space fills quickly. If leaving home for the holidays sounds like your cup of cocoa, Jekyll Island may be just the place you were looking for to start a new (albeit old) tradition!
LET’S SLEEP
Jekyll Island Club Hotel
71 Riverview Dr. | (800) 535-9547 | www.jekyllclub.com
*True luxury, intriguing history, inspiring ambiance.
Days Inn and Suites
60 S. Beachview Dr. | >(888) 635-3003 | www.daysinnjekyll.com
*Beautifully renovated.
Villas By The Sea Resort Hotel
1175 N. Beachview Dr. | (866) 375-7691 | www.jekyllislandga.com
*Pets allowed.
Beachview Club
721 N. Beachview Dr. | (800) 299-2228 | www.beachviewclub.com
*New luxury hotel with in-room hot tubs and gas fireplaces.
LET’S EAT
Jekyll Island Club Hotel –The Grand Dining Room
371 Riverview Dr. | (912) 635-2400 | www.jekyllclub.com/dining.asp
*This is what refined taste is all about.
Blackbeard’s Seafood Restaurant
200 N. Beachview Dr. | (912) 635-3522
*These people know how to cook good shrimp.
Zachry’s Seafood House
44 Beachview Dr. (in the Jekyll Shopping Center) | (912) 635-3128
*Given the seal of freshness by all the locals.
SeaJay’s Waterfront Café and Pub
1 Harbor Rd. (in the Jekyll Harbor Marina)
(921) 635-3200 | www.seajays.com
*Best “Lowcountry Boil” I’ve eaten in a restaurant.
LET’S HANG
Latitude 31 Restaurant
1 Pier Rd. (in the Historic Wharf) | (912) 635-3800 | www.crossoverjekyll.com
LET’S GO
Visit The Georgia Sea Turtle Center where an island crazy about loggerheads cares for the sick and educates the public. www.georgiaseaturtlecenter.org
Browse the Historic Shops on Pier Road, including Santa’s Christmas Shoppe. www.jekyllisland.com/shopping
Hitch a ride on the Jekyll Island Museum tram tour where you’ll be educated on the island’s Gilded Era and can purchase nostalgic mementos in the Museum Gift Shop. www.jekyllisland.com/activities/historic...
LET’S PLAY
Get in on a family game of geocaching, join the parade, or just tour the island in a Red Bug Motor Car. www.redbugmotors.com
Take the lantern-lit Holidays in History tour December 8-16. More than your average tour, this is an authentic, educational production. www.jekyllisland.com/events
Board the Emerald Princess II Casino Cruise Ship on the mainland of Brunswick for some adults-only holiday gaming. www.emeraldprincesscasino.com
GETTING THERE
In Midway, Ga., off U.S. Highway 17 hit Ida Mae & Joe’s 1930s-esque restaurant for some serious fried catfish and homemade Georgia pie. (912) 884-3388.
Wanna see something really interesting? Turn off Highway 17 near I-95 in Sheldon onto a dirt road leading to the as-seen-on-TV African Village. It’s a true roadside America treasure.
Comments
Posted by nicole_colorado on ;November 14, 2007 at 10:04 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I always enjoy reading this article! The writer never fails to capture the essence and beauty of the lowcountry and surrounding areas. There are so many amazing places to visit in this area of the south and it's nice to find a guide. Keep up the good work Lowcountry Living!
cheers,
Nicole Miller
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