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Our original plan, to stay in Waycross and explore the northern entrance of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, was changed abruptly by fire. Seems that southern Georgia is suffering a drought and there were several fires burning near Waycross. So, we headed out to the Georgia coast (our RV has now traveled from coast to coast!). The state has about 100 miles of Atlantic coast lined with barrier islands.

We chose the smallest of the Golden Isles, but by no means the least interesting, Jekyll Island. As an added bonus, the island wasn’t far away from the eastern entrance to Okefenokee (don’t you just love saying that word?) which we were still hoping to visit.

The 7½ to 8 mile (depending on the tide) long and mile and a half wide barrier island is a 40,000 year old pile of sand. Over time a few plants grew on the enlarged sand bar, their roots holding onto the sand and creating stable ground. As time went on birds came to roost and all manner of other animals found their way across the shallow bay and made the island their home. The amount and diversity of life on the island attracted different groups of Native Americans as far back as 2,000 years ago, if not longer.

The most recent group were the Guale (pr. wally) Indians who still visited the island seasonally when the Spanish arrived in the 1560s. The Spanish, who established a mission on St. Simons Island to the north of Jekyll, called it “Isla de las Ballenas,” Island of the Whales. Then, as now, the area was the calving ground for Right Whales. Jekyll Island was given its current name in 1736 by General James Oglethorpe, the man responsible for establishing the colony of Georgia. Oglethorpe named the island after Sir Joseph Jekyll, a fellow member of Parliament and one of the trustees of the Georgia colony.

That same year, Major William Horton settled on Jekyll and the huge piles of shells—middens—left behind by the tribes over the years proved to be quite valuable to him. Since there was a scarcity of building materials on the island, Horton utilized a method brought over by the Spanish from Africa called Tabby. The piles of shells were burned to create lime which was mixed with sand, oyster shell, and water. The mixture was then poured into forms to create walls. Seemed to work pretty well, especially since the walls of Horton’s two story house are still standing.

The force of hurricanes, the worst of nature’s threats to life on barrier islands, is reduced in Georgia compared to its neighboring states. Called the South Atlantic Bight, Georgia’s coast curves inward, on a map it looks like someone took a big ‘bite’ out of that section of coast. That means that most of the Georgia coast is close to 80 miles away from the warm Gulf Stream, the main fuel of hurricanes. To be sure, hurricanes have swiped Jekyll but damage was minor.

The next owners of Jekyll Island were the du Bignons, a French family who owned it for over 100 years. The du Bignons lived in Horton’s house but did away with Horton’s corn and cows and planted Sea Island Cotton. The du Bignons plantation was extensive and slaves made it quite profitable for the family. In 1858, the du Bignons were the recipients of the last slaves brought from Africa. The importation of slaves was illegal so when the slave ship Wanderer landed on Jekyll Island it added to the tensions preceding the Civil War. Interestingly, members of the du Bignon family and others were tried for the crime but were not found guilty.

When the island left the du Bignon family it entered its most famous phase. In 1886, members of the newly formed Jekyll Island Club purchased the island as a winter hunting and vacation spot. The Club was a who’s who list, JP Morgan, Joseph Pulitzer, George Macy, Edwin Gould, Marshall Field, William Rockefeller, William Vanderbilt, and Frank Goodyear to name a few of the biggies. When all the families gathered on the island, either at the large club or in their 8,000 plus square foot “cottages”, they represented over 1/6th of the world’s wealth at that time.

The hunting club soon became known as “the richest, the most exclusive, the most inaccessible club in the world.” Get that many power brokers in one place and history will be made. Several club members and their guests drafted the forerunner to the Federal Reserve Act on the island in 1908. Later the club was the site of the first transcontinental phone call. On January 23, 1915, American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) president, Theodore Vail spoke with Alexander Graham Bell in New York, Thomas Watson in San Francisco and President Woodrow Wilson in D.C.

The club survived the Depression but met its demise during World War II and the increase in income taxes. The state of Georgia condemned the property and purchased it on October 04, 1946 to the tune of $675,000. The state turned the relatively undeveloped island into a state park; no longer a place for the rich only, it is now a place for everybody. Free of massive development the island definitely deserves its nickname, the Jewel of Georgia.

While there are some private residences, hotels, a few shops and restaurants, 65% of the island must remain undeveloped according to state law. The state has done a fantastic job preserving the many historic buildings on the island. Some, like the Club Hotel and Crane Cottage offer overnight stays while other buildings house a sundry store, bookstore and sweet shop. There are over 20 miles of bike paths, and since the island is relatively flat, it is easy and fun to get around.

Lance and I rode our bikes all over the island, we even biked the road Horton built! We looked for sharks in the Satilla River Estuary (found none). We ate fresh shrimp on the wharf looking out across the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. We watched flaming red sunsets, courtesy of the wildfires, from Driftwood Beach on the north end of the island. There were the usual birds: Ospreys, Skimmers, Laughing Gulls, Green Herons, Caspian and Forester’s Terns, Turkey and Black Vultures. (By the way, did you know that a group of vultures is called a venue and that the Cherokee called them Peace Eagles because they never killed. Instead, vultures rely on their keen sense of smell, one of the few birds with that ability.)

We encountered some birds new to us: Wood Storks, Cattle Egrets, Barn Swallows, Brown Thrashers, Orchard Orioles, and Pileated Woodpeckers (almost the size of a crow, this red crested bird was the basis for Woody Woodpecker, the cartoon character).

We met our first Marsh Rabbit, Broad-headed Skink, and Green Anole Lizard (aka the American Chameleon because it changes from green to brown). We combed the beach for shells; all we found were whelks which surprisingly were either still alive or inhabited by hermit crabs.

Speaking of crabs, we were overwhelmed by the number and diversity of the crabs crawling around the island; hermit crabs, fiddler crabs, ghost crabs, wharf crabs, mud crabs plus some I’m forgetting! And let’s not forget the amazing plants on the island; massive Live Oaks (so called because they stay green year-round), tall pine trees, palmettos and palms, all with Spanish Moss hanging from every limb and Resurrection Ferns growing in cracks on the bark. All the Resurrection Ferns were brown and looked dead, but we were told that even a few drops of rain brings them back to life, hence the name.

We truly enjoyed our stay on the Jewel of Georgia, we could’ve stayed longer but there was so much more to explore. On Friday we left Jekyll Island, destination Okefenokee NWR.

Photos: View our photographs from Jekyll Island, Georgia.

Notes: We stayed in Jekyll Island, Georgia from 04/22/07 to 04/27/07.

Required sunset picture: