31•81, the Magazine of Jekyll Island: Vol 5 No 2

THE MAGAZINE OF JEKYLL ISLAND

FALL/WINTER 2022

A Timeless Family Favorite

Our storied history and grand traditions remain at the Jekyll Island Club, yet much has changed. With modern amenities and all the comforts of a southern resort, return to simpler times and explore our island paradise by bike, walk the beaches, or play a round of croquet while you recharge.

THE MAGAZINE OF JEKYLL ISLAND

38

The Bellhop

John Newkirt's recollections paint a picture of a bygone era on Jekyll Island.

By

Mary

Logan Bikoff

46

Extraordinary Excursions

The island boasts a ton of fun experiences slightly off the beaten path.

By Jennifer Bradley Franklin

56 Return to Jekyll

Tranquil beaches and activities galore draw some folks back year after year after year. By Laura Scholz

64 This Way to History

Collecting old Jekyll signage preserves a link to the island's past.

By Tony Rehagen

Little Home for the Prairie

A new project reclaims beachfront land to create a productive, uniquely gorgeous habitat.

By Josh Green

For decades, we have been celebrating life and love on our breathtaking stretch of beach on Jekyll Island. Weddings, group events, family reunions, anniversary celebrations and more are special affairs at the Beachview Club Hotel. Experience our Concierge style champagne check in, daily housekeeping, turndown service and our award-winning exceptional service level.

The eastern diamondback rattlesnake is a prominent native species on Jekyll. Though rarely spotted and highly venomous, they're an important part of ongoing conservation research on the island.

Photograph by Brian Austin Lee

Find us on social media:

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@JekyllIsland

@jekyll_island

about 31 · 81

Published twice a year, 31·81 pairs stunning photography with thoughtful articles to tell the stories of Georgia’s unique barrier island.

Jekyll Island lies at 31 degrees north latitude and 81 degrees west longitude.

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100 James Road • Jekyll Island, GA 31527 jekyllisland.com

executive director

C. Jones Hooks

director of marketing & communications

Alexa Hawkins

creative director

Claire Davis

digital Content Manager (Photographer)

Brian Austin Lee

Photography courtesy of Jekyll Island Authority unless otherwise noted. This magazine was published by the Jekyll Island Authority in cooperation with Atlanta Magazine Custom Media. All contents ©2022. All rights reserved.

publisher

Sean McGinnis

editorial director

Kevin Benefield editor

John Donovan

art director

Tara McCarthy

associate publisher

Jon Brasher

production director

Whitney Tomasino

Dear friends,

As we continue the celebration of our 75th anniversary of Jekyll Island State Park, I cannot help but think of each visitor's journey and what continues to bring people to this special place. Jekyll Island was once a coveted retreat for millionaires but has transformed into a destination that captivates everyone year after year.

The enchantment of Jekyll Island isn't just held within its natural beauty. It's found within the countless stories of those who have visited Jekyll Island on their honeymoon, for a conference or family reunion, or simply to fall in love with the island's unspoiled charm and now return each year. The island has remained the central character that shapes each one of these individual stories in a new way.

And the island, too, has its own significant story. One we are celebrating in this very moment. One where families rode the ferris wheel at Peppermint Land Amusement Park or took a dive into the Olympic-sized pool at the Aquarama. Or they simply sang and danced the night away at the Dolphin Club Lounge. It's a significant past that remains preserved through the work we do today and in the future, as we retain and protect the island's distinct character.

As we continue to celebrate and commemorate these special stories through this important milestone in Jekyll's history, I hope that you will see this as an opportunity to visit. Whether it be to rediscover a place that holds special memories for you, return to explore the island in new ways, or to experience it for the first time, I am certain that when you leave, you'll have your own story to tell.

Jones Hooks

Executive Director, Jekyll Island Authority

JEKYLL ISLAND AUTHORITY BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Dale Atkins chairman Baxley, GA

Mark Williams commissioner, dnr Atlanta, GA

Joy Burch-Meeks Screven, GA

Robert “Bob” W. Krueger vicechair Hawkinsville, GA

Ruel Joyner Savannah, GA

Dr. L.C. “Buster” Evans Bolingbroke, GA

William “Bill” H. Gross secretary/treasurer Kingsland, GA

Glen Willard Richmond Hill, GA

Joseph B. Wilkinson St. Simons Island, GA

It's a significant past that remains preserved through the work we do today and in the future, as we retain and protect the island's distinct character."

Blending the Old and the New

A trip to Jekyll Island always has been a journey into a simpler, quieter, less frantic time. Rolling over the causeway onto the island is as much about what you're leaving behind—if, unfortunately, only temporarily—as it is the beauty and serenity that lie ahead.

In this issue of 31•81, The Magazine of Jekyll Island, we feature stories of a place that has seen a multitude of changes over the centuries but manages, still, to retain a timelessness that has enthralled visitors for generations. Writer Laura Scholz (page 56) talks to a handful of island guests who have worked their way back to Jekyll for weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, and simple escapes year after year after year. Josh Green, meanwhile, writes of the formation of a new beach prairie (page 30) on the east side of the island which will protect the island's flora and fauna and maintain the island's natural beauty for generations ahead.

Mary Logan Bikoff has the charming story of John C. Newkirt (page 38), who worked as a bellhop at the original Jekyll Island Club Hotel around 1947, while the island was making its transition from a privately owned playground for the wealthy to a state-owned playground for all. And Tony Rehagen speaks to a current Jekyll Island Club Resort employee (page 64) whose funky collection of signs strives to keep that past alive.

We offer a snapshot of the man who bought Jekyll Island for the state of Georgia back in '47, Governor M.E. Thompson (page 19), and a young man whose family past and artistic talents will tie him to the island for decades to come (page 25).

Past, present, future … it all blends together on Jekyll Island. It's simply done much more quietly here.

John Donovan Editor

The formation of a new beach prairie on the east side of the island … will protect the island's flora and fauna and maintain the island's natural beauty for generations ahead."

1 Mary Logan Bikoff is a former Atlanta magazine editor and a past editor-in-chief of Atlanta Magazine's HOME. She writes about style, design, and travel. Now based in Athens, she works from her home office and tends to her farm, goats, and two children.

2 Jacinta Howard is an Atlantabased culture and entertainment writer, editor, and author. Her work has been featured in Atlanta magazine, Creative Loafing, Shondaland, BET, Thrillist, Paste magazine, Rock the Bells, and others.

Unmatched views & southern seafood

Discover The Wharf – the island’s beloved waterfront restaurant and bar. Enjoy coastal comfort food and refreshing cocktails while you take in a stunning sunset.

3 Laura Scholz is a writer and editor whose work has appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta magazine, Bon Appétit, Eater, Fodor's Travel, and more.

MINI GOLF, MAXIMUM FUN

A JEKYLL ISLAND TRADITION FOR MORE THAN 50 YEARS

912.635.2648

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HAMPTON INN & SUITES JEKYLL ISLAND

YOUR BEACHSIDE GETAWAY ON JEKYLL ISLAND

Located just a few steps from the ocean and complemented with warm hospitality, the Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton Jekyll Island welcomes you. Surrounded by lush maritime forests and the beautiful Atlantic ocean, the Hampton Inn and Suites exudes tranquility, but we are just minutes away from the Jekyll Island National Historic Landmark District.

Whether your visit to Jekyll Island is for leisure, a meeting, or to attend a wedding, the hotel’s modern, spacious 138 guestrooms feature generous services and amenities. Guests will enjoy complimentary breakfast, outdoor pool, kids pool and jacuzzi, and full service lobby bar. Pet friendly rooms are also available.

200 South Beachview Dr. 912-635-3733

jekyllislandsuites.hamptoninn.com

JEKYLL ISLANDexplorer

More on page 25

Past as Prologue

The ruins of once-grand Chichota Cottage spring to a new life

Even if their story has been shrouded by the passing of time, some places reveal their histories in a certain mood, in the setting, and in remnants left behind. The site of Chichota Cottage is such a place. Tucked into the Historic District of Jekyll Island, these ruins once were the stately home of New York City contractor David H. King Jr., the developer of (among other projects) Madison Square Garden, the Washington Square Arch, and the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty.

Chichota Cottage, built in 1897, was purchased two years later by the Gould family who, like many members of the Jekyll Island Club, would visit their second home to enjoy the peaceful, essential beauty of the island by hunting, biking, and exploring nature, according to the Jekyll Island Authority's historic preservationist, Taylor Davis.

Tragedy struck the Gould family during a trip in 1917,

BY DENISE K. JAMES

when Edwin Gould Jr. was killed in a hunting accident. While out with his tutor, Edwin tried to club a raccoon with a loaded shotgun, and the weapon discharged into his abdomen. Devastated, the Goulds never returned to Chichota, and the estate was finally razed in 1941.

"By all accounts, it was in bad shape when they tore it down," Davis says. For years, virtually the only trace of the majestic home was a pair of marble lions that once guarded the entrance. They remain today.

In 2018, rehabilitation of the site began. A great deal of passion still is being poured into the work. But to make the ruins accessible to as many visitors as possible, the first item on Davis' to-do list was to add an access path and ramp, ensuring the site met the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

In addition, a number of beautiful original terra cotta quarry tiles were salvaged and incorporated into the

courtyard rehabilitation project, along with careful reproductions of other tiles. Students from the University of Georgia's Coastal Field Studies program, along with preservation volunteers, contributed to the project.

Thanks to a recent donation to the Jekyll Island Foundation, Chichota's improvements continue. Part of what once was the cottage's basement is being repurposed as a patio, ideal as an outdoor classroom or event venue and with a ramp and stairwell that include a safety railing leading into the space. The former swimming pool is partly filled with gravel, sand, and pavers, leaving a comfortable edge for guests to perch and enjoy presentations.

Davis admits that recent supply sourcing delays (including a holdup in the last known production of the replica quarry tiles) have presented some hurdles. "We're specific with the pavers we're using [on the patio] … and it's a challenge finding comparable materials to match what we already have," he notes. "But

with the group effort of our volunteers, JIA staff, contractors, our interns, and generous donations, it's coming together."

Preserving the beauty of the Chichota site is paramount. Much of the original vegetation will remain part of the property, and the landscape architect is "excited to plant kumquat trees," according to Davis, in the property's former kumquat grove.

"We're letting the vegetation come back— climbing vines, creeping figs—and it's taking the feeling from the past and recreating it," he adds.

Opposite page: The Jekyll Island residence of Edwin Gould, circa 1948. (Courtesy Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum) Above: Preservationist Taylor Davis (right) and an intern restore tiles at the site. (Brian Austin Lee)

Two-Way Treat

Yaupon holly both a decoration and drink

BY TESS MALONE

Ride Crane Bike Path from the Historic District to the Beach Village and you can see dense blankets of yaupon holly on the maritime forest floor. Smaller than its holly cousins, American and dahoon, yaupon is dioecious, meaning male and female plants present differently. While both bloom white flowers in spring, only the female sports bright-red berries in fall just in time for holiday decor. (Just don’t eat the fruit; it's poisonous, like most holly berries.)

Gardeners can cultivate yaupon easily in their yards, considering it needs only one trim a year. (It looks best in a shrub or tree shape.) But yaupon is more than just simple decoration. The leaves of the yaupon plant (Ilex vomitoria)—the leaves, not the berries—are edible. And caffeinated.

Native Americans in the Southeast brewed yaupon to make a "black drink" for use during religious ceremonies, social meetings, and other important occasions. By the early 1700s, Europeans used it for, among other purposes, a breakfast drink and a medicine. It was believed to treat smallpox and to purify drinking water.

Today, steeping the fresh or dried leaves produces a tea similar to a yerba mate, a more potent type of tea. You can also blend the leaves with sugar and fresh fruit for a more flavorful brew. "My favorite is fresh raspberries," says the Jekyll Island Authority’s natural resources manager, Yank Moore.

Claw and ORDER

BY TESS MALONE

Traipsing around Jekyll Island at low tide, visitors might discover a tiny crab with a comically large claw. The find could be one of three different fiddler crabs native to the island: the sand fiddler found on the beach, the Atlantic mud fiddler taking residence on the edges of the salt marsh, or the red-jointed or brackish-water fiddler that makes the tidal creeks its home. You'd be hard pressed to find a part of the island where there isn't

a fiddler crab. How to spot which is which?  "To the untrained eye, they are quite hard to tell apart," says Jekyll Island Authority's natural resources manager, Yank Moore. Instead, it's easier to distinguish males and females, he notes. Females are duller in color and have two regularly sized claws. Males are often flashier, with one giant claw that can measure up to half their body weight. Considering these crabs are only two inches in length, the appendage stands out. And it's not just for looks.

Fiddlers earn their name by the waving of their claw, which resembles playing a violin (or a fiddle). They move their claws both to attract mates and to protect

their territory. They often lose their claws in fights against fellow fiddlers, or sometimes predators like raccoons, fish, and clapper rail birds steal it. Yet once lost, the claw isn't gone forever. The smaller claw will take charge and grow larger while a new claw will form where the old one was lost.

Despite their sometimes combative lifestyles, fiddlers are plentiful on the island. Their harvest isn't regulated. Their abundance helps to provide a healthy wetland because they feed off algae, bacteria, and plant detritus and end up aerating the mud in the process. When they aren't battling on the beaches, fiddlers dig tunnels in the sand up to two feet deep and retreat when high tide hits.

The fiddler 's oversized claw is not just for looks.

Fighting fiddler crabs stake their claim all over the island

photograph by brian austin lee; illustration by amy holliday

Taste Beach Style on Jekyll Island

The Beach House sits just yards away from the beach with breathtaking views of the Atlantic. Whether you prefer to dine inside or at the bar, under the spacious screened in wrap around

Our culinary team takes tremendous pride in creating something for everyone in a family friendly atmosphere. From home made deserts, hand crafted salads, appetizers, and Artisan pizzas to the stars of the show with fresh local seafood. We feature a full wrap around bar with one of the largest draft beer selections in Southeast GA. From Porters to Ciders, we are able to showcase a variety of regional craft beers on one of our 24 tap handles.

Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. Pets are welcomed! Beach House is also available to host private parties and dining events in the state of the art event space.

guardian

A Fleeting Stay, An Indelible Legacy

M.E. Thompson didn't last long as governor, yet his deal for Jekyll stands the test of time

For Georgia political junkies, M.E. Thompson occupies a quirky niche as one of the principals in a bizarre dispute over the state's governorship. For the rest of us, Thompson's legacy is more significant: He had the vision to acquire Jekyll Island in one of the country's most impressive land deals.

Born into poverty in southeast Georgia, Melvin Ernest Thompson—who always went by "M.E."—was raised by his mother, who was widowed when he was just a toddler. Thompson worked his way through Emory University as a dishwasher and brush salesman and continued his studies at the University of Georgia. He rose from teacher to administrator to superintendent of Georgia schools, which sparked greater political ambitions. In the mid 1940s, he served as the head of Georgia's revenue department, scrutinizing budgets and resolutely looking out for regular Georgians.

While heading the revenue office, Thompson hiked alcohol taxes to increase education spending. He also formed a plan to turn one of the barrier islands on

Georgia's 100-mile coastline into a state park. When political opponents later criticized the Jekyll purchase, he gleefully touted the ways that the state-owned island would offer vacation destinations to suit any budget. Thompson himself enjoyed many trips to the beach. His personal photos in the archives at the University of Georgia include snapshots of family trips to the coast, including both Tybee Island (on the border of Georgia and South Carolina) and Jekyll Island.

"Jekyll had great hidden potential," says Tom Alexander, the director of historic resources for the Jekyll Island Authority. "It was a natural gem, with beautiful buildings and a fascinating history. Practically, it was close to the mainland which would make it easier for everyday people to visit."

Thompson zeroed in on Jekyll in 1946, but put his plans on pause when he ran for the newly created position of lieutenant governor. He won, without ever delivering a campaign speech. That should have cemented his place in history, but it led to one of the more bizarre chapters in Georgia politics. The winner of the governor's race—Eugene Talmadge—died three weeks after the election. Departing governor Ellis Arnall claimed the job should stay with him. Thompson insisted that, as lieutenant, he should become governor. And Talmadge's son, Herman, who'd solicited write-in votes as his father battled illness, said Georgia's people wanted him.

In a dramatic scene in the Capitol early in 1947, lawmakers awarded the governorship to the younger Talmadge in a booze-fueled early morning vote, according to the book "The Three Governors Contro-

versy: Skullduggery, Machinations, and the Decline of Georgia's Progressive Politics." The Georgia Supreme Court overturned the vote and named Thompson acting governor through 1948. He assumed office on May 18, 1947.

Thompson made the most of his brief tenure, funding infrastructure projects without raising taxes. And he followed through on his working idea, authorizing the state to spend $675,000 to acquire Jekyll Island. He battled to keep the governorship in 1948, but Herman Talmadge unseated him, turning the Jekyll acquisition into political fodder by describing the island as "Thompson's Folly."

Thompson died in 1980, his legacy secure.

"He never gave up. That cool idea of making Jekyll a state park is something he held onto during all the political drama," Alexander said. "He made it happen."

Opposite page: Atlanta radio station owner Mike Benton and officials at the dedication of the entrance marker to the island that honors the Jekyll Island Authority, during reopening ceremonies, December 1954. (Courtesy Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum)

Jekyll Island, like the rest of Georgia was left to us as a heritage in trust for our children and their children’s children. It is never to be finished, but always to be improved.”

— Governor M. E. Thompson in 1947

Grand Approach

BY REBECCA BURNS

When the State of Georgia acquired Jekyll Island in 1947, the island was reached in the same way it had been for thousands of years: by boat.

In the early months after the purchase, the state offered free rides on the ferry between the mainland and island. But soon, as contractors began creating a bridge across Jekyll Creek and connecting it to a causeway, navigating to the island became easier for tourists, though initially it was less accessible. The causeway today is known as a vantage point to spot wildlife, from roseate spoonbills and osprey to marsh hares and sometimes otters.

While the bridge and causeway were under construction (an $800,000 endeavor that cost the state more than the island itself),

Jekyll remained hard to get to; "padlocked" in the words of the now-defunct newspaper, The Butler Herald. Finally opened in 1954, the project connected Jekyll Island to Latham Hammock, allowing drivers to quickly reach the island.

In the early 1960s, to lure tourists to Jekyll and promote the causeway, the Glynn Chamber of Commerce staged a promotion in which motorists were "pulled over," only to learn they'd won a stay on the island, complete with a free toll for the bridge.

The original structure was a drawbridge that allowed boats to pass in the narrow channel between the island and mainland. Tom Alexander, now director of historic resources for the Jekyll Island Authority, recalls vacations to the beach

when it seemed that the drawbridge was opened every time his family approached. "As a little kid I was frustrated because I just wanted to get to the beach, and we had to wait," he says. His parents would encourage him to get out of the car. "They'd tell me to watch the boats go by, as a way to distract me while we waited."

In 1985, when the bridge was stuck open for 12 hours, a man desperate to make it on time to his brother’s wedding swam the 1,400 feet across Jekyll Creek. Also stranded by the bridge that same weekend: Georgia governor Joe Frank Harris.

In 1996, the old drawbridge was replaced with the concrete span that leads to the island today. Some of the old bridge was retained to become a popular fishing spot.

A bridge and causeway opened Jekyll Island to a whole new world

Wylie Caudill

BY JACINTA HOWARD PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN AUSTIN LEE

A muralist is making an indelible mark on his home away from home

When Wylie Caudill was tapped to create a mural in the Beach Village, commemorating the 75th anniversary of Jekyll Island becoming a state park, his initial thoughts were selfish.

“I was really excited to have my own mark on the island and be a part of it in that way, and to be a permanent part of Jekyll Island,” he says with a laugh.

Caudill’s mural sits oceanside on a north-facing wall in the Beach Village, becoming the latest example of ties to the island that run deep. His great grandmother, Tallulah “Tallu” Fish, was a journalist who founded Jekyll Island Museum in Indian Mound Cottage, the former home of William Rockefeller in 1954. It was the island’s first museum.

“She moved onto the island not long after all the Rockefellers and the wealthy people had left,” Caudill says. “She started that museum, wrote about it, and really helped launch and revive Jekyll Island.”

Although he was raised in Cynthiana, Kentucky and now calls Louisville home, Caudill’s childhood summers belonged to the island. His memories are filled with long days spent shell hunting, exploring Driftwood Beach, and watching the sunset on the pier nearly every night. Vanilla fudge treats at the Island Sweets Shoppe in the Historic District dot his

memories, along with time spent with his extended family. It’s those nostalgic impressions of his “home away from home” that Caudill hopes to capture with his mural.

“I do hope that it becomes a small staple of the island, a small landmark that people will get to be familiar with and will be part of Jekyll Island that fits in, as opposed to standing out as its own thing,” says Caudill, who considers himself more of an interactive public mural artist because he loves it when people are part of the art. “I really want it to feel like it belongs on the island.”

That sense of familiarity informs much of Caudill’s mural work, which is vibrant and textured with a whimsical sense of intimacy, and can be spotted at various businesses around Kentucky. He was “surrounded by art” growing up, and hails from a long line of artists. His grandmother was a portrait artist and all her daughters were artists; actors, musicians, and quilters. He’s always had a knack for drawing and painting, and has been doing it his entire life, although when he attended college at Eastern Kentucky University, he majored in broadcasting. But art was in his blood, and he quickly became campus-famous for his chalk art murals, which he was doing around the school almost weekly. He says he was

creating the murals for fun, and never considered they’d land him a viable career in the arts. Upon graduation, that changed.r in the arts. Upon graduation, that changed.

“I had so many inquiries about doing personal commissions for people and I got a few inquiries about doing murals, so I started doing that,” he says. “Then I realized that I could do this full time. It happened very organically. I never really made that decision of ‘I’m going to be an artist.’ I think it just occupied my time until it was everything I did.”

Caudill says he spends a lot of his initial design planning thinking in terms of backdrops, how the mural will photograph, and where people might want to stand next to it, and he’s especially excited about bringing his piece to life in Jekyll Island.

“My plan is to capture Jekyll Island in its essence as I’ve always seen it,” he says, “which is this beautiful, relaxing, really unique place.”

Opposite page: The newly minted mural at Jekyll Island's Beach Village. Above: Caudill signs his work.

my jekyll

“I live in Brunswick, so it's easy to get to Jekyll. Sometimes I go with my family; but mostly I go with my friends and spend the day. One of my favorite attractions is Summer Waves [Water Park]. They have some incredible water slides and a great wave pool. We'll spend most of the day there and then get frozen yogurt at Fuse. The thing I like most about Jekyll is that no matter where you go on the island, everyone is friendly. When you're there, it feels like you're part of one big family.”

– MICHAUN COLLINS

As told to FRAN WORRALL

Photograph by BRIAN AUSTIN LEE

collins, a high school senior, has been coming to jekyll since he was 5 years old. during the summer of 2021, he served as a marketing intern with the jekyll island authority. his internship was especially meaningful because of his longtime connection to the island. he plans to study business in college.

By JOSH GREEN

Photography By BRIAN AUSTIN LEE

Wildlife biologist Joseph Colbert identifies a native plant species found in the beach prairie.

The goal, in a sense, is to finish what the X-Men started.

Back in 2011, when the filmmakers behind X-Men: First Class needed a stand-in location for Cuba, they transformed the sands around Oceanview Beach Park, on the eastern side of Jekyll Island, into a tropical, palm-studded paradise, with a few huge chunks of the fictional X-Jet dramatically thrown in. Once filming wrapped and the palms were packed up, as part of the conservation efforts required by the Jekyll Island Authority (JIA), 20th Century Fox planted about 1½ acres of life-sustaining grasses that had become scarce on Jekyll and considered endangered on a global scale. Through a unique new partnership, the JIA will soon significantly expand those ecological efforts and create, if all goes well, a different kind of marvel.

The habitat, now mature after more than a decade, has several different names in conservation circles: beach prairie, muhly meadows, maritime grasslands, dune meadows. The vegetation itself is mostly sweetgrass, or muhly grass. It’s the key ingredient of a beneficial grassland found in dune areas along the Eastern seaboard. It’s also largely been eliminated in many places by development and other threats, ranging from sea-level rises to changes in the coastal sand-sharing system that can erode shorelines. Jekyll’s nascent prairie is located almost exactly in the middle of the island, between Beachview Drive and a bike path, just north of Tortuga Jacks restaurant and south of the Holiday Inn Resort, near a 2-acre parking lot and pavilion. The only other naturally occurring examples of this type of habitat on the island are a few fragmented pieces on the southern end that have been threatened by more frequent inundation from high tides.

Later this year, a campaign to further expand Jekyll’s beach prairie should start to bear fruit on both sides of Oceanview Beach Park. The latest effort—muhly grass has been ornamentally planted at the island entrance and at Great Dunes Beach Park, too—swaps out 3½ acres of non-native turf grass with muhly grass and other flowering plants, adding to Jekyll’s mosaic of beachfront habitats while nurturing (and harboring) an array of wildlife species.

“In some ways,” says Joseph Colbert, JIA’s wildlife biologist, “this isn’t only a restoration and exercise in showing people what this looks like, but we’re kind of rescuing this habitat on the island as it exists.”

Until 2021, as unlikely as it may sound, this particular beachside acreage wasn’t protected. In fact, in previous versions of Jekyll’s Master Plan, it had been designated as “developed land,” meaning it could have been built upon. Building in that area would have blocked the now-iconic views of the Atlantic from Beachview Road and marred the pristine island experience at Oceanview Beach Park.

The effort to remove the designation and restrict development in the area—an undertaking supported by local and state environmental groups—included a comprehensive staff review at the JIA and approval by the JIA’s Board of Directors. The new designation solidifies the balance between natural and developed land that’s called for in the state park’s Master Plan. By law, only 1,659 acres of the island (of about 5,530 acres total) can be developed. At this point, only 60 acres remain that can be developed, and 40 of those are restricted solely for public use, for things like recreation, utility infrastructure, or public safety.

The footprint of development on Jekyll Island has not expanded by a single acre in more than a decade. “There’s a lot of political will for conservation on Jekyll these days.” says Ben Carswell, JIA’s director of conservation and stability.

Fortune would have it that, just as JIA was securing protections for the beach prairie, an organization famous for its fascination with birds was looking to, well, spread its wings and branch out of Atlanta.

Georgia Audubon (formerly Atlanta Audubon Society) had grown from a volunteer-run bird club to a staffed nonprofit hoping to conduct outreach, conservation, and education around the state. A natural focus was Georgia’s barrier islands. “The coast being such an important part of biodiversity in Georgia makes it extremely attractive,” says Gabe Andrle, Georgia Audubon’s habitat conservation program manager. “It’s the birdiest place in the state.”

Andrle and Adam Betuel, Georgia Audubon’s director of conservation, met with JIA and Jekyll Island Historic District staff about potential collaborations, and it wasn’t long before a beach prairie expansion was pitched. Last year, Georgia Audubon landed a grant from a familiar source— the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Program—to cover the bulk of the bird-friendly project’s roughly $50,000 cost, with help from JIA matching funds and donations.

the footprint of development on jekyll island has not expanded by a single acre in more than a decade.

Plantings are expected to begin this fall on what might be the first 3½-acre phase. Georgia Audubon has submitted two more grant proposals, roughly $30,000 each, that could come to fruition next year and allow the beach prairie to grow across 11 acres. The cherished pavilion and Oceanview Beach Park would then be nestled into a long, contiguous, natural green habitat with seed-heads that explode into purplish-pink waves in fall.

Smaller mammals like marsh rabbits and cotton rats thrive in the beach prairie environment, using the clumped muhly grass as cover from ambush-ready Red-tail hawks.

Ditto for nonvenomous snake species such as coachwhips and kingsnakes. The JIA several times has tracked, via a collar, a bobcat to the existing beach prairie.

Birds to benefit will include brightly plumed Painted Buntings, Yellow Warblers, swallows, Savannah sparrows, and many others. Georgia Audubon’s work is hastened by the fact that bird populations are rapidly declining, with about 3 billion—or 25%—fewer birds around the planet now than were estimated to be in existence in 1970, says Betuel.

During storms, a vibrant and lush grassland holds the ground together more firmly. Culturally, sweetgrass is an important material in the heritage of Gullah Geechee people, who use it to weave traditional baskets. Once established, the sweetgrass creates a micro habitat by shading the ground and holding in moisture, allowing for smaller flowering plants such as goldenrod and bee balm. That, in turn, attracts pollinator insects like bees and butterflies that boost the aesthetics and summon larger wildlife.

Birding boomed as a pastime through the pandemic as people sought connections with nature, and it continues to be a boon for Jekyll’s economy with birder tourists trekking to the island and the Georgia Ornithological Society holding its annual meeting here each year.

“We have an amazing coastline for bird life,” says Betuel. “There are millions and millions of migratory birds that pass through Georgia in the spring and fall, and they’re using spaces like [the beach prairie] to power their journey.”

benefits of the prairie go much deeper than mere aesthetics.

Left to right: Adam Betuel and Gabe Andrle of Georgia Audubon

Once the existing turf grass is sufficiently killed for the new project, thousands of plants are expected to be planted this fall, jumpstarting the ecosystem. Afterwards, prescribed burnings—fire is a natural, important occurrence, after all—will follow every three or four years.

“It’s a good outcome, if you think about it, because some of the most attractive parcels for development are beachfront property,” says Colbert. “Being able to turn that into a natural conservation area is a big win for us.”

And it’s further proof, as Betuel stresses, that ecologically diverse, environmentally crucial prairies aren’t just a Kansas thing.

“A lot of times we think of grasslands as [being in] the central U.S., and more and more the Southeastern grasslands are getting recognized, and this is one of the most niche types that we have,” says Betuel. “It’s a really unique habitat for Jekyll that I think Georgians can be proud of.”

Above: Painted bunting (Shutterstock). From top: The wildflower spiderwort (Brian Austin Lee), a Savannah sparrow (Shutterstock), and a cotton rat (Steve Hinshaw).

The Bellhop

JOHN NEWKIRT'S RECOLLECTIONS PAINT A PICTURE OF A BYGONE ERA ON JEKYLL ISLAND

by mary logan bikoff

illustrations by michael

frith

in the late 1940s,

after Jekyll Island was acquired by the state of Georgia, as the opulent Gilded Age clubhouse first was converted into the 350-room Jekyll Island Hotel, guests arrived to the island via a 40-minute paddleboat trip from nearby Brunswick, Georgia. There to greet them— sometimes the first to do so—might well have been John C. Newkirt, one of the hotel's bellmen.

Newkirt left his home in rural south Georgia in January of 1947—he was 17 years old—without a nickel in his pocket or a clear plan in mind. He landed on the island at a time when Black people couldn't use the front entrance or stay at the hotel.

There, for more than a year, he hustled from room to room, pouring Cokes and polishing wingtips for the ritzy clientele.

After his stay on Jekyll Island, Newkirt moved into the ministry, eventually traveling the world. In 1987, he became pastor of Johnson Grove Missionary Baptist Church in his hometown of Garfield, Georgia, where he served for more than 20 years. Now 92 and retired, he lives with his wife Ida in Garfield.

Newkirt's memories of his time on Jekyll, excerpted here from a 2014 interview conducted for the island's museum, offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the island in its early days as a state park.

OPPOSITE PAGE: UNIDENTIFIED GUESTS ENTER THE LOBBY OF THE FORMER JEKYLL ISLAND HOTEL, CIRCA 1948. (COURTESY MOSAIC, JEKYLL ISLAND MUSEUM)

starting a new life

In the early part of his life, Newkirt toiled long hours on his family's farm for 50 cents a day. He grew frustrated with the pay and the hard work, so he hitchhiked the six miles or so from Garfield to Twin City, borrowed money to take a bus to Savannah where he learned of the job on Jekyll Island, then took another bus to Brunswick. He talks about his first night on island:

When I got off the boat … we couldn't go in the front door. I went to the front desk to see Mr. Smith, who was the supervisor of the day shift, and I told him I was sent here from the department of labor for a job. He called, "Come here, Earl Hill"—that was the captain of the bell house [and the caddie for William and John D. Rockefeller]—"We got a man for you tonight." Earl said, "Well, we have a job, when can you start?" I said "Now." He said, "No, you got to get dressed first."

The help lived over the stables. Earl said, "I'll be back for ya about 10 o'clock." Nobody had lived in that room I guess for months or whatever, it was just dust. I put my sheet and pillowcase on the pillow,

then I got my bed ready and had a shower. I had a wrinkled white T-shirt on. Earl came back and said, "Now you going to have to have a white coat, do you have a black necktie?" I said, "I don't have no black necktie." He said, "I got one for ya." He gave me a leather black necktie, and that was really something. I never had a leather black necktie.

the first night shift

For most of his time on Jekyll, Newkirt worked the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift, a time marked by late-night requests from the high-rolling vacationers on the island.

Eleven o'clock came and "Bing!" I didn't know what the bell was for. "Front!" Mr. Smith now was ringing the bell for the bellhop to come to the front desk because he had to go to a room on the third floor to take some ice, ginger ale, and some Cokes. He wrote it on a little pad. But you had to make sure that you only picked up what he said because when anything was missing, I was responsible. And he said, "Always knock, identify yourself, do not open

“eleven o'clock came and

i didn't know what the bell was for."

'bing!'

-john c. newkirt

the door and go in." I knocked on the door, "Who's there?" I said, "Bellhop John. I come to bring you ice and drinks." "Okay, come on in." I went in, opened the drinks, opened two sodas, one ginger ale, and poured this pitcher full of ice. When I got finished, they handed me 50 cents. That was a day's work right there [in his hometown of Garfield].

I kept getting "Bing! Front desk!" I know where now; up, down, north, south. And I did that until 7 a.m., because they were gambling all night.

My time was up [after his shift], and then you come down and eat breakfast before you go.

Oh, I was so hungry. Hadn't had nothing in two days. I ate grits, sausage, eggs. I mean, when I say eggs, I mean four or five eggs [laughs], four slices of toast. I didn't drink coffee, I had two glasses of milk. And now, I'm full, I'm going to bed.

a handsome salary

On his first night on Jekyll Island, according to another interview Newkirt gave, he made $7.30, almost three weeks of pay on his father's farm. And that was just in tips.

We got paid twice a month, the 1st and 15th. Fifteen dollars on the first two weeks, and 15 dollars on the second two weeks. I only took mine one time and I told Ms. Culpepper—she was personnel, the banker, the post—I would not sign up any more because I was getting too much money. I didn't know what to do with this money. I couldn't put it in the bank because Black people didn't bank here. So she saved it for me in a big brown envelope. Oh, I had so much money. Each night I was making more and more, 'cause I was doing it faster and faster.

on the town

In another interview, Newkirt describes his work uniform; white shirt with a black leather necktie, dark trousers, black shoes, and a white coat with blue cuffs and a blue collar. After he earned some money, he went shopping.

Now I didn't have no clothes except what I had on my back when I came here. So, one Friday, I went to

Brunswick. I took my Tampa Nugget cigar box, what I had my money in, and I went to an exclusive men's shop. Oh, this was a men's shop that was out of this world. Nice neckties, shirts, you name it. I bought me five short sleeve shirts, four pair of pants, I guess 10 or 15 pair of underwear, top and bottom, socks. And then, I had to go to a shoe store where they sold shoes for big feet [laughs]. When I got there, he went and got me a 13 triple E, a black one, and I slid my feet in there. He said, "This here shoe is $2.50, but since you have 13 size shoe, you have to pay a dollar extra." I bought me a brand-new black leather tie, for 50 cents, bought me a brand-new bow tie for 25 cents, leather. So now I got a brandnew shirt, brand-new black tie, brand-new pants, and brand-new shoes. I am dressed to kill.

OPPOSITE PAGE: PARKS DIRECTOR CHARLIE MORGAN WELCOMES GUESTS AS THEY ARRIVE TO THE ISLAND BY FERRY, CIRCA 1948. (COURTESY MOSAIC, JEKYLL ISLAND MUSEUM)

“so now i got a brand-new shirt, brand-new black tie, brand-new pants, and brand-new shoes. i am dressed to kill."

race and the island

Coming to Jekyll, Newkirt traveled in the Black-only area of the boat. While on the island, he lived upstairs in a former horse stable that had been converted for use by the Black workforce. He worked with many older men and women, some of them the sons and daughters of former slaves, and many of whom had no education. Newkirt had a 10th grade

education and helped many of them out with their paychecks and purchases .

I didn't know anything about racism. I never heard that word until the '60s. I thought that's just the way it was. I didn't know. I felt I had everything I needed, everything I wanted. I'm well employed. But when I left here, this hotel was now going into change, from Jekyll Island Hotel to Jekyll Island State Park. Mr. [Herman] Talmadge was the governor, and

OPPOSITE PAGE: THE REV. JOHN C. NEWKIRT OUTSIDE OF HIS HOME IN GARFIELD, GEORGIA. THIS PAGE: NEWKIRT WITH HIS WIFE, THE FORMER IDA BELLE ROBERSON, AT HOME. (COURTESY MOSAIC, JEKYLL ISLAND MUSEUM)

what made me so angry leaving here, Mr. Talmadge made a remark that the Negroes ain't worth but 50 cents a day. And anyone wears overalls, that's all they will get as long as I am governor. [Deep breath] But I thought about Mr. [Thomas H.] Briggs [Jr., the manager of the Jekyll Island Hotel], Mr. [W. Red] Weatherford [the hotel's assistant manager], who were the two top men I was under and answered to. They treated me, I would say, as they would any other person, white or Black.

letters from home

With the exception of a brief foray into Brunswick, Newkirt spent most of his time on the island, working. Occasionally, he did hear from home.

Ida Belle wrote me a letter. She said, "Dear John, I have moved, and I do not live where I had lived before." I misread the letter. I thought she was saying, "Dear John, I have married, and I do not love you anymore." I balled it up and I started to tear it up, but something said don't tear it up, and I put it in my pocket. So, me and Fuller, a friend of mine, a bellhop on the day shift, went down to play horseshoes, that

was our game. So I took it out and read it, and something said read it slow. And it said, "Dear John, I have moved from where we used to live and I don't live there anymore. This is my new address, if you want to write me, please write me the route through Millen, Georgia [a small town in Jenkins County, south of Augusta]. I love you honey, bye bye." Oh boy [laughs]! I sat right down then. I was a 10thgrade student, I had very good handwriting, and I wrote her a darling letter. "Dear Darling, I have received your letter today. I am so glad to hear from you and I love you. Thank you so much for writing me. I don't have time to write you because I am on the job tonight, but I will write to you a little later when I have time."

More than 60 years after leaving Jekyll, Newkirt and Ida returned to the island, where he was feted by several people at the hotel. "This is not a book of fiction, it's a book of facts," he told an interviewer at the time. "I learned on Jekyll Island what you can be if honesty is on the top of your list … to all the staff who treated us so kind, thank you Jekyll. You have made my life; not just my day, you have made my life."

"i sat right down then...i had very good handwriting, and i wrote her a darling letter."

THE ISLAND BOASTS A TON OF FUN EXPERIENCES

SLIGHTLY OFF THE BEATEN PATH

By JENNIFER BRADLEY FRANKLIN

Photography by BRIAN AUSTIN LEE

There’s more to do than meets the eye on Jekyll Island, more than the miles of beaches to enjoy, the charming places to stay, the uncompromised natural beauty to soak up. This barrier island offers a whole host of unique and somewhat surprising experiences.

Here are seven to explore:

Souvenir Hunting on the Beach

If you’re looking for solitude and hoping to score a souvenir, plan a visit to Shark Tooth Beach. There’s no vehicular access to the area, so start at Summer Waves Water Park. Heading south, the entrance to Shark Tooth Beach is less than 1,000 feet past the Summer Waves entrance. Look for an unmarked metal gate on the right side of the road. (Wear bug spray and stay on the path until you get to the beach; rattlesnakes have been spotted nearby.) Be sure to wear sturdy shoes for the 25-minute walk, too. Once you get to the beach, the oyster shells and teeth can be sharp. Don’t feel like a long walk? Book a private, family-friendly boat tour with one of several charters that specialize in fishing and dolphin spotting. jekyllisland.com/fishing

An Educational Haul

It’s no secret that Georgia’s Golden Isles boast a unique ecological bounty. See some of the wildlife up close aboard Coastal Tide Excursions’ Lady Jane, a licensed commercial shrimping trawler. Captain Cameron Ako takes groups of up to 35 to the waters of St. Simons Sound, bordering Jekyll, for three separate trawls, pulling up everything from shrimp and crabs to sting rays and small sharks. An on-board marine naturalist explains the “catch” in detail, allowing guests to hold the animals for a photo before re-releasing them back into their native waters. Looking for more? A private charter comes with a fresh-cooked shrimp or low-country boil on board. shrimpcruise.com

Marvelous Ruins

Veer off the well-worn path to find the ruins of a Jekyll Club-era dairy silo. Located a mile or so north of the National Historic Landmark District along Riverview Drive, the approximately 20-foot-tall silo is constructed of tabby (a cement-like material made of oyster shells) and was built around the turn of the 20th century. “It’s an eerie site,” says Jekyll Island Authority historic preservationist Taylor Davis, who has been visiting since childhood. There’s no information posted, which adds to the feeling of discovery. “When we were young, we felt like we were the only ones who knew about it.”

Back in Time

Explore the island’s rich history in the transportation of yesteryear. Three Oaks Carriage and Trail Company offers horse-drawn carriages that seat up to a dozen guests, along with a guide to provide expert insight into the sites you’ll see, including the Macy, Rockefeller, and Goodyear cottages, the Jekyll Island Club Resort, Faith Chapel, and the rest of the Historic District. Guests who prefer more equine interaction can opt for a guided horseback ride along the marsh and on the beach. threeoaksfarm.org

Water Wonderland

With miles of shoreline and marsh inlets, Jekyll’s various waterways are a major draw. Those looking for a little extra dose of adventure will find it with Turtle Tides. The outfitter offers small group kayaking tours to explore the island’s shoreline, marshes, and wildlife preserves, where you can see majestic birds, dolphins, and more. “Depending on the type of adventure that family wants, we build something specifically for them,” says owner Rob Williams. Guests looking for even more excitement can book a stand-up paddleboarding (SUP) lesson or try their hand at SUP surfing. The gentle Jekyll waves are ideal for beginners. turtle-tides.com

Get Artsy

Want to explore your artistic side? The Jekyll Island Arts Association, located in the historic 1906 Goodyear Cottage, offers dozens of hands-on, small group classes and workshops on topics from weaving and pottery to jewelry making and painting. “I think when you’re at peace—and Jekyll provides that for many people— you’re able to explore your creativity a little more,” says Jackie Becker, who coordinates the spring and summer classes. The organization also offers monthly gallery shows and a shop that sells one-of-a-kind pieces created by association members. jekyllartists.com/classes-learning

Swinging St. Andrews

Continue your off-the-beaten-track tour with a visit to St. Andrews Beach, near the island’s southern tip. Hidden on a trail to the right of the parking lot, you’ll find an impressive, and intense, rope swing. It’s attached to a stories-high live oak, and it takes some climbing to get to. The swing’s origins remain a mystery, but adventurous locals have been enjoying its thrills since the 1980s. While you’re there, keep an eye out for pelicans and sandpipers that frequent the beach, search for sun-bleached sand dollars, and walk along the Wanderer Memory Trail, created to memorialize one of America’s last-known slave ships, the Wanderer, which came ashore here.

TRANQUIL BEACHES AND ACTIVITIES

GALORE DRAW SOME FOLKS BACK YEAR AFTER YEAR AFTER YEAR

By LAURA SCHOLZ

For many, Jekyll Island isn't just a one-off vacation spot but a home away from home, a place to celebrate milestones, enjoy nature, and unwind from city life amid the backdrop of beautiful coastal landscapes and pristine beaches. From their must-visit local haunts to favorite memories, these repeat visitors share why they keep returning to the island.

Sandra Martin Mungin's parents, Genoa and Mamie Martin, were Jekyll Island pioneers. In 1963, they became the first Black residents of the island, building a home on the south side in the St. Andrews community near what was at the time the state's first and only beach open to African-Americans.

While Mungin was already in college by the time her parents moved to the island, she visited as often as she could. "We went crabbing and fishing and swimming and had crab boils and barbecues," she remembers.

"They were very busy and hard-working," she says of her parents. Her mother was a nurse, while her father managed Selden Park in nearby Brunswick and worked as a concert promoter for Jekyll's famed Dolphin Club Lounge, where he booked acts like Otis Redding.

The family often hosted friends and relatives from Atlanta. "You have no problem with folks wanting to come visit if you live on the beach," she says with a laugh. For years, three generations of the family participated in Jekyll's annual Thanksgiving Golf Classic, often gathering afterward for a meal on the family's porch.

These and other stories from Mungin's life are part of an oral history collection at Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum.

Now 78 years old, Mungin recently moved back to the area after 40 years in Atlanta.

"I missed the salt air and got tired of traffic," she says. She loves visiting Driftwood Beach and the old picnic area and having a place where her grandson Miles— who lives overseas with Mungin's son and daughter-inlaw—can dip his toes in the sand and go fishing from the same piers she did as a child.

Of Jekyll, she says, "it's a very beautiful place, and it's home."

SANDRA MARTIN

MUNGIN loves the tranquility of Driftwood Beach. It's a favorite spot for visits with her grandson.

brian austin lee

JEFF FOSTER and his wife Kathy visit Jekyll Island several times a year. They're shown here on the steps of Hollybourne Cottage.

A first responder from McDonough, Jeff Foster has been vacationing on Jekyll Island for his entire life. He's written a book about it: "Sandy Britches and Sandy Toes: My Jekyll Island Memories."

Drawn to its serene setting and laid-back atmosphere, Foster and his parents started visiting Jekyll in the mid-1960s, staying at, among other places, the Cherokee Campground and later The Wanderer Resort Motel.

"I loved that it was so peaceful and quiet, not packed like the beaches in Florida," recalls Foster.

He spent his summer vacations strolling the beaches at the old northside picnic area and on St. Andrews, or shopping for souvenirs at Whittle's Gifts and his favorite spot, Jekyll Pharmacy.

"The AC was always ice-cold, and when you walked in, you were immediately hit by the smell of plastic and the sight of colorful vinyl toys, beach floats, T-shirts, and shells," he says.

Over the past five decades, he has collected more than 200 Jekyll Island postcards, brochures, restaurant menus, bumper stickers, and other memorabilia, much of which he recently donated to Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum.

"It's my contribution to the Jekyll story," he explains.

These days, he visits Jekyll at least one a year, taking the same back roads his family used to travel when he was a child.

"Getting down there is almost half the fun," says Foster, who can rattle off the name of every small town between his metro Atlanta home and the island. He even drove eight hours round trip to celebrate his 50th birthday on the island.

When on island, he rarely deviates from his set routine: soaking in the views on the riverbanks near DuBignon Cemetery or Driftwood Beach, eating homemade peanut butter pie at Zachary's Riverhouse, and shopping for souvenirs at Maxwell's.

"Every time you cross that bridge, you enter a time warp into another era, where everyone talks to everybody and complete strangers feel like people you've known for years," he says. "It always makes me feel like a kid again."

Top: Jeff and his mother Marie at the old north picnic area in 1970. Bottom: Jeff at the Wharf in 1972.

Jeff, age four, at the old north picnic area. (Courtesy Foster family)

CATHIE & TOM WILSON celebrate their anniversay on Jekyll each year. A favorite spot is under the oaks on the lawn of the Jekyll Island Club Resort.

When Cathie and Tom Wilson were married in 1970, they honeymooned on Jekyll Island. Why? When he first visited Jekyll as a teenager in the early 1960s, Tom saw a happy young couple sitting in a fancy sports car and overheard the woman say, "This has been a fantastic honeymoon," Tom says now.

"That planted the idea in my mind that if I ever got married or had a honeymoon, Jekyll is where I would go." He stuck to his plan.

Tom and Cathie spent their four-day honeymoon on Jekyll during his graduate school spring break in 1970. They stayed at The Wanderer Resort Motel and Stuckey's Carriage Inn, and Cathie fondly recalls riding a bicycle built for two all around the island.

The two of them have returned to celebrate their anniversary every year since.

"It's almost like stepping back in time," says Cathie of the island's tranquil atmosphere.

"It's a sanctuary, and we love all the trees, the relative lack of development, and that it's not really crowded on the beach," he explains.

Over the years, the couple has celebrated many milestones on Jekyll Island: family vacations with their children and grandchildren, Tom's 60th birthday, and their 50th wedding anniversary, which they commemorated with photographs under the island's signature oak trees and a stay at the Jekyll Island Club Resort.

The pair visits every October and usually stay in the Historic District, often running into the same couples year after year at their favorite spots, including The Wharf restaurant and The Bar at the Jekyll Island Club Resort.

"We like to get to know the bartenders and staff and customers," says Tom.

As Cathie explains, "Everytime we go, it feels like our family away from home."

Newlyweds Cathie and Tom Wilson spent a four-day honeymoon on Jekyll Island in 1970. (Courtesy Wilson family)

IRIS HARRIS visits Jekyll's beaches as often as she can. She's shown here at Corsair Beach Park.

Iris Harris's Jekyll Island roots run deep. Her father, George Harris, was Glynn County's recreation director in the 1950s and 1960s and helped design many of the island's first parks. Her mother, Joyce Harris, worked at The Wanderer Resort Motel for more than 30 years.

"My friends and I would take over the pool and the beach there, then would ride our bicycles all over the island, back before there were many cars," she says. That same group of friends enjoyed playing miniature golf at Peppermint Land amusement park, while she and her family picnicked on the beach on Sundays during the warmer months.

"We also spent a lot of time at the Jekyll Island Pharmacy at the old shopping center because my mama and daddy were friends with the owner, and he would buy us hamburgers and Cokes at the counter," Harris says.

While Harris left Jekyll after graduating high school in 1966, she returns at least once a year, sometimes solo and at times with family or friends. "I did think it was pretty awesome then, which is why I wanted to go back some day," she explains.

Harris always eats fresh seafood and visits her favorite Jekyll spots, where she enjoys reading books and people watching, often with her childhood friend, Mary Brandenberg.

"We always take turns picking where to go for our vacation," Harris says, "but usually one of us says, ‘Do you want to just go down to the island?'"

brian austin lee

The Jekyll Island Pharmacy was a mainstay of island life in the 1950s and 1960s. (Courtesy of Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum)

THIS WAY TO HISTORY

COLLECTING OLD JEKYLL SIGNAGE PRESERVES A LINK TO THE ISLAND'S PAST

BY TONY REHAGEN PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN AUSTIN LEE

In 2017, as contractors renovated the interior of the old Rah Bar, the dockside restaurant that would become The Wharf, Josh Hilimire (pictured at left) spotted treasure in the rubble. For days, workers in the Jekyll Island Club Resort property had been walking over what appeared to be just another piece of plywood. But when Hilimire, the resort's chief engineer, picked up the plank and wiped away years' worth of cooking grease, he uncovered a sign for the old water taxi that had last been in operation in the 1970s.

Anyone with even a passing interest in Jekyll Island and its storied legacy would have been intrigued by the find. Hilimire was ecstatic. In his hands, he not only held a piece of history, but a prized addition to his collection of vintage signs that has since grown and become the talk of the island.

Today, Hilimire showcases more than 50 pieces from various parts of the island and its past in a potpourri of signage that now covers nearly all the exterior of the Club's maintenance barn. Among the various signs are specific reminders of names and places gone by (including a sign for Café Solterra, the resort's veranda restaurant that was renamed The Pantry) and general directors for exits and valet parking whose arrows no longer point in the correct direction or whose design has simply gone out of style. The first sign he collected:

Names change, so signs change. What is now The Pantry at Jekyll Island Club Resort began as Café Solterra (sign on page 70) and later Club Café (left). When construction began on the Jekyll Harbor Marina in the 1970s, the term "historic" was added to the older sign (below). Sometimes, signs just need an update. This Rotary Club lending library sign is from around 1940.

"What has that sign seen through the years? What if that sign could talk?"

-Josh Hilimire

one directing workers and job applicants to a makeshift office in Villa Ospo. No sign is too insignificant to warrant a place on Hilimire's wall. That's partially because Hilimire lives on Jekyll and has a passion for restoration; it's also because he considers it part of his job.

"As chief engineer, I'm constantly looking after the Jekyll Island Club," says Hilimire. "It's my duty to maintain this giant historic national monument."

Hilimire is a tinkerer by blood. His father owned a vending machine business in upstate New York. Hilimire remembers watching his dad perform surgery on the gears and springs to get the broken machines back up and running. That love of mechanics filtered into young Hilimire's hobbies by way of building plastic models and racing remote-control cars and, as he got older, restoring old gumball machines in his father's warehouse. As a young adult, he graduated to fixing up classic cars, vintage motorcycles, and an Airstream. Whether it was a gumball machine or a travel trailer, Hilimire says he has always relished the satisfaction of breathing life into an object and bringing it back polished, vibrant, and in working condition.

The exclusive Jekyll Island Club, which first opened its doors in 1888, became The Jekyll Island Club Hotel upon reopening in 1987, then Jekyll Island Club Resort. The Jekyll Island Museum became Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum in 2019. The restaurant known as Courtyard at Crane (see sign next page) has closed, open now only for special occasions at Crane Cottage. Red Bug Motors Pizza is still around, though, on Beachview Drive next to Jekyll Island Mini Golf.

He was a natural fit for his job when he first came to Jekyll in 1995. His uncle worked at the Club and told Hilimire there was an opening as a painter with a path to work his way upward. After Hilimire was finished putting new coats of color on historic buildings, he moved to landscaping, worked as a valet, and then did a stint as a bellhop. Along the way, he learned many of the ins and outs of the hospitality business. But with Hilimire's mechanical background, it wasn't long before he was an engineer, repairing ice machines and performing general maintenance. When the chief engineer retired in 2009, Hilimire took the helm.

Throughout his time at the Club, Hilimire has had ample opportunity to work on irreplaceable structures and artifacts from Jekyll's history. But the signs he'd occasionally have to replace, either due to a closing or relocation or a Club-wide redecoration (as happened in 1986), always have held a unique place in his imagination. They were much more than the typical reclamation project. "I don't actually care about the tangible sign as much as its history," he says. "What has that sign seen through the years? What if that sign could talk?"

As Hilimire gradually amassed a glut of the artifacts inside the maintenance barn behind the Club,

word got out. People started bringing him dusty or rusty signage that had been taking up space in garages and attics. Finally, a couple years ago, he felt like sharing his trove with the public and bolted the signs to the outside of the barn's sheet-metal walls. It's now kind of a makeshift museum that doubles as an advertisement for even more signs.

With the Club undergoing an ownership change in 2021, Hilimire soon could be seeing an influx of additions to his exhibit. "The last thing I'll ever do is let someone take a sign home," says Hilimire. "It needs to be showcased for a long time to come. That barn is a collage of the island's history."

Signs of the Times

ONE PERSON ON JEKYLL ISLAND

WHO UNDERSTANDS THE HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ISLAND'S SIGNAGE IS FAITH PLAZARIN .

She's the archivist and records manager at Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum, charged with collecting documentation that tracks the island's history. While she deals mostly with letters, papers, and maps, she says signs are part of her purview, too, a more visible public document. "Each sign," says Plazarin, "is a snapshot of what once was here."

Even the museum for which she works has seen the name on its sign evolve from The Jekyll Island Museum to Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum. Many of its exhibits feature signs, like one from a tennis tournament held in the 1920s.

Signs do more than simply identify places, and preserving them is more than simply collecting them. Plazarin points out that, on Jekyll, signs protect the island's habitat by instructing visitors to stay off the dunes and to be mindful of the turtle and plover habitat. Wayside panels placed throughout the island literally teach the history of Jekyll, from its Native American origins to colonization to the Club Era to segregation to the present.

From an archivist's point of view, Plazarin says that restoring and displaying the original signs that directed and informed visitors is more than just a nostalgia fix. "They provide the components that show the evolution of the island," she says. "Keeping these old signs is a good way to document what was here after it's gone."

HEAD DOWN PATHS

Eyes on the ball. Focus on the flag waving in the breeze on the distant green. Block out the songs of the cuckoo, warbler, and finch. Concentrate. A slight hook or draw, a few feet left or right, and you’re lost in the woods or in the water. These aren’t the manmade hazards you’ve faced on other courses; if the ball strays from these fairways, it could be gone for good in one of the island’s natural lakes, maritime forests, or marshes. Your shot might disturb an osprey or deer or land in an extraordinarily tough lie near an alligator. Golfers have been playing through here since 1898, but this wilderness remains far from tamed. Just center on the shot in front of you. Breathe. Swing true. Follow through. Watch the ball reach the green. Exhale. Grab your putter and move on. Just don’t stray too far off the path.

—tony rehagen

Taste Beach Style on Jekyll Island

The Beach House sits just yards away from the beach with breathtaking views of the Atlantic. Whether you prefer to dine inside or at the bar, under the spacious screened in wrap around

Our culinary team takes tremendous pride in creating something for everyone in a family friendly atmosphere. From home made deserts, hand crafted salads, appetizers, and Artisan pizzas to the stars of the show with fresh local seafood. We feature a full wrap around bar with one of the largest draft beer selections in Southeast GA. From Porters to Ciders, we are able to showcase a variety of regional craft beers on one of our 24 tap handles.

Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. Pets are welcomed! Beach House is also available to host private parties and dining events in the state of the art event space.

Escape Your Beach

Recharge and rejuvenate with ocean air and simple comforts.

Plan your island escape to our 40 all-suite oceanfront boutique hotel. Located just steps from the beach, all of our suites are lushly appointed with classic comforts, including a spacious living room, private balcony and porch. Enjoy Eighty Ocean Kitchen and Bar onsite for breakfast, lunch, and dinner favorites. Come and stay awhile.