Beach
11
Jekyll Island, GA 31527
Dustin Horne, MD | Family Medicine
JEKYLL ISLAND
explo r
Saving the Dovecote
A remarkable old structure gains a surprising new life BY LISA MOWRY
Like many of its architectural ancestors in Europe that date back thousands of years, Jekyll Island’s singular dovecote existed first as a status symbol. From a strictly practical standpoint, dovecotes (then and now) are simply large birdhouses that serve as a home for doves or pigeons. But these structures always have been decorative, too, appealing to homeowners as a clever piece of architecture. Distinguished by the small holes that allow birds to enter (while keeping
out predators), the buildings are still found, in varying styles and sizes, all over the world.
Jekyll Island Club members Frederic and Frances Baker boasted a 16-foot by 10-foot octagonal dovecote built in the 1890s, a charming addition to the New Yorkers’ grandiose vacation home, Solterra Cottage.
“The wealthy Baker family had several homes, and they used Solterra Cottage for a winter escape and a place for hunting,” says Taylor Davis, historic preservationist
for the Jekyll Island Authority (JIA). “They raised doves as game birds.” Their cedar-shingled dovecote—one of several octagonal structures on the island, Davis notes— had pine louver vents (to allow the birds to fly in) and a cedar-shingle roof to complement the Queen Annestyle main house. In its glory days, Solterra Cottage was extravagant. It hosted President William McKinley and his entourage during his 1899 visit to the island.
Alas, the house burned to the ground in 1914, though the dovecote, which always intrigued visitors and historians, was spared. The land where Solterra Cottage sat later became home to Crane Cottage, and the dovecote was moved around the island several times over the years. At one point, it was taken to the beach to be used as a
refreshment stand. It eventually fell into disrepair.
Interest in the Solterra dovecote never waned, though. Repairing it and maintaining it remained a goal for many who consider it a beloved example of the sort of unusual architecture favored by the nation’s wealthiest citizens. Volunteers initially helped stabilize the dovecote in 2015. Then, in 2018, the JIA received a grant from the state, and the dovecote was transformed. It was moved by forklift closer to the road, tied into the existing sewer system, revamped inside, and a ramp was added to make it comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. So was born perhaps the island’s most notable bathroom.
Davis acknowledges that it’s an unlikely example of the adaptive reuse of historic buildings, something that has been done with many other structures on the island. The Georgia Sea Turtle Center, for example, was once a power plant. Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum was originally the horse stables for the Jekyll Island Club. Still, the dovecote-turned-restroom is now popular with both visitors and volunteers. “People remark that it’s one of their favorite restrooms on the island,” Davis says.
Despite all the changes over the years, the Solterra dovecote retains its original architectural charm. Davis points out that without a modern-day use for buildings, old architecture is often doomed. “The worst thing for a historic structure is to lie dormant,” the historian says. “This way, we can ensure that the dovecote will be here for a while.”
Opposite page: Solterra Cottage was the winter home of Frederic and Frances Baker. Top left: The Solterra dovecote as it looks today. Top right: The dovecote was spared when Solterra Cottage burned in 1914.
Magic Beans
This flowery shrub blankets the island
BY TESS MALONE
Ruby-red flowers bloom in the sandy soils of Jekyll Island. Their boldly hued tubular petals climb thorny spindles from a lanky shrub, and their coral-colored seeds are shaped like beans—hence the “surf ‘n turf” name of the glossy-leaved plant known as coral bean. From the high marshes to the open woodlands and even on the side of the roads, this Southeastern perennial covers the island.
Coral bean (Erythrina herbacea) can be easily added to any garden. “Coral bean plants are drought-tolerant, making them a beautiful and ideal choice for low-maintenance landscaping in areas with water restrictions,” says Jekyll Island land management technician Morgan Pierce. But their beauty isn’t confined to the garden; their scarlet seeds make great beads for necklaces and bracelets, too.
Despite its legume look, coral bean is toxic, though hummingbirds pollinate the fiery florals and can be wooed to a garden with coral bean. Indigenous cultures reportedly relied on coral bean for medicines. These days, it's probably best to simply enjoy their beauty.
A Year Round Destination
A Specter BY THE SEA
They have a
spooky
rep and a pair of scary eyes, but ghost crabs are chill
BY TESS MALONE
They mostly come out at night and are as pale as the sands they lurk in, but the name “ghost crab” is really the only creepy part about this crustacean. “If you’re in a place with ghost crabs, you’re in good, quality beach habitat,” says Joseph Colbert, a wildlife biologist with the Jekyll Island Authority (JIA).
Ghost crabs (Ocypode quadrata) act as the garbage collectors of the shore, scavenging on dead organisms, vegetation, insects, and other
detritus washed up on the beach. They’re also known—this might be a little scary—to nosh occasionally on sea turtle eggs. But they eat fewer than 3 percent of the available eggs, so these little guys are not a major threat to the island’s most famous wild creatures. It’s a “crime of opportunity,” notes Colbert. Ghost crabs are generalists and will eat whatever they stumble upon. Ghost crabs don’t have many well-known predators—the largest of the crabs are about the size of a
Ghost crab burrows can be up to four feet deep.
tennis ball—but they don’t go completely unchecked in the island food chain. Another island native, the snake-like glass lizard, has been known to take down a ghost crab. Ghost crabs, maybe living up to their name, are seldom seen by humans. Still, you can look for their homes: They appear as simple holes in the sand, but they can be up to four feet deep. Another fun fact: Younger ghost crabs often patrol closer to the shore, while older ones choose dune real estate. Regardless of age, they make only fleeting trips to the water.
“One distinguishing feature of ghost crabs is their eyes are up on stalks, which is their unique adaptation of terrestrial life,” says Davide Zailo, a research program manager with the JIA. With those oddly upraised eyes, ghost crabs also are one of the few animals that can recognize themselves in a mirror— something not even all primates can do. Now that’s spooky.
Join the fun October 24-25 on Jekyll Island. jekyllisland.com/shrimpgrits
The 21st Century Night Watchmen
Jekyll’s fire, police, and EMS carry on an island tradition
BY RICHARD L. ELDREDGE
guardian
From about 1891 to 1896, Peter DuBignon, an oyster fisherman by day who had been previously enslaved on Jekyll Island, returned to serve as the island’s first night watchman. By 1893, in exchange for spending his nights patrolling the Jekyll Island Club, DuBignon, his wife Susie, and their children moved into the island’s first night watchman’s cottage. A few years later, George H. Burbank relocated from Cumberland Island to become Jekyll’s second night watchman, bringing his wife Nellie and their children with him.
Policing has changed a lot on the island in the past 130 years or so, but the goal for today’s watchmen remains the same as it was for the originals. Explains Georgia State Patrol Post 35 commander Sgt. James Metts: “Whether you’re a longtime resident or a visitor here for the weekend, when you go to bed at night, we want to offer reassurance. We’re there for [you].”
That objective becomes easier now, thanks to a brand new $8.2 million state-of-the-art public safety complex, which was completed last October with a ribbon-cutting featuring Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. The facility, on Shell
Road near its intersection with North Beachview Drive, houses both the island’s nine-member Georgia State Patrol post and Jekyll Island Fire & EMS. With sleeping quarters, a gym, a living area (with eight comfortable recliners), a large meeting space, and a second-floor patio, the center is a vast upgrade for the island’s public safety officers.
GSP Post 35 had been located, since 1985, in a one-time liquor store on the Jekyll Island causeway. The fire department, formerly on Stable Road, routinely held meetings at a card table set up in an equipment bay. In short, working conditions were not ideal. “When troopers went to their vehicles, they dodged hermit and fiddler crabs,” says Noel Jensen, the deputy executive director of the Jekyll Island Authority (JIA). “It wasn’t a great environment for law enforcement.”
The new facility offers a place for troopers, fire personnel, and paramedics, now all under one roof, to easily coordinate with officials of the JIA, the governing body for the island. That’s something that’s especially important during hurricane season and the busiest days of summer. Metts says the new facility also has been a terrific recruiting tool for an island that he first encountered as a kid during annual vacations with his parents. “My parents’ love for the island is ingrained in me,” Metts explains. “Seeing the
changes throughout my life has been amazing.”
As it was for the original night watchmen more than a century ago, the emphasis remains on community policing. “It’s a mindset you have to adopt,” says Metts. “Getting out, walking through the businesses, knowing each other by name. We look out for each other. It’s how small towns used to be.”
The island’s emergency responders still answer many calls as they have for years; things like dealing with broken collarbones suffered by bike-challenged tourists, issuing traffic citations, and making wellness checks. But Metts says certain calls are unique to Jekyll Island. “Last year we had to coordinate with the wildlife department to coax an 11-foot alligator off the beach,” Metts recalls. “That’s something that’s not taught at the academy.” * * *
Beginning in the summer of 2025, as part of the new Lost Buildings Trail tour, visitors will be able to learn more about the old night watchmen cottages via self-guided tours from Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum.
Page 19: Georgia State Patrol Post 35 commander Sgt. James Metts. Opposite page: The new $8.2 million Public Safety Complex. Above: One of the original night watchmen cottages.
Yielding To Cars
The first auto raised hackles
on the island
BY LISA MOWRY
Before Jekyll Island was opened to automobiles, the vacation-minded residents of the former Jekyll Island Club enjoyed a quiet, non-motorized existence. The transportation mode of choice circa 1900 was pastoral, with horses and carriages reflecting the simplicity and natural beauty of life on the island.
Imagine the uproar, then, on December 27, 1900, when homeowner William Struthers shipped his car to the island. Drama ensued!
“The Club had previously determined not to allow automobiles on the island for noise and safety reasons,” says Andrea Marroquin, curator of Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum. “The loud vehicles might startle the animals and cause them to bolt, endangering riders and passengers.” Struthers was promptly asked to remove his car from the
island, and he did, under protest. He took the automobile (make and model unknown) back to his home in Philadelphia, and by all accounts was “much wrought up about it.”
Shortly afterward, the Jekyll Island Club’s Executive Committee reversed its position, albeit with some strict caveats. According to the records: “On Jan 10, 1901, Automobiles shall be permitted only on the beach and on the back road connecting the Club House and stables with the beach via the [Wylly] Road. Automobiles shall be brought to a full stop when meeting horses driven or ridden and shall continue stopped until such horses have passed. The speed of automobiles on road shall not exceed six miles an hour.”
Even after the new rules were adopted, autos were more tolerated than favored, Marroquin says. “The
exclusive nature of the Gilded Era island retreat kept them in limited use,” she says.
Still, the prestige and convenience of owning an automobile soon meant that the car became part of island life. By 1905, the Club constructed a “Chauffer’s Dorm” along Pier Road, and by 1910, the Club’s stables were converted into a garage. Cars arrived first by train to Brunswick and then by barge to the island.
After the island became a state park and the Jekyll Island Causeway opened in 1954, car life became the norm. Restrictions still apply, though. The speed limit on island roads, unless otherwise posted, is 35 mph. And no motorized vehicles are allowed on the beach or bike paths.
William Struthers' automobile parked in front of Moss Cottage.
ULTIMATE SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY
Nestled amidst the picturesque shores of Jekyll Island, the Beachview Club hotel stands as an oasis of Southern hospitality, consistently recognized for its exceptional service and ambiance. As a recipient of TripAdvisor's Travelers’ Choice Award for five consecutive years and the proud winner of Best of Georgia in 2024, the Beachview Club has earned a reputation for delivering an unparalleled vacation experience for its guests. Its award-winning team of dedicated professionals is committed to providing the highest level of service, ensuring that every guest feels welcomed and cared for. From the moment you arrive, you'll be enveloped in the warmth and charm of Southern tradition, making your stay at the Beachview Club an unforgettable one.
INDULGE IN COASTAL
Experience coastal charm at the Beach House Restaurant & Taproom. Sit on the wrap around porch and sip on a craft brew. Savor fresh seafood and gaze out across the Atlantic. Indulge in the perfect blend of relaxation and flavor! We can’t wait for you to dive into our new seafood forward menu!
To learn more scan our QR codes!
’Scape Artists
Colorscapers design living masterpieces around the island
BY TESS MALONE
For 30 years, Cliff Gawron has helped design the distinctive landscapes that place Jekyll Island among the most beautiful of the Golden Isles. When he first took a full-time job on the island, after finishing his master’s degree in landscape architecture at the University of Georgia, Gawron began designing seasonal landscapes, known as colorscapes, around Jekyll. Decades later, the colorscapes team has grown to five people.
While the designs are sometimes specific to Jekyll—a “G” for Georgia made of chrysanthemums, for example, for a Florida/Georgia golf tournament—Gawron draws inspiration from his travels, too. “I worked in Poland, I studied abroad in Italy, and I traveled by train through Europe,” says Gawron, now the Jekyll Island Authority’s director of landscaping and planning. “I’m constantly looking at things for inspiration, but it’s this kind of sickness where I only see what’s wrong. It takes a lot to impress me.”
Colorscapes are an art, but making them is also a science that involves knowing all sorts of species of plants, how they grow, and picking ones that complement each other. There’s a rule-of-thumb aspect to the design, too. Each bed is broken down by thrillers, fillers, and spillers. Thrillers are the tallest, towering over the rest of the bed
and inviting the eye in, like a snapdragon in a scarlet red or yellow. Fillers are the heart of the arrangement and medium in height—picture green cabbage or ornamental kale. Spillers take up the front as the shortest but spunkiest, like lavender or purple sweet alyssum.
The same color wheel used in painting classes is useful in landscaping. Purple and yellow, orange and blue, and other complementary colors allow flowers to look their best. Like many gardeners, the team has tried-andtrue favorites. (The color blue almost always makes an appearance.) All the hues are kept in check, as much as the heights. Particularly bright or warm colors are used sparingly. A well-balanced colorscape contains enough variety to keep the landscape lively and inviting, even if one plant fails or ails.
“We typically start by selecting a color scheme, but this is also an opportunity for creativity,” notes Brian Sheets, the JIA's landscape operations superintendent. “Colorscapes are all about bringing the landscape to life with color, and we have many opportunities to enhance the landscape on Jekyll Island. This includes enriching natural areas with native plants, introducing bold colors in our retail village, and ensuring our Historic District
landscapes align with its rich history.”
The colorscapes are updated every season, at a minimum, with some plantings in high-traffic areas refreshed more frequently to maintain their appearance. Each new plant begins in a greenhouse on the island before it makes its way to a colorscape. From there, success is up to several factors: island traffic, climate, and the presence of a landscaper’s nemesis— deer. Upkeep is critical, too. Each arrangement is checked daily to ensure that the blooms are always at their best.
Any cultivated plants not used in a colorscape are put up for sale, so visitors can take a little bit of Jekyll home with them. The Jekyll Island Greenhouse and retail nursery is located near the old Fire Station on Stable Road. It’s open Wednesday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Page 25: Brian Sheets puts the finishing touches on a Great Dunes Beach Park bed. Opposite page: Cliff Gawron spruces up a Beach Village arrangement. Right: All designs begin with hand-drawn renderings.
my jekyll
“I learned a lot through the First Tee program. I really like getting to meet new people and interacting with them. I like playing the course on Jekyll because it makes me feel like I’m a professional golfer playing with important people or professionals. I am thankful for the opportunity to learn so much.”
— LEONARD WRIGHT
As told to JESSICA WHITTINGSLOW Photograph by BRIAN AUSTIN LEE
LEONARD WRIGHT, 11, OF BRUNSWICK, GEORGIA, HAS BEEN A MEMBER OF THE LOCAL BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB SINCE HE WAS 4. RECENTLY NAMED STUDENT OF THE YEAR, LEONARD HAS PARTICIPATED IN THE LOCAL CHAPTER OF FIRST TEE FOR THREE YEARS. FIRST TEE HELPS BUILD STRENGTH OF CHARACTER BY INTEGRATING THE GAME OF GOLF WITH A LIFE SKILLS CURRICULUM. LEONARD HOPES TO PURSUE A CAREER IN SPORTS, PARTICULARLY GOLF OR BASEBALL.
DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH
INSIDE THE ONGOING MISSION TO PROTECT AND REHABILITATE JEKYLL'S DIAMONDBACK TERRAPINS
By laurEN
finney harden photography by ALLISON LEOTIS
On any given day from April to July, visitors driving the long, flat causeway that leads to Jekyll Island might be confronted with bright, flashing traffic signals. They’re not to point out speed bumps or the occasional bicyclist. They’re not there to re-direct beach-goers. The heads-up is designed instead to alert drivers to female diamondback terrapins crossing the road. That’s just one of a number of steps that the Jekyll Island Authority’s Georgia Sea Turtle Center is taking to protect the native turtle population.
“Our mission,” says Michelle Kaylor, director of the Center, a wildlife hospital and rehabilitation
center founded in 2007 by Dr. Terry Norton, “is preserving, maintaining, managing, and restoring the natural communities and species on Jekyll Island.”
FERTILE TURTLES
While the Georgia Sea Turtle Center’s focus, as its name spells out, is on sea turtles, the Center attends to several turtle species in its work, including the native diamondback terrapin.
A quick primer: The diamondback terrapin is the only turtle that lives in brackish water, where salt water from the ocean meets fresh water from the mainland. Native to North America, the turtles can
be found all along the East Coast and in parts of Texas. The diamondback terrapin has seven subspecies, differentiated by their physical characteristics and the habitats in which they live. The most prominent subspecies around Jekyll Island, the most recognizable, is the Carolina diamondback terrapin.
The female Carolina diamondback terrapin can grow to about a foot long. Males grow to about five to six inches long. Their shells—the top part of the shell is called a carapace—have individual sections called scutes. These scutes may have concentric rings, which give the diamondback terrapin its name. No two shells are alike.
Females lay around five to seven eggs several times a season, from April or May through July. They look for a dry, elevated spot to lay their eggs and dig a lightbulb-shaped chamber in the ground about six inches deep. They lay their eggs, cover the nest with substrate, and tamp it down with their rear limbs to disguise and camouflage the area. Some 40 to 50 days later, if everything goes right, the eggs hatch.
Unlike sea turtles, terrapins—who can live for 30 years—don’t roam far from home, moving only a few miles (at most) from where they’re born. “This can be good for conserving them,” says Davide Zailo, a research program manager at the Center, “but it can be a negative if you have issues like crabbing, pollution, or physical barriers to nesting.”
Addressing those issues is where the Georgia Sea Turtle Center steps in.
A CAUSEWAY FOR CONCERN
The 6-mile-long Jekyll Island causeway carries nearly 3.5 million people onto the island every year, but it poses a problem for female diamondback terrapins. “Similar to sea turtles, terrapins have to lay their eggs above where the tide comes in to prevent the nests from being covered by water,” Zailo says. To a nesting terrapin, then, the causeway seems like a perfect elevated surface to create a nest. Unfortunately, more than 100 females are killed each summer as they attempt to cross the causeway. “Their instinct when they are
DIAMONDBACK TERRAPINS GET THEIR NAME FROM CONCENTRIC RINGS ON THEIR SHELLS
scared is to pull into their shell,” says Zailo, “which doesn’t help when a car is coming down the road at 55 mph.”
The Georgia Sea Turtle Center helps turtles avoid the dangers of the roadway through a variety of methods. The flashing signs, similar to crossing signs in school zones, are turned on during daily high tides to alert motorists. Staff members also physically monitor the causeway; the team estimates it logs about 500 live encounters with the animals per summer. Additionally, electrified elevated nest boxes are positioned along the roadway to provide safe nesting areas while attempting to stave off natural predators such as raccoons.
The Center also assists with managing the roadside vegetation to help redirect females in search of high ground. “If a terrapin comes up on one side of the road and there are tall trees on the other side of the road, there’s a higher chance they’re going to try and cross the road,” says Zailo. “We suppose that they think the trees are an indication of a higher elevation.” Fencing along the causeway to prevent the terrapins from crossing also has been helpful. “The fencing is only about 1,000 feet long, but it’s probably saved around 150 or 200 turtles over the last two seasons,” Zailo says.
(While cars on the causeway are the main threat to female diamondback terrapins, recreational crab pots spell serious trouble for males and smaller females of the species. They smell bait in the pot, become trapped, and eventually drown. “It can be devastating to the population as a whole,” says Kaylor.)
Aside from the critical task of trying to save turtles on Jekyll, the Center implements these measures to teach conservationists in other areas,
BEACH BABIES
Visiting the Georgia Sea Turtle Center is a great way to support conservation efforts. Visitors also can sign up for evening turtle walks to catch nesting sea turtles in action; sunrise turtle walks to potentially witness sea turtle hatchlings making their way to the sea; or a night or sunrise ride along with biologists to help with a variety of tasks including protecting sea turtle nests and checking for predators. Ask at the Center.
too. “We’re using our causeway as a model system to help save and protect the terrapins with the hopes that these efforts can be developed by other institutions or counties along the East Coast,” Zailo says. “We want to study them, figure out solutions to their problems, and broadcast those to the world to help improve their outcomes.
“The terrapin population on Jekyll is likely one of the most studied terrapin populations in the Southeast,” Zailo adds.
BACK ON FOUR FEET
While the efforts on the causeway and elsewhere clearly have made a difference, injured and in-danger terrapins still arrive at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center every year in need of help. Visitors can observe injured turtles in rehab and check in on incubated hatchlings that are patiently raised during the colder months and released in the spring.
The work can be emotional for staff and visitors alike, especially as injured terrapins move back into the wild. “Gasket came into the hospital after being hit by a car,” Kaylor says, recalling a particular
female. She was missing the right side of her shell where the top and bottom come together, along with collapsed reproductive organs and fractures. “She was very unstable. We found her on the road and brought her to the hospital where we were able to use surgical plates to secure her shell back together and stabilize it,” she explains. After months of rehab and wound management, she was released into the wild almost a year later.
Since 2007, the Center has notched more than 4,600 encounters with live, uninjured terrapins as part of its work. And though it’s difficult to pin down the exact number of terrapins that have been saved —”Terrapins are a hard species to survey methodically as they live in pretty inaccessible areas,” says Zailo—those who work with these animals are confident in the impact that the Center has had.
“Conservation is a slow effort and it can often take time to see the benefits, so it’s always exciting when it happens,” says Kaylor. “We’re starting to see our efforts pay off. We have mature females that were little hatchlings that we incubated and now they’re in the population laying eggs.”
Davide Zailo, research program manager
Georgia'sJefferson
By NICOLE LETTS
Illustrations by MICHAEL FRITH
Soldier, farmer, brewmaster, William Horton shaped Jekyll
On the north end of Jekyll Island, just off of Riverview Drive, tucked up against the edge of a dense maritime forest, stand the ruins of what once was the home of one of the island's most influential leaders. Though he's not nearly as well-known as his friend and superior, Gen. James Oglethorpe—the founder of the colony of Georgia—or the many industrialists who more than a century later used the island as a sort of playground for the wealthy, Maj. William Horton made a mark on the island that is unmistakable.
A Georgia version of Thomas Jefferson, Horton used his many talents to tame the often unforgiving conditions of early colonial life on the island. A soldier, a statesman, a farmer, a builder, and the first person to brew beer in the colony (something that proved especially useful at the time), Horton played a critical role on Jekyll in the early 18th century.
Born in 1708 in Herefordshire, England, Horton attended what is known today as Abingdon School, one of the oldest independent schools in the United Kingdom. While historians are unsure of many details of his young adult life, they know that Horton left England in October of 1735
and arrived in colonial Georgia on February 6, 1736, aboard Oglethorpe's ship the Symond , when he was just 27 years old.
The curator at Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum, Andrea Marroquin, explains how Horton quickly climbed the ranks to become an important figure in the shaping of the island: "He seems to have been a civilian when he came over," or a low-ranking officer, she says. "He is referred to as Mr. Horton, but he ultimately joined the regiment to become major." In fact, only a few months after Horton arrived in Georgia, Oglethorpe dispatched him to St. Augustine, Florida as an ambassador to meet the Spanish governor.
COURTESY MOSAIC, JEKYLL ISLAND MUSEUM
Horton House ruins
Coastal Guardian
At its inception in 1732, Georgia was an important British foothold, serving as a buffer between Spanish-ruled Florida and the British Carolinas. Jekyll Island was established as a military outpost to protect St. Simons Island to the north and its coveted Fort Frederica.
Oglethorpe recognized the importance of the location near the southern border of the colony and needed a respected individual to help build and run the fort in his absence. To fill that role, he turned to Horton, who became the military commander overseeing the fort and the militia. "Because Fort Frederica and Jekyll were strategic locations for the British," says Marroquin, "Horton had a prominent role in the diplomacy and the interactions between the English and Spanish."
Not unlike Virginia's Jefferson, known for his affection for and diplomacy in France, Marroquin describes Horton as not only well-respected by Oglethorpe and the Spanish but well-liked among many of his constituents. "Accounts we have say he didn't bathe for weeks because he chose to give up his own tent at the Fort to be used as shelter for the sick," she says. Additionally, he's credited with giving his own cattle and corn supplies to soldiers to help sustain them.
Horton used his many talents to tame the often unforgiving conditions of early colonial life on the island.
Fort Frederica
Horton grew crops such as indigo, cotton, corn, and barley.
A Renaissance Man
Colonial life in America came with harsh conditions for which few were prepared. Horton, however, seemed to thrive in the challenging environment. Even without a background in agriculture (he was once employed as an undersheriff, a law enforcement officer who serves as second-in-command), Horton demonstrated a clear knack for farming, similar to Jefferson and his well-known passion for horticulture.
Horton's natural talents enabled him to successfully grow crops and raise livestock for the fledgling island and its military. With the labor of 10
indentured servants, he grew traditional Southern crops such as indigo and cotton, sustained cattle and sheep, and harvested corn and barley, the latter being particularly useful and important for another creative endeavor: brewing beer.
Horton is credited with establishing the first brewery in Georgia. According to Marroquin, that was particularly significant for a couple reasons. Coastal areas are inherently more susceptible to waterborne illnesses due to the proximity of the ocean and other freshwater sources, and early settlements lacked proper sanitation systems, so sewage
When there were misunderstandings amongst people, Horton would provide them with beer, telling them to drink and make friends.
and waste often ended up in the waterways. Having an alternative to drinking water—say, freshly brewed beer—helped prevent disease.
Marroquin says that the beer had another use: "It helped to create unity in the colonies. When there were misunderstandings amongst people, Horton would provide them with beer, telling them to drink and make friends [instead of arguing]." Even in that endeavor, Horton mirrors Jefferson, who is credited with bringing wine to the colony of Virginia, an industry that thrives in the state to this day.
Horton is credited with establishing Georgia's first brewery.
The Horton Homestead
Horton originally built a two-story wooden structure for his family in 1736, though that home was destroyed after 1742's Battle of Bloody Marsh on St. Simons as the Spanish retreated. Undeterred, in 1743 Horton built a home for himself, his wife, and his two sons. That structure is now known as Horton House, the remains of which still stand off Riverview Drive on the north side of the island.
The house was constructed of tabby, a type of concrete made from a combination of oyster shells, sand, lime, and water. Tabby was widely used in coastal communities because of the abundance of its raw materials and its strength. Horton House, one of the earliest examples of a tabby structure in the state, is now part of the National Register of Historic Places, along with an outbuilding on the same property.
After a long illness, Horton died in Savannah in 1748. His wife, Rebecca, never remarried, receiving a widow's pension until her death in 1800. Horton's land grant on Jekyll passed to his son, Thomas, who eventually abandoned the property. Thomas later was a representative in Georgia's constitutional convention in 1788.
Amid the rugged landscape of Jekyll Island and the shifting political tides of colonial Georgia, Maj. William Horton balanced the complexities of diplomacy and military duty with the challenges of daily survival. He stood as a testament to both leadership and innovation, traits that helped shape the island that we know today.
Top: Horton House as it stands today. Above: The current gardens. Right: Detail of the house's tabby exterior.
Brewing 101
Kevin Coyle began brewing beer as a college student at Georgia Tech more than 30 years ago. "I don't know if you could necessarily call that stuff I brewed back then beer," he says. Still, he's persevered, studying brewing at the Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago, studying beer and beer drinking while getting his medical degree in Ireland (he's been a physician in Brunswick, Georgia, for more than 10 years), and co-founding Silver Bluff Brewing Company in Brunswick, which produced a limited edition ale in 2024 loosely based on Maj. William Horton's original Jekyll Island recipe.
Here are some of his home-brewing tips:
Have a plan
Ingredients and recipes ready. Equipment in order. Know what you're going to do, when, and for how long. "The main thing is making sure your day is planned out very well; written down," Coyle says, "because, inevitably, you're gonna want to have a beer, too, while you're brewing, which sometimes hurts accuracy."
Keep it clean
"Being a brewer is like being a glorified janitor," Coyle says. But cleanliness is all-important. A bit of bacteria that slips into the brew can be disastrous. "Once you've brewed a batch of beer that you've had to dump because it got infected during fermentation … that's a bad day."
Control the temperature
One of the last steps in brewing is the fermentation phase. "The key to a fermenter is not to just stick it in a hot closet," Coyle says. "Yeast at a high temperature will produce a lot of bad flavors and make you think you're drinking gasoline."
The Boys (and Girls) of summer
For Jekyll’s former live-in lifeguards, the season was filled with the magic of young people set loose in paradise
BY TONY REHAGEN
PHOTOgraphy BY BUFFY JOBE
at the start of the summer of 1997, in what was to be Erin Young’s second straight summer working as a lifeguard at Jekyll Island’s Summer Waves Water Park, she made a decision. The previous year, fresh out of Wayne County High School, Young had commuted to Jekyll, back and forth every day, from her parents’ house in Jesup, Georgia. A year later, with two semesters of college wisdom already tucked away, Young resolved to skip the commute and live with the rest of the lifeguards on the island. She was not going to make the same mistake twice.
Summer of 1993 lifeguards strike a balance between working hard and playing hard.
Part of Young’s reasoning was avoiding the hourlong drive between Jesup and Jekyll. Living on the island figured to save time, gas, wear and tear on the car, and it would practically guarantee that she was never late for pool duty. At least, that was the argument to her parents.
The other reason—maybe the real reason—that Young and dozens of other 18- to 24-year-olds decided to take up summer-long residence in
dorms on Jekyll? Well … dozens of other 18- to 24-year-olds were staying in dorms on Jekyll for the summer. The lifeguards worked together in the sun and surf by day and, as young men and women will do, played together late into the night in a seaside paradise that they had largely to themselves. “You were on your own, without regulation, completely unsupervised,” says Young. “It was mayhem. I mean, mayhem on occasion.”
“LeT 's just say a LoT of us are quite Thankful That was a T ime Before social media and camera phones."
During summers in the last three decades of the 20th century, after most tourists had packed up their chairs and beach towels and headed home for the day, the young lifeguards of Jekyll Island chucked off their daytime responsibilities and reveled in their full-blown youthfulness. Parties were thrown. Beverages were consumed. Cigarettes were smoked. All-night ghost hunts, moonlight beach walks, and a grab-bag of pranks were staged. And, of course, many other activities that are unsuitable to recount in a family publication were committed. “Let’s just say a lot of us are quite thankful that was a time before social media and camera phones,” says Young. All the while, friendships were forged that endure to this day.
“It was wild, like Lord of the Flies with no su -
pervision,” says Tina Rosario, who lived on island from 1996 to 1998. “We were all the same age, in the same situation. Everyone got along. We lived together, ate together, worked together. It was as much fun as I thought it would be and more. Those were three of the best summers of my life.”
Living their best lives
Sammy Tostensen was an incoming high school senior when he first came to Jekyll as a lifeguard in the summer of 1971. Growing up in the Fancy Bluff neighborhood of nearby Brunswick, Tostensen’s family frequented the island on vacations and daytrip getaways, and he had come to know and admire the young men and women who worked the beach, the Jekyll Island Club pool, and the Aquarama, a
A wall over a pay phone in the women's dorm became a collage of scratched and inked names and messages between lifeguards throughout the years.
" yes, There were always summer romances. some of Them L asted, and some of Them didn’T.”
now-defunct Jekyll Island landmark that housed the region’s first indoor pool.
At the time, the dozen or so lifeguards, both male and female, lived in a long-abandoned wing of the Jekyll Island Club hotel that, despite having fallen into disrepair, had individual bathrooms and window-unit air-conditioning in each room. In addition to sitting in the lifeguard chair, the on-island lifeguards, among other tasks, were charged with draining the naturally fed Club pool (scrubbing it clean of algae) and manually watering the fairways at the golf course. “I wouldn’t call it hard work, especially at that age,” says Tostensen. “It was more fun than anything.”
In their off-duty hours, Tostensen and his fellow lifeguards partied on the beach, played loads of
During summers in the last three decades of the 20th century, Jekyll Island employed a rotating cast of young lifeguards who lived — and played — on the island.
free putt-putt on the miniature golf course, and hung out with other workers on the island, including the Georgia State Patrol troopers who policed Jekyll. “We were very friendly with everyone on the island,” says Tostensen, who would spend two more summers on Jekyll. The bonds between the lifeguards, many of whom came from different areas of the U.S. and would go on to various careers from lawyers to millworkers, were particularly strong. “We were like a family,” he says. “And yes, there were always summer romances on the island. Some of them lasted, and some of them didn’t.”
Of course, unchecked youth has its way of getting into mischief, too. Glynn Bennett, who lifeguarded with his childhood pal Benjy Hodges (a future state trooper) in the summers of 1978 and 1979, remem -
bers skinny dipping in a hotel pool after hours. On another night, he hopped the fence at the Aquarama and climbed to the top of its pointed roof. He was in on kidnapping the big dinosaur from the puttputt course, too, and dragging it across the street, where it welcomed his bleary-eyed colleagues the next morning from a perch atop the lifeguard hut.
“I’ve noticed they’ve bolted the dinosaur down these days,” says Bennett.
The Jekyll Island Club reopened as a luxury hotel in 1985, so lodging for the lifeguards was moved. Two years after that, Summer Waves opened, increasing the demand for waterside staff. By that time, the sleeping arrangements for the men and women lifeguards, all Jekyll Island Authority employees, had changed. Male lifeguards occupied the
The LifeGuards puT in Long hours during The day, BuT at niGhT, The isL and Became Their playGround.
two-story building behind the Club that now houses offices for the JIA, the state entity that oversees the management of the island. Each large room was furnished with a couple of bunk beds. “It was a special place,” says David Berryhill, a lifeguard on Jekyll from 1989 to 1992, “once you got past the roaches and the communal showers.”
The women stayed on the top floor of a three-story building next door, which is today a JIA annex. The first two floors of that building then were filled with theater students who put on shows at the old outdoor amphitheater. “They’d let us come to their shows for free, and we’d let them come into Summer Waves with our passes,” says Rosario. “We watched all kinds of musicals.”
There were no TVs in the dorm rooms, but radios blasted music late into the night. The only other luxuries were the window-unit air conditioners, mini-refrigerators, and microwaves to cook frozen dinners, burritos, and the age-old young-person food staple, ramen noodles. Those cheaper nighttime snacks complemented the burgers, hot dogs, fries, pizza, Cokes, and ice cream that the employees had easy access to at the water park.
Without cellphones in those days, calls had to be made from a pay phone on the third floor of the women’s dorm. A wall behind the phone became a collage of scratched and inked names and messages between lifeguards throughout the years: Remember 4th of July ‘95
The lifeguards put in long hours during the day, but at night, the island became their playground.
They walked the beaches, staged epic island-wide games of hide-and-seek, pulled some stunts, and even hunted for ghosts around the moss-draped trees in the Historic District. They’d encounter all sorts of animals; alligators, deer, armadillos, possums, and squirrels. “Raccoons would eat dried ramen right out of our hands,” says Rosario. And, being kids, they’d often stay up smoking cigarettes on the dormitory porches until sunrise.
“Now just the idea of doing that exhausts me,” says Young. “But I do remember the feeling that we were all there living our best lives. And at the water park, the EMTs weren’t dumb. When we came to work [the next day] looking a little hazy, they made sure we got hydrated and ready to work.”
Forever friendships
In the early 2000s, demand for lifeguard housing on the island dwindled. A new bridge on the Jekyll Island Causeway replaced an old drawbridge, making commutes to and from the island much easier. Meanwhile, as the JIA’s need for administrative office space grew, the former dormitory buildings were commandeered and made into JIA offices. Today, no dorms remain, and the only lifeguards that work on the island are at Summer Waves.
For many of the lifeguards who roamed the island back then, though, those summers—magical seasons of camaraderie, adventure, and newfound freedom—have helped shape them as adults. “It was a formative experience: You had independence, but you were not yet unleashed on the world,” says Young. “You learned that you could do what you want, but you still needed to show up to work.”
The bonds that were formed in those dorms remain, keeping former lifeguards connected (often during social media these days) to precious memories and to the island itself. “A year ago, I had surgery, and four of the people who came to visit were people I met at Summer Waves almost 30 years ago now,” says Rosario. “I appreciate the friendships I made there. It was a last breath of freedom before real life and marriage and kids. I don’t think it could ever be recreated.”
jekyLl is s tilL weT and w iLd
Here are three places to beat
the heat
Summer Waves
Summer Waves Water Park (below) has been keeping locals and tourists cool since 1987. Guests can brave the high-speed thrills of Man o’ War or grab a tube and enjoy a relaxing float around Turtle Creek. With more than a dozen water slides and a 450,000 gallon wave pool, there’s a full day of fun for everyone. The park is open seasonally from May-September.
Oceanview
Beach Park
Situated mid-island, Oceanview Beach Park offers stunning views and easy ocean access. Recently renovated to include an ADA-accessible beach entrance, shower facilities, and group pavilions, beachgoers can make a day of it by firing up the grill for a post-swim picnic.
Beach Village Splash Pad
Newly opened in 2025, the splash pad offers an easy water activity for families with small children. This conveniently located attraction offers a quick cool-off option while shopping and dining. No lifeguard needed!
DIGGING UP THE PAST
New archaeological surveys yield tantalizing clues into island history
By JOSH GREEN
Photography by SAM GHIOTO
When Tropical Storm Debby whipped into the East Coast in August of 2024, Jekyll Island largely escaped its wrath. But the wind, water, and subsequent erosion that it wrought exposed some mysterious bones, peeking out of ancient mudflats on Jekyll's northern end. The bones were relatively large. Were they human?
The Jekyll Island Authority (JIA) reached out to archaeology teams at the University of North Georgia and other academics, and soon paleontologists specializing in mammals were en route to the island. What the storm had uncovered, researchers soon found, was the full skeleton of a horse, down to its teeth. After partnering with University of Georgia radiocarbon dating experts, JIA officials learned that the bones date to 1740—give or take a decade—and could be historically significant enough to earn a place in Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum. The horse, after all, is older than the Declaration of Independence.
"It's really neat because [the bones' age] puts us back into the Colonial Era of Maj. William Horton's short stint on the island," says Will Wagner, JIA's director of historic resources. "The horse could have belonged to him."
For decades, painstaking excavations (performed by archaeol-
LAUREN BUIE
From left to right: Dan Quinn, Yank Moore, David Patterson, Ph.D., Al Mead, Ph.D., and Heidi Mead, Ph.D.
ogists, not Mother Nature) have been peeling back Jekyll's layers to unearth troves of artifacts, bones, and other objects, lending insight into who's inhabited the island across the centuries and how they lived. Formal archaeological work on the island dates to surveys in the 1950s. Forty years later, researchers from the University of West Georgia found widespread Native American middens (mounds of oyster and mollusk shells) that exposed
Opposite page: Horse bones are excavated from Driftwood Beach. Left and below: Carla S. Hadden, Ph.D., works to date the unearthed bones at the University of Georgia's Center for Applied Isotope Studies.
the eating habits of the island's Mocama and Guale tribes. Before the construction of Jekyll's Beach Village a decade and a half ago, more archaeological consultations were completed, as state and federal laws require. Still more were done before the remodeling of Pine Lakes Golf Course in 2023.
Each archaeological survey must be done in a way that supports JIA's core mission: to preserve the island's history and
its natural state. Only 35 percent of the state-owned island, by law, can be developed, so each carefully considered construction project must be accomplished inside a strict footprint. Archaeological surveys ensure that construction won't damage or disturb any links to the past that might be of incalculable social or environmental importance.
A recent large-scale project at Jekyll's original golf course is particularly significant.
As glimpses into bygone societies go, the ongoing restoration and expansion of the oceanside Great Dunes Golf Course has been extraordinarily fruitful. The historic 9-hole course, built by famed designer Walter Travis between 1926 and 1928, is being remade to restore the original layout, with help from historic aerial and ground photos that show the former positioning of greens, bunkers, and other features. (Nine holes at neighboring Oleander Golf Course also are being repurposed to make Great Dunes an 18-hole course, while most of the rest of Oleander will become a wildlife refuge.) Back in 2008, long before the Great Dunes' restoration kicked off in October of 2024, JIA hired archaeologists from Brockington and Associates in Savannah to conduct an initial survey of the previously developed land. That was Phase 1, and in Georgia, it typically entails digging small holes with shovels, in this instance, every 50 feet or so. Then, archaeologists sift through the soil to locate and identify archaeological sites within a project area and determine site boundaries. That preliminary work, in Great Dunes' case, yielded a substantial haul: 246 artifacts (technically, that's any object at least 50 years old made or modified by humans), including pottery and stone tools. They were accompanied by faunal remains; a lot of deer, fish, turtle, and even bobcat bone.
"It gives you a good idea of what [people of the time] were doing in that area, what they were eating, and how they were responding to their environment," says Becca Stewart, a Brockington and Associates archaeologist. More than a decade later, in the fall of
Above: Becca Stewart surveys the Great Dunes site. Below: Stewart's notes and findings. Opposite: The restoration and expansion of Great Dunes Golf Course.
2024, Stewart was called back to Great Dunes to monitor construction and collect and document archaeological findings as the golf course restoration began. That dance, between building and preserving, is a delicate one. While trenches and bunkers were being excavated with backhoes, Stewart operated with shovels, trowels, and screens with quar -
ter-inch mesh to sift out artifacts, then logged the depths of discoveries to ensure the "vertical integrity" of the finds (the oldest being the deepest). Stewart worked with the course architects overseeing the redesign, Jeffrey Stein and Brian Ross, to modify the shape of some sand traps to preserve middens, and to make sure that irrigation pipes and
sprinkler heads didn't disturb other culturally significant spots. "The goal in archaeology is not to dig up every square inch," Stewart says. "It's really to preserve as much as we can in place."
For security reasons, exactly where the site is on the links isn't readily available information, but it's quite large as coastal sites go: roughly 300 meters by 150 meters, large enough to likely have been a settlement of some sort, hidden just beneath the surface for decades.
"With it being that large, there's a couple of ways you can interpret it," says Alex Sweeney, Brockington's senior archaeologist and vice president. "Is it possibly part of a village? Or could it be basically a series of short-term encampments that could have been occupied over and over again through different seasons?"
Lab analysis indicates that ceramics on the site date from the Early/Middle Woodland period (1000 BC to AD 750) to the Mississippian (1000 to 1600 AD, or right at the brink of European contact). Elsewhere, shell middens were found under just three inches of turf and soil. Deeper excavations revealed potential hearths and pits, suggesting the site could have been a ceremonial or feasting area, with quick access to the ocean.
Exactly how much material was collected at the Great Dunes site is still being quantified by Stewart's lab partners, but highlights included "some really big pieces of pottery that were gorgeous [with] this rectilinear, complicated stamping on it," she says. Overall, the site is significant.
JIA's Andrea Marroquin, Mosaic's curator and an archaeologist herself, said the first step is to determine exactly when, how, and by whom the artifacts were being used, and then use them to help educate Jekyll visitors today. The legally required archaeology work isn't inexpensive, but Marroquin calls it the cost of doing business when that business is historic preservation. "We're hoping to use those materials," says Marroquin, "to create new and better interpretations for the museum and other spaces around the island."
Beyond the links, it's impossible to say how many relics of bygone societies lay beneath Jekyll's protected lands. But every found object adds to the island's story, a story that belongs to the public.
"People don't think about it, but there's actually a ton of information in the ground, and not all of it's been explored yet," says Stewart. "It's interesting to see how often archaeology is underneath your feet but you just don't realize it."
BIG DIGS THE
Historical milestones in Jekyll archaeology.
1950s: Cursory archaeological work takes place as a means of surveying the island overall, though no good records of that research survive.
Late 1800s: Historians credit the island's Club Era with laying the groundwork for stewardship efforts that include archaeology today, though wealthy inhabitants were more concerned with preserving architecture and historic ruins than vestiges of prehistoric civilizations.
1966: This island's first major excavations, as led by prominent archaeologist Charles Fairbanks and others, focus on and around the 1743 historic Horton House site.
2008: Initial survey of Great Dunes Golf Course completed.
1980s–1990s: Extensive fieldwork led by late University of West Georgia anthropologist Morgan Ray Crook succeeds in identifying a variety of prehistoric and historic sites around the island.
2024: Tropical Storm Debby partially uncovers horse bones that date to around 1740, possibly a new link to historical local agriculture practices.
2008–2010: Before development (and any ground-disturbing activity), the section of the island that will become the Beach Village is thoroughly surveyed by archaeologists.
JEKYLL HAS PLAYED HOST TO A HANDFUL OF OLYMPIANS
BY JESSICA WHITTINGSLOW
The Jekyll Island Club officially opened its doors in January 1888 as a retreat for some of the world's wealthiest people. Families like the Rockefellers, the Morgans, and the Vanderbilts, to name a few, graced Jekyll Island's shores. The island also has been a stopover for a handful of world-renowned athletes, many of whom have ties to those famous families and some of whom have played their sport of choice while here. Though specifics of their time on the island are mostly lost to time, these sportsmen are now woven into Jekyll's fascinating history.
A DAvis Cup Hero
Watson "Watty" Washburn didn't grow up vacationing on Jekyll, but he did make history there. A native New Yorker, Washburn attended Harvard, where he won the U.S. Intercollegiate Doubles Championship in 1913. In 1921, he and Harvard teammate Dick Williams won a decisive match to help the U.S. capture tennis' Davis Cup championship against Japan. He and Williams played on the 1924 U.S. Olympic tennis team in Paris, too, but lost in the quarterfinals. In 1940, likely staying on Jekyll as a guest of his brother-in-law, Julian Southall Myrick, Washburn entered the island's annual doubles tennis tournament and won, beating headliners of the tennis world and making local history. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1965.
KiNG oF THe CourT
Sports and athletics were a popular pastime for Jekyll Island Club members. The Goodyear family built the first tennis courts on the island. Demand for time on the courts grew, so a second set of clay courts was added south of the Clubhouse. Later, Edwin Gould constructed the Gould Casino, where guests could play tennis indoors. Jay Gould II's uncle couldn't have known his nephew would excel the way he did when he built the indoor courts, but with the Gould resources and access to the casino—along with his access to top professionals to teach him and play against him back in his New Jersey home—the younger Gould perfected his skills. Later called the "monarch of court tennis for more than a quarter of a century," Gould won gold at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London without dropping a set.
A GolD iN pAris
As the grandson of two prominent Club members, William Rockefeller (a co-founder of Standard Oil) and James Stillman (chairman of the board of National City Bank), James Stillman Rockefeller enjoyed frequent family getaways on Jekyll Island, favoring Indian Mound Cottage during family visits. Considered "the most successful and best known" of the five children of William Goodsell Rockefeller and Elsie Stillman, "Babe" Rockefeller attended Yale University, where he rowed all four years of his college career. In his senior year, he captained his rowing crew and led the "Yale 8"' to a gold medal at the 1924 Paris Olympics. The crew set an Olympic record with a time of 5 minutes, 51 seconds in the Olympic semifinals. The younger Rockefeller, who later served as president and chairman of what is now Citigroup, was the oldest living Olympic gold medalist, at 102 years old, before his death in 2004.
A swimmiNG seNsATioN
Charles Meldrum Daniels is one of the original members of the Jekyll Island Club. Nicknamed "The Human Fish" for his exemplary swimming skills, he is believed to have swum off the shores of Jekyll Island while vacationing here with his wife, Florence Goodyear, of the prominent Goodyear family of New York. The first American to win an Olympic swimming event, he won three gold medals in the St. Louis Games in 1904, another in Athens in 1906, and one more in London in 1908 (though the International Olympic Committee no longer recognizes the 1906 games in Greece as an official Olympics). In the early 1900s, Daniels set world records at every distance from 25 yards to one mile. From 1904 until his retirement in 1911, he won Amateur Athletic Union championships 31 times and, according to the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame, was generally considered at the time to be the world’s greatest swimmer. Credited with pioneering a revolutionary freestyle stroke, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Famer also was a top-ranked amateur golfer in retirement.
CRUISIN’
PATHS
From the cockpit a thousand feet above Jekyll Island, you can see forever. As you make your approach, the island comes sharply into focus. That’s the Sidney Lanier Bridge, brackish Turtle River, and the Jekyll Island Causeway to the west; to the east, marshlands, white dunes, and miles of shimmering ocean. Set your radio to 123.05, UNICOM frequency for the Jekyll Island Airport, and call in the tail number of your single-engine aircraft. “November 4-1-4-5-3 entering a left downwind for Runway 36.”
At 3,715 feet long, the runway is too short for most commercial jetliners. But that means plenty of freedom for private pilots to land their small planes, grab a bite to eat, and enjoy the island for the day. Then, just before night falls, gas up, taxi out, and say goodbye to Earth’s gravitational restraints as you advance the throttle, pull back on the yoke, and soar toward the horizon. — tony rehagen
DAVID FISHER
ESCAPE YOUR BEACH
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Embark on your island getaway at our intimate oceanfront boutique hotel with 40 luxurious suites. Just moments from the beach, each suite offers timeless comforts: a generous living area, private balcony, and porch. Indulge in culinary delights at Eighty Ocean Kitchen and Bar, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner favorites. Come, stay a while in paradise.
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101 Old Plantation Road, Jekyll Island • 912.635.3181
Jekyll Island lies at 31 degrees north latitude and 81 degrees west longitude.