31•81, the Magazine of Jekyll Island: Vol 7 No 1

THE MAGAZINE OF JEKYLL ISLAND SP R I N G /SU M MER 2 024

T H E M AG A Z I N E O F J E K Y L L I S L A N D

Spring/Summer 2024 • Vol. 7 No. 1

30

Who You Gonna Call?

A TIMELESS Southern Favorite

Faced with a wildlife emergency? The island has folks who can help

By Tony Rehagen

38

Getting Here, Then and Now

How transportation modes have shaped Jekyll's growth

By Katja Ridderbusch

56

Party On, Jekyll

The island's festivals are all grown up now

By Josh Green

46

Back to Camp A nostalgic romp into summers past

By Mary Logan Bikoff

64

Secrets of the Past

In the island's vast archives, historical treasures abound

By Richard L. Eldredge

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 as you recharge.

J E K Y L LC L U B . C O M | 8 7 7. 7 8 5 . 8 5 6 6 | J E K Y L L I S L A N D , G A

PHOTO BYedGABR IE L HA NWAY photo cr it

Explore your serene island haven, enveloped by majestic live oaks and captivating riverfront views.

2024 GOLD WINNER North American Travel Journalists Awards honoring the best in travel journalism, photography and destination marketing

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departments

traces

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Lost in Time A hidden tower, a storied history

flora 14 Fungi Fun A savory 'shroom tastes like chicken

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fauna 16 Glass Lizard It's snake-like, with a tricky tail

guardian 19 Clermont Lee Designing the island's grounds

artisan 25

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Jekyll's Jerry Eddie Pickett is a local legend

25

my jekyll 28 Kendall Barfield A 12-year-old and an adopted turtle

paths 72 Bobcats New pawprints from a welcome predator

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12: GA BRI EL HANWAY; 16: J USTIN SANC LEMENTE; 22 : J OHN WATERS ; 2 5: GABRIEL HANWAY

firsts 22 Good Medicine Jekyll Pharmacy was a hot hangout

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For full terms & conditions, visit westin.com/bqkwi

On the cover

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

executive director Mark Williams director of marketing & communications Alexa Hawkins

THE M AGAZINE OF JE KY LL ISLAND SP R I N G/SUMME R 2 024

Passionflower is a climbing vine that is native to the southeastern United States and Central and South America. If you want to catch a glimpse of a passionflower on Jekyll Island, the best time to do so is late summer or early fall. photograph by brian austin lee

creative director Claire Davis graphic designer George Alread marketing communications manager Kathryn Hearn 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 ©2024. All rights reserved.

Find us on social media:

publisher Sean McGinnis

@jekyll_island

editorial director Kevin Benefield

@JekyllIsland

editor John Donovan

ab ou t 31 · 81

art director Tara McCarthy

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

associate publisher Jon Brasher

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

production director Whitney Tomasino

s u b s c r ibe To subscribe at no charge, sign up at jekyllisland.com/magazine.

To update your subscription information, email magazine@jekyllisland.com.

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The magic is at once tangible and ethereal, timeless and fleeting.

That dazzling golden hue across the sunset sky.

The way the sea breeze envelops you.

How tradition embraces each dish.

The sunshine is fulfilling, the experiences are charming, enduring as the live oaks, as good as gold.

Listen to your soul and the Golden Isles will reveal itself to you.

It’s like visiting an old friend, picking up like you never left.

It’s like getting swept off your feet, welcoming where adventure takes you.

Satisfy your soul in the Golden Isles.

GEORGIA ©2024. Travel + Leisure® is a registered trademark of Travel + Leisure Holdco, LLC, a subsidiary of Wyndham Destinations, Inc. Travel + Leisure® World’s Best Awards is used under license. Travel + Leisure® is published by TI Inc. Affluent Media Group, a Dotdash Meredith company, which is not affiliated with Wyndham Destinations, Inc. or its subsidiaries.

SCAN FO R UP CO MING E VE NTS & F E STIVALS

welcome

Dear friends,

” Spring and summer on Jekyll Island bring a renewed sense of vibrancy to this beloved island."

As we anticipate the arrival of warmer days, it is with great pleasure that I extend a warm welcome to you all through the pages of this issue.

Spring and summer on Jekyll Island bring a renewed sense of vibrancy to this beloved island. Rich in natural beauty and historical significance, Jekyll Island continues to be a retreat for those seeking a respite from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. I have enjoyed that respite and unique charm with my family many times over the years, and even as early as a young boy traveling time and time again over our six-mile causeway.

And now, it brings me tremendous joy to see through my grandchildren’s eyes, the joy this special place brings to them. With two sets of twins, we certainly have our hands full, and Jekyll Island has provided us endless opportunities to keep them entertained. We spend countless weekends soaking in the salty air, visiting sea turtle patients at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, and now, I am most excited to bring them to Summer Waves Water Park for the first time this summer.

As we embark on this new season, I want to express my gratitude to the residents, visitors, and the dedicated team at the Jekyll Island Authority who make our island vibrant and thriving. I encourage you to immerse yourself in the stories, events, and activities within these pages. And I hope this issue of the magazine serves as a source of inspiration for your next Jekyll Island adventure.

Mar k Wil l iam s

Executive Director, Jekyll Island Authority

The Best Is Getting Better Embrace life’s finer aspects at the Beachview Club Hotel, a Hilton Tapestry boutique gem. Located on Jekyll Island, it’s where low-country sophistication meets the timeless beauty of Georgia’s coast.

The Beachview Club takes pride in providing a personalized and unforgettable visit for every guest, and it shows.

The award-winning team is dedicated to ensuring that your stay is nothing short of exceptional.

Dale Atkins

Robert “Bob” W. Krueger

William “Bill” H. Gross

Baxley, GA

Hawkinsville, GA

Kingsland, GA

Walter Rabon

Ruel Joyner Savannah, GA

Glen Willard Richmond Hill, GA

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

Joseph B. Wilkinson St. Simons Island, GA

chairman

commissioner, dnr Monticello, GA

Joy Burch-Meeks Screven, GA

Coming soon - 2024.

721 N. Beachview Dr. Jekyll Island, Georgia 31527 beachviewclubjekyll.com

JEKYLL ISLAND AUTHORITY BOARD OF DIRECTORS

(912)635-2256

vicechair

secretary/treasurer

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editor’s note

contributors

Living on Island Time

” The festival scene is one example of how timeless, classic Jekyll Island has managed to move with the times."

If you're one of the tens of thousands of folks who come to the annual Jekyll Island Shrimp & Grits Festival, you know what you're in for; good music, great food, fun, and a showcase for some of the finest craftspeople in the region. It's a high-class, family-friendly celebration, held under the shade of magnificent live oaks in the island's charming Historic District. Shrimp & Grits has been voted, multiple times, one of the best festivals in the South.

It's Jekyll Island at its welcoming best.

We've come a long, long way. In this issue of 31•81, The Magazine of Jekyll Island, we remember how festivals used to be on the island, not so long ago. Let's just say that they were more about the gritty than the grits. Josh Green has the story (page 56).

The festival scene is one example of how timeless, classic Jekyll Island has managed to move with the times. From how we party, to the way we physically get here (Katja Ridderbusch has a look at the evolution of transportation on the island, page 38), to how we honor and preserve the past (Richard L. Eldredge digs into the secrets of the island archives, page 64), the people in charge of this place realize that, if there's one constant, it's that change is inevitable. It can even be good.

Elsewhere in this issue, we provide pointers for grownups searching for their own kind of island summer camp (page 46), and Tony Rehagen tells the tale of a group of biologists who answer calls about wily raccoons and alligators (page 30).

Enjoy the stories. And enjoy the island, for both its timelessness and its timeliness.

Fran Worrall is a freelance writer and editor based in Atlanta. Her work has appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta magazine, Atlanta magazine's HOME, Family Circle, and other publications. She is the founder of a neighborhood book club and is working on her first novel.

Richard L. Eldredge is an Atlanta magazine editorial contributor based in Midtown. His work has also appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Billboard.

He is the founder/editor at Eldredge ATL, a digital arts magazine.

Katja Ridderbusch is an independent multimedia journalist based in Atlanta. She has contributed to regional, national, and international outlets including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, TIME, U.S. News & World Report, NPR, German Public Radio, and The Times of Israel.

J oh n Do no va n Editor

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JEKYLL ISLAND explorer

YOUR BEACHSIDE GE TAWAY ON JEKYLL ISL AND HAMPTON INN & SUITES 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.

Traces p.12 | Flora p.14 | Fauna p.16 | Guardian p.19 | Firsts p.22 | Artisan p.25 | My Jekyll p.28

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.

Eddie Pickett is a fixture on the local music scene

Morege on pa

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912-635-3733 jeky llisla nd suit es.ha mp t oninn.com

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Tours depart daily from Mosaic, jekyll island museum. RESERVE your spot: 10

photo by gabr iel hanway

SEE THE JEKYLL ISLAND

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traces Lost in Time Old silo a lonely relic of a farm that once fed the island's wealthy BY FRAN WORRALL

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THIS PAGE: GA BRIEL HANWAY; OPPO SIT E: BRIAN AUST IN LEE, MO SAIC, JEK YLL ISLAND MUSEUM

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looming gray tower stands alone in the woods a mile or so north of Jekyll Island's National Historic Landmark District, along an unpaved trail just off Riverview Drive. It's an historic structure—at one time a critically important one—yet no signs point to it, and no marker commemorates its past.

The tower—an old silo, now in ruins—is all that's left of a once-bustling dairy farm that supplied fresh milk, butter, and eggs to the wealthy winter residents of Jekyll Island, including the Rockefellers, Morgans, Vanderbilts, and Pulitzers. "The farm supported the Jekyll Island Club kitchen," says Andrea Marroquin, curator of Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum. "Because there was no bridge to the island, much of what residents consumed had to be grown locally."

According to Marroquin, in the early years of the Jekyll Island Club (established in 1886), fresh cream and butter were imported, but members complained about their quality.

By the 1910s, the Club was operating its own dairy, with the surplus sold in nearby Brunswick. The operation continued until 1930.

The history of the farm doesn't end there, though. In 1951, it was converted into a convict camp. "It was used to house state prisoners who were brought to the island to build roads and create improvements, such as reroofing cottages and digging ditches,"

Marroquin says. The work was done in preparation for the opening of the island's new causeway to the general public.

Eventually, the farm fell into disrepair. Its large wooden barn was leveled. But the hulking silo remains.

Taylor Davis, historic preservationist with the Jekyll Island Authority (JIA), says the structure, 32 feet tall, is made of tabby, a type of concrete formed from a mixture of lime, sand, water, and crushed oyster shells. It was a popular building material for early coastal settlers, who found it to be more durable than wood, which deteriorated in the humid climate. "Tabby buildings are found along the southern coast of the United States, primarily in Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina," he explains, noting that the Jekyll Island dairy silo falls into the Tabby Revival category, a term given to tabby made between 1880 and 1925. In addition to the original ingredients, Tabby Revival includes cement to make it harder.

As a boy growing up on nearby St. Simons Island, Davis often visited the silo with his friends. "We'd tell ghost sto-

ries. It was an eerie place."

The JIA manages the structure now, although it requires little to no upkeep. And while many people don't know it exists, tourists will occasionally ask for directions. "Part of its charm is the fact that it's an outlier, " Marroquin says.

Davis agrees. "The lack of signage and the absence of interpretation is important. People typically discover the silo on their own, and they get the feeling that no one else knows about it," he says. "It's a hidden gem that stands as a testament to the island's storied past."

The 32-foot-tall dairy silo is constructed of tabby (a cement-like material made of oyster shells) and was built around the turn of the 20th century.

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flora Chicken of the Woods This mushroom is a fungi feast

BY TESS MALONE

In Jekyll Island's maritime forests, a bright-orange fungus lies stacked at the bottom of live oaks. Known colloquially as Chicken of the Woods, this mushroom (Laetiporus sulphureus) is more than just a pop of color in the shade. It's a culinary gem.

QUALITY CARE THAT’S HERE FOR YOU

Scientifically, L. sulphureus, like all mushrooms, has an amino acid composition that's usually found only in animal proteins.

That makes mushrooms neither plant nor animal, according to Jekyll Island Authority wildlife biologist Joseph Colbert.

"They're an entire animal kingdom of their own and deserve more attention," he says.

Chicken of the Woods is one of the more easily identifiable mushrooms on Jekyll, but it's protected from foraging on the island, a state park.

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Jekyll Island residents and visitors now have access to:

PHOTOGRAP H BY AL LISON LEOTIS

You know when someone says something "tastes like chicken"?

This does, though some say it's closer to meat, crab, lobster, or even lemon. L. sulphureus can be found on the menus of local restaurants, where the delicacies are harvested off-island.

Mercer Medicine Jekyll Island, is now open in the Beach Village for all your health care needs! Whether it’s helping you stay healthy, managing a chronic illness, or providing immediate treatment when it counts, our care team is dedicated to assisting you.

Same-day Appointments

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11 Main Street, Suite 201 Jekyll, GA 31527 | 912-766-0755 mercermedicine.com

fauna

INDULGE IN COASTAL FLAVORS 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!

Snake, Lizard

To learn more scan our QR codes!

Our menu, a variety of delectable meals and drinks.

Host your special events and meetings with us.

OR BOTH?

Jekyll's glass lizard is a serpentine curiosity

S

lithering through Jekyll Island's sandy soils, shrubs, and underbrush, the Eastern glass lizard—the largest lizard in Georgia—is often mistaken, not surprisingly, for a snake. With a legless body and a tail that can grow up to 40 inches long, it looks and moves a lot like a snake.

The glass lizard's external ear openings and moveable eyelids give it away, though. Look more closely and you can spot even more lizardly characteristics, from the lateral groove running down its green or tan body to a fixed jaw that allows it to swallow prey as wide as its mouth. A glass lizard will eat any-

The tail stays, the lizard escapes 16

thing it can fit into its jaws; insects, spiders, worms, crawfish, crabs, rodents, and even smaller reptiles.

Still, it's that distinctive tail, often twice as long as the head and body combined, that is the glass lizard's calling card. Perhaps more interesting than its length: The lizard can physically eject its tail, with a kind of a wiggle, at the mere threat of an approaching predator.

Legend has it that the tail breaks off into multiple pieces, but the lizard actually sheds its tail at a single point, producing a sound (if you listen closely) that mimics that of breaking glass, according to Yank Moore, the Director of

Conservation for the Jekyll Island Authority. That sleight of tail helps the lizard avoid a plethora of predators that include birds, snakes, raccoons, opossums, and feral cats.

The tail eventually grows back, though shorter and less colorful than the original appendage.

The glass lizard calls all of Jekyll Island home, from its beaches to the Historic District.

Although active during the day, the glass lizard spends most of its time hidden. The curious and eagle-eyed can often spot the lizards, according to Jekyll Island Authority wildlife technician Michael Brennan, near Horton Pond or around the unmarked riverfront that locals call Shark Tooth Beach. "If you go for a walk in the morning or evening on a nice day, you could expect to see one," he says. "It may just be a quick glimpse as they race back into grass, shrubs, or bury themselves in sand."

photograph by justin s anclemente; illustration by amy h olliday

BY TESS MALONE

715 N. Beachview Dr. Jekyll Island, Georgia 31527

(912)319-2912

jibeachhouse.com

guardian

SPLASH INTO SUMMER!

Clermont Huger Lee Landscape architect, a pioneer in her time, designed much of the Historic District

BY FRAN WORRALL

Beat the heat this summer. From lazy laps around Turtle Creek to high-speed thrills down Pirate’s Passage, there’s no limit to the special memories you’ll make. Whether it’s your family, friends, or group — come on in. The water’s perfect. summerwaves.com

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istoric preservation is a cornerstone of Jekyll Island, one that envelops not only the island's famed buildings but also the gorgeous grounds on which they stand. A pioneering landscape architect, Clermont Huger Lee, was instrumental in developing a master plan for the island in the 1960s to restore the area once known as "Millionaire's Village" to its original state.

Lee was born in 1914 to a prominent Savannah family and attended prep schools in Savannah and Charleston before enrolling in Barnard College in New York City.

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She eventually transferred to Smith College in Massachusetts, where she majored in landscape architecture as an undergraduate. She went on to earn a master's degree in the same field.

"While at Smith, she was invited to take classes at the prestigious Harvard Graduate School of Design due to low enrollment numbers during World War II, and she took full advantage of that opportunity," said landscape historian Ced Dolder, who interviewed Lee shortly before her death in 2006 and has authored numerous articles about her life and work.

OPENING IMAGE, PAGE 1 9; DON HARGRAVE, SAVANNAH MORNING NE WS

guardian

After completing her education, Lee worked as an assistant to Talmadge Baumgardner Jr., a well-regarded landscape architect with the Sea Island Company, a hospitality and real estate corporation. During that time, she supervised planting operations and helped design landscapes for several projects in Brunswick and Savannah.

"Her interest in historic gardens also began about that time when, at a friend's request, she drew plans for a garden at Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation in Brunswick based on circa 1910 photographs," Dolder said.

Lee left the Sea Island Company in 1949 and established a private practice in Savannah, where she was a key figure in the renovation of several city squares as well as the planting designs for many historic buildings. In the late 1960s, Horace Caldwell, director of the Jekyll Island Authority, hired her as part of a team tasked with developing a plan to restore the island's Historic District. The work began in the fall of 1966 and continued through 1968.

Although budget constraints prevented Lee's plans from being fully implemented, she continued to collaborate with the Jekyll Island Authority to design a colonial garden for Horton House, a landscape and parking lot blueprint for Rockefeller Cottage, and a restoration plan for what is now known as the National Historic Landmark District. "Lee did all of her own drawings, and they are works of art," Dolder said. "She also knew how to create designs that would

withstand the passage of time."

Andrea Marroquin, curator of Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum, notes that Lee carefully documented each of her designs. "She had slides and she listed plant names, all of which were part of a larger scheme, so that even work done later utilizes her research."

Lee's dream of landscape restoration on the island lives on. Under the supervision of Cliff Gawron, director of landscaping and planning for the Jekyll Island Authority, seven properties within the historic district have been restored and several others have been landscaped in the spirit of their original design.

That would surely make Lee happy. "Clermont was dedicated to historic preservation," said her cousin Hugh Golson of Savannah. "She was strong and determined and way ahead of her time. I remember as a child seeing her drafting plans in the evenings, which was really something back then because all the women I knew were hosting dinner parties and mixing drinks."

Opposite page: Preliminary landscape restoration plan for the Historic District, 1968; Above: Horton House looking north across new gardens, 1973 (both courtesy Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum). Top: Lee portrait (courtesy Juliette Low Birthplace).

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firsts Idyllic. Historic. Fascinating.

Jekyll Island's Medicine Man John Waters ran a favorite hangout of locals and visitors

BY TESS MALONE

F

or decades at the end of the last century and into this one, one of Jekyll Island's most beloved hangouts was its pharmacy.

From 1974 to 2009, John Waters and his wife, Mary, owned and operated Jekyll Pharmacy. Locals and visitors could pick up prescriptions, of course, but it was the lunch counter and souvenir shop that made the store an island destination.

Waters was a pharmacist in Waycross when he heard of a struggling pharmacy on Jekyll Island. He and a partner bought it, and Waters and his wife eventually became sole owners. "I had never worked in a pharmacy that was beach-oriented," Waters says. "We got a quick intro into needing to have souvenirs." In the first few years, the pharmacy also offered a counter serving breakfast and lunch. Locals would stop in for a cup of coffee and, thanks to the free refills, stay all day.

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After five years, the counter proved unprofitable, so Mary instead expanded the gift shop. "My wife was very good at finding things everybody else didn't have," Waters says. "We had T-shirts, sweatshirts, and other souvenirs that were always a cut above what everyone else offered." While Mary managed the retail business, Waters ran the pharmacy and business operations.

The couple managed most of the year with six employees, sometimes adding a college student in summers. During peak summer hours, they were open 18 hours a day.

By 2009, the building housing Jekyll Pharmacy was scheduled for redevelopment, so Waters and his wife said goodbye to their 35-year venture. "I miss the people," says Waters, who still lives with Mary on the island—they'll celebrate their 60th anniversary this year—and still keeps in touch with his clients.

In 2023, Mercer Medical, in partnership with the Jekyll Island Authority, opened the island's first urgent care clinic. It's in the Beach Village.

Top: Waters outside of his pharmacy (photo courtesy John Waters); Bottom: Gala Modern Shopping Center, 1966 (photo courtesy Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum).

The Jekyll Island Foundation is proud to support the welfare of Jekyll Island and the initiatives of the Jekyll Island Authority. Experience what Jekyll Island has to offer—and partner with us today!

JEKYL L I SL AND FOUNDATI ON

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The Jekyll Jerry Garcia Eddie Pickett has used his music to forge a deep sense of community on the island

BY SCOTT FREEMAN PHOTOGRAPHY BY GABRIEL HANWAY

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artisan blues traditions," Pickett says.

He subscribes to the Jerry Garcia philosophy that music spreads love and builds community. "You play a gig and you never know who's going to walk through the door," Pickett says. He recently played a Widespread Panic after-party in St. Augustine and in walked two members of Panic, along with the guitarist husbandand-wife team of Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi.

During a break, Trucks walked up to him and said, "Hey, I really enjoyed your set." That validation from one of the world's great guitar players remains a highlight of Pickett's musical life.

Music has helped Pickett find his place on Jekyll, the place he chose as his home. "I love the tranquility," he says. "And the sense of community; you know everybody and neighbors look out for each other. It's almost Mayberry by the Sea." Pickett at the Jekyll Island Shrimp & Grits Festival (photo courtesy Eddie Pickett).

W

hen Eddie Pickett first stepped foot on Jekyll Island in 1986, he knew he'd come home.

Fresh out of the U.S. Navy, the Virginia native wanted to settle down somewhere along the Golden Isles coastline. "I looked at Brunswick, Savannah, and St. Simons Island and then just fell in love with Jekyll," he says. "It felt welcoming."

Nearly four decades later, Pickett is ingrained in the island community and is perhaps its most prominent musician. Locals know him as the "Jekyll Jerry Garcia." With his flowing gray beard, burly build, long ponytail, wire-rimmed glasses, and tie-dyed t-shirts, Pickett bears a passable resemblance to the late Grateful Dead guitarist and vocalist. He also is a member of the St. Augustine-based Grateful Dead cover band, One Good Ring.

Pickett formed his first island band in 1987 when he and his brother, Dave Besley, played as The Seiners. It was then that Pickett met a former nurse and budding glass artist named Kristen who later would become his wife. That same year, the tennis pro from the Jekyll Island Tennis Center came to one of Pickett's gigs.

They chatted and Pickett wound up helping build the facility's original 13 clay courts. He worked there as an

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assistant pro until 2008.

Music remained Pickett's passion. His main band, WharfRatz, debuted in 1992 at the now-shuttered Latitude 31 bar at the Jekyll dock. The group was named for the Grateful Dead song "Wharf Rat," with a "z" added to represent another of Pickett's heroes, Frank Zappa.

WharfRatz played the Sunday Sunset Party at the bar from 1993 to 2014.

In 2011, Pickett's imprint on Jekyll grew when he created Ace Music & Arts with his wife. Kristen Pickett headquartered Gypsea Glass, her growing glass art business, and Eddie operated a music shop. (That closed in 2018, though Kristen still operates Gypsea Glass in the Picketts' mountain home in Virginia.) Eddie took on the job of booking some of the music acts for the Jekyll Island Shrimp & Grits Festival in 2012, a position he still holds today.

In 2015, he and Kristen became part-owners of the Wee Pub Beach, a hybrid Irish pub and sports bar in the Beach Village. Pickett performs there every Monday and Tuesday, and with the WharfRatz every Thursday. His repertoire includes songs by the Dead, the Allman Brothers Band, Bob Dylan, Jimmy Buffet, and Otis Redding. "It's mostly in the Southern rock,

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my jekyll

“I love animals. They don’t judge you, and they are easy to talk to.

I also like science and the ocean, and I’m interested in sea creatures.

The sea turtle center at Jekyll is really neat. I got to meet my adopted turtle, Bandit, and see her getting weighed and checked and watch her swim around in her tank. Then, I went on a tour of the turtle center. I can’t wait to tell my friends about Bandit.”

— Kendall Barfield As told to FRAN WORRALL Photograph by ALLISON LEOTIS

kendall barfield is a 12-year-old from columbus, georgia. in november 2022, her parents visited jekyll island's georgia sea turtle center, where they learned about the turtle adoption program and an extraordinary resident named bandit, a juvenile green sea turtle partially paralyzed in a boat-strike injury. kendall’s parents adopted bandit and presented their daughter, who has spina bifida, with an adoption certificate at christmas. adoptions at the gstc are strictly symbolic (the turtles don’t leave the center until they're ready to return to the ocean), but kendall felt an instant connection with bandit. earlier this year, they finally met when the jekyll island authority invited the barfield family to visit. the encounter, says kendall’s mom, serves as a reminder to focus on possibilities, not limitations.

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WHEN ANIMALS CAUSE A RUCKUS ON THE ISLAND, THE WILDLIFE RESPONSE TEAM LEAPS INTO ACTION

By TONY REHAGEN Photography by GABRIEL HANWAY

JEKYLL ISLAND AUTHORITY’S WILDLIFE RESPONSE TEAM: YANK MOORE, JOSEPH COLBERT, DAN QUINN, AND MORGAN PIERCE

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ABOVE: AN AMERICAN ALLIGATOR FOUND ON THE BEACH IS SECURED AND RELOCATED. OPPOSITE PAGE: ROUGH GREEN SNAKE CAUGHT MOVING THROUGH A PARKING LOT. FLEDGLING BIRD THAT FELL OUT OF ITS NEST ON A WINDY DAY. BABY AMERICAN ALLIGATOR HELD

BY TRAINED STAFF (PHOTOS COURTESY JIA).

fter the third report in a week, Yank Moore didn’t know what to do about the raccoon with a mayonnaise jar on its head. The animal, after rooting around in some islander’s garbage, had been spotted several times near the Jekyll Island Authority (JIA) headquarters in the Historic District.

Moore and his conservation team had set traps in and around the scene. Still, they couldn’t catch the beast and relieve it of its plastic headwear.

Luckily, the wily creature had figured out a way to get water inside the jar so it could drink. But Moore thought it far less likely that the animal could eat. If someone didn’t intervene quickly, then, the odds of the raccoon’s survival were slim.

In other words, it was just another day for the JIA’s Wildlife Response Team.

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The Wildlife Response Team works with the public on Jekyll to preserve and protect one of the island’s most valuable resources; its animals. Moore, JIA’s Director of Conservation, and his fellow biologists, land managers, ecologists, and rangers have a mission to look out for the island’s flora and fauna and keep them in harmony with the human residents. But the team can’t have eyes everywhere. That’s why visitors, businesses, and residents are encouraged to call or submit online reports regarding any incidents with birds, reptiles, mammals, or amphibians.

JIA Wildlife Biologist Joseph Colbert says team members don’t answer calls like they’re 911 operators, “but we listen to messages, take down everyone’s information, and figure out who the best person is to answer the call. Sometimes the response is a text, sometimes it’s a callback, and sometimes it’s in-person. Each call is different.”

he reports of the poor jar-headed raccoon, unable to squirm free of its predicament, called for expert intervention. “We tend to let nature be nature: This is a state park,” says Moore. “But if the injury is caused by [an interaction with] humans, we intervene and try to manage the situation.” When the team got wind of a real-time sighting of the raccoon—treed near a JIA warehouse— and knowing that its life might be at stake, the Wildlife Response Team leaped into action.

Of course, not every call to the Wildlife Response Team is a matter of life and death. Once Moore and Colbert responded to a report of a guinea pig in someone’s yard to find that, sure enough, someone on the island had lost a pet. On another occasion, Moore rushed to the fishing pier to catch a cockatiel that had been released by an owner. It’s now a feathery ambassador for the JIA. Some reports end up as false alarms. “Some turn out to be what they claim to be,” says Moore. “And some are as far-fetched as you can imagine.”

Sometimes, callers can misinterpret what they see.

The most common false alarms tend to be “wounded” birds that are probably just stunned from flying into a window, or raptors that are on the ground hunting prey.

Those are usually gone by the time the team arrives.

Inevitably, too, every raccoon sighted automatically is “rabid.”

And when it comes to reptiles, the reported sizes tend to skew wide of the mark one way or another. People tend to underestimate the size of alligators, possibly because they are partially obscured by murky water or pondside vegetation, while snake sizes are usually exaggerated. “They see a two-foot snake and swear it’s some sort of 12-foot Burmese Python,” says Colbert.

“It’s interesting what fear does to people.”

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THIS PAGE: RACCOON TRAPPED AND SAFELY RELOCATED BY THE WILDLIFE RESPONSE TEAM (PHOTO COURTESY JIA).

OPPOSITE PAGE: DIRECTOR OF CONSERVATION, YANK MOORE WITH TOOLS OF THE TRADE.

he Wildlife Response Team takes every call seriously and always responds. It’s common courtesy and sound customer service, but it’s also to encourage people to continue reporting what they see. It takes an island to help the conservation team do its job. Every call or online submission could contain something helpful.

In general, calls tend to fall into one of three categories: an injured animal, an animal threatening a person and/ or itself, or a rare or priority species that someone has spotted.

In the case of a wounded creature, the team can do only so much. If it’s a beached sea turtle, the team will pass on the information to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. Otherwise, the team tends to let nature take its course, unless the injury is so serious that the animal has little hope of recovery. In those instances, the team may euthanize. “We

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don’t like doing it,” says Moore. “But you don’t want to see the animal suffer.”

When it comes to human-animal encounters, the team has to deal with two primary invaders, both of whom are attracted to people who feed them against ordinances, and both of whom are considered dangerous for very different reasons. First, alligators dwell peacefully in the island’s freshwater lagoons or ponds, but they can get bold and tend to “beg at the table” like dogs. And if someone throws them a bone just once, they’ll come back for seconds. The more comfortable they get, the more likely they are to attack. The Wildlife Response Team is equipped to handle gators of all sizes.

The other common beggar is the raccoon, which is much cuter than its scaly neighbors but no less dangerous. Raccoons can carry diseases, like rabies, that can spread to pets and other people.

“WE TEND TO LET NATURE BE NATURE: THIS IS A STATE PARK,” SAYS MOORE. “BUT IF THE INJURY IS CAUSED BY [AN INTERACTION WITH] HUMANS, WE INTERVENE AND TRY TO MANAGE THE SITUATION.” 35

f the team determines that a caller has been in contact with any suspect animal, they call the health department for guidance, which may include expediting testing.

When someone sees an invasive species (say coyotes or feral hogs, though hogs, so far, have been kept off the island), or spots a bobcat or a rattlesnake (which are subjects of a long-term predator monitoring program), those sightings are considered especially important. Those reports help Moore and his team keep track of new populations that might tip the delicate balance of the vibrant island ecosystem.

The call about the raccoon with the jar on its head fell squarely into the category of an injured, in-trouble animal. If the beast wouldn’t allow Moore and Colbert to help, though, the two experienced outdoorsmen brought

along a rifle. “We didn’t want it to starve to death,” says Moore.

Colbert spotted the little guy about 20 feet up in an oak tree, where he noticed a space between the top of the jar and the top of the raccoon’s head. Moore estimated that he was a good 40 yards away, and at an awkward angle, too. But the background and the surrounding area were clear of people. Moore got into position.

“We knew the gun and ammo; we considered the aim and the angle; and we took our time,” Moore says. He squeezed the trigger.

Through his binoculars, Colbert saw that his partner had nicked a good two-inch chunk off the top of the plastic jar, enough that the raccoon could tear off the rest. “It scared the daylights out of the raccoon,” Moore says. “But by the time we left, we didn’t see a jar on its head.”

Wildlife Emergency?

The Jekyll Island Authority Wildlife Response Team can be reached at (912) 222-5992.

Leave a message or text. The team is especially interested in sightings of rattlesnakes, coyotes, or feral hogs.

You can also submit a detailed report online, including the location of your sightings.

Scan the code below and attach photos or videos if you have them.

For any life-threatening contact with an injured or sick animal, dial 911.

THIS PAGE: TEAM MEMBERS MEASURE AN AMERICAN ALLIGATOR CAUGHT CROSSING A ROAD (PHOTO COURTESY BRIAN AUSTIN LEE).

OPPOSITE PAGE: A BABY VIRGINIA OPOSSUM CAPTURED UNDER MOSS COTTAGE IN THE HISTORIC DISTRICT (PHOTO COURTESY JIA).

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Getting Here, Then and Now How the evolution of transportation opened Jekyll Island to the masses

BY KATJA RIDDERBUSCH

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ALL PHOTOS COURTESY MOSAIC, JEKYLL ISLAND MUSEUM

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A

ndrea Marroquin has worked on Jekyll Island for more than 18 years, but she still gets chills when driving from the mainland over the causeway, across the bridge, and onto the island. The feeling grows as she passes marsh bunnies dotting the causeway, oak trees draped with Spanish moss, and the occasional deer on a stroll.

"As you travel onto Jekyll Island, you can picture the place and yourself back in time," says Marroquin, a North Carolina native and curator of Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum.

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Her life as a Glynn County resident, and her work studying and organizing the history of Jekyll Island, have taught her that transportation to and from the 5,950-acre Georgia barrier island over the centuries tells a larger story of the place and its inhabitants. It's a story of chance, challenge, and change.

The history of Jekyll Island began some 3,500 years ago.

Indigenous people, particularly the Guale and Timucua, inhabited the island before colonization. Artifacts and early European explorers' writings suggest that the Native Ameri-

cans moved among the islands and through the creeks in dugout canoes. To build them, they would cut large pine trees, "burn them out, shape them with stone tools, and paddle them across the waterways," says Marroquin, who holds degrees in history and anthropology. The smaller canoes could hold two or three people, the larger ones up to 10.

When Spanish, French, and English explorers began to colonize North America, they came on big sailing ships but traveled

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After six years of construction, the 6-mile causeway and drawbridge opened in December 1954, allowing more people to access the island by car.

PHOTO BY BRIAN AUSTIN LEE

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the coast in smaller sailing vessels like yawls or bateaus, light, flat-bottomed boats.

Jekyll played a key role during the Colonial Era when General James Oglethorpe founded the colony of Georgia in 1733 and named the island after Sir Joseph Jekyll, a financial supporter. Oglethorpe later appointed Major William Horton to build a military outpost on Jekyll Island to protect Fort Frederica on St. Simons Island.

"Jekyll was the southernmost extent of British territory, guarding against the Spanish," says Marroquin.

The strategically important island became a bustling trade hub during Horton's reign. He established a pre-industrial farm to supply Fort Frederica and neighboring barrier islands with beef and corn. Horton's plantation also cultivated new and experimental crops like indigo, as well as barley and hops used to brew Georgia's first beer. Most of the work was done by indentured servants.

Livestock and goods were shipped up and down the east coast on small sailing vessels.

On Jekyll, roads were rough.

People and freight moved by

horse-pulled carriages, wagons, and carts.

Agricultural trade on Jekyll thrived until the Civil War, mainly due to the DuBignon family.

French aristocrat Christophe DuBignon, fleeing the French Revolution, brought his family to Jekyll Island in 1792. They purchased land and developed a prosperous cotton plantation.

During this era, sailing vessels gave way to more powerful steamboats. Ships traveled along the Intracoastal Waterway, says Buddy Sullivan, who has written more than 30 books and monographs about coastal Georgia.

"There was constant traffic of steamboats and barges transporting agricultural goods between the barrier islands and the markets on the mainland," especially Charleston, Savannah, and Fernandina Beach in Florida, Sullivan says.

None of Jekyll's success during the plantation era could have been accomplished without enslaved Africans working the fields and the docks. Most were purchased at mainland slave markets and brought to the island in small sailing or steam-powered ships, says Sullivan.

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In November of 1858, 50 years after the slave trade was outlawed in the United States, Jekyll became the scene of a dark milestone in American history. It was then that the sailing vessel the Wanderer, originally built as a racing schooner and refitted to transport enslaved humans, landed on the island's south end with about 400 slaves on board. The event marked one of the last known instances that a group of enslaved Africans landed in America. ****** Cotton production declined on Jekyll as the Civil War hampered the market and the soil on the island became exhausted.

A decade after the War, DuBignon's descendants inherited major portions of the island and purchased the rest. They turned the island into a luxurious retreat for the nation's wealthy, launching the Club Era. From 1886 to 1942, the Jekyll Island Club became one of the richest clubs in the world. Some of the world's wealthiest people spent winters in the mild coastal climate, enjoying hunting, tennis, horseback riding, or beachfront golf. Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, Pulitzers, Bakers, Goulds, Morgans, and Goodyears stayed at the elegant clubhouse or in their mansion-sized cottages.

Club members demanded exclusive means of transportation.

Most arrived by train—often in

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private Pullman cars—at the Georgia port city of Brunswick, says historian Sullivan. "They would stay for a few days at the fancy Oglethorpe Hotel and then, at their leisure, come over to Jekyll Island," either by small, steam-powered vessels operated by the club or on their yachts.

The island's road network expanded during the Club Era. Members used Red Bug motorcars, little gas- or electric-powered buggies, to travel around the island, "sort of an early version of a golf cart," Marroquin says.

The first automobile came by boat to Jekyll in 1900. While the rules for use were strict at first, automobiles became more popular by the 1920s, when many club members shipped their older cars to the island. ****** The millionaires' Club Era ended when the U.S. government ordered the evacuation of Jekyll at the start of World War II. Georgia purchased the island in 1947, made it a state park, and later established the Jekyll Island Authority, the island's governing body.

At that time, regular ferry service was introduced between the mainland and several Georgia barrier islands. To get Jekyll ready for public use, the authority landscaped the grounds and dug ditches for drainage, built motels, and paved a perimeter road. At least some of the man-

ual labor was done by African American prisoners, shipped from the mainland and placed in a convict camp on the island.

Transportation to Jekyll changed dramatically shortly after that when, after six years of construction, the 6-mile causeway and drawbridge opened in December 1954, allowing more people to access the island by car. "They took the padlock off Georgia's fabled Jekyll Island and threw away the key," wrote The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in an article on the opening ceremony.

The causeway democratized the island, says Marroquin.

"Jekyll became an island that belonged to the people. An island for everybody."

In 1996, a taller concrete bridge replaced the drawbridge.

Today, there's also a small airport for private planes and a marina on the island's south end. A bike path along the causeway eventually will allow people to ride bicycles from the mainland to the island, says Marroquin.

Yet with all the new and various means of transportation, with all the hotels, and with the echoes of the island's illustrious and sometimes infamous past, Jekyll has managed to remain a low-key, casual place, preserving much of its natural state.

"And that's exactly what makes Jekyll unique," says Marroquin. And what still gives her chills whenever she crosses the causeway.

Landmarks in Jekyll Island's Transportation History 1,500 B.C. until 1562

Indigenous peoples traveled to Jekyll to hunt and fish, using dugout canoes made from pine trees.

1562

French explorers first arrived in the area by large sailing ships but moved between the islands in smaller vessels like yawls and bateaus.

1858

The sailing ship the Wanderer, originally a racing schooner, landed on Jekyll Island with an illegal cargo of about 400 slaves from Africa.

1900

William Struthers, of Philadelphia, was the first member of the Jekyll Island Club to ship a "gasoline automobile" to the island.

1954

The causeway and drawbridge connecting the mainland with Jekyll Island opened, allowing access to the Georgia barrier island by car.

1955

A perimeter road around the island was paved.

1965

The airstrip on Jekyll Island was built, and a small support building was erected.

1982

Construction of the first bike path on Jekyll Island began, followed by several others.

1996

The original drawbridge was replaced with a taller concrete bridge that stands today.

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PHOTO BY ALLISON LEOTIS

Back to Camp

BY MARY LOGAN BIKOFF • ILLUSTRATIONS BY MUTI

Nostalgic for those carefree summer days? Rekindle the magic with a Jekyll adventure

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xploring the wilds of Jekyll, by yourself or led by a guide, on horseback, in a canoe, or on foot, can be as much of a kick for adults as it is for kids. With a steady stream of programs and guided adventures, a trip to Jekyll might take you back to your days at summer camp, only without the cafeteria food and early wake-up calls.

Consider this a checklist for collecting your island adventure badges …

Paddle Power

Feel like a kid again as you dip a paddle into the glittering waters around the 4-H Tidelands Nature Center and glide around the marsh searching for wildlife from herons and egrets to blue crabs and, if you're lucky, river otters.

Two- and three-hour guided kayak tours (from $65), complete with paddling instruction, take visitors through meandering tidal creeks and breezy, open waterways where guides detail the unique coastal ecosystem. Tip: A high-tide tour means access to more creeks and more bird activity; a low-tide tour means a higher likelihood of seeing frolicking dolphins and other marine creatures coming to the water's edge to feed. Or, rent a canoe ($25 per hour or $50 per day) and set off on your own on the 17-acre Tidelands Pond, where you can cast a line for red drum and flounder. Rent fishing tackle from Tidelands ($10) or bring your own.

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PHOTO BY GABRIEL HANWAY

Overnight Adventure

If you love the idea of camping but don't love musty cabins and whatever that is beneath your shower shoes, you're in luck.

The Jekyll Island Campground, in the midst of an upgrade and expansion, may be just what you're looking for. The 18-acre campsite, set in an enchanting forest of palmettos and mossdraped oaks, added another 11 acres to its grounds in the past year. New amenities, including a camp store, three new bathhouses with private family restrooms, a dog park, and six glamping-style canvas-sided yurts are scheduled to open by year's end.

Currently, you can choose from 179 campsites (167 full hook-ups, from $51; 12 primitive, from $36).

Tucked among the tent sites find a sanctuary with feeders that draw colorful perching birds like painted buntings and warblers.

The campground is known for a relaxed camaraderie: In the evenings, mingle and gather around the campfire and roast s'mores, and in the morning take the half-mile stroll or bike ride to the fishing pier or Driftwood Beach to take in the morning sun. Or sleep in. No wakeup call here.

PHOTO BY GABRIEL HANWAY

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Wildlife Exploration

For a thrilling wildlife adventure, make a reservation for the Gatorology program, then grab your binoculars and head to Horton Pond, a hidden gem on the north end of the island. From the observation deck you'll spot all kinds of wildlife, including almost certainly the American alligator, about 120 of which roam the waterways of Jekyll.

Several, which the conservation team at Jekyll has tagged and regularly monitors, are known to frequent the waters and sunny floating platform on the pond.

Feel like an island naturalist yourself watching the mysterious critter in its natural habitat and nesting site. In late summer, you might even catch a glimpse of a hatchling. Guides will get you hands-on with gator teeth and bones, research equipment, maps, photos, and even a young gator borrowed from the 4-H Tidelands Nature Center. Pet the armor-like scales on its back ("scutes") and its ultrasoft belly skin and webbed, clawed feet, and we'll say you've earned yourself that wildlife badge.

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PHOTO BY BRIAN AUSTIN LEE

Arts & Crafts

PHOTO BY ALLISON LEOTIS

Saddle Up

For some, summer camp meant a rare opportunity to swing a leg over the back of a horse. At Jekyll, the saddle awaits. Meet at the corral on Clam Creek Road for one of several daily rides (from $68) and climb aboard a trusty Quarter Horse or sturdy Belgian or Percheron for an hour-long guided adventure. Group rides stick to a leisurely walk, while experienced riders on private trips may be permitted to trot or canter; all rides explore maritime forests, salt marshes, and the sandy, dramatic shoreline at Driftwood Beach. Tommie Crum of outfitter Three Oaks Farm, which offers a mix of group and private horseback-riding tours, says the most popular trip is a private sunset ride. But a moonlight ride, offered in the days around the full moon, makes for a magical evening excursion, with the moon glinting off gentle waves. Want to keep your feet on the ground? Non-riders are welcome to visit the corral with apples and carrots for a fun horsey encounter.

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There's a veritable arts colony on Jekyll, a far cry from knotting friendship bracelets and tie-dying T-shirts. The Mediterranean Revival–style Goodyear Cottage is home base for the Jekyll Island Arts Association, which welcomes artists on any level and with varying interests in creative pursuits, from woodworking to weaving. The cottage's three floors are dedicated to working guilds, workshops, and classes.

They feature studios with pottery wheels and kilns, floor looms, wood sanders, and wood planers.

There's also space for painting, needleworking, photography, and more. Annual membership ($30) grants access to seasonal classes, use of the studios and equipment, and the opportunity to display and sell works in the gallery. There's a full catalog of classes in the winter; look out for pop-up workshops during summer months. The annual Jekyll Island Arts Festival, held in March, will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2025.

PHOTO BY GABRIEL HANWAY

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The Tams perform in the early 90s at the Jekyll Island Beach Music Festival.

How the festival scene has matured from drinking on the beach into a series of high-class, family-friendly, award-winning events

By JOSH GREEN 57 56

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uring the pinnacle of Jekyll Island's no-holds-barred but mostly good-spirited bacchanalia known as the Beach Music Festival, rowdy party behavior was expected. It was a major part of its unique character. People shedding their clothes in boiling August sunshine. Shag dancing in the sand to the likes of The Temptations.

Swilling cold beer from smuggled-in coolers. Doing body slides down the island's cherished and extremely sensitive dunes.

If there was a laid-back part to the festival, it was probably reserved for the VIP section, which corralled all the sponsors, provided great stage views, and kept the really good food and drink at a distance from the crazed masses.

Back then, in the years before the raucous tradition flamed out in 2012, a fairly new Jekyll Island Authority employee found

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herself in charge of the VIP area at the festival. Then, as now, the JIA rank-and-file was recruited to volunteer for all the big events. It takes an entire island of volunteers, after all, to run these things.

Nancy Kring-Rowan remembers that era with more than a little amazement. Especially the time that the general admission audience started trying to crash the VIP section. That's when she became a little alarmed.

"I had my husband, who was a Marine, and my brother, a chief in the Navy, working with me because we couldn't get any volunteers—everybody wanted to go to the party," says Kring-Rowan, now the JIA events operations manager. "Thank God I had these two big guys helping me [to control the crowd]. It was insane, man! All of the outdoor concerts were free— that's why it was mayhem!"

What a difference a decade

makes. The beach blowouts of yesteryear were pretty much the antithesis of the sophisticated, highly curated feeling of the Jekyll Island Shrimp & Grits Festival, the island's marquee event these days. And Shrimp & Grits is just one of a series of festivals and large-scale gatherings throughout the year that are both under control and big successes.

Other longtime Jekyll residents who worked (or boogied) at the beach festival recall it not with horror or annoyance, but with a sense of amused astonishment. As in Yeah, all that actually happened. Their recollections help paint a contrast between the relatively buck-wild old days—before Jekyll was known for its conservation efforts, modernized lodging, and restored historic architecture—and today's events, which punch well above their weight in terms of regional (and national) magnetism and accolades.

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an Simpson, a 77-yearold retiree, recalls a time 50 years ago when Jekyll had no formal festivals and no bars. At least none that were legal. What'd they do for fun back then? "We went to St. Simons [Island]," says Simpson, a Jekyll resident since 1971.

That all changed in 1984, when the governing body then known as the Jekyll Island Convention and Visitors Bureau, composed mostly of motel management, launched a music festival on Fourth of July weekend and decided to foot the bill. The dirt-cheap cost to attend—a parking fee of $1—helped attract music lovers from across Georgia, the Carolinas, Florida, and beyond.

"What the motels did, they really jumped their room rates up for that weekend to make their money," says Simpson, a former fire service and EMS employee and charter boat captain who also worked the beach festivals. At some point, festival management realized the music fest was conflicting with regular Fourth of July tourism, and it was bumped to the dog days of August.

"It seemed like every year it got hotter," says Pam Brown, a Jekyll resident since 1986, who also worked the festivals. "I can't tell you how many mornings I'd go for a bike ride and find people crawling out from under the bushes."

Opening page: Photo courtesy Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum. Opposite page: Photo courtesy Pam Brown. This page: Photos courtesy Pam Brown and Maxine Smith. Pages 60-61: Photos courtesy Pam Brown and Maxine Smith.

During the earliest music festivals, organizers would wait until the tide went out to drag a flatbed trailer onto the beach near where Tortuga Jack's restaurant is today.

Performers had to be punctual to ensure the festival was over before the sea swallowed the stage.

Bathhouses doubled as shelters for treating injuries related to heat or, on occasion, fisticuffs. Georgia

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State Patrol troopers were posted all around the island. A helicopter patrolled from overhead to spot any trouble.

The entertainers were always from the Motown and rock genres.

Along with The Temptations, frequent attendees recall seeing The Embers, The Tams, Bill Pinckney's Original Drifters, The Showmen, The Swingin' Medallions, Paul Revere and the Raiders, and Three Dog Night. As the crowds grew, so too did the stage—and the cost of booking bands. Soon, it became a ticketed event. "The first time we had it gated," recalls Brown, "a lot of people were coming in on their boats.

They'd just swim in and float the cooler in on inner tubes."

As the younger crowd's musical tastes began to shift, a second festival named Country by the Sea was introduced in the 1990s, booking big names such as Conway Twitty.

Beyond those two musical shindigs, the most formal annual gathering of that era was an Easter egg hunt in Jekyll's Historic District, complete with a parade and a search for some 10,000 boiled eggs donated by the Georgia Egg Commission. A less formal mega-party was the Georgia-Florida football game each fall, for which each Jekyll hotel bussed its guests

to Jacksonville for the game. If the Bulldogs won, the beach party didn't stop until dawn. Brown, who worked for the Holiday Inn at the time, said staff would dress as nurses and doctors the next morning—"like a M*A*S*H unit in the lobby," she says—and serve hairof-the-dog libations as treatment.

Both of those parties eventually fizzled out, for entirely different reasons. More lodging in Jacksonville for what is known as the World's Biggest Outdoor Cocktail Party led football fans to stay closer to the action, rather than start their revelry 70-plus miles

away on Jekyll. And the stench of dozens of unfound eggs, left to rot in the island sun, did in the Easter egg hunt.

As for the early music festivals, several factors led to their demise: lack of attendance because neither event was free; the aging of Jekyll's hotels; the decline in overall tourism numbers; and JIA's renewed focus on protecting and maintaining the island's natural resources.

"We were no longer going to put a large stage on the beach during turtle season," says Kring-Rowan, "or run electric cables through the dunes."he first he first Jekyll Island

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T

The Tams headlined the 2023 Jekyll Island Shrimp & Grits Festival. Next page: Strict pre-festival judging ensures top-notch vendors at the Shrimp & Grits Festival (photos by Brian Austin Lee).

Shrimp & Grits Festival in 2006 marked the dawn of a new era. But even that was hardly refined

at the outset.

Brown's earliest memories of the event include people cooking hot dogs from trailers (no highfalutin food trucks) and vendors who leaned more toward mom-andpop quiltmakers than renowned artisan metalworkers. Those early days consisted of a tiny stage on the Historic District's main lawn with a couple of vendors dotted about. The street parking was plentiful.

It's a different story today. Now held annually in the fall, Georgia's only festival honoring the classic Southern dish draws crowds of 40,000 to the Historic District. The hotels, many new and others ex-

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tensively renovated, fill up. Things get so busy that the island's airport is closed, allowing attendees to park there and be bussed in.

More than 200 arts and crafts vendors come from around the country, with pre-festival judging so stringent that 100 artists were turned down last year for not meeting criteria. A large stage features big national musical acts like The Tams and many other nationally recognized tribute bands.

The secret behind all the relatively newfound success? An increased marketing push, good word of mouth, several years of shared experience, and the all-forone, selfless efforts of hundreds of volunteers.

During the Shrimp & Grits Festival, all 300 JIA employees are required to lend a hand in such important behind-the-scenes roles

as working with Jekyll's fire department, emergency services, and the State Patrol to ensure plans are in place so that revelers stay safe. Others coordinate with Glynn County Schools for transportation services. Still others form a review committee for the vendors who serve up the festival's namesake dish. Then there are the hundreds of people who perform countless jobs that make sure the island is picture-perfect for the big show.

It's a Herculean task undertaken by an entire island of folks, aimed at showing visitors just how beautiful and fun Jekyll can be.

"It's really relaxed, and you're walking under the live oak trees, with beautiful white tents with high-end artists, and fantastic food," says Kring-Rowan of the festival vibe. "It's all about the food, music, and arts."

The work has paid off. Shrimp & Grits has won the Southeast Festivals and Events Association's top prize three times—in 2012, 2017, and 2019—against roughly 200 festivals across 12 states.

So what do longtime Jekyll residents think of today's big gatherings compared to those in decades past?

"We're doing an incredible job," says Brown. "From parking in people's yards to making the airport a parking facility and shuttling—it's become much more accessible."

For his part, Simpson sounds a bit wistful for the days when enjoying a day of free music required nothing more than plopping down in the sand. But he appreciates that, these days, the focus is elsewhere, "These festivals now, the good part about them, they're family-oriented," he says. "You can bring the whole family, and you don't have to worry about anything."

Here are some of the biggest get-togethers on the island these days: ISLAND TREASURES January & February TURTLE CRAWL April 27 INDEPENDENCE DAY FIREWORKS July 4 SHRIMP & GRITS FESTIVAL October 25 & 26 PAULK CUP CLASSIC October 30–November 1 COLD-STUNNED PLUNGE November 30 HOLLY JOLLY JEKYLL November & December

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IN A PLACE SO RICH IN HISTORY, THE CURATORS OF THE ISLAND'S PAST HAVE TO PICK AND CHOOSE WHICH GEMS THE PUBLIC GETS TO SEE

By RICHARD L. ELDREDGE Photography By GABRIEL HANWAY

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T

he gleaming burgundy Studebaker parked inside Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum is like a magnet, gently pulling visitors toward it to sit in its plush cream-colored seats. The vintage automobile serves as a distinctive pit stop for visitors, designed to give them an idea of what it felt like to drive across the Jekyll Island Causeway when it opened to the public on December 11, 1954.

"Everybody loves the Studebaker," says Faith Plazarin, the museum's archivist and records manager and self-professed history nerd. "We want guests to climb into it and have a good time. We want to make our history relevant to them."

From pottery shards and tool fragments left behind by Native Americans (Jekyll Island's original inhabitants) to the Studebaker and beyond, Mosaic has carefully preserved items covering thousands of years of island history.

The pieces begin with the Native American finds and touch on the entire island timeline; Jekyll's Colonial Era, its Plantation Era and the enslaved people who were a large part of the island's past, the U.S. Civil War and its aftermath, the island's famously glitzy Club Era, and into its birth as a state park. Debuting in Summer 2024, the museum will showcase an exhibition on Jekyll Island's civil rights history, timed to the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, signed by President Lyndon Johnson on July 2, 1964.

The collection provides a detailed look at the island's past. The problem: There's only so much room to store all that history.

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ith more than 4,300 of the island's nearly 6,000 acres prohibited, by law, from being developed, the museum staff has to make use of limited archival space by being conscientious about what to keep and what to discard. Only a tiny fraction of the more than 6,000 objects, 16,000 images, and 21,000 archival records that are cataloged in the JIA database make it to public display on the island. Only about 200 of those items can be seen at Mosaic. (The archives can be accessed through research requests made via the Jekyll Island website.) "There's never enough space," says Plazarin.

"But we do the best with what we have. Part of my job is to make sure we make space when we need it."

All the historic items must be meticulously curated. Even items as simple as clothes hold the power to teach about the history of the island and to transfix the imagination. "There's a ballgown and a wedding dress on display that are among my favorite pieces," says Shalan Webb, the museum's collections specialist. "I think they resonate with anyone who imagines playing dress up."

Webb says she loves to observe families standing in front of the museum's wardrobe exhibit, where interactive cameras "dress" guests in period costumes.

"To hear that laughter, to see people getting excited about history," she adds, "makes this work super rewarding for me."

"I LOVE WHEN PEOPLE WALK IN AND SAY, ‘HEY, MY GREAT-GRANDDAD WAS A CLUB MEMBER, DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING ON HIM?' I LOVE THAT MY JOB IS OFTEN TO PLAY DETECTIVE."

Opposite page: Archivist Faith Plazarin meticulously sifts through records. This page: A member ledger from the Jekyll Island Club.

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Left to right: A Jekyll Island Club telephone booth; archivist Faith Plazarin with a set of antique books; a portion of the collection stored on Jekyll Island.

T

he stories told by these artifacts sometimes walk right in the front door of Mosaic and introduce themselves. Recently, a descendent of the famed Rockefeller clan that vacationed on Jekyll during the Club Era was cleaning out one of the family's homes and unearthed some photographs. "It turns out, the photos were taken on the front porch of Indian Mound, the Rockefeller home here on the island," Plazarin says, "and they were kind enough to bring them to us."

Another example: When the grandniece of Bertha Baker, Jekyll Island's first teacher (who served from 1901-1918), came looking for more information, she was shocked to discover that her grand-aunt was a Jekyll Island trailblazer. "She sat and gave us an oral history all about Bertha Baker and her family," Plazarin says, "and gave us a better sense of what Baker was like."

For Webb, donated treasures can take the form of something as common as a pair of little girls' gray skirts. They were given to the museum by the

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granddaughter of industrialist Walter Jennings, who became a club member in 1927. "These two tattered, unraveling skirts look handmade and ordinary," explains Webb. "But they were created by two children in the Jennings family during a chicken pox quarantine in 1938. Their governess kept them busy with lessons about the pilgrims coming to America and so they made these skirts ... Collecting stories like this is my favorite part of the job."

It helps, too, to be able to relate the island's history to current events, like the hit HBO period drama The Gilded Age, which has reignited interest in the American industrial boom and the fabled "new money" families of the late 19th century. That era was the heyday of the very private Jekyll Island Club, once characterized as "the richest, the most exclusive and most inaccessible club in the world,"

by Munsey's Magazine. "The series has definitely exposed more people to the period," Plazarin says, "and [showcases] why what we have here remains so relevant."

lazarin, who as an undergrad at Flagler College had a double major in History and English, says that digging daily through hundreds of years of papers is a dream job. "When I graduated, I knew I wanted a job where I could touch stuff," she says with a laugh. "No day is ever the same here. I love when people walk in and say, ‘Hey, my great-granddad was a club member, do you have anything on him?' I love that my job is often to play detective."

The most prized treasures the museum has, in Plazarin's eyes, are the island's 1947 condemnation order and the subsequent Jekyll Island State Park Authority Act. "They're not as cool as the pieces of furniture or the clothes," she says, "but I'm an archivist. I love paper and those are the documents that allow us to exist."

Both Webb and Plazarin agree that thumbing through the old club guest registers and seeing the names of wealthy members with last names like Rockefeller and Vanderbilt never gets old. "It's rewarding not only to keep and preserve all these cool things but also being able to provide access to others," Plazarin says. "That's what makes this museum and Jekyll Island truly unique."

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Only a fraction of the historic artifacts on Jekyll Island are available for public viewing. The following items were curated for this issue of 31• 81 by JIA archivist Faith Plazarin and collections specialist Shalan Webb. They are not on public display.

JEKYLL ISLAND CLUB DINNER MENU From the Jekyll oysters on the half-shell to the Lincoln cream pie, this Jekyll Island Club menu from Lincoln's Birthday, February 12, 1910, is indicative of how well and how lavishly guests ate each night. A massive garden on the island supplied many of the vegetables. "Dinner," says Plazarin, "was always the focal point of the evening."

BEJEWELED LAMP The origins of this brass and cut-glass lamp remain shrouded in mystery. It was first inventoried and tagged as the state of Georgia was transforming the island into a state park. The lamp once was displayed in Mistletoe Cottage, originally the winter home of railroad tycoon Henry Porter.

MEMBER LEDGER In the Gilded Age, this bound ledger served as the modern equivalent of both a black AmEx card and a computer database. Members of the exclusive club would simply stroll from the wharf dock into the clubhouse and sign in. "The Calico King," textile manufacturer M.C.D. Borden, was a member who never actually stepped foot inside the club but his son and guests visited frequently.

JEKYLL ISLAND MAP AND METAL PRINT CUT This souvenir map of the island was created (and copyrighted in 1953) by Tallu Fish, a journalist turned savvy Jekyll Island archivist and curator. In 1954, Fish had fewer than 30 days to transform the old Rockefeller Indian Mound cottage into the island's first museum before the grand opening of the Causeway, creating the island's first tourist attraction.

HAT BATHTUB This tin bathing tub from the Club Era was unearthed recently by the museum collections team. "We thought we had unearthed a metal UFO at first!" says Webb. Club staffers would put their feet in the middle, sit on the small side platform, and pour water over themselves to freshen up after a long day outdoors, before serving guests.

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BOBCAT TRACKS

YOUR BEACH

ESCAPE

First came the pawprint stamped into the sand, a sign possibly never PATHS before seen on Jekyll. Then, stealthily, the bobcat appeared. It arrived around 2014, immediately jumping to the apex of an island food chain in need of a check.

It was a welcome predator, bringing the population of some of the smaller mammals on island more into balance. That same stealth that enables the bobcat to stalk its prey so successfully also makes it quietly elusive to humans. It's a shadow, hardly bigger than a housecat, a mere rustling in the bush. And as it's hunted over the last decade, the bobcat population has grown. Today, around 15 bobcats patrol the island, including at least two new kittens. New tracks are staggered across the virgin sand. —tony rehagen

PHOTO BY GAB RI EL HANWAY

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Embark on your island getaway at our intimate oceanfront boutique hotel with 40 luxurious suites.

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J E K Y L L C L U B . C O M | 8 7 7. 3 1 5 . 7 1 0 3 | J E K Y L L I S L A N D , G A