One of the Sea Islands, one of the Golden Isles of Georgia barrier islands and a popular tourist destination with beaches frequented by vacationers
General Information
How to Get There
Overview
Jekyll Island is located off the coast of Georgia, and is one of the Sea Islands and one of the Golden Isles of Georgia barrier islands. The island is owned by the State of Georgia.
A popular tourist destination, the island has beaches frequented by vacationers. Guided tours of the Landmark Historic District are available. Bike trails, walks along the beaches and sandbars, and Summer Waves, a water park, are among the active attractions. The historic district features numerous impressive and ambitious buildings from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The island is also full of wildlife, consisting of many different mammals, reptiles, and birds living and breeding in the island's inland salt marshes. In 2018, Architectural Digest named Jekyll Island one of the 50 most beautiful small towns in America.
Jekyll Island is one of only four Georgia barrier islands that has a paved causeway to allow access from the mainland by car. It has 5,700 acres (23 km2) of land, including 4,400 acres (18 km2) of solid earth and a 200-acre (0.81 km2) Jekyll Island Club Historic District. The rest is tidal marshlands, mostly on the island's western shore. The island measures about 7 miles (11 km) long by 1.5 miles (2.4 km) wide, has 8 miles (13 km) of wide, flat beaches on its east shore with sand packed hard enough for easy walking or biking, and boasts 20 miles (32 km) of hiking trails.
In the midsection of the intercoastal side of the island is a designated 240-acre (0.97 km2) Historic District. This includes most of the buildings erected during the Jekyll Island Club era. They have been carefully preserved. The centerpiece of the grounds is the large Jekyll Island Club Hotel, a two-winged structure that contains numerous suites for rental. The presidential suite contains the three-story turret on the front of the building. Thirty-three buildings from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries surround the hotel; many are the elaborate mansion-sized "cottages" built by the rich. Some cottages offer rooms for rent for temporary stays. Others have been adapted for use as museums, art galleries, or bookstores. The hotel is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The historic district itself has been listed as a National Historic Landmark District since 1978.
Tram tours originate from the Jekyll Island Museum located on Stable Road directly across from the historic district. They run several times daily and guides describe much of the history of this area.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Jekyll Island" which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0
