Imagine you are one of the Gilded Aged mega rich. Let’s say your last name is Rockefeller. You join the Jekyll Island Club, an elite hunting retreat founded in 1886 on Jekyll Island, Georgia. By the early 1900s, it is populated with dozens of other prominent families boasting names such as Vanderbilt, Morgan, Pulitzer, and Field. Every year from January to March, hunting and socializing are the main attractions; there is a full-time taxidermist on the property to attend to your hunting spoils, and every dinner – consisting of ten courses with card games afterwards – could last up to five hours. When you and your fellow club members gather in the club’s grand dining room, it contains one-sixth of the world’s wealth!

A century ago, non-members were not allowed on the grounds but today, whether your name is Rockefeller or not, you are welcomed. Read below to discover the engaging activities the Jekyll Island Club Resort offers guests and visitors alike!

1. Ride the Trolley

This is a fun (and breezy) way to introduce yourself to the historic district. This detailed narrated tour, passing stately homes and centuries-old oak trees adorned with Spanish moss, offers a glimpse into the lives of the wealthy who lived here over 100 years ago. For instance, gaze at and hear the history of the Sans Souci, owned by J.P. Morgan and considered one of the nation’s first condominiums, or the Crane Cottage, built by R.T. Crane, Jr., of Crane Plumbing Co., the most lavish of the cottages and now a picturesque wedding spot.

2. Explore Faith Chapel

Constructed in 1904, this small Gothic Revival, non-denominational chapel was built exclusively for the club’s members. Before you enter, don’t miss the gargoyles peering at you from the steeple. Inside, the dark-stained cypress interior is illuminated by stunning stained-glass windows. The Tiffany window at the entrance, called “David’s Window,” is one of less than thirty windows in the world signed by the artist. The animal heads carved on the nave’s projecting beams add a sense of romanticism to this cave-like space.

3. Check Out Mosaic, the Jekyll Island Museum

While the trolley tour focuses mostly on the history of the club and its prominent members, the Mosaic museum, located in the former stables, fills in some historical gaps. With the visual aid of artifacts, learn about the island’s early history when it was inhabited by Guale and Timucua Indians thousands of years ago, taken over by the British in the eighteenth century, and then bought by a Frenchman named DuBignon and turned into a Sea Island Cotton plantation. There are plenty of mementos from the island’s days as a club on display, too.

4. Visit the Georgia Sea Turtle Center

The Sea Turtle Center, housed in the club’s former power plant, is Georgia’s only sea turtle education and rehabilitation facility and provides state-of-the-art emergency care to sick and injured sea turtles. Study the informative interactive exhibits, and make sure you don’t miss veterinarians’ treating the turtles right before your eyes in the hospital. In an adjacent building, view the turtles currently housed at the Center, read how they were injured, and learn how the Center is rehabilitating them.

5. Cruise with the Dolphins

The waters around Jekyll host one of the world’s largest populations of dolphins, and this 90-minute narrated dolphin and sightseeing boat tour allows you to view them feeding and playing as you learn about their social behavior, feeding habits, and more. The cruise begins at the Jekyll Wharf and will take you along the nearby intracoastal waterway, marshes, and wilderness beaches, where you may also spot sea turtles, manatees, egrets, herons, and maybe a luxury yacht or two!

6. Take a Cottage Tour

Step inside prominent club members’ cottages to learn more about their opulent lifestyle. Tour Indian Mound Cottage, the home of William Rockefeller, brother of Standard Oil tycoon John D., who renovated his house to conform to the then-popular Victorian style. This cottage, with its fifteen bedrooms and eleven bathrooms, still contains its original furniture because when the club abruptly closed in 1942 during World War II, most members did not bother to retrieve their belongings! You may also explore the Hollybourne House, built by Charles Stewart Maurice, a prominent bridge builder. This 11,300 square foot house is unique because it was the only club cottage constructed with tabby and because Maurice employed wooden trusses and steel bolts from his bridge-building enterprise to create the house’s large, open spaces.

7. Explore the Resort!

The Jekyll Island Club resort is fun to roam, even if you are not an overnight guest. Check out the Federal Reserve Room, where in 1910 six of the country’s most respected financiers drafted a plan which was the basis for the Federal Reserve system of 1913. Pass by the Grand Staircase with its intricate hand-turned wooden balustrade on the way to the Grand Dining Room, where the club members enjoyed their marathon meals and where today as a guest you can dine for breakfast, dinner, or brunch on Sundays.

Then, why not live as the elite did (even for a short time) and play croquet on the immaculate front lawn?

Now you see you don’t have to be one of the word’s ultra rich to enjoy the picturesque grounds of the Jekyll Island Club Resort. There is so much to see and learn even without being a guest!

Note: Because Jekyll Island is a state park, there is an entrance fee of $8 to access the island

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To learn more history of the area, join us for a Cumberland Island Walking Tour or St. Marys Walking Tour!