Our next stop took us down the road to the Jekyll Island Club Historic District which encompasses the Jekyll Island Club Hotel and numerous private cottages that have been or are in the process of being restored.

In the late 18th century, Jekyll Island was owned by Christophe Poulain duBignon, a French entrepreneur who initially came to America to escape the French Revolution. The island was passed down thru his descendants until the late 19th century when ownership was split among four duBignon siblings. One of the sibllings, John Eugene duBignon, and his brother-in-law, Newton Finney, saw enormous potential in the area and crafted a plan to turn Jekyll Island into a getaway for wealthy northerners.

The pair spent several years acquiring all the parcels of land from the other siblings, and then sold the whole island to a group of 53 investors in 1886, effectively creating the extremely exclusive Jekyll Island Club. Looking at the club membership roster illustrates this concept of "exclusivity" - J. P. Morgan, members of the Vanderbilt family, Joseph Pulitzer, members of the Gould family, Frank Goodyear, William Rockefeller, George Macy, Henry Hyde, etc. Munsey's Magazine proclaimed the Jekyll Island Club as “the richest, the most exclusive, the most inaccessible club in the world” in 1904.

The Jekyll Island Clubhouse opened in 1888 offering accommodations for "the season" which began around the Christmas Holiday. Members who needed more space would build large private cottages to house family and staff. The Jekyll Island Club was unique in that it was geared toward families. Women were encouraged to participate all activities, with hunting being the initial pastime of choice, (the Club kept a full-time gamekeeper on staff). Golf, tennis, bicycling, and other leisure activities were added as dictated by the times.

And all was well for a couple of decades. The Great Depression's impact on America's upper class trickled downhill to the Jekyll Island Club. Problems as a result of WWII signaled the end of the club in 1942. The State of Georgia acquired the property in 1947 for use as a State Park. The Jekyll Island Club was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978.

Today, the restored clubhouse is now the Jekyll Island Club Hotel. The surviving cottages serve as additional hotel guest accommodations and banquet/meeting facilities. Restoration/preservation efforts have been ongoing.

We first stopped at the hotel so I could make a reservation for Sunday Brunch. The walk from the parking area to the hotel is lined with beautiful Southern Live Oak Trees, including the one seen in the photos above and below.

Some of these enormous trees have been estimated to be in the hundreds of years old. Over that length of time, the lower branches grow to such a size that they sag and make contact with the ground. Some, like those seen in the photo above, sink into the ground and then grow upward again. Besides looking extremely impressive, this provides additional support for the tree to help protect it from high winds.

Looking at the thickness of some of those branches, it's easy to see how they would sag over time.

Just past the huge tree in the previous photos sits the historic Jekyll Island Club Hotel. As we headed inside to make a Brunch reservation and to do some exploring, it occurred to me that this is the first time I've been inside the hotel building. Cool !

For whatever reason, we decided to start our exploration on the 4th floor. The first thing we noticed when we stepped out of the elevator was how low the ceiling seemed in some places.

This is the top floor of the hotel. So I guess it makes sense that the ceiling is somewhat lower here given the building's roofline.

One of the seating areas on the 4th floor offered a good view of the swimming pool.

The swimming pool sits across from the large Riverfront Lawn by the wharf.

This hotel is filled with small seating areas like the one seen in the photo above. This area is located by the stairs.

Speaking of which, we decided to take the stairs down to the first floor which gave us a chance to admire the beautiful woodwork !

My guess is that all of the woodwork is original, but I don't know for sure.

Looking down the center of the stairs all the way to the hotel's lower level.

The ceilings of the lower floors were all "normal."

Another view of the beautiful woodwork.

The photo above shows another small seating area, this one on the lower level of the hotel.

The Jekyll Island Club Hotel reminds me of the Bedford Springs Hotel in Bedford, Pennsylvania in that the hotel's history is on display everywhere in the form of old pictures and artifacts.

An antique telephone.

I'm not sure what this is exactly. But it looks like part of an old foundation.

Whatever it is, it appears on both sides of this wall.

Danita had to play with the old phone, naturally.

I didn't ask her if it had a dial tone. That would be funny if it did !

The hotel also features a number of giant mirrors throughout.

Giant mirror on the hotel's lower level.

We eventually found the Grand Dining Room and made a Brunch reservation for tomorrow. It was now time to head outside to wander around the Historic District. Since the hotel sits along Old Plantation Road, we decided to start there. The first building we encountered was the Faith Chapel.

The Faith Chapel was an interdenominational chapel that was open to Club members, guests, and employees. It was built in 1904 to replace an earlier chapel that was quickly outgrown.

The Faith Chapel was designed to match the atmosphere created by the other Club buildings. Club charter member Frederic Baker was quoted as saying the chapel should be "worthy of the island." One of those "worthy" design details is the Tiffany stained glass window.

The stained glass window seen in the photos above was designed and installed by Louis Comfort Tiffany in 1921.

The Chapel isn't normally open, and wasn't open today.

We walked around the building and were greeted by the security guard, who was quite vocal as we approached.

Rear of the Faith Chapel.

Faith Chapel turret.

Continuing north on Old Plantation Road brought us to Cherokee Cottage which sits next to the Faith Chapel.

Cherokee Cottage was originally constructed in 1904 for Dr. George F. Shrady, attending physician to former U. S. President Ulysses S. Grant. The cottage was actually built by railroad executive Edwin Gould, a name that will show up here quite often. Gould was married to Dr. Shrady's step-daughter and had Cherokee built directly behind his own cottage, Chichota, for his in-laws.

Dr. Shrady died in 1907. Mrs. Shrady sold the cottage in 1925 to Dr. Walter James, who is credited with naming it Cherokee.

Cherokee was restored in 2001, and is now used by the Jekyll Island Club Hotel for additional guesting lodging and meeting space.

Villa Marianna dates from 1928 and sits next to Cherokee Cottage on Old Plantation Road.

Several cottages in this part of the Historic District belonged to railroad executive Edwin Gould and members of his family. Gould's Chichota Cottage, (now a ruin), would be directly behind where I am standing in the photo above. The previously mentioned Cherokee Cottage, (out of view to the right in the photo above), belonged to Edwin's in-laws, the Shradys. This cottage, Villa Marianna (which sits next to Cherokee), belonged to Edwin's second son, Frank Miller Gould.

"Marianna" refers to Frank's daughter who was born in 1926.

Villa Marianna has been restored and is used as meeting/event space.

The last time I was here in September 2018, this fountain was lined with beautiful flowers. The fountain was working even though the flowers were asleep for the winter.

Another Gould family property, the Gould Casino, sits next to Villa Marianna and across a small side street appropriately named "Gould Lane." The word "Casino" in this case refers to an activity center. Edwin Gould began construction on his Casino in 1902 and expanded it several times. Contained therein were a bowling alley, a tennis court, a rifle range, a gym with showers and locker rooms, and other sporting-related facilities.

By 1913, the casino actually encompassed several attached buildings. Only this building, which housed the tennis court, lockers, and showers, remains standing today. It's currently preserved, but unrestored.

Across from Villa Marianna and the Gould Casino sits the Solterra Dovecote.

A Dovecote is a building designed to house pigeons or doves. The practice of Pigeon Keeping has been around for thousands of years, although mainly in other parts of the world. But there was a time when the practice experienced some popularity in the US.

The name "Solterra" refers to Solterra Cottage that was built in 1890 next to the Club hotel by Club charter member Frederic Baker. Solterra Cottage caught fire and quite literally burned to the ground on March 9, 1914. The cottage's stone chimney and the separate Dovecote were the only structures to survive the fire.

After the fire, the Dovecote spent its life in various capacities around the Club property, including being used as a refreshment stand at the beach. At some point, it was moved to the location seen in the photo above, (the circular gravel outline is visible in the photo), which is only a few yards away from where it is now. I am thinking the move to its current location along Old Plantation Road occurred very recently.

The photo seen above of a "traffic jam" along Old Plantation Road represents what I love about Jekyll Island - It never seems crowded, especially during this time of year.