Georgia By the Sea
Posted on July 3, 2011 by bob in Features
by Andrea Gross; Photos by Irv Green
(Ed.‘s Note: Next month, Prime Montgomery takes you on a trip to the historic river (and almost-coastal) city of Savannah, Georgia.)
George H.W. Bush honeymooned there, JFK Jr. was married there, and the Carnegies and Rockefellers bought land there. Then a few years ago, when they could have met anywhere in the world, the leaders of eight major countries chose to meet in the same place — on the small islands off the coast of Georgia.
Why? What’s so special about these tiny dots of land — and can mere mortals afford to walk in the footsteps of the wealthy? That’s what my husband and I decided to find out.
Jekyll Island Club House
We find reasonably-priced motels on nearby I-95, but we opt to stay at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel, a grand Victorian lodge built by Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Morgan, Pulitzer and fifty or so of their closest buddies. They surrounded the clubhouse with individual family cottages (most of which were more mansion than cottage) and used them to escape the cold weather and heavy social season of their northern homes. During the winter Jekyll was the gathering place for men who owned one-sixth of the world’s wealth.
Eventually the above-mentioned tycoons sold or donated much of their land to various government entities. What they kept, they ran well, restricting commercial development and protecting wild spaces. In short, the rich who developed the islands in the nineteenth century saved them from over-development in the twentieth. Today the 240-acre compound on Jekyll is a National Historic Landmark District.
St. Simons Lighthouse
Land on Georgia’s barrier isles is measured in three ways: upland acreage (you can walk on it), total acreage (includes the marsh: you’ll sink), and beach miles (what really matters). Therefore, we hop aboard a horse-drawn carriage for a quick tour of the historic buildings and then do what we assume the Rockefellers and Vanderbilts did — we head for the beach.
I love Jekyll Island with its combination of history and recreation, but I’m positively besotted by Little St. Simons.
The privately-owned island, which is accessible only by ferry, consists of a lodge, six cottages, 10,000 acres of natural beauty and seven miles of deserted beaches. Built as a family retreat in 1917 and now restricted to no more than 32 overnight guests and a smattering of day visitors, the atmosphere is down-home casual.
We arrive in time for a gourmet lunch, after which we’re given a choice of activities: nature tour, kayaking, beaching, biking, birding or relaxing. We choose the nature tour and spend the afternoon walking down paths lined with oaks and palmettos. Our knowledgeable guide, armed with binoculars, points out numerous birds (there are more than 280 species on the island), snakes, scat and even an eight-foot alligator.
Jekyll Island
And so it goes, one glorious day after another, until finally, both refreshed and recharged, we make our way to the comparatively big St. Simons Island. After visiting the must-sees — the historic Fort Frederica, Christ Church and the old lighthouse — we settle into a routine of beaching, walking, biking, eating and browsing. I learn to appreciate Brunswick stew, a hearty mix of richly seasoned meats and vegetables, but my favorite local fare is crab cakes, especially those at Barbara Jean’s Restaurant, which are made without fillers of any kind.
Bird watching on Little St. Simons.
There are plenty of classy shops, but if I’m going to buy something, I want it to be something unique to the Georgia coast. I decide on a piece of jewelry designed by GoGo Ferguson, great-granddaughter of Thomas Carnegie (brother of Andrew, the famed steel magnate). GoGo makes jewelry cast from animal bones found near her home on nearby Cumberland Island, which was settled by her family. Since Cumberland is now a National Seashore, where wild horses outnumber visitors, she has her main shop on the more accessible St. Simons.
GoGo's Rattlesnake Pendant
I look at a necklace made from seven rattlesnake jawbones ($10,495), a bracelet made from seven alligator toe bones ($2,375) and a raccoon pecker pin ($935) before settling on some more affordable — though still pricey — mussel shell earrings ($50).
The saleswoman hands me my earrings along with a card filled with GoGo gossip. I learn that her clients have included the likes of Hillary, Goldy and Jackie. In a flash I know the answer to my question: what makes the Georgia Coast so special? It’s a place of extraordinary beauty, temperate climate and grand hotels. For the first-name-only folks it offers the promise of privacy. For the rest of us, it’s a chance to bask in their reflected light.
For more information visit www.comecoastawhile.com.
Great Places to Stay:
Historic hotel: Jekyll Island Club Hotel: www.jekyllclub.com
Oceanfront resort: King and Prince; www.kingandprince.com
Boutique hotel: Ocean Lodge: www.oceanlodgessi.com
Nature sanctuary: Little St. Simons: www.LittleSSI.com
