The first time I turned off the Causeway and entered the lush world of Jekyll Island, I gasped in delight. Only an hour and a half from Savannah, this 5,000-acre barrier island combines a rare mixture of raw, lush, natural beauty, and the sophisticated pampering of a world-class resort.

We were there for the wedding of friends at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel. It was at a pre-wedding beach bash there where I first tasted the famous Low-Country Boil, the lovely mixture of shrimp, sausage, corn and potatoes, served spread out on newspapers over sprawling wooden tables. We ate and romped on the beach, savoring the gentle waves that lapped against the pure white sand under a silver moon.

The next day was spent exploring the island.

An exploration of the ruins of a century-old Tabby House was one of the more intriguing highlights of the day. Tabby Houses, named for "a wall made of earth or masonry" originated nearly 300 years ago, when early settlers throughout the Coastal Empire and down into Florida, developed an ingenious material made of sand, lime, oyster shells and water which they then mortared together and poured into forms to build nearly indestructible structures. Lime was formed by burning oyster shells found in old Indian Shell Mounds.

Late the next afternoon, we headed for the wedding on the veranda of the Jekyll Island Club Hotel. This gorgeous pavilion of glamour and romance was born in the 1880's, when a handful of the world's richest powerbrokers purchased the island and made it their winter home, forming the Jekyll Island Club.

Their goal for these wintertime sojourns, historians say, was to embrace the 'simple life.' Nonetheless, they arrived complete with butlers, maids, valets, and a host of other servants. Among the founding members were J. P. Morgan, William Rockefeller, Joseph Pulitzer and Marshall Field. The membership possessed one-sixth of the wealth of the entire world. They built the club, and then a colony of little 'cottages', many of them in the 7 to 8,000 square foot range, for their friends and families to purchase. The names still ring: Astor, Macy, Goodyear, Gould.

The Club and the adjacent six unit apartment building, the cottages and grounds, were lavished with the ultimate luxuries that money could buy.

Under the leadership of these men, history was often made. President McKinley drafted his 1899 reelection plans; the Federal Reserve Act was written and drafted on Jekyll in 1910 and in 1915, the first trans-continental telephone calls were placed from the island to President Woodrow Wilson in Washington D.C., to Alexander Graham Bell in New York, and to Bell's assistant, Thomas Watson in San Francisco, California.

But membership dwindled somewhat during the Great Depression. And then, during World War II, the Roosevelt administration asked all of the members to leave the island for the duration of the war because the president felt that so much wealth and power concentrated in so small a space was too vulnerable to attack.

For whatever reason, the membership never returned and the island was sold to the state in 1947. In 1950, Georgia passed a state law limiting development of Jekyll to only 35 percent of the land; the remaining 65 percent to remain a nature preserve for future generations to enjoy.

It was not until 1985 that serious restoration of this magnificent palace was begun. Today, it has all the luxury and comfort intended by the original owners, and much of which they couldn't have dreamed.

Furnishings are elegant; service is splendid. Dining, from the casual Beach Pavilion to the breathtaking Grand Dining Room offers some of the finest food in the South. And just as in the late 1800's, guests may have beverage service in any of the public areas, porches or courtyard. At the Jekyll Island Club Hotel, the guests remain pampered royalty.

Yet, nearby, nature reigns supreme. Sea Turtles abound here. From May through August, after nightfall, female Loggerheads swim ashore and make their way across the sand, digging their nests to lay 80 to 100 eggs. The Jekyll Island Turtle Project ensures that natures routine is undisturbed.

Bird watchers nationwide come to Jekyll, one of 18 sites along the Colonial Coast Bird Watching Trail. In addition to abundant year round populations, Jekyll serves as a resting place in the spring and fall for migrating species on the Atlantic Flyway. Guided nature walks offer year round information on Georgia's coastal environment and, from a distance, you can often see deer, wild turkey, raccoons, hawks, egrets, herons and wild alligators.

Seashell fanciers can wile away many hours perusing the fascinating array of shells on Jekyll's beaches. Highly polished 'olives' and whelks abound, although it is cautioned that the whelks are often home to hermit crabs, so it is suggested that you do not take their precious critters home with you, but leave them in their native land. The same applies to sand dollars, living creatures that contribute to the preservation of our beautiful shoreline.

For camping, hiking, swimming, snorkeling, shelling or bird watching, Jekyll Island offers it all in a unique setting; and my pleasure in this pristine paradise has not abated.

Jekyll Island lies midway between Savannah and Jacksonville, separated from the mainland city of Brunswick by a six-mile causeway.

Questions? Comments? Editor@SavannahBest.com
-- photos by J. Star