During its heyday, Jekyll Island was the winter home for the rich and famous who lived in cold northern states and the year-round home for those hired to take care of them. This post captures how they lived during this time and what became of the island after WWII.
The Jekyll Island Museum named Mosaic takes us though history starting from current day back to the first inhabitants on the island. In this post we’ll concentrate on those who lived here during the island’s heyday and how the island changed after ownership was transferred to the state of Georgia for a state park.
history of Jekyll Island Club
The Jekyll Island Club was founded in the 1880s.
The top picture in the following sign was taken of Club employees and their families around 1940.
Club members expected and received an extraordinary level of service while here on the island. To make this happen, hundreds of working-class men, women, and children had to be hired as maids, valets, chauffeurs, groundskeepers, caretakers, and caddies. For over half a century, Club employees were essential to help build the resort, run and maintain it, and preserve its stories.
Initially the workforce included a significant number of African-Americans. By the 1930s, over 77% of the Club employees were African-American. They provided many of the services and ultimately pushed for social change that ended on the island being integrated in the 1960s.
These remaining Club employees and their descendants continue to share their stories, artifacts, and photographs so the past can be preserved for future generations.
top right: a laundry worker in 1903
bottom: the gardener and some of his crew in 1903
the leisure class and its activities
Walter Travis, a famous golf expert of the time, was hired to teach members how to play. His expertise was used to design and develop the Great Dunes Golf Course in the 1920s.
The future of golf was tested here in 1924 by the U.S. Golf Association as they tried out a variety of clubs and balls on the local course. Eventually steel clubs were adopted over wooden shafts, and a larger ball was chosen.
1400s: wooden balls
1700s: leather and goose feathers
1850: tree resin core with line cut pattern
1899: rubber core covered with tree resin with bramble pattern
1905: rubber core with square mesh pattern
2000s: synthetic rubber core and hard plastic covering
The game warden continually restocked the island with local game. Hunting was strictly regulated. The Clubhouse’s dining room got the trophy catches first for the dinner menu. Members and guests could purchase any remaining meat from the taxidermist at a fixed price.
evenings
Social life for the members and their guests centered around the Clubhouse where guests enjoyed lavish multi-course meals in coattails and ballgowns.
The Clubhouse was a hotel, but it was also the social hub of the island. Grand balls and costume parties in honor of special guests or events were sponsored periodically by the Club.
first transcontinental telephone call
The first phone call between the coasts happened on January 25, 1915. The cable stretched between New York City, Washington, D.C., Jekyll Island, and San Francisco—an engineering feat! But why Jekyll Island?
William Bosworth (architect of the MIT campus in Cambridge, MA, and the AT&T building in NYC)
Samuel Trowbridge (architect of the J.P Morgan building in NYC)
J.P. Morgan (banker and philanthropist)
William Rockefeller (businessman and financier who founded Standard Oil)
Theodore Vail (president of AT&T)
Also on the call were Woodrow Wilson as President of the United States, Thomas Watson, and Alexander Graham Bell.
* the writing desk was used for the first transcontinental call
* the telephone equipment was stored in the equipment box under the desk during the call
* the candlestick phone on the desk was used during the test calls..
getting to the island
Some guess sailed directly on private yachts while others traveled on private rail cars to Brunswick. From there they boarded the Club’s steamship.
Employees and servants took separate barges along with the members’ horses and luggage. Some of the workers were immigrants from as far away as Germany, Greece, and France.
getting around
During the 1920s and 1930s, the Red Bug was popular for exploring the island. This must have been such fun for the children!
building the club
The late 1800s and early 1900s, known as the Gilded Age, was a period of enormous economic growth and industrialization in the United States. Families such as the Rockefellers, Morgans, Pultizers, and Vanderbilts profited enormously during this time. Their influence on technology, philanthropy, and industry are still felt today.
Architect Charles Alexander wrote about this drawing, “Ground was broken for the Club House about the middle of August, and there being no stone available, the foundations were put in in a very solid manner with Rosendale Cement mixed with oyster shell, forming a very solid concrete.”
Even with the challenges of finding skilled workers and shipping materials to the island, the Clubhouse officially opened in 1888 after just 2 years of construction.
other buildings
The inaugural season was so successful, that the Club members realized they needed to do something to accommodate all of its members and their guests. Some members decided to build their own private homes that would still be close to amenities.
Over the years, well known and respected clergy visited the island to conduct services in the chapel. A choir was made up by Walters, club members, and guests.
This small church hosted weddings, funerals, baptisms, and nondenominational services.
Curious about how the club members got the land to build the Jekyll Island Club? I was. We’ll find out in the next post.
workers on the island
Employees catered to every need from preparing meals, cleaning rooms, washing clothes, tending to the horses, and maintaining roads. Ernest Groh (the man on the left in the following picture) was the Club’s superintendent for 42 years, overseeing the entire Club and managing employees. This leadership continuity would have been a great asset for the Club.
The year-round employees typically were hired from the local African-American community. Segregation laws and customs were observed on the island. Black employees had stricter rules and were paid lower wages than white employees. Uniformed bell hops (picture on the right) are ready to perform their duties at the Clubhouse.
opening the island
During WWII, the Club was closed down because of enemy submarines off of the coast. After the war, the Club members found that the state of Georgia now owned the land and planned to open it as a state park! Before 1954 when the causeway opened, the only way to get to the island had been by boat. Now everyone could get there.
segregation and integration
But . . . in the 1940s and 1950s, Jekyll Island wasn’t a playground for everyone. Community leaders petitioned the Jekyll Island Authority for access, and St. Andrews Beach on the south end of the island became the first public beach in Georgia to welcome African-Americans in 1955. They could finally put their toes in the Atlantic Ocean.
In 1958, survivors of a mining accident came to recuperate at Jekyll Island at the invitation of the state. One of the miners, Maurice Ruddick, was segregated on the south side of the island because of his skin color. This event drew international attention to Georgia because of the lack of equality. The beginning of change.
During the 1950s and 1960s, civil rights activists, residents, and vacationers fought for integration and equal access to facilities on the island.
Recognize the man playing the guitar in the previous picture? It’s B.B. King who performed at the Dolphin Club.
fancy car of the time
Now that we’ve explored the heyday of Jekyll Island and brought it up to current day, in the next post we’ll go back in time to learn about all of those who lived here before the late 1800s.
