Jekyll and "Hide"

Yesterday we visited the famed Jekyll Island Club also known as The Millionaire's Club. Again, there's a lot of history on this island, and as is true on most of the other islands that we have come to know as "Georgia's Golden Isles", James Oglethorpe slept here (that man sure got around)!
It was used as a military reservation in the 1700's and passed through many owners including a French settler, Christopher Poulain DuBignon. He planted Sea Cotton and his family enjoyed yacht racing. They maintained their home on Jekyll for 100 years until the Civil War drove them away. In 1886, the island was bought by the world-renowned Jekyll Island Club. The list of its members read like a chapter from America's book of Who's Who; Vanderbilt, Astor, Rockefeller, Pulitzer, Goodyear. As we walked through the gentlemen's game rooms we could almost smell the cigars and taste the brandy. We couldn't help but imagine the many topics that may have been discussed during the inception of the industrial revolution here in this quaint Winter get-away...I over heard someone say, "isolated splendor" and I thought those words described the place perfectly. We took a tour through the "cottages" (I use that word loosely as they averaged about 8000 sq. ft.) and learned that at one time 1/6th of the world's wealth convened on this tiny island at any one time. It was grand yet unpretentious.

We were glad to have our bikes. The bike paths on Jekell are wonderful; wandering through the maritime forests, along the dunes and throughout the entire historic district on the river.

If yesterday was Jekyll, today is "Hide". We left at first light and made our way north through some skinny water on the ICW and cruised through several large sounds, usually alone as we met few other boats along the way. Most of Georgia's Golden Isles are uninhabited, including St Catherine which may hold the distiction of being the most historic of all. It was the capital of the Creek Indian confederacy...the Spanish based a mission from Florida here in 1566...and of course, James Oglethorpe established an English colony...Mary Musgrove operated a trading post...I am planning to read Burnette Vanstory's Georgia's Land of the Golden Isles to learn more about this area.
One thing that I thought was really cool is that The New York Zoological Society has used St Catherine as a sanctuary for rare and endanged species since 1974. I cannot lie, I did not see any "zoo" animals as we made our way past the island, but my binoculars were ready to spot a zebra or an antelope, if only I had been so lucky!

Now we are hooked up for the night in Kilkenny Creek Marina...the man who runs the place has been here for 46 years...my guess is he's probably in some witness protection program. Chip is fishing and I will cook a nice pasta dinner. I won't leave the cabin tonight because the horse flies are as big as hummingbirds! Our internet connection has been too slow for two days to upload any photos to the blog...I'll make up for that once we hit Savannah!

In the meantime I can honestly say that living in a small space, with the sky as my ceiling and the waves lulling me to sleep at night is something I could get used to....ok, I'm going to Hide, now you're it!