Touring the Jekyll Island Museum

The Jekyll Island

Museum...

...is housed in an
old barn.

An old wagon sits in

front of the museum.

Look up & see the
rafters.

The windows have

leaded glass.

A map of historic

Jekyll Island

The geology of Jekyll

Island.

Jekyll Island is one of the barrier islands that protects Georgia's shoreline.  It is make of sand and sediment and runs north/south, parallel to the coast.  The beaches and sand dunes give way to salt marshes.  The interior of the island is forested with ponds.  

Indian Artifacts include:
Projectiles, a Mississippian
Pipe Fragment & Pottery
Fragments

Major Horton, the second in command of General Oglethorpe's command, built a home in the 1740s and started clearing lands for farming.

Artifacts from Jekyll Island's

earliest European settlers.

Christophe duBignon dame to
Jekyll Island in the 1790s.

Four generations of
duBignons farmed
on Jekyll Island.







Jekyll Island was purchased in 1886 for the development of an exclusive resort.  William Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan, Joseph Pulitzer and their families were among the rich and powerful who wintered in Jekyll Island's temperate climate.

Furnishings & dishes from

the early 1900s at the
Jekyll Island Club.

A film recounting the history

of the island is shown in

the theater.

Descendants share memories of their families ties to Jekyll Island.   

  This Gargoyle was removed
from Faith Chapel during
its restoration.

It was used as a mold for
new Gargoyles that sit on
each corner of the chapel.

A telephone from the
very early 1900s.

A photo of AT&T president

Theodore Vail making the

first trancontinental phone

call on January 25, 1915.

Jekyll Island Club flourished until the 1930s.  It closed in 1942 and started to deteriorate.  Efforts to reopen the club in 1946 were halted when the State of Georgia expressed interest in purchasing the island and creating a state park.  Jekyll Island's natural and historic treasures have been preserved.  

In 1972, Jekyll Island was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and became a National Landmark in 1978.

The Museum has a large Gift Shop with handcrafted items.  No photos are allowed to be taken in the shop.