Author: Matthew Humphrey

Keeping Jekyll Island Beautiful

Posted on | by Matthew Humphrey

By Katherine Doherty, GSTC Research AmeriCorps Member and
Dr. Tom Radzio, JIA GSTC Research Ecologist

For many visitors to Jekyll Island the issue of marine debris may not spring to mind thanks to ongoing efforts of the Jekyll Island Authority (JIA) and countless volunteers. In 2013, the Georgia Sea Turtle Center (GSTC) initiated a marine debris volunteer program on Jekyll Island. In addition to coordinating regular clean-up events, ongoing monitoring efforts allow us to understand the specific marine debris issues that Jekyll faces. By encouraging use of University of Georgia’s Marine Debris Tracker App, everyone can contribute to the greater understanding of marine debris worldwide. Even while facing the challenges of COVID-19, there has been a huge push by the Jekyll Island Authority, GSTC, and individuals in the community to continue keeping the beaches clean. In 2020, over 30,000 pieces of marine debris were collected and recorded on Jekyll Island using the tracker app.

Marine debris initiatives on Jekyll Island span the GSTC’s mission of rehabilitation, research, and education.  For example, when turtles are found with ingested fishhooks, the GSTC works to carefully remove them and collect data to better understand the problem and contribute to future solutions.  The GSTC is collaborating with scientists from other institutions to understand this issue and others, such as microplastic in sea turtle nesting beaches, on a global scale.  The Center also pursues other efforts that extend our reach into the local community.  For example, Sea Turtle Patrollers often find children’s toys on the beach.  Rather than being thrown away, these toys are collected and shared with children that are in need. 

The conservation and education work of the GSTC could not be accomplished without the ongoing support of the Jekyll Island Foundation and its donors.  Most recently, a new UTV was purchased for turtle nesting season patrols, marine debris efforts, and much more.  To support the work of the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, click HERE and add “GSTC” into the comments. To join in or learn more, visit the GSTC’s Marine Debris program.

Caring for Collections

Posted on | by Matthew Humphrey

By Andrea Marroquin, JIA Museum Curator

Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum has launched an artifact conservation program, dedicated to ensuring the long-term care of collections. The goal of the program is to stabilize collection pieces and preserve them for the future. Several recent conservation projects are currently on display and can be enjoyed by guests of the Mosaic.

Have you seen the “ghost tools” on display in the museum’s exhibit gallery? Two tools recovered from Horton House, a planters’ hoe blade and a small trade axe dating from the 1700s to mid-1800s, were actively corroding. The iron objects were cleaned and stabilized to halt their deterioration, and then carefully mounted in front of a transparent background. When viewed from a certain angle, missing portions of the tools become visible.

Museum staff consulted with an art conservator to clean and stabilize a 1931 oil painting by Warren Sheppard depicting the slave ship Wanderer. Treatment involved cleaning the painting, consolidating loose paint, addressing paint loss, and replacing a protective varnish. This project enabled the painting to be placed on exhibit for the first time in decades, as part of the museum’s efforts to share the story of the Wanderer Survivors with the public.

Recently, museum staff brought a circa 1890 carriage out of storage and gave it a gentle cleaning, leather treatment, and fumigation. The carriage was placed on display in the Mosaic lobby as part of “In the Service of Others” – an exhibit detailing the African American community’s vital role in the development of the Jekyll Island Club. In the exhibit, the carriage highlights the story of Charlie Hill, a long-time coachman and caretaker for the Maurice family, who worked on the island for more than five decades.

This year, Jekyll Island also celebrates the 100th Anniversary of Faith Chapel’s Tiffany window. In recognition of the landmark moment, and with a grant from the Friends of Historic Jekyll Island, art glass conservators investigated the needs for the stained-glass window’s ongoing care and preservation. They are currently developing recommendations for conserving this art glass masterpiece for the future. 

Stay tuned for more updates highlighting the museum’s continuing efforts to preserve the past. If you would like to provide support for these type of collections projects, text JekyllMosaic + any donation amount to (844) 889-2692.

The School on Red Row

Posted on | by Matthew Humphrey

By Andrea Marroquin, JIA Museum Curator

School was an important part of life for Jekyll Island’s working families. By the 1920s, the last home on Red Row had been converted into a schoolhouse for children of the African American employees of the Jekyll Island Club. On average, 10-15 pupils attended the little schoolhouse. Over the years, teachers included Professor Wilder, Katye Cash, and Anna Hill.

Anna Hill grew up on Jekyll Island. Her father was Charlie Hill, who worked as a coachman and a caretaker for the Maurice family. She lived with her parents in a special cottage built for them by the Maurices. Hill remembered that the Maurice family sometimes allowed the island’s black employees to hold parties in their stable. She said they would remove the coaches, and everyone would have a “grand time.”

When Hill was old enough to attend school, she moved to Brunswick to pursue her education and eventually went on to Atlanta for college. She returned to Jekyll Island in the 1930s to teach the island’s African American children. Hill earned about $50 per month as a teacher and worked at the Club Laundry to supplement her wages.

By this time, school was in session all year, and many of the Jekyll Island Club’s African American employees, as well as their children, attended a summer school sponsored by the Club. Lessons on the island went up to the sixth grade. After that, children attended boarding school in Brunswick. 

The Jekyll Island Schoolhouse provided a thorough education. One student remembered: “We would have to know every state, its capital, and every mountain that was in it, if there was mountains. If there was valleys in it, we would have to know that. We would have to know every river, how it flows, what sound it dumps into, where it flows into what ocean and everything. Like Georgia, we had to know Georgia from A to Z.”

When not in school, many students worked odd jobs about the island. The schoolchildren served as caddies, boat launch staff, elevator operators, and more for the millionaire members of the Jekyll Island Club.

Visit Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum to discover more about the African American experience on Jekyll Island. A new exhibit, In the Service of Others, documents the African American community’s essential role in the development of the Jekyll Island Club. To find out more, click HERE to read In the Service of Others article in 31.81 – The Magazine of Jekyll Island.

The ‘Hunt’ Is Back!

Posted on | by Matthew Humphrey

By Erin Evors,
JIA Social Media Manager

In the early 1900s, east coast fishermen used hollow glass balls, or floats, on their nets as markers. Occasionally, the floats would break loose and wash ashore for lucky beachcombers to find and keep. Collecting these rare, highly sought-after glass floats became a hobby in the 1950s, and ultimately inspired a nearly 20-year-old tradition.

Today, artists from across the country are hand-picked to create one-of-a-kind glass floats, similar to those used by fishermen of the past, for Jekyll Island’s annual Island Treasures event. The glass floats are part of a hide-and-seek style game played on Jekyll Island throughout January and February.

Each day, volunteers called Beach Buddies will hide 2-5 clear globes around the island for lucky visitors to find and redeem for their special glass float, and this year’s ‘hunt’ runs from now through February 28. With, approximately 250 clear globes hidden during the annual event, treasure hunters can search for Island Treasures in common areas such as the Beach Village, Historic District, beach parks, and along established paths. Places such as the sand dunes, marsh, golf courses, residential property, or off established paths should be avoided.

Whether you decide to come hunting for a day or whole week, it doesn’t take long to discover that the true treasure is exploring this beautiful island and finding an Island Treasure is simply a bonus. But if after the ‘hunt’ you feel inspired to stay connected to this special place, we encourage you to consider investing in the island through a Jekyll Island Foundation membership.

As a member you’ll receive wonderful benefits that expand with the amount of your gift and include annual island parking passes, guest amenity passes, gift shop discounts, and more, all while knowing you’re making a difference. In fact, Gold-and-above members even receive their very own Island Treasure!

No matter where you live, it’s easy to stay connected to this one-of-a-kind place. To become a member or for more information about the Jekyll Island Foundation visit: jekyllislandfoundation.org.

Summer Wildlife & Ecology Tours

Posted on | by Matthew Humphrey

By Nicole Thomas,
GSTC Education Program Manager

As we settle into winter, the Georgia Sea Turtle Center (GSTC) Education team is looking forward to summer Wildlife and Ecology tours. Our favorites: Evening Turtle Walks and Sunrise Walks. From June to July, there is nothing more exciting than the chance to take our patrons out on the beach, tingling with anticipation, to possibly see a nesting Loggerhead sea turtle. Thanks to the vast number of video-streaming services, learning about sea turtle lifecycles and conservation is readily accessible from the comfort of your home. But there is no replacement for seeing the nesting process in person. It is impossible to fully appreciate the size of these mamas or the magnitude each nest holds for the species’ survival and recovery. While it is never a guarantee to witness such a magical event, Evening Turtle Walks are always a memorable experience.

In August, Sunrise Walks replace evening tours as nighttime activity winds down. Jekyll Island’s loggerhead sea turtle hatchlings, the size of your palm, make their way from sand to sea. Sunrise Walk guests often have the opportunity to watch a nest inventory. As nests are emptied of their turtle treasures, nest inventories are performed to collect vital information used to track our progress towards state and federal recovery goals. What might have been hours of labor by a female sea turtle, is dug from the sand within a matter of minutes by a permitted sea turtle researcher. The contents of the nest are documented with care and usually consists of empty shells and/or unhatched eggs. Every so often a straggler hatchling is pulled up among the debris. Guests and GSTC Staff alike are captivated watching a hatchling’s second chance to scuttle down the sand and through the breaking waves. It is a moment like no other as we stand side-by-side, softly offering words of encouragement and waving goodbye as a young turtle slips from our view headed for the horizon.

Living in the moment and experiencing conservation first-hand is an unforgettable experience. The GSTC Education team eagerly looks forward to sharing their time and passion with all our visitors, but we especially love those special summer nights and mornings.   

Check the GSTC Website for current and future Wildlife and Ecology Tours.

To support the ongoing work of the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, visit jekyllislandfoundation.org/donate and add “GSTC” into the comments.

Wildlife on the Move

Posted on | by Matthew Humphrey

By Ben Carswell,
JIA Director of Conservation

Most wild animals, especially those that make their homes on land, need to move about in order to make a living, survive, and thrive. Some animal movements span very short distances, while others roam many acres or even migrate across whole regions of the Earth.

The concept of “wildlife corridors” is a hot topic in the conservation field because habitats with well-connected natural features, such as forests, grasslands, or waterways, better sustain diverse wild animal populations than those than are fragmented by unnatural features such as roads, parking lots, or manicured turf grass. Unfortunately, this idea is sometimes poorly explained and consequently, misunderstood.

Effective wildlife corridors do not simply allow for unobstructed movement – most animals are of course theoretically capable of crossing a road, parking lot, or a golf course fairway. Rather, what makes a wildlife corridor is not just its ability to physically accommodate movement, but also to safely meet the other needs of wild animals while they are on the move.

Imagine yourself surviving primitively in the wilderness. How would you move? Why? And what would you need from the landscape to help you do so? You probably would not choose to swim across a pond with alligators in it, even if you theoretically could. Like us, wild animals aim to avoid being preyed upon. For prey species, this often means avoiding moving through landscapes where they cannot easily hide, like a golf course fairway. When you travel across the state or the region, you may choose your route based on a familiar stop with a restaurant you’ve enjoyed. Likewise, effective wildlife corridors need to provide forage and prey. Put simply, wildlife corridors are strips of functional wildlife habitat connecting other, larger habitats.

All sorts of wild animals on Jekyll Island benefit when their habitats are connected, from small mammals like mice, rabbits, and mink to larger fauna like bobcats. The movements of many snake species are especially constrained by developed landscapes.

Wildlife corridors can also provide excellent opportunities for us to view wild animals on the wing, such as birds and butterflies, or to photograph secretive or nocturnal creatures. These corridors don’t need to be purely natural – they can be designed, engineered, and managed landscapes that accommodate other infrastructure – provided they meet the habitat needs of the local wildlife community. Powerline rights-of-way, for example, can be excellent wildlife corridors if managed appropriately.

The phrase “habitat connectivity” is used by wildlife professionals and describes the benefit achieved by protecting or creating wildlife corridors. The importance of habitat connectivity and wildlife movement are emphasized in the newly updated Jekyll Island Conservation Plan.

You can help! The Jekyll Island Authority offers many opportunities for public input from townhall-style Q&A sessions to formal planning projects. Through these opportunities, you can voice your support for plans and decisions that make Jekyll Island the best it can be as a home for wildlife.

In the Service of Others

Posted on | by Matthew Humphrey

By Michael Scott, Director of Historic Resources
Research provided by Andrea Marroquin, JIA Museum Curator

While talk about the Jekyll Island Club era often revolves around the Club members and guests, there is an entire other side to the club’s history – a side that prepared the meals, stocked the game, maintained the lawns and spent their time at the Jekyll Island Club not in a state of leisure, but in labor. A group of people that were here in the service of others. Thanks to the dedication of descendants, researchers, and volunteers, JIA Historic Resources staff can connect stories and families, and tell the history of the people who made Jekyll such a haven for Club members.

By the 1930s, over 77% of Club employees were African American. Of those employees, Charlie Hill was at the heart of their working world of relationships. Hill, the oldest of the original employees of the Jekyll Island Club, brought the first group of millionaires to the Jekyll by way of a rowboat to inspect the island for possible purchase. Hill worked as an island employee for 51 years – almost exclusively for the Maurice family of Hollybourne Cottage. Angie Hill, Charlie Hill’s wife, was a laundress for the Maurice family and their daughter, Anna, became the schoolteacher for the African American children living on the island.

Other local workers consisting of an extended network of friends and family, were also hired to work at the Jekyll Island Club through Charlie Hill’s connections. His nephew Ray remembered, “We were mostly related by blood or marriage on Jekyll Island. The Hills were pretty much the linking family. They either married into other Jekyll families while on the island or had married into them before they arrived on Jekyll.”

A large number of the Club staff’s descendants still live in the area today and have been an invaluable resource to the Museum, providing information about Club members, landscaping, the appearance of the buildings, and life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Stop by the Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum in February and learn about Charlie Hill, his family, and their many contributions to the island’s history. Every Saturday and Sunday in February a special 90-minute tour – In the Service of Others – is your chance to walk through some of the spaces where Charlie and his relations worked and built a community legacy, and explore the lives of the men and women who worked behind the scenes to keep the Jekyll Island Club running. Click HERE to purchase tickets online.

The Mosaic Museum is open daily 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. For more information, call Mosaic Guest Services at (912) 635-4036.

A Highlight of the First Annual Paulk Cup Classic

Posted on | by Matthew Humphrey

By Erin Evors, JIA Social Media Manager

The first annual Paulk Cup Classic was a success! Held recently on November 5 & 6, this inaugural two-day golf tournament honors Georgia golf legend Johnny Paulk and his lasting impact on the game of golf on Jekyll Island. As a co-founder, organizer, and participant of the Georgia-Florida Golf Classic for 40 years, Johnny’s legacy will continue to carry on through this annual tournament benefitting the Jekyll Island Foundation and supporting the island he so fondly cared for.

“The Paulk Cup Classic was a way for us to honor what Johnny’s done for golf on Jekyll and in the state as a whole,” says Jekyll Island Authority’s Director of Golf, Spencer Brookman.

While Johnny was the face of the Jekyll Island Golf Club throughout his illustrious career, his influence on golf will continue to be recognized beyond Jekyll Island. From the announcer at the 18th hole for the Master Tournament and two-time winner of the Georgia Section of PGA Merchandiser of the Year (Resort Category) to being a member of the Georgia State Golf Association Hall of Fame, Glynn County Sports Hall of Fame, and a life member with PGA of America, Johnny’s career may have taken him beyond Jekyll Island, but he represented the island wherever he went.

As Jekyll Island’s new, premier golf tournament, the Paulk Cup was officially unveiled during the opening ceremony by Johnny’s wife, Virginia, son, John D., and grandson, Jack. With a total of 132 participants, the tournament wrapped up with team members, Adrian Fletcher, Brad Smith, Gannon Hall, and Lon Barfield taking home first place in this year’s tournament with a score of 111.

Details for the 2021 Paulk Cup Classic will be announced soon, but you can still contribute to JIF’s mission of raising funds for conservation, preservation and education initiatives on Jekyll Island, by clicking HERE or text GIVEJEKYLL + $ amount to (844) 889-2692 and follow the prompts.

Festivals of Speed: Boutique Display of Cars

Posted on | by Matthew Humphrey

Festivals of Speed: Boutique Display of Cars

Sunday, December 13, 10AM – 2PM  |  Riverfront Lawn

Join fellow car enthusiasts for a “boutique” gathering of cars featuring vintage and contemporary classic, exotic and American muscle cars to be displayed on the picturesque Jekyll Island Club Resort Riverfront Lawn.

The Display of Cars on Sunday, December 13th is complimentary to the public. Spectators and exhibitors are encouraged to bid on LIVE auction items, or make a donation to benefit our charitable partner, the Jekyll Island Foundation, a nonprofit organization devoted to raising funds for the conservation, preservation, and educational initiatives on Jekyll Island. Auction items include a beautiful piece of art by Thomas Arvid.

Interested in showing off your own unique vehicle? To celebrate the holiday season, Festivals of Speed has waived the $50 car registration fee for those who wish to join the fun and display their vintage or contemporary classic, exotic or American muscle cars. Award winning cars will take home fine crystal awards with the top 10 award winners also receiving a bottle of Whistle Pig whisky. Vehicles can register online HERE.

Festivals of Speed: Welcome Cocktail Reception featuring nationally known artist Thomas Arvid

Saturday, December 12, 7 – 9PM  |  Grand Dining Room

Whether participating in the Display of Cars or simply spectating, all enthusiasts are invited to a welcome cocktail reception in the historic Grand Dining Room of the Jekyll Island Club Resort to kick off the event.

Enjoy an evening with fellow motor vehicle lovers with butler-passed hors d’oeuvres, a full open bar, and plenty of conversation with friends, new and old. Tickets are $95/PP and can be purchased online HERE.

Make a weekend of it and stay at the historic Jekyll Island Club by booking a room at discounted rates under the FESTIVALS OF SPEED room block. Contact the hotel direct by calling (888) 445-3179.