Tag: history

Dave Jackson and Jekyll Island’s Dolphin Club

Posted on | by Matthew Humphrey

By Allison Dupuis, JIA Museum Educator

When Jekyll Island State Park first opened to the public in 1948, it was accessible only to white visitors. In 1950, black leaders from nearby Brunswick petitioned for and won access to the island’s beaches, and St. Andrews Beach at the south end was designated for use by black visitors. Ten years after Jekyll Island’s grand opening, the Dolphin Club and Motor Hotel, a beach resort for black vacationers, opened at St. Andrews Beach—and it would soon be under new management.

The first version of the Dolphin Club lasted less than a year. The hotel officially opened for business in August of 1959, then closed later in 1959 due to financial difficulties. The Jekyll Island Authority bought the property for $299,000. In 1960, they leased it to its longest-running proprietor—Dave Jackson, a respected black banker, farmer, and businessman from the small town of Adel, Georgia.

Jackson’s hometown reputation preceded him. In 1948, a white journalist named Roy Sprigle spent a month traveling across the South, focusing on the experiences of a range of black people in the region. He published his experiences as a serialized article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and he focused one chapter entirely on Jackson’s notable success as a black farmer in a small southern community. According to Sprigle, Jackson owned two blocks of business property in Adel, along with a thousand acres of some of the best land in Georgia. He was known throughout his community as a hard worker and generous man who helped other farmers, black and white, in times of need. Dave and his wife, Comer King Jackson, worked hard to make themselves known as devoted advocates and examples for their family and their neighbors.

More than a decade later, Dave Jackson’s devotion to his family followed him to Jekyll Island and the Dolphin Club. In 1960, Jackson leased the Dolphin Club property from the Jekyll Island Authority. While Jackson oversaw the entire property, his sisters Annabelle Robinson and Betty Chandler managed the hotel, and his nephew James Chandler supervised the Dolphin Club Lounge. In the years that followed, the Jackson family turned the Dolphin Club into a thriving black vacation destination. As part of the Chitlin’ Circuit, a chain of venues that catered to black performers and audiences, the Dolphin Club Lounge soon attracted big name acts like B.B. King, Clarence Carter, and Percy Sledge. In 1964, Otis Redding performed at the St. Andrews Auditorium, a space built to hold larger performances and conventions on the south end of the island.

All state-owned facilities on Jekyll Island were integrated in 1964, and the Jackson family closed the Dolphin Club in 1966. In the decades since the resort’s closure, the Dolphin Club and the family who brought it so much success have become part of Jekyll Island’s history, celebrated by Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum. In 2022, Mosaic is excited to share the past 75 years of state ownership of Jekyll Island. To join in the celebration, make sure to explore upcoming programs and opportunities on the Jekyll Island website. To learn more about black history on Jekyll Island, visit the interactive timeline here.

In celebration of Black History Month and the 75th anniversary of state ownership of Jekyll Island, explore the island’s unique black history and musical history—all in one tour! Join the Dolphin Club Days guided trolley tour travels around the south end of the island and includes a musical performance by Ace Winn and refreshments on the grounds of the historic Dolphin Club and Motor Hotel. On the way back to the Mosaic, enjoy music from performers who visited the Dolphin Club and hear oral histories about what life was like on Jekyll Island in the 1950s and 1960s. The tour lasts approximately one hour and fifteen minutes and begins at Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum.

Finding Freedom in the War of 1812

Posted on | by Matthew Humphrey

By Andrea Marroquin, JIA Curator

Amidst the War of 1812, a proclamation promised freedom to enslaved people who deserted to the British.  This proclamation resulted in what has been called “one of the most extraordinarily effective mass military emancipations ever seen in the United States.”  Thousands of African Americans are believed to have been liberated from this vicinity, including many from Jekyll Island.

British forces under the command of Rear Admiral Sir George Cockburn first burned Washington D.C. and failed in an attack on Fort McHenry at Baltimore, Maryland (inspiring “The Star Spangled Banner”), before heading south.  The plan was to terrorize the southeastern coast of the United States with attacks on Charleston and Savannah. 

Meanwhile, the British invaded and occupied nearby Cumberland Island and conducted a series of smaller raids along the Georgia coastline.  British ships attacked Jekyll Island several times, with raids continuing even after the war was already over.  Christophe Dubignon later testified “my house was plundered at four different times by said British.” 

One of those raids took place on November 26, 1814, when the crew of the HMS. Lacedemonian struck anchor, proceeded to Horton House, and attacked.  Henry and Amelia Dubignon, Christophe’s son and daughter-in-law, later testified that the British sailors “immediately commenced plundering everything of value they could lay hands on, destroying what they could not carry off.”

When the British departed, 28 enslaved men and women from Jekyll Island escaped with them.  Christophe Dubignon documented the names, occupations, ages, and prices of the people that he complained “did desert from him.”  This list included two children, sixteen field hands, and many skilled laborers, such as a carpenter, blacksmith, sailmaker, fisherman, packer, carter, shoemaker, seamstress, and cook.

Shortly after this incident, the Treaty of Ghent was signed on December 24, 1814, formally ending the War of 1812.  The following March, local planters sought the return of property and slaves as required by the Treaty of Ghent.  Admiral Cockburn refused to return any former slaves unless they wanted to leave.  He argued that they became free the moment they arrived on British soil, and that his British ships of war qualified as such. 

In April 1815, neighboring planter John Couper of St. Simons Island travelled to Bermuda “in hopes he might induce them to return.”  As he boarded the frigate Brune to meet with the black refugees on board, a former Dubignon slave named Frederick cried out: “That is Mr. Couper.  I wish my master was in his place.  I should like to shove him down into the sea!” 

Clearly, the refugees were not interested in returning to a life of slavery.  Instead, they sailed to Bermuda and then on to Trinidad or to Nova Scotia, where they faced hunger and hardships but retained their freedom.  Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane (Commander-in-Chief of the North American Station and Admiral Cockburn’s direct report) declared “that none of those persons have been kept in a state of slavery but suffered to go where they thought proper. . . . and those who performed any work were regularly paid for same.”

To explore more of the island’s eventful history, visit Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum, where tours and exhibits are available daily.

Chichota Courtyard Rehabilitation

Posted on | by Matthew Humphrey

By Taylor Davis, JIA Historic Preservationist

Ever since the waning days of the Jekyll Island Club, Chichota Cottage has been a site left to ruin.  The original house was constructed in 1897 by David H. King, Jr. of New York.  King was a notable contractor whose projects included the base of the Statue of Liberty, Madison Square Garden, and the Washington Arch.  

King built his unique cottage on Jekyll Island as a single-storied, Italian Renaissance house surrounding a central courtyard, complete with a swimming pool fed by an artesian well.  After the property was severely damaged in 1898 during one of the worst hurricanes in Jekyll Island history, King sold Chichota to Edwin Gould just three years after construction.

The Goulds enjoyed their winters at Chichota until the 1917 season, when they lost their eldest son in a hunting accident on nearby Latham Hammock.  After years of vacancy, the house fell into disrepair.  It was razed by the Jekyll Island Club in 1941, leaving only the tabby foundations and an empty pool guarded by two marble lions flanking the entry steps. See Lost Jekyll or Pieces of History, pages 56/57.

In recent years, a series of improvements were made to the site to increase guest accessibility and safety amidst the ruins.  As part of this first phase of rehabilitation beginning in 2019, an ADA ramp was constructed to provide access into the ruins, the former entry foyer of the house was paved, and the pool was partially filled to create an outdoor venue and classroom space, with the edge of the pool serving as seating for gatherings. 

A generous gift to the Jekyll Island Foundation funded the second phase of rehabilitation in 2020.  This phase focused on the rehabilitation of what was once Chichota’s enclosed courtyard.  With the help of volunteers and Historic Preservation Field School students from the University of Georgia, the original quarry tiles were removed and salvaged from the courtyard.  A new masonry base was poured, and a mix of original and reproduction quarry tile was laid on top to replicate the original courtyard paving plan. 

As this second phase of the project comes to a close, enhancements to the Chichota site have created a safe and attractive venue for exploration, education, and special event rentals.  Additional improvements are planned for the future to reestablish other areas of the house and fashion outdoor patio spaces. 

Today, the Chichota ruins remain a captivating point of interest for visitors to explore and enjoy.  Visit Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum to begin your island explorations or plan your special event in the historic district. 

Jekyll Island: Better Together

Posted on | by Matthew Humphrey

By Ben Carswell, JIA Director of Conservation

Partnership is essential to success in nature and in society. Without mutually beneficial relationships with pollinating insects and fungi, the vast and complex plant communities that green our world would never have come to be. The same can be said for the greening of Jekyll Island. Whether advancing wildlife conservation, ecosystem restoration, or sustainability, the phrase that became a global mantra in 2020, “we are all in this together”, remains vitally true.

Since 1999, the partnership between the Jekyll Island Foundation (JIF) and the Jekyll Island Authority (JIA) has been a mutually beneficial relationship built around bringing to life projects that elevate conservation, preservation, and education goals within Jekyll Island State Park. This relationship produced the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, which catalyzed conservation efforts within the JIA that continue to bear fruit. Many other achievements, like the outdoor recreation, education, and wildlife enhancements at Horton Pond, which has become a favorite spot for families exploring Jekyll Island, and Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum, which keeps Jekyll’s past alive and reminds us that nature connects us all to it, were made possible because of partnership, between JIF and JIA, and our many donors.

The roots of Jekyll Island’s partnership ecosystem extend outward as well, nourishing work that connects Jekyll Island with other institutions, whether public, private, or NGO, that are leading the way in our State. The possibilities for doing good on Jekyll Island are vastly expanded because of the care and collaboration extended by our colleagues at, among many others, Georgia Audubon, Georgia Power Company, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant, and forward-thinking businesses like LNW Hospitality and Cherry Street Energy that look beyond profits to realize the power of their investments to bring about positive transformations.

The key to winning partnerships is broadening our imaginations to realize how much our interests can overlap and how much stronger our accomplishments are when we work together for the greater good. There is no better crucible for this than Jekyll Island, a place that brings people together and where the beauty of the natural world unfolds daily before our eyes – inspiring us to higher ideals.

Become a partner, member, or corporate sponsor today. Click HERE.

Celebrate Preservation Month

Posted on | by Matthew Humphrey

By Allison Dupuis, JIA Museum Educator

The story of Hollybourne Cottage began in 1890 when Charles Stewart Maurice, one of the original members of the Jekyll Island Club, chose a plot of land for his family’s winter residence. Maurice’s personality and interests were evident in Hollybourne’s very construction. Maurice was a partner in Pennsylvania’s Union Bridge Company, and he incorporated bridge-building techniques into Hollybourne. The brick piers in the basement, steel support system, and truss system that supports the second floor are all examples of Maurice’s techniques.

Hollybourne’s construction incorporated a mixture of its owner’s passion for his work and his newfound enthusiasm for his family’s winter vacation home. Hollybourne is the only cottage in the Jekyll Island Club compound to be built out of tabby, a local mixture of sand, water, lime, and oyster shells, reflecting Charles’s and his wife Charlotte’s interests in the history and culture of the area. The Maurices’ personal investment in Jekyll Island’s history led them to spearhead the restoration of Horton House and the Dubignon cemetery in 1898. Charlotte died in 1909 and Charles died in 1924, but their family’s Jekyll Island story didn’t end there. Their nine children, especially their daughters Margaret and Marion, were similarly devoted to Jekyll Island, and spent every winter season at Hollybourne Cottage until the Club’s final season in 1942.

Hollybourne sat empty and in a state of disrepair for several decades. Beginning in 1998, however, the cottage became an ongoing preservation project for the Jekyll Island Authority and a host of volunteers. Most recently, volunteers and preservationists spent several months restoring and preserving Hollybourne’s windows. Holllybourne’s present as an ongoing preservation project, as well as its past as a home for a family focused on the preservation of Jekyll Island, make it a perfect destination for this May’s annual celebration of Preservation Month. Visitors can see the family and servant areas of the cottage and observe the preservation process in action or take part in programs that highlight Historic Preservation Month, like family history programs and an outline of international design at the Jekyll Island Club.

To reserve a spot on a tour of Hollybourne Cottage or at one of our Preservation Month activities, click HERE  or to help preserve and restore Hollybourne Cottage, click HERE to donate.

Mosaic Museum – Happy 2nd Anniversary!

Posted on | by Matthew Humphrey

By Michael Scott, JIA Director of Historic Resources

As Mosaic, Jekyll Island Museum approaches its 2nd anniversary, we look back on a year filled with challenges but also see many success stories. On the eve of the 1st anniversary, plans to celebrate were interrupted with what turned out to be a health crisis that few, if any, had ever anticipated. While the COVID-19 pandemic did cause some disruption early on, the Mosaic Museum took a proactive approach to minimizing impact as safely as possible. Upon reopening our doors, visitors were greeted with increased sanitization of commonly touched surfaces, reduced capacity in the Gallery and on trolley tours to allow for social distancing and an increase in engaging outdoor programming. Because of this, Mosaic reopened earlier than many other spaces around the nation.

To welcome back visitors, new opportunities and programming was introduced. In coordination with the Authority’s Conservation Department, Ranger Walks to see the island’s active bald eagle nest now begin and end at Mosaic, allowing visitors to experience the museum as a launching point for both natural and cultural history. Additionally, for the first time, Hollybourne Cottage opened to the public for regular tours. Visitors are able to see the inside of the cottage while staff actively work to conserve, preserve, and restore portions of the home. Increasing guest access to the historic district, expanded tours are now in play on Jekyll’s famous red trolleys. While enjoying the fresh air, guests are able to ride thru the historic district and learn about the Island’s over 2000 years of history or take a deeper dive into the cottages that represent the gilded age experience of the Jekyll Island Club and its members. Continuing to facilitate the need for social distancing, exciting seasonal programming included Macabre Tales tour and the Holly Jolly Lights tour made the most of the 2020 holiday season. Finally, to help tell some lesser-known stories, the team kicked off a successful series of gallery exhibitions, telling powerful stories in a way that’s never done before.  

As we move toward year three, Mosaic will continue to serve as the ambassador and hub for Jekyll Island’s natural and cultural history. By growing the museum’s place-based learning options and developing new opportunities for exploration, Mosaic will continue to make a visit to Jekyll Island a special event for everyone.

New spaces, places, and stories from the island’s history are under development, which will allow even more visitors to learn about the special role that Jekyll has played in the past and how that connects to the world today. Education is at the heart of any museum’s work, and the Mosaic will continue to serve as a space to reach the broadest range of visitors through its exhibitions, tours, programs, and special events.

If you haven’t yet had an opportunity to experience one of our unique cottage tours that begin at Mosaic, particularly the new Hollybourne Cottage tour, we encourage you to purchase a ticket online to take a peek inside and see years of preservation first-hand.

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.