Tag: trolly tours

A Shiney New Trolley!

Posted on | by Matthew Humphrey

by Patrick Carmody, Museum Educator

Meet the latest addition to the Jekyll Island Museum’s fleet: a bright red Jeep that has been improving the museum’s trolley offerings since October! This vehicle is a 2016 Jeep Wrangler that has proven incredibly helpful in everything at the museum—from Landmark District tours to the October program, Gilded Age Ghosts and Ghouls.

The museum is well known for its iconic trolley tours of the historic district as part of the daily offerings and educational programs provided, with this vehicle enhancing the experience for guests and museum tour guides alike. The Jeep delivers a smooth ride each and every day, making it a favorite among tour guides.

The museum’s fleet of vehicles now includes five trolleys ranging from one car to three cars, two of the Millionaire Motorcars, and one golf cart—all supporting tour guides and museum staff in increasing awareness of Jekyll Island’s dynamic history. These vehicles are critical to day-to-day operations as well as more specific offerings, such as the Holly Jolly Light Tours, being offered on select evenings from November 28 through January 4.

With the addition of this new trolley, the Jekyll Island Museum has increased capacity to offer guests a memorable visit while staying true to traditions established in previous years.

This addition is part of ongoing upgrades to the museum’s trolleys, following previous improvements to speaker systems across the fleet that began in 2024. Will Wagner, Director of Historic Resources, envisions continued growth in trolley enhancements, aiming for a more reliable and easily repairable group of vehicles for tour guides to utilize. Wagner anticipates that within a few years, the museum will operate five Jeeps with three cars each, creating a strong backbone for transportation needs.

The need for trolley improvements was identified when Wagner first joined in spring 2024, and upgrades have been spearheaded ever since. Future trolley vehicles will maintain the iconic red coloring, with the newest addition featuring a vinyl wrap to align with the museum’s established theme.

The future looks bright for the museum’s offerings as a smooth-running fleet of vehicles comes within reach. This progress would not have been possible without support from the Jekyll Island Foundation, who’s generous donors provde financial resources to acquire this vehicle and initiate the process of improving the museum’s trolleys.

To partner with the Historic Resources team, helping to preserve these unique spaces for future generations, click HERE.

Holly Jolly Jekyll Returns!

Posted on | by Matthew Humphrey

By Summer Conley, JIA Marketing Coordinator

The most wonderful time of the year is just around the corner: The Holly Jolly Jekyll season returns November 26 through January 2 and the halls are decked and ready to celebrate!

The island is buzzing with seasonal festivities and family-friendly events, including the Holly Jolly Light Tours, where visitors can enjoy a trolley ride around the island to take in more than one million lights! The whole family can sit back, relax, and view the lights from Beach Village to the Historic District. Trolley riders will enjoy festive holiday beverages and music to sing along to! For those interested in enjoying the lights from the comfort of their own vehicle, Jekyll Island also offers a Self-Guided Light Tours experience through directional signage and a Google-enabled map showcasing the island’s best light displays!

On behalf of its Georgia Sea Turtle Center, the Jekyll Island Authority will also be introducing its newest event of the season, the Cold-Stunned Plunge happening November 27! This fun (and a little frigid!) fundraising event will benefit the rehabilitation efforts of the Center, on behalf of the Jekyll Island Foundation. Mascot Scute C. Turtle and friends will cheer on participants and hang around for festive photos while they collect their commemorative t-shirts.

Other fun activities include Peppermint Land at Jekyll Island Mini Golf, where visitors can enjoy one or both of the 18-hole courses while surrounded by life-size gumdrops, peppermint sticks, gingerbread friends, and more. Play into the evening and enjoy the lights all season long! Drive-in movies featuring ‘Frosty the Snowman’ and Holiday Fireworks will also be happening on select nights.

Visitors looking to do a little holiday shopping can also stop by the newest addition to the season, the Holly Jolly Jekyll Trading Post! Enjoy a festive selection of novelties and collectibles at this Christmas-themed shop and pick up official ‘Holly Jolly Jekyll’ holiday gifts of the season!

And, for those interested in spreading some holiday cheer, there’s no better time to give the gift of a membership to the Jekyll Island Foundation. Memberships directly support the funding of Jekyll Island’s natural, cultural and historic resources through conservation, preservation, and educational projects. Whether visiting for the night or all season long, a membership is a wonderful way to ensure the magic of Jekyll Island remains beyond the season.

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.