Island Cottages
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Day 3: December 23, 2017 Island Cottages Comment via blog |
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I learned about the
Signers Monument from some locals at the James Brown
statue last night. I've been within a block multiple times but never knew
of its existence. I stopped by on the way out of town then, because it's
so close, stopped by the statue to see if perhaps the camera worked in the
daylight. It didn't so I again took my own pictures and I took pictures
for members of a running club who needed them for a scavenger hunt. Those,
of course, were taken with the runner' cell phones. The record store was
right next to where I parked. It wasn't open yet or I might be listening
to Christmas with Colonel Sanders -- if I also carried a turntable.
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I had already driven the thirty or so mile of US-25 between Augusta and
Waynesboro as I traced the Dixie Highway so was really looking forward to
some new-to-me road once I got beyond that. Sadly, it was all divided
four-lane except for about twenty miles between Glennville and Ludowici.
My hopes rose when I hit that stretch of two-lane but I saw nothing very
interesting except for some areas like this which I thought might be
recently harvested tree farms.
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Residents of Jesup can chose to watch Star Wars outdoors at the drive-in
or indoors at the Strand.
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Although it's signed |
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I had plenty of time to go through the museum ahead of the scheduled tour.
The island's natural and human history are both covered. Human history as
represented by the Jekyll Island Club was what I was most interested in
and that's what fills most of the space. The club was formed in 1885. Its
charter members included the rich and powerful like Joseph Pulitzer,
William K. Vanderbilt, and J. P. Morgan. They built "cottages"
here for their family's winter vacations.
Theodore N. Vail, President of AT&T, was a member. He was on Jekyll Island on January 29, 1915, when he took part in the ceremonial opening of the first transcontinental telephone line. The call connected Vail with Alexander Bell in New York City, President Wilson in Washington, and Thomas Watson in San Francisco. The pictured telephone was used by Vail though not in that historic call. The gargoyle is one of the 1904 originals from Faith Chapel. It was used as a mold for replacements following the state of Georgia's acquisition of the chapel in 1947. |
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John Eugene DuBignon was the primary organizer of the Jekyll Island Club.
He built the first of the "cottages" in 1884.
Faith Chapel was our first stop. Here's one of those gargoyles copied from the one in the museum. Inside the chapel, Phyllis, our guide, described watching the rising sun illuminate the stained glass nativity scene on Christmas mornings. A highlight of the twilight tour was seeing the glow of the setting sun on the Tiffany window at the Chapel's other end. We heard bagpipes as we exited the chapel, and, after a few seconds and a little searching, could see the piper walking through the trees. His path brought him to us where he paused to say hello. |
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The building in the first picture is part of the Jekyll Island Hotel and
those are guests unloading for a stay. I don't know the names of the other
buildings or the horse.
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Our second and last stop was at William Rockefeller's Indian Mound.
Following a tour of the interior, which included listening to Hark the
Herald Angels Sing (at somewhere between 78 and 88 RPM) on a Victrola,
we enjoyed refreshments on the porch. Timing of the stop allowed us to see
the lighting of the big Christmas tree and watch the sun set over Jekyll
River.
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Back in my own car, I grabbed pictures of the Convention Center and some
extra large Christmas decorations on the shore.
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