The Traveling Steve's

We spend the weekend at Jekyll Island, and as always had a wonderful time.  I’ve blogged about Jekyll Island before, and have a gallery on the home page of some of our previous trips.  To us, Jekyll Island is one of our favorite places to go for a relaxing getaway.  With beautiful beaches, miles of bicycle paths and nature walks, isolated feeling from the rest of the world, and throw in some ‘rich’ (literally) history, and you have a place that has us returning to year after year.

We stayed once again in the Presidential Suite at the Jekyll Island Club which features a nice suite with two levels of balconies, including the signature ‘turret’, accessed via a narrow circular staircase in the bedroom.

The Presidential Suite features two fireplaces (although it was in the 80’s this weekend and no need for a fire!), a large and separate bedroom, living room, bath with oversize jacuzzi, huge shower, and our favorite part the large wrap-around balcony on the main level, and 360 degree balcony accessed via the spiral staircase to the turret.

As this was a pre-Halloween weekend stay, I brought a couple small decorations to decorate the room.

We’ve had such a busy year, we didn’t even decorate the house this year, and I contemplated bringing Butler Graves, but he was a bit too big for the car, and a bit too stiff to climb the turret stairs! LOL!

Our Jekyll island friends Michelle and Larsen joined us for pre-dinner drinks and sunset views from the turret.  We took several photos from the top of the turret, which offers a birds-eye view of the setting sun, Jekyll River, and property grounds.

 

We also exchanged some cards and gifts, as Larsen had just celebrated his 50th birthday last weekend, and Steve (DOS) had celebrated his 50+something birthday on Wednesday.  I had bought the guys some light up Papyrus birthday cards (really cool cards!) to go with the gifts.

Michelle and Larson gave DOS an original and personalized ‘DOS’ insulated thermos type ‘flask’ by Corkcicle – perfect for a carrier of vino (or other beverage) on the go!

We later had dinner at the Jekyll Island Club Main Dining room, dining in the same room as the Rockefeller’s, Vanderbilt’s, Pulitzer’s, et all dined a hundred years ago – oh the classy history!  We  were waited on by Ola, who gave us a warm welcome back hug, and outstanding service as we’ve experienced over the years.  She even remembered our wine preference from a year ago!

Our relaxed and leisurely dinner was outstanding, and it was so good to be ‘home again’ and visit with our Jekyll Island friends.

On Saturday we toured the Island, walking first around the historic district.  We walked by Faith Chapel and several of the ‘cottages’ on this beautiful late October afternoon, many of which were over a hundred years old.  Faith Chapel, circa 1904, (shown below) has an original signed Tiffany stained class window.

Hollybourne Cottage, circa 1890, is one of the oldest ‘cottages’ built on Jekyll Island, and one of the most unusual in design.  This huge house was home to the Maurice Family, who wintered here virtually every winter until the mid 1940’s. It’s rumored to be haunted, but on this Halloween weekend, we didn’t see any spooks.  Although we didn’t go by it at night!

Continuing on, Cherokee Cottage, circa early 1900’s was occupied by Dr. Shrady and family, who was a former Surgeon General, and built for them by their son-in-law, Edward Gould, who also had a an adjacent cottage (no longer standing except for these lion statues out front). 

Dubignon Cottage, circa 1884 was built prior to the Jekyll Island Club by the island’s previous owner, and later housed the island manager, as well as extra accommodations for members and guests when the club house was full.

We didn’t take the tram tour this trip, which is a nice 90 minute tour around the historic district in a tram, with stops at three of the ‘cottages’, although we did pass it on our walk thru the village.

 

There are also several other cottages which I’m not including in this post as I’ve covered them before, but they are all worth a stroll by when touring the historic district, although only 3 are open via the tram tour.  Cherokee Cottage, Crane Cottage, and the Jekyll Club, however all accommodate overnight guests.

We also went took a drive around the island, stopping by the Jekyll Island Pier, and walked along the uncrowded beaches there.

 

On Sunday, we enjoyed the Brunch at the Jekyll Club Hotel, with it’s fresh shrimp, craw, smoked salmon etc appetizers, followed by a full hot buffet with carved sirloin, omelettes, potatoes, bacon, fish, pasta etc, not to mention the breads, salads, and dessert bar.

We then drove by the new Westin Hotel, Jekyll Island shopping village, and Convention Center for a leisurely walk.

 

 

Finishing up the weekend, we had a farewell dinner in the ‘library’ at Crane Cottage. Crane Cottage was the largest ‘cottage’ ever built on Jekyll Island, and was the former home of the plumbing entrepreneur Richard Crane, built in 1917.  This extravagant mansion is now open to the public with rooms (and weddings) than can be booked thru the Jekyll Island Club, as well as meals in the beautiful ‘cottage’.  We actually met Michelle and Larsen here in the library (on the right first level wing in the above photo) at Crane several years ago, and we always get together with them when we’re on the island, as they live there.  We met for dinner Sunday night after having another sunset toast from the turret.

So, our Halloween weekend at Jekyll went by really quick, and with no spooks to scare us!  Other than my few Halloween decorations, you would not know that Halloween was happening on Monday.  I told DOS, if I were in charge of the island, I would turn it into a haunted Island Halloween weekend, especially since it has a bit of haunted history on its own. Ghosts jumping out behind trees . . .  screams from the turret, eerie music in the hallways!  LOL!

Although we leave Jekyll Island for now, we will be back soon – the first weekend of December for our pre-Christmas celebration.  One last photo on this post from last December showing the entranceway to Jekyll Island, decorated with Christmas wreathes.   From Halloween past to Christmas future – see you soon Jekyll Island!