Beyond the gorgeous beaches and the world-class golf courses, the Golden Isles hold an incredibly rich and sometimes eccentric history. It's a place where Gilded Age tycoons hid away from the world, where artists carve faces into ancient trees, and where culinary legends were born. I always find that knowing a little bit of the local lore makes every bike ride and beach walk feel much more significant.
Here are the top ten fun and surprising facts about the Golden Isles that you probably didn't know.
1. Jekyll Island Was Once the Richest Place on Earth
The main clubhouse of the Jekyll Island Club.
In the early 20th century, Jekyll Island was the most exclusive winter retreat on the planet. The Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, Pulitzers, and Morgans all built "cottages" (massive mansions) here. At its peak, it is estimated that a staggering one-sixth of the world's wealth vacationed on this tiny barrier island. The Jekyll Island Club was so private that uninvited guests were famously turned away at the docks.
2. The First Transcontinental Phone Call Happened Here
The first transcontinental phone call included Theodore Vail on Jekyll Island.
Because so many powerful men wintered on Jekyll Island, infrastructure had to be built to accommodate them. On January 25, 1915, AT&T president Theodore Vail participated in the first transcontinental telephone call from his room at the Jekyll Island Club. He spoke with Alexander Graham Bell in New York, Thomas Watson in San Francisco, and President Woodrow Wilson in Washington, D.C.
3. Brunswick Claims to Have Invented Brunswick Stew
The historic Old City Hall in downtown Brunswick, built in 1889.
There is an ongoing, surprisingly fierce culinary rivalry between Georgia and Virginia over who invented Brunswick Stew. The mainland city of Brunswick proudly stakes its claim as the birthplace of this rich, tomato-and-meat Southern staple. You can visit a monument downtown featuring the original iron pot used to cook the very first batch on July 2, 1898.
4. The Marshes Inspired a Famous Poet
The vast tidal marshlands of Glynn County.
If you drive onto Saint Simons Island, you cross the vast, breathtaking tidal marshlands that inspired Sidney Lanier's famous 1878 poem, The Marshes of Glynn. The spartina grass sways in the coastal breeze and turns a brilliant golden color in the fall—which is where the region gets its "Golden Isles" moniker.
5. There Are Faces Carved into the Trees
Hidden faces are carved into the ancient oak trees across St. Simons Island.
Scattered across St. Simons Island are the mysterious "Tree Spirits." In the 1980s, a local artist began carving intricate, somber faces into the trunks of the island's massive live oak trees. Legend has it that the faces immortalize the countless sailors who lost their lives at sea aboard ships made from St. Simons oak. Finding them is a favorite local pastime.
6. The St. Simons Lighthouse Still Works
The St. Simons Lighthouse is an active navigational aid.
The St. Simons Lighthouse is one of only five surviving lighthouses in Georgia. The original lighthouse was destroyed by retreating Confederate forces during the Civil War to prevent Union troops from using it to navigate the sound. The current tower was rebuilt in 1872, stands 104 feet tall, and its original third-order Fresnel lens still casts a beam 23 miles out to sea every single night.
7. Methodism Has Roots on St. Simons
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Christ Church is nestled beneath towering ancient live oaks.
Long before the beautiful gothic-style Christ Church was built on the north end of Saint Simons Island, the land was used as a preaching ground. John and Charles Wesley, the famous founders of Methodism, actually preached under the massive oak trees here in the 1730s while serving as missionaries to the new colony of Georgia.
8. Fort Frederica Was a Vital British Outpost
The tabby ruins of Fort Frederica on St. Simons Island.
Built by General James Oglethorpe in 1736, Fort Frederica was a booming military town designed to protect the southern boundary of the British colony of Georgia from Spanish raids coming up from Florida. At its height, the town had over 500 residents. Today, the tabby ruins are a quiet, deeply historic National Monument.
9. Driftwood Beach is a Slowly Sinking Forest
The skeletal trees of Driftwood Beach.
The otherworldly, skeletal trees of Driftwood Beach on Jekyll Island weren't washed ashore. They are actually the remains of a maritime forest that is slowly falling into the ocean. Decades of erosion on the north end of the island have stripped away the soil, and the salt water preserves the wood, leaving the massive trunks behind on the sand.
10. It's a Major Hub for Sea Turtle Rescue
The Georgia Sea Turtle Center rehabilitates injured marine life.
The Golden Isles take wildlife conservation very seriously. Jekyll Island is home to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, the state's only sea turtle hospital. The center treats injured loggerhead, green, and Kemp's ridley sea turtles, and also monitors the thousands of turtle eggs laid on the local beaches every summer.
