It seems like such a long time ago that the preferred family pastime was a Sunday picnic in the park. I am obviously referring to the late 1950s and mid-sixties, when it was a family tradition to load the car with BBQ-goodies and picnic baskets and hit the road for Jekyll Island. Since the first development plan was created in 1950*, five original picnic recreation areas were identified in addition to five residential areas. All of them were supplied with…..
No, I am not taking you back to 1933. That is a period other authors are much better informed about. I am talking about Jekyll Island State Park, and how it finally allowed to sell beer, wine, and liquor on the island. Since inception in 1947, the island had been “dry”, which is a strange image if you think about it. A barrier island, surrounded by water and yet completely “dry” on land. But how dry was the island really?…..
When a mining accident in Nova Scotia became a headline in the Brunswick News and the Atlanta Journal, nobody quite understood why this story was so well covered in the local media. It did not take long to find the missing link between Jekyll Island and Nova Scotia. Gov. Griffin visited Canada in early 1959 on official business. During his visit, 12 miners were trapped in a Nova Scotia mine for several hours before all of them were safely rescued……
Despite being a state park, Jekyll Island was not exempt from the prevailing politics of the 50s and 60s. The island was subject to segregation until 1964, just as the rest of Georgia and other Southern states. What set Georgia apart was the creation of the very first “negro subdivision” , better known as St. Andrews, in 1955. While the name and designation may sound offensive in today’s society, in the 50s it was commonly used language. The designation of…..
The new Authority had big plans in 1957 for Jekyll Island State Park, and needed a slogan or banner to attract visitors. But how? At the time, state parks were known to only open seasonally, but the Authority wanted to let people know the island was open for business all year long. When in 1959 the two towers were constructed at the entrance of the causeway, the original cast iron banner read: “Year-Round Family Resort”. That banner was never erected……
When Gov. Talmadge created the Jekyll Island Authority in 1950, his statement to the press “To create a non-political authority and to remove Jekyll Island from politics.”* sounded sincere. One cannot help but wonder why such a redundant statement was important, certainly when only a few years later the exact opposite occurred. The Authority does seem to function as a non-political entity, until the island becomes easily accessible in December 1954 with the opening of the drawbridge. Eager to implement…..
Behind every creation are visionaries who take a huge risk without the absolute certainty that their plan and idea will ultimately succeed. One only needs to browse through history books to recognize this fact. The creation of Jekyll Island State Park is certainly no exception to this rule. On the contrary, it is proof that visionaries can lay the foundation upon which an idea can sprout and grow; as if the visionaries trust the fertile ground within which their seed…..
How many times have we heard that infamous phrase? And how many times has history proven that this concept is simple, yet hard to achieve? In the case of Jekyll Island and its foray into the “year-round resort” market, it actually worked but only with the help of some “heavenly,” read “State” intervention. When the new Authority took control of the island’s day-to-day management in 1957, and all previous board members were replaced with State-elected officials*, B.E. Thrasher took the…..
The Drifters may have had a top single in 1964 with the same title, but I doubt their lyrics were based on the Jekyll Island boardwalk. It is hard to imagine that the island’s ocean side featured an actual boardwalk, stretching almost two miles long, but some do remember although remnants of it are barely visible. In 1957, the Authority approved the construction of a concrete boardwalk along the ocean side. The purpose was to create a unique family beach…..
Considering that the Causeway to Jekyll Island was finished by the end of 1950, one can only question why it took another 4 years to actually build and open the missing bridge. Was it really a “bridge too far” or was the delay caused by some other unforeseen circumstances? The reason for the seemingly long delay is actually multi-causal and cannot simply be contributed to one single factor. Let’s travel back to 1950, the year that the Jekyll Island Authority…..
