Day 39: February 25, 2023

The Jekyll Harbor Marina was really welcoming and also offered free bikes to use, so we took advantage. We all selected our bikes and took off for the historic district. It was an easy one-mile ride on a nice, paved trail along the waterfront. You’ll never guess the first stop…

We quickly found the Island Sweets Shoppe for some ice cream. Tonia’s peach ice cream was great! They also had chocolates in the shape of sand dollars, sea turtles, star fish (aka sea stars), and shells, not to mention HUGE gators! The shop is located in what used to be the San Souci Boiler House, which provided heat and hot water for the nearby fancy San Souci Apartments, and therefore the reason for the chimney you see in the pic with the giant oak that Michael of course had to climb with ice cream in hand.

After the sweet stop, we made our way to the MOSAIC museum to check out the local history and start the trolley tour.

Jekyll Island Clubhouse

Trolley stop to tour the Rockefeller “cottage”

The San Souci Apartments and other millionaire mansion “cottages” in the historic area near the clubhouse that accommodated the J.P. Morgan, Vanderbilt, Marshall Field, William Rockefeller (younger brother of John D.), Astor, Carnegie, Goodyear, and other families in the winter season.

At the end of the afternoon, we visited the turtle rehabilitation center. It was a nice facility nursing injured and sick sea turtles back to health for release to the wild when ready. There were also some babies too!

We had a little buffer time before dinner so biked around a bit more and we briefly checked out the Faith Chapel, which is still in use. It was simplistic yet with a few ornate features. It has two stained glass windows – “Adoration of the Christ Child” at the front of the chapel and one at the back, the latter of which was actually commissioned and signed by Louis Comfort Tiffany, though it’s currently removed and offsite for restoration care. A neat feature were the grotesques, similar to gargoyles though on the interior beams.

Fun in the Jekyll Island Club big chair!

Finally, it was time for some dinner! Hard to beat a waterfront restaurant so we settled in for some grub at The Wharf.

We ended the day attempting to get provisions from local market except it was more of a tourist souvenir store with some groceries that were quite expensive, like eight bucks for half gallon of milk! We grabbed a couple small things and called it. It was an adventure overall with Emily, Mayli and Tonia biking there and back in dusk and dark (on bike trails).

Day 39 Trip Details:
Camden County, US to Jekyll Island Marina, Glynn County, US
Time: 3 h 44 m (07:19 to 11:03)
Distance: 23.95 nm