Jekyll Island Club

The hotel provides the public with little information about its history. Our team researches the hotel's past, from the very beginning, verifying its exact opening date and providing an overview of its history up to the present day.?If you have any useful information and would like to share it, please send it to archives@famoushotels.org.?Thank you This is what we know so far (attention: unverified history!): opened as a hunting retreat for America´s wealthiest families, Millionaires wintered until the outbreak of WW II , then abandoned, 1986 restaurated to the old luxury, when the rooms were occupied by Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, Astors, Morgans and their friends. National Register of Historic Places. January 8, 1886, saw the incorporation of the JEKYLL ISLAND CLUB. The island had been purchased from John Eugene duBignon whose family had owned the island since 1800. The purchase, by a group of society's wealthy elite led by such names as Astor, Gould, Rockefeller, Morgan and Pulitzer, was done to form a winter hunting retreat. Architect Charles A. Alexander was commissioned to design and build a sixty room Clubhouse. The Clubhouse was finished November 1, 1887, with the first official season beginning in January, 1888. In 1901, an attached annex was built to handle the expanding needs of members. In 1896, a syndicate, including J.P. Morgan and William Rockefeller, built a six unit apartment building they named Sans Souci. In a sense, those units became the first condominiums. Between 1888 and 1928 several members built cottages on the island in order to have more expansive accommodations. Family names like Rockefeller, Macy, Goodyear, Pulitzer, Crane and others are connected with these structures which went up to 8,000 square feet - large even by today's standards. The members who built the cottages also enjoyed mansions in major cities and huge summer residences in Newport. Throughout the Club's history, many recreational amenities were added. The first golf course was laid in 1898, with two more done in 1909. A marina to handle yachts, a swimming pool, tennis courts, bocci, croquet and other recreational facilities were also available. The Club members began to dwindle during the Depression. After the 1942 season, the government asked the members not to use the island for the duration of World War II. They never went back. The island was sold to the State of Georgia in 1947. The state attempted, until 1972, to operate the Clubhouse, Sans Souci and Crane Cottage as a hotel complex. Those operations ceased and the buildings were closed. In 1978, the 240-acre club district was designated a National Historic Landmark. In 1985, work began to restore the Clubhouse, Annex and the Sans Souci into a world-class hotel and resort named the JEKYLL ISLAND CLUB HOTEL. The $20 million in restoration funds have all been invested in the buildings and grounds, since the facility can only be leased. Great care was taken to create a faithful restoration while installing modern conveniences. The Club is once again a showcase. Now it is available for everyone to enjoy.