From its inception in 1886, the Jekyll Island Club included in its
elite membership the nation's wealthiest families, among them the
Rockefellers, Pulitzers, Vanderbilts, and Morgans. Far from the
hectic northern cities where the members tended their fortunes,
this private island refuge off Georgia's coast offered the wealthy
a tranquil change of pace.
Bringing together more than 240 fascinating photographs, Barton
and June McCash trace the sixty-two-year history of this exclusive
retreat whose members at one time were reputed to represent
one-seventh of the nation's wealth. From the time of the club's
opening, members came to Jekyll Island each winter to seek elegant
leisure, arriving on yachts or in private train cars from New York,
Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia. Capturing the lives and
amusements of the very wealthy, this evocative photographic history
presents descriptions of elaborate costume balls and playful
outdoor parties; the Rockefeller clan gathering at water's edge and
J. P. Morgan lounging by the pool; Victor Astor's "patented beach
boat" and the Goulds' private indoor tennis court; the Vanderbilts'
yacht anchored offshore and the imposing "cottages" built by
individual members.
During their stays, members amused themselves in a variety of
pursuits. In the 1890s they organized bicycling clubs and held
races on the beach. Hunting was also for a time a favorite activity
and the island was regularly stocked with imported
wildlife--pheasant, quail, turkey, and bucks. By 1919, however, the
game committee had dwindled to one member, and prime hunting
grounds had been cleared for golf courses and tennis courts. The
hub of the island's social life, however, was the clubhouse, where
members gathered in formal attire to converse, while drinking fine
wine and dining on freshly caught game and local delicacies.
The seclusion that Jekyll Island offered was not impenetrable.
On the day after Christmas in 1900, the country's fascination with
technology could no longer be resisted, and the sound of a gasoline
automobile disturbed the island's quiet glades for the first time.
Despite the immense wealth of the club, it was not immune to the
stock market crash of 1893 and the Panic of 1907. The club managed
to survive World War I intact and enjoyed a "golden age" from 1919
to 1927, during which time it held its own against the increasingly
popular Florida resorts. The stock market crash of 1929, however,
initiated a death spiral. Membership declined steadily throughout
the 1930s, and when the United States entered World War II, the
club closed its doors forever.
Based on surviving club records, newspaper accounts, and letters
and diaries of members and guests, "The Jekyll Island Club"
chronicles an era when leisure was the preserve of the wealthy. For
more than six decades the island, now a state park, served as a
haven for millionaires. As one visitor described the Jekyll Island
Club, it was "the only place of its kind in the world--and will
never be again."
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