Jekyll Island is one of Georgia's Golden Isles, a barrier island of about 23 square kilometres reached by a causeway from Brunswick, and the first photograph is what it is known for. DRIFTWOOD BEACH is the island's north end, where the shoreline is eroding and the live oaks and pines that grew behind the dune line are left standing and fallen on the sand, bleached and bare. It is not a landscaped attraction, it is a beach being taken by the sea, and it is one of the most photographed stretches of coast in the American southeast. The island's other distinction is less visible and considerably stranger: the modern American central banking system was substantially drafted here, in secret, in 1910.
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What Is Here
THE JEKYLL ISLAND CLUB IS THE HISTORY AND IT IS ABSENT FROM THIS LIBRARY'S PHOTOGRAPHS, so it is said in words. From 1886 the island was bought as a private winter hunting club by a group that at one point was said to represent a substantial share of the world's wealth: Morgans, Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, Goulds, Pulitzers. They built the clubhouse and a row of enormous shingled houses they called COTTAGES, and they came down by private railcar and yacht for the mild months. The clubhouse is now a hotel and the historic district around it can be walked or toured by tram, with several cottages open.
AND IN NOVEMBER 1910 A GROUP CAME HERE AND WROTE THE FEDERAL RESERVE. Senator Nelson Aldrich and a small party of bankers travelled to the island in a private railcar, told the staff to address them by first names only so they could not be identified, and spent about ten days drafting a central banking plan. They called themselves the FIRST NAME CLUB. What they produced became the Aldrich Plan and, after revision, the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. It is an extraordinary thing to have happened on a Georgia barrier island and the club's own museum covers it.
THE ISLAND IS A STATE PARK AND GEORGIA LAW CAPS HOW MUCH MAY BE DEVELOPED. That is why it feels unlike Hilton Head or Amelia Island: a statutory limit means most of it stays marsh, maritime forest and beach. The practical consequence for a visitor is a DAILY PARKING FEE at the causeway gate, charged per vehicle per day, which pays for the park and surprises people who expected a free public beach.
THE SECOND PHOTOGRAPH IS THE SALT MARSH AND IT IS HALF THE ISLAND. Georgia holds roughly a third of all the salt marsh on the American east coast, because the Georgia Bight gives it a large tidal range, and the landward side of Jekyll is spartina grass and tidal creek rather than beach. It is the most productive habitat here and the best thing to kayak.
THE GEORGIA SEA TURTLE CENTER IS A WORKING HOSPITAL RATHER THAN AN AQUARIUM, rehabilitating injured loggerheads and greens in public view, and it runs the island's nesting patrols. There is also a four-mile beach on the south end, a village of shops, and about 20 miles of flat paved cycle paths which are the best way to get round.
When to Go
March to May and October to November are the best months. Daytime in the low to mid twenties, low humidity, no crowds, and the insects manageable. This is the window.
June to August is hot, humid and busy. Low thirties with high dewpoints, thunderstorms most afternoons, sea around 28 degrees, and the biting insects at their worst on the marsh side. It is also TURTLE NESTING SEASON, which is a reason to come and brings rules.
December to February is mild and very quiet. Daytime in the mid teens, water too cold, some services reduced, and the light on Driftwood Beach at its best. A genuinely pleasant off-season.
HURRICANE SEASON RUNS JUNE TO NOVEMBER AND PEAKS FROM MID-AUGUST TO EARLY OCTOBER. Georgia's coast is hit less often than Florida's or the Carolinas', partly because of the shape of the Bight, but Matthew in 2016 and Irma in 2017 both caused evacuations here. One causeway is the only way off.
Getting There
Jacksonville, Florida is about an hour and a quarter south and is the practical airport; Brunswick's own field is small and Savannah is about an hour and a half north. Atlanta is about five hours.
You arrive by car over the causeway and pay at the gate. There is no public transport onto or around the island.
ONCE YOU ARE HERE, CYCLE. About 20 miles of flat paved path loop the island and connect the village, the historic district, Driftwood Beach and the south end beach, and hire is available in the village. It is genuinely the best way to see it and it removes the parking question.
St Simons Island and Sea Island are the neighbouring Golden Isles, reached by a separate causeway from Brunswick rather than from here, and Cumberland Island, the wild one with the feral horses, is a ferry from St Marys further south.
The Jekyll Island Packing List
Subtropical humidity, strong coastal sun, biting insects on the marsh and a mild damp winter.
Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a long sleeve merino wool base layer for women earns its place here mostly for the cooler half of the year, when the island is at its best: a wool layer under a shell is right for a December dawn on Driftwood Beach or a morning on the marsh, and on this coast the winter is damp rather than cold, which is the band where wool outperforms cotton most clearly. In summer it handles the move from a 33 degree beach to a hard-chilled restaurant without the clammy stage.
A long sun hoodie is the most useful garment for a week here, because the island is flat, open and shadeless on the beach side and reapplying sunscreen hourly does not happen. With it a wide brim UPF 50 sun hat.
A DEET insect repellent, which on the marsh side is not optional. Georgia salt marsh produces mosquitoes and biting midges in numbers that will end an evening, and the no-see-ums go through loose weave fabric.
A Marmot PreCip Eco rain jacket, packable, for the summer storms and the winter fronts.
From December to February a Columbia Fast Trek II fleece, which also covers the air conditioning in August.
Not linked and worth packing: SHOES YOU CAN GET WET AND WALK ROCK IN, because Driftwood Beach is sand, roots, stumps and oyster shell rather than clean sand, and barefoot there is how people cut their feet, with the only water-shoe entry in our affiliate registry carrying a contested product identity so we will not link it; A RED-FILTERED TORCH IF YOU ARE OUT AT NIGHT IN TURTLE SEASON, because white light disorients hatchlings and the island asks for red; BINOCULARS for the marsh and the shorebirds; AND A DRY BAG for kayaking the creeks.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Essential Resources for Women on Jekyll Island
Emergency numbers: 911 for police, ambulance and fire, free from any phone including a locked mobile. The Jekyll Island Authority runs its own police force and Glynn County the sheriff's office; the United States Coast Guard covers the water from Brunswick and is reached through 911 or VHF channel 16. Coverage is good across the island.
THERE ARE NO LIFEGUARDS ON MOST OF THIS ISLAND AND THAT IS THE THING TO INTERNALISE. Jekyll's beaches are largely unpatrolled, the Georgia Bight gives this coast a tidal range of two to three metres, and the combination means strong tidal currents in the channels at either end of the island and around the pier. RIP CURRENTS follow the usual pattern, looking like the calmest water and escaped by swimming parallel to the shore rather than against the pull. The specific local hazards are the ends: the north end at Driftwood Beach and the St Andrews area at the south have channel currents that are genuinely dangerous and are not swimming beaches whatever they look like at low water. Swim on the central and southern stretch, with other people, and never after drinking. THE TIDE ALSO DECIDES WHETHER DRIFTWOOD BEACH IS WALKABLE: at high water much of it is in the sea and the stumps are submerged obstacles. Check a tide table. LIGHTNING is the summer killer, Georgia gets storms on most summer afternoons, and a flat open barrier island is poor shelter: thirty minutes indoors after the last thunder. HURRICANES run June to November with the peak from mid-August to early October, and the specific fact here is that ONE CAUSEWAY IS THE ONLY WAY OFF, so Glynn County's evacuation order for the barrier islands comes early and leaving late is not a plan. The National Hurricane Center is the track to watch. ALLIGATORS ARE PRESENT IN THE FRESHWATER PONDS AND THE GOLF COURSE WATER, including ponds beside paths and cycle routes, so do not approach one, do not let a dog near the water and never feed one; the salt marsh also holds them in the brackish creeks. SEA TURTLE NESTING RUNS FROM MAY TO OCTOBER and is a legal matter as well as an ethical one: do not disturb a nesting female or a nest, fill in any hole you dig, remove furniture from the beach at night, and use red light rather than white, because hatchlings orient to the brightest light and a phone torch will send them inland to die. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources covers that along with the fishing and boating rules. AND THE INSECTS ARE A GENUINE QUALITY-OF-TRIP ISSUE rather than a hazard, worst at dawn and dusk from May to September on the marsh side.
US State Department travel advisory: there is none, and this is not an omission. The State Department issues travel advisories for other countries, not for the United States itself, so no US advisory for this destination exists to link. In its place, the Government of Canada advice for the United States gives an equivalent third-country assessment.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/usa, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits. The FCDO names no advised-against areas anywhere in the United States. The same advice also covers Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Main hospital: there is no hospital on the island. Southeast Georgia Health System in Brunswick, about 20 minutes over the causeway, has the nearest emergency department, with Jacksonville's hospitals about an hour and a quarter south for major trauma. The island has a health centre with limited hours. Carry your own prescriptions with a margin, which is the ordinary barrier-island precaution. Dial 911 for any emergency. This is the single biggest practical difference for a visitor: there is no public health system, an emergency room visit without insurance can run into thousands of dollars, and an ambulance is billed separately and is not free. Comprehensive travel insurance with a high medical limit is not optional in the United States, and you should carry your policy number and the insurer's 24 hour number somewhere you can reach them. Urgent care clinics handle anything short of an emergency far more cheaply and quickly than an emergency room, and are the right choice for a sprain, an infection or stitches.
The authority that runs the island: the Jekyll Island Authority is a Georgia state body rather than a tourism board, and it sets the parking fee, the beach rules, the turtle season restrictions and the historic district tour schedule, and publishes closures. It is the page to read before arriving, because the parking charge at the gate is the thing visitors are most often unprepared for.
Official health authority: the CDC travellers' health pages, the US federal health authority for visitors. covers the national health information service and travel health guidance
Embassy contact: the United States is the host country, so there is no US embassy to contact. Your own country's embassy is in Washington DC, with consulates in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, San Francisco, Miami and Boston. Find yours before you travel and save the number.
Official tourism authority: Brand USA, the national tourism marketing body. covers the region, and the Golden Isles tourism office publishes the island parking fee, the tram tour times and the turtle season guidance
Takeaways
The Federal Reserve was drafted here in secret in 1910 by men using first names only.
A daily parking fee at the causeway gate. It is a state park with a legal cap on building.
No lifeguards on most of it, and the two ends have dangerous channel currents.
Cycle it. Twenty miles of flat paved path and no parking problem.
Solo women safety assessment: Jekyll Island is one of the easier places in this library to travel alone. It is a Georgia state park with its own police force, a small village, an affluent and largely older visitor population, twenty miles of flat cycle path and no nightlife to speak of; eating alone is completely ordinary and the island is quiet by mid-evening. Petty theft from parked cars at beach access points is the commonest crime and the answer is to leave nothing visible. THE REAL RISKS ARE THE WATER, THE WEATHER AND THE WILDLIFE. There are no lifeguards on most of the island, the tidal range here is two to three metres, and the north end at Driftwood Beach and the St Andrews area at the south have channel currents that are genuinely dangerous whatever they look like at low water, so swim on the central stretch with other people and never after drinking; rip currents are escaped by swimming parallel rather than against. The tide also decides whether Driftwood Beach is walkable at all. Georgia gets thunderstorms on most summer afternoons and a flat barrier island is poor shelter, so thirty minutes indoors after the last thunder. Hurricane season peaks from mid-August to early October and ONE CAUSEWAY IS THE ONLY WAY OFF, so the evacuation order comes early and leaving late is not a plan. Alligators live in the freshwater ponds and golf course water beside the paths. Turtle nesting runs May to October and the rules about red light, holes and beach furniture are legal as well as ethical. THERE IS NO HOSPITAL HERE: the nearest emergency department is twenty minutes away in Brunswick. 911 WORKS AND THE ISLAND HAS ITS OWN POLICE.
Reading On
Jekyll Island is one of the Golden Isles and this library covers the southeastern coast closely. The Savannah packing list covers the city an hour and a half north, which is the natural pairing for a Georgia coast trip, and the Hilton Head packing list the managed island resort further up, which is what Georgia's development cap kept this island from becoming. The Charleston packing list covers the great Low Country port beyond them. South into Florida, the St Augustine packing list covers the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the country, and the Cape Canaveral packing list and Daytona Beach packing list the Space Coast and the next resort down. On the Gulf side, the Sarasota packing list and Tampa packing list cover the red tide coast. Inland, the Atlanta packing list covers the regional capital five hours away. For the country, the USA travel guide for women carries the regions, the driving and the seasons in full. For why wool suits a damp mild winter better than cotton does, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
