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David Millman, who is creating the art for the “dog” we have adopted from the Humane Society, sent these photos of his progress. Great job David! She is so pretty!
Essence will be revealed at the Jekyll Island Arts Association’s Arts Festival March 12-14th.
Jekyll Island Authority There’s plenty to enjoy in the Historic District on Jekyll Island.
Juggling obligations for work, school, family and relationships, a woman’s life can get hectic. When it comes time to take a breather, nothing does it better than a getaway with female family members or girlfriends for a weekend of relaxation, rejuvenation and a little retail therapy.
With your confidantes along to provide comedy, conversation and companionship, a visit to one of these three Southeastern destinations is sure to put the pep back in your step.
Jekyll Island, Ga.
Girlfriends who like to travel in style can appreciate a weekend at the grand, historic Jekyll Island Club Hotel (www.jekyllclub.com). The girlfriends’ getaway package includes a two-bed room for two nights, breakfast buffet, bottle of wine, bicycle rentals with picnic lunch, massage and Victorian tea, starting at $775.
Sun worshipers may be content to loll by the pool or on the beach all day, but more active types will find tennis, golf, kayaking, horseback riding, bicycle riding and more.
Shopping options are plentiful along Pier Road and in the Historic District. Just By Hand sells handcrafted items, and The Commissary carries specialty coffees and teas.
● Stay: Jekyll Oceanfront Resort. This Clarion beachside property features 260 rooms and villas. Rates start at $80. 975 N. Beachview Drive, Jekyll Island, 912-635-2531. www.jekyllinn.com
● Eat: Latitude 31 Restaurant & Lounge. Seafood, including fresh-caught Georgia wild shrimp and seafood crepes. $15-$25. 1 Pier Road. 912-635-3800, www.latitude31andrahbar.com
● Info: Brunswick Golden Isles Chamber of Commerce. 912-265-0620, www.brunswick-georgia.com
The Jekyll Island Hotel gets a recommendation from Travel Zoo and Channel 5 in Atlanta for a Valentines Day Weekend Getaway. Watch the video.
“The United Way of Coastal Georgia has raised $1,100,369.00 during the 2009 campaign! This will help many non-profit organizations throughout this community. JEKYLL ISLAND reached our goal of $25,000! This exceeds last years’ contributions by 150%.
Thank you all for your hard work and dedication to making this campaign successful. Nothing great can ever be achieved without teamwork and enthusiasm.I have had the greatest experience of working with each and everyone of you and would not change it for the world. You are all exceptional and made it happen!”
Shared from the Palm Beach Post News
The Georgia Sea Turtle Center Staff from Jekyll Island was in Boca Raton to help with the many papillomas yesterday. They had a BUSY day but wanted to give a shout out to Dr. Terry Norton for his laser skills standing for 8 hours of surgery and Simon and Ashley of the Georgia Sea Turtle Center staff for their amazing recovery efforts and representing Jekyll Island so well. Thank you Georgia Sea Turtle Center staff!!
Doctors flip a turtle on its back in order to reach tumors growing on its underside. Gumbo Limbo Nature Center has found tumors in 35 of the approximately 170 turtles it has treated for cold weather stress in the past couple weeks. A team of about 8 surgeons will be operating on the endangered sea turtles. Even Disney has sent down a portable surgery unit to help with the event. Photo by J.Gwendolynne Berry
Our research into the development of young golfers has shown that when golf is no longer fun for kids, they lose interest. According to studies from the Positive Coaching Alliance, we—parents and coaches—tend to become too technical, too early with our kids. Moreover, the trouble with golf is that it is highly technical. When kids 11 to 13 were surveyed and asked, “Why did you quit golf?” they were almost unanimous in their response: “It wasn’t fun anymore.”
So how do we make it fun for kids—and keep it fun? As a baseball coach, I had some kids on my team who were striking out too much, and I noticed they were not keeping their eye on the ball. They would come back to the dugout frustrated because they tried so hard and had not succeeded. But, instead of being frustrated with them, I looked for something—anything—that they did to improve. If they fouled out, it was an improve February ment over missing the ball every time. If a batter just touches the ball, it is an improvement. So I said, “Great! You watched the ball. You fouled it off.” Until that, became a good thing. I watched the kids’ level of encouragement rise.
As coaches and parents, you are in the midst of something very important. You can encourage your kids every time you are out there to play and to have fun and encourage them for the improvement they show—even when the shots do not go where they want them.
Over the long term what is really, going to make our kids great is their joy for the game and the fun they have playing it, and that is why U.S. Kids Golf exists. That is why we make clubs that are easier to swing. That is why we encourage parents to caddie for their kids. That is why we want learning the game to be a fun experience. We want kids to be excited about golf. We want the game to be full of special moments for them and memories of fun with their families, their coaches and their friends.
The seventh annual U.S. Kids Golf Jekyll Island Cup will be played at The Jekyll Island Golf Club on February 13th and 15th. Boys and girls, ages 6 to 14 will compete for individual honors. Visit www.uskidsgolf.com.
Golf | Winter Guest Clinics
Wed., Dec. 16 – April 28, 10–11:30 a.m.
Learn tips from the pros on how to improve your game and get answers to specific problems you might have.
Reservations: (912) 635-2368
www.golf.jekyllisland.com
Tennis | Mixed Doubles
Wednesday’s Wimbledon mixed doubles 10 a.m.–noon.
Tennis | Winter Clinics
Tuesday’s Tennis Clinic-tennis instruction with USPTA pro Pete Poole and assistant pro Morgan Meacham.
Saturday Morning Clinics-Beginning Juniors instruction 9–10 a.m. followed by intermediate and advanced juniors at 10–11:30 a.m. Match play begins at 11:30.
Jekyll Island Tennis Center
Captain Wylly Road, (912) 635-3154
Happy Hour | Morgan’s Bar & Grill
Jekyll Island Golf Course
Fridays, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Listen to the hometown music by Chip & Friends and enjoy a full menu selection from Morgan’s Bar & Grill.
Happy Hour | the Bistro Lounge
The Driftwood Bistro, Villas by the Sea
Monday–Friday 4 to 6 p.m. Enjoy half-priced well brands.
Open Mic Night | the Bistro Lounge
The Driftwood Bistro, Villas by the Sea
Mondays 7 to 10 p.m. Sing your heart out and relax with a great glass of wine or beer.
Trivia Night | Sea Jays Restaurant
(Location on map p. 8 & 9) Wed., 7 p.m.
Lots of competitive fun and great food. Get your team together or join one there for an evening of question and answer fun. Enjoy $2 Drafts & House Wines and $5 Snackers appetizers.
Shag, Swing & Smoothies | Blackbeard’s Seafood Restaurant
(Location on map p. 8 & 9) Sat., 6 p.m. to
6:45 p.m. $10 per person
Shag lessons with dancing of all sorts to follow. Party until the lights go out! Early Bird Special from 4 p.m. – 6 p.m. Drink specials until 8 p.m. in the bar.
Red Bug Bingo | Red Bug Motors Pizza & Pub
(Location on map p. 8 & 9)
Mondays 4–9 p.m. Reservations are suggested. (912)635-9730 Drink and food specials available.
As a growing number of couples return to traditional ceremonies reflecting family values, they are making choices for venues that express individuality. Since their celebration is also a time of reuniting families and friends, this becomes even more important.
The Jekyll Island Club Hotel offers an exquisite range of Georgia wedding venues. For a formal touch, a couple may choose The Club Ballroom, for sit-down meals. A more intimate affair could take place in one of the hotel’s four event rooms: The Pulitzer, Federal Reserve, Morgan, Aspinwall and Alexander rooms. The newly renovated Crane Cottage and Cherokee Cottage add unusually beautiful event space. Cherokee Cottage is delightful for smaller gatherings and Crane Cot-tage has a landscaped formal sunken garden with original fountains and an upper terrace perfect for wedding ceremonies. Faith Chapel, with its Tiffany stained glass window, is across the lane from Crane Cottage and adjacent to Cherokee Cottage. With Jekyll’s beach being magnificent any season of the year the Jekyll Island Club Hotel also offers a Beach Pavilion. The spacious openair structure overlooking the beauty of the sea and the sound of the surf is an exceptional setting for non-traditional, alfresco wedding events or rehearsal dinners.
Your storybook setting and all the trimmings for your wedding can be found at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel. The Executive Chef is rapidly achieving a reputation for serving the finest and most beautifully presented cuisine in this part of the country. The hotel’s pastry chef has numerous styles of wedding cakes and groom’s cakes, which he prepares with masterful creativity. The catering staff, dedicated to a standard of excellence in every aspect of wedding event service, considers that no detail is too trivial, and no effort too great, in ensuring the satisfaction of their guests. The hotel’s gift shops can provide a wonderful selection of commemorative gifts with logos for your wedding and/or gifts for your bridesmaids or groomsmen. They can also assist you with welcome bags/ baskets for all of your wedding guests. No matter what wedding package you choose- the Elopement, Club, Island, Landmark or even the Honeymoon Package the Jekyll Island Club Hotel is prepared to make certain your coastal Georgia wedding is perfection. For more information, or to submit a wedding proposal request for your southern Georgia wedding please see the Jekyll Island Club Hotel’s website at www.jekyllclub.com
The winter tradition continues with an eclectic array of local artists, displaying and selling their coastal inspired art. Look for your favorite artists from Jekyll, St. Simon’s, Brunswick, Camden, and McIntosh including; Tyler Dominey, Laurel Johns, Debbie Mumford, Buddy Hale, Kristen Pickett, the Jekyll Potters, Lydia Thompson and more!
Metal sculptor, scuba diver, and art sale favorite Tyler Dominey, who hails from the mainland in Brunswick, will again feature his popular oceanic-themed pieces. You can also see some of Tyler’s donated pieces on display in our exterior exhibit area at Tidelands. Another favorite, hailing from little-known Hird Island in McIntosh County, Laurel Johns will again bring her delightful assortment of coastal-themed stained glass art pieces including nightlights, serving utensils, and stained glass windows.
Also appearing in the Tidelands Art Sale, two artists from nearby communities that have contributed to the educational exhibit area at Tidelands. Debbie Mumford of St. Marys was kind enough to donate a magnificent collection of bird photos to enhance the interactive birding exhibit. And Buddy Hale, an artist from Jacksonville, donated his time and talents to create an illustrative maritime forest mural inside the Tidelands exhibit area, as well as his talents toward grant funded exhibits including a manatee habitat mural and oyster exhibit on display at the center. Please be sure to check out the collection of Debbie and Buddy’s work at the upcoming art sale as well their contributions on display in the Tidelands exhibit area.
Of course, a Tidelands Art Sale “must see” includes the work of Jekyll’s own Kristen Pickett along with the Jekyll Island Pottery Guild. These talented Jekyll artists have been a staple for visitors attending our annual event. Kristen displays her beautiful collection of hand-blown glass jewelry. The Pottery Guild displays a variety of hand-made pots, bowls, plates, and other pottery works. Be sure to stop by both of these displays early as they are usually bustling with shoppers claiming their favorite pieces!
The annual event would be incomplete without Lydia Thompson, who suggested the idea several years ago. Lydia, our local birding expert and fellow artist, will display her assortment of bird sketches and watercolor prints. Look for Lydia in the afternoon, as she will be participating in the Georgia Audubon’s Great BackyardBird Count Team Birding event on Jekyll in the morning. Anyone who is interested in learning more about birds along our coast is welcome to join Lydia for the Team Birding event during the morning of the art sale. Please meet Lydia outside the Convention Center near the Harley Auditorium Lobby at 8:30 a.m., before the art sale to form teams that will travel to various locations around the island from 9:00am to 12:00 pm. In the afternoon, teams will report their sightings at Lydia’s booth and enjoy the rest of the art sale.
The 4-H Tidelands Nature Center is a part of the Jekyll Island 4-H Center and the University of Georgia. The annual Art Sale supports educational exhibits and displays at Tidelands Nature Center. Anyone interested in making a donation, please contact Dawn Zenkert, Tidelands Coordinator. Tidelands offers educational outreach programs through nature and landscape walks, kayak tours, and school group coastal ecology programs. The public is also invited to visit the Tidelands live exhibit area, featuring live coastal species including sea turtles, fish, invertebrate touch tanks, horseshoe crabs, snakes, an alligator, a shark, and more!
Tidelands is open Monday through Friday,
10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday,
10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m. Admission price: $2.00 per person.
For more information on nature walks, programs, kayak tours, etc. call Tidelands at 635-5032
Jekyll Island Club Member Charles Meldrum Daniels won 8 medals over three Olympic tournaments (1904, 1906, and 1908), including 5 Gold Medals, 1 Silver, and 2 Bronzes. Daniels was the first American to win an Olympic swimming event. He modified the Australian crawl into what became the “American crawl” and developed the freestyle breaststroke. Setting world records at every distance from 25 yards to one mile, he became known as “the greatest swimmer in the world.”
Jekyll Island Club Member George J. Gould was appointed an honorary Vice President of the 1906 Olympic Committee in Athens by H.R.H. Crown Prince Constantine of Greece. At the 1908 Olympics in London, George Gould’s son, Jay Gould II won a Gold Medal in Court Tennis the only year the event appeared. Later termed the “monarch of court tennis for more than a quarter of a century,” Jay practiced tennis on Jekyll Island at his Uncle Edwin Gould’s luxurious Gould Casino. The Gould Casino contained numerous amenities, including two bowling alleys, a rifle range, a private indoor tennis court, several outdoor tennis courts, and a greenhouse.
Jekyll Island Club Members and Guests George Gould, J. P. Morgan, and Andrew Carnegie all served as Vice-Presidents on an Olympic Committee formed to create interest in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, referred to as the Fifth Olympiad.
Jekyll Island Club Member Henry Francis Sears vacationed annually on Jekyll Island, staying at Moss Cottage with his wife, Jean Struthers Sears, and their family. His marksmanship earned him a spot at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. The 50-year-old participated in three Olympic shooting events. He made his strongest showing in the Free Pistol Team Event, earning the Americans a Gold Medal.
James “Stillman” Rockefeller enjoyed family getaways on Jekyll Island as a child. The grandson of Club Member William Rockefeller and future son-inlaw to island visitor Andrew Carnegie, he captained a crew at Yale and rowed with his team to victory in the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris. The “Yale 8” won by fifteen seconds and three boat lengths. The oars from the winning boat and his Gold Medal remained his most treasured possessions his entire life. When he died at 102 years old, Stillman Rockefeller was the oldest living Olympic Gold Medalist.
Dwight Filley Davis is famed as the founder of the Davis Cup. In 1904, he directed the St. Louis Olympics and participated in the tennis events, but was eliminated in the second round of the Men’s Singles and lost in the quarter finals of the Men’s Doubles. He then served on the American Olympic Committee for the 1906 Athens Olympics. As a younger brother of Jekyll Island Club Member John Tilden Davis, Dwight Davis spent time as a guest of the Jekyll Island Club. He served with many other tennis greats on a committee for Jekyll Island’s annual invitation tennis tournament that began on Washington’s Birthday and drew many star players to the island.
Watson Washburn played on the 1924 Olympic team in Paris along with Dick Williams, Hazel Wightman, and Helen Wills. In the Men’s Doubles, Washburn played with Dick Williams, his former Harvard teammate, but they lost in the quarter finals when the South African team came back to win after trailing by two sets to one. Washburn later travelled to Jekyll Island to win an invitation doubles tennis tournament in 1940. The manager of the 1924 Olympic tennis team was none other than Washburn’s brother-in-law, Jekyll Island Club Member Julian Southall Myrick. While serving as Olympic team manager, Myrick teamed up with Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman to play a mixed doubles match against Vincent Richards and Queen Victoria of Spain. Myrick and Wightman lost.
On February 12-28, 2010, athletes will be competing in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for the 21st Winter Olympics. Jekyll Island Club Members and Guests have been part of the Olympic tradition for over a century. This year become part of that tradition and watch the legacy unfold from Jekyll Island.
There are some very special residents on this island, hopefully just temporary ones passing through on their way back home. The locals know all about them. And you can get to know them too with a visit to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center.
Yes, these residents are sea turtles. The turtles at Georgia Sea Turtle Center are being treated for various injuries or illnesses before they can return to their home in the ocean. Right now there are dozens of turtles unable to survive on their own or needing to wait until the waters warm up. That is where some of the loving comes in.
The staff and volunteers of the Georgia Sea Turtle Center have a special affinity for these turtles. Led by Director/Veterinarian Dr. Terry Norton, turtles receive individual care daily. Dr. Norton and others treat patients with more than just medications and procedures- they treat them with kindness. It is contagious, something visitors to the center do not mind being exposed to. While visiting Jekyll Island, you can fall in love again- this time with our patients. Come meet Emma, an amazing turtle recovering from a serious boat strike or Caton from nearby Blackbeard Island who was a “floater.” Griffin, our oldest and largest resident, will capture your heart, as will his fellow patients.
With Valentine’s Day in the air, come visit the Georgia Sea Turtle Center for a stroll in the Exhibit Gallery, watch the staff treat turtles, hear a special presentation, or walk through the Rehabilitation Pavilion to meet our patients. You could be hit by Cupid’s arrow when you do!
Some stories have very happy-endings all around… Talbot, a sub-adult loggerhead sea turtle, that was stranded on Talbot Island, Florida in September was transported to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center for treatment. Talbot had a rope wrapped around both shoulders, with it deeply embedded into the skin and muscle of the left shoulder. The right shoulder wound was much less severe. However, 8 inches of the tip of one flipper was seriously damaged and had to be removed by Center Director/Veterinarian Dr. Terry Norton. The surgery was a success and Talbot is completely healed and was released on December 28 from the Cape Canaveral National Sea Shore, where warmer water permitted a safe release. The happy-ending for Talbot freed up some much needed space at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center to make room for the unanticipated arrival of 14 cold-stunned turtles from North Carolina and Florida giving the cold-stunned turtles a happy-ending too.
♦ Visit the Georgia Sea Turtle Center 214 Stable Road, Jekyll Island or go online: georgiaseaturtlecenter.org
Teaching kids is a learning experience for both the student and instructor. I love the kids approach to the game. We tell them to play by the rules, hit the ball in the fairway, then on the green and they try. For the most part, they take instruction well and do better than most adults do. However, they do not see the golf course as adults do. Where kids see fairways and greens, adults see water, sand and woods. Kids play the game for fun as it is supposed to be played, while adults play in fear, thinking too much of the outcome.
Teaching children is relatively uncomplicated because they have not had a chance to retain bad habits or bad information. Therefore, if they learn the proper fundamentals, grip, aim and set-up followed by etiquette and rules you have a start to a very good player.
The most difficult thing that I have found about teaching kids is their short attention span. Kids only want to hit balls and watch them fly. In my experience, small forms of competition make the learning experience better for the kids and more enjoyable. Hitting balls to a specific target individually or in some form of competition with other students, tends to bring more focus to the learning experience. One such activity involves putting a box on the range about 30 to 40 yards out and attempt to hit balls into the box. Kids love this type of practice and it holds their attention and gives them a feeling of competition. Target circles, long drive contests with a definite fairway and putting contests all are great teaching aids for kids. After all kids are the best at trying to improve their game.
Watching the US Kids Golf, Jekyll Island Cup Tournament throughout the years has been a truly inspirational experience for me as an instructor. Their unbridled approach to the game could be a lesson to us all. I encourage you to attend their tournament on February 14th and 15th for boys and girls, ages 6 to 14. While we teach our children many things, they can teach us too. Watch a child play golf and LEARN!
A popular question regarding the development of junior tennis players is, “What is a good age to start kids playing tennis?” Since tennis is just a game, early exposure should simply focus on making it fun! The game itself is fun. Keep it simple, and let the activity ‘sell’ itself so the junior player will want to continue playing.
Youngsters develop hand-eye coordination at differing rates, so make sure to tailor the tennis activity to a level where success is attainable. For the very young toddlers, just putting a racquet in their hands and rolling a ball toward them, allowing them to time and judge their swing, can be remarkably entertaining.
For the 4 to 6 year olds, holding and bouncing the ball on the strings or hitting the ball off the fence or wall is conducive to fun and improvement. Before long, they will want to hit the ball over the net and into the court. At this age, cranking the net down to scale, the player’s waist height, can insure more shots that are successful. By age 6, which is the age for “Futures of the Game” tennis camp and the Saturday beginner clinics at the Jekyll Island Tennis Center, proper technique should be encouraged.
While equipment and training have changed the way top-level tennis is played, the fundamentals remain the foundation of success. So the sooner you start kids off, the sooner they will learn the two things that cannot be taught but can only be learned by playing, how to time and judge the ball. Practice will make for good habits that become muscle memory. After all, the best tennis is automatic, with very little thinking, and a lot of fun at all ages.
