Jekyll Island Fans’ Fav Things to Do Informal Survey Response
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009I did an informal poll of my Facebook fans to help me write a “Things to Do” article on TripAdvisor.com. I got so many great responses, I thought I’d share…
Archive for the ‘ History comes Alive ’ Category
Jekyll Island is “What’s Hot” in Jacksonville’s Home Magazine
Friday, October 2nd, 2009
Jekyll Island’s Holidays in History Tour is featured as one of the short drives to a nearby town this season to “enjoy some Christmas cheer” by author, Ashley Morlote, in the “What’s Hot” section of Jacksonville’s Home Magazine. You can read the full story online.
Haunted Historic District on Jekyll Island
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
By Andrea Marroquin, Jekyll Island Programming Coordinator
A night-time excursion of Jekyll Island ventures inside Dubignon Cottage for spine-tingling tales!
Sheila Zynda, of Darien, GA, took Jekyll Island’s Folklore, Rumor & Myth tour last October and was enthusiastic. “I think Jekyll Island is a fantastic place to come for ghost hunting,” she said. “Besides the history, you might get to see something that you’re not expecting. “
Island visitors and staff alike have reported seeing unexplained orbs of light, smelling perfumes and cigars, hearing voices and laughter and Victrola music, experiencing cold spots, and sometimes even seeing spirits wearing period dress inside the shuttered buildings of the historic district.
In Zynda’s tour group, one woman captured an orb on her cell phone, while Zynda herself reported feeling a cold spot following her through a portion of the tour of Dubignon Cottage. Others saw flickering lights in the empty buildings as the tour moved through the twilight under the moss-draped live oaks.
“It’s an experience that you might only get once in your lifetime,” Akins said with an enjoyable shiver.
These phenomena are by no means new. Apparitions have been reported for many years throughout Jekyll Island’s 240-acre National Historic Landmark District. Nearly every cottage has some deep mystery or restless soul associated with a grand love story, an untimely death, a great misadventure, or a little mischief.
Tour guides lean on their professional knowledge of the island’s past to interpret the supernatural happenings. The Folklore, Rumor & Myth tour is peppered with stories of Jekyll Island’s historic characters in attempts to explain the reported sightings.
Guides note that different individuals have identified several spirits that have been encountered through comparisons with historical photographs. Those that have been identified include William and Savannah Struthers, Eddie Gould, Jr., and Walter Jennings, as well as Peggy and Marian Maurice. Others appear but remain nameless.
As the haunting mysteries multiplied over the years, Jekyll Island Museum staff began to collect the tales. Annually, during the month of October, they share the unusual stories they have heard. On the Folklore, Rumor and Myth Tour, guides usher guests to spots where apparitions have been sighted and unexplained events have occurred. Guests are then led inside one of the historic district cottages for more spine-tingling stories as darkness falls.
Wes Gruenke, a museum guide, often brings his groups inside Dubignon Cottage, calling it “the most paranormally active house we’ve got.” He notes that the Southern plantation home is the oldest house on the island, after Horton House.
To view a YouTube video preview of the tour, visit http://www.youtube.com/user/JekyllIslandMuseum .
The Folklore, Rumor & Myth Tour departs from the Jekyll Island Museum at 100 Stable Road on Friday nights, from October 2-31, 2009 at 7:00 pm. Admission is $16.00 for Adults and $7.00 for Children 6-12. The tour is recommended for ages 10 and above. Reservations are requested. For more information or for reservations, call 912-635-4036.
Gullah/Geechee TV Nayshun Nyews with Queen Quet Ep 9 Pt 4
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009Check out this broadcast of part 4 of the “Gullah/Geechee Nation International Music & Movement Festival™ 2009.” This segment includes an ancestral tribute at the Wanderer Memorial on Jekyll Island, GA in the Gullah/Geechee Nation. The Wanderer Memorial was erected at St. Andrews Picnic Area to remember the people who died on that last known ship to smuggle slaves into the United States and deliver them into captivity.
This Day in Jekyll History, July 24, 1850
Friday, July 24th, 2009On This Day in Jekyll History…
July 24, 1850, Jekyll Island Club Member John Claflin was born.
John Claflin, Courtesy of the Jekyll Island Museum
Born in Brooklyn, New York, John Claflin was the third son of five boys to Horace Brigham Claflin and Agnes Sanger. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from City College of NY in 1869 and started an extensive trip around the world. Even in later life he continued to be a world traveler, onetime crossing South America from the Pacific to the Atlantic Oceans in 1877.
Due to early deaths of two older brothers, John was called home to enter his father’s wholesale dry goods firm, H. B. Claflin & Co, becoming a Junior Partner in 1872 and President in 1885, upon his father’s death. He managed the firm until 1914. Using a work ethic of ten months work and two months vacation (usually in the Rocky Mountains), Claflin expanded the firm in both manufacturing and retail stores and he expanded the variety of goods sold. Working through a bankruptcy in 1893, Claflin used his personal fortune to keep the firm running. Reorganizing the H.B. Claflin & Co he consolidated his interest in dry goods into three holding companies: Associated Merchants Co., United Mercantile Co., and United Dry Goods Co., with thirty retail subsidiaries. He used modern techniques in sales, introducing “ready-to-wear’”, advertising, customer service and profit sharing. The panic of 1907 created financial difficulties and in 1914 the H.B.Claflin & Co. went into receivership. Claflin’s wife previously bought up some of the debt with her own money. John turned over his private fortune to meet creditor claims, including some of his wife’s, even though by law this would have been protected. The firm never recovered and was later liquidated. By 1915 the Claflin’s had recovered enough through wise investment of the wife’s money to buy back their NJ and Adirondack homes. John’s business talents were such that he was a director of numerous banks and insurance companies.
In 1890, Claflin married Mrs. Elizabeth Hopkins (Stewart) Dunn whose daughter Wilhemine, he adopted. They had three daughters of their own: Elizabeth “Bessie” Stewart , Agnes Sanger, and Mary Stewart. Claflin and his partner Edward E. Eames were invited to Jekyll by John E. DuBignon and Newton Finney as prospective purchasers of the island. Instead, Claflin loaned DuBignon $10,000 to buy other parcels and DuBignon wound up selling to the syndicate that became the Jekyll Island Club. Both Claflin and Eames became charter members. Claflin resigned his membership in 1912 due to financial difficulty but rejoined in 1921. In 1924 he bought “Mistletoe Cottage” from the Porter estate. He died in 1938 at his estate, “Lindenwold” in Morristown, New Jersey. Claflin was the last charter member of Jekyll Island Club to pass away.
Enjoy History? Visit the Jekyll Island Museum, 100 Stable Road, Jekyll Island, GA www.jekyllisland.com/history
or become a Fan of the Jekyll Island Museum on Facebook
Facebook Fan Photos
Thursday, July 9th, 2009Check out these great photos our Facebook fans have posted as part of our Are We There Yet Promotion! Book your vacation on Jekyll Island, sign up to tell us about your trip and send us photos, and get 2 Escape! Passes.
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| Make a Smilebox slideshow |
This Day in Jekyll History, July 8, 1742
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009On This Day in Jekyll History…
July 8, 1742, The Spanish threaten island safety.
In his journal, Georgia president William Stephens continued to record his concerns about the Spanish threat to Georgia, not knowing that the Battle of Bloody Marsh had been fought the previous day:
“July 8. Thursday. This morning we were alarmed by Mr. Habershams arrival, who . . . acquainted me with the Information he had by a Boat passing thro the Narrows in the Evening, bound for Savannah . . . the Substance of the Intelligence was, that the Enemy with upwards of thirty sail were come over the Bar and at Anchor in Jekyll Sound;
that they were all Vessels of War . . . that the General thereon, doubting not that they would land, thought it best to blow up what must otherwise fall into their hands, and retire towards the town. . . . Upon this Advice, I order’d to beat to Arms early at the break of day, when I told our men what Intelligence I had received, exhorted them to unity and Steadfastness, whereby only we could preserve ourselves . . . .”
The Spanish would threaten Jekyll Island just days later, burning the home of Major William Horton on July 13.
Source: E. Merton Coulter (ed.), The Journal of William Stephens, 1741-1743 (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1959), p. 106. (Courtesy of the GeorgiaInfo website http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/welcome.htm “This Day in Georgia History”)
Enjoy History? Visit the Jekyll Island Museum, 100 Stable Road, Jekyll Island, GA www.jekyllisland.com/history
or become a Fan of the Jekyll Island Museum on Facebook
This Day in Jekyll History, July 6, 1842.
Monday, July 6th, 2009On This Day in Jekyll History…
July 6, 1842, Jekyll Island Club Member Walton Ferguson is born in Stamford, Connecticut.
Image Courtesy of the Jekyll Island Museum
Walton Ferguson was born to John W. Ferguson and Helen Grace Morewood. He received his schooling at private schools and Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. After graduation, he went into business with his father’s private banking firm, J & S Ferguson in New York City. Expanding to Pittsburgh, he went into partnership with his brother Edmund Morewood Ferguson and Henry Clay Frick in the H.C. Frick Coke Co.. This became the H.C. Frick Co. with Ferguson holding half interest. H.C. Frick Co. was subsequently bought by Carnegie Steel which in 1901 was merged into U.S. Steel (the “Steel Trust” engineered by J.P. Morgan).
Ferguson became active in railroads, gas companies and electric light companies. He was instrumental in establishing Union Carbide Co. and became a Director. He helped organize, founded or served as Director in Brooklyn Edison Co., Kings County Electric Light Co., People’s Gas in Chicago, Virginia Iron, Coal & Coke Co., Virginia & Southwestern Railway, Stamford Trust Co.(President), 1st National Bank of Stamford, Stamford Gas & Electric Co.(Chairman of the Board), and President of Ferguson Library established by his older brother who died in 1877.
In 1869 he married Julia Lee White and they had six children: Walton Jr.( a Jekyll Club member 1902 - 1906), Helen, Grace Carroll, Edward, Alfred Ludlow, and Henry Lee. Ferguson had his home “Strawberry Hill” in Stamford, and another on Fisher’s Island, NY. He bought “Fairbank Cottage” on Jekyll from the Nathaniel Fairbank estate in 1904. This he subsequently sold in 1919 to Ralph Beaver Strassburger, whose wife May Bourne was daughter of Frederick Bourne, also a Jekyll Club member.
This Day in Jekyll History, June 29, 1840
Monday, June 29th, 2009On This Day in Jekyll History…
June 29, 1840 Jekyll Island Club Member Charles Stewart Maurice is born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey.
Charles Stewart Maurice, Image Courtesy of the Jekyll Island Museum
Charles Stewart Maurice was born to Charles Frazier Maurice - an educator who opened a private school which merged with the Mt. Pleasant Military Academy in Ossining, NY- and Cornelia Joline. Charles Stewart attended his father’s school and in 1858 entered Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, graduating in 1861 as Phi Beta Kappa and class Salutatorian. From there, he enrolled in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) for marine engineering, taking sophomore and junior classes in one year.
In 1862 he joined the U.S. Navy, serving as 3rd Assistant Engineer until the end of the Civil War in 1865. Turning down an Assistant Professorship in Math at the U.S. Naval Academy, Maurice started his business career as an Engineer for the Lower Hudson Steamboat Company designing engines. He left in 1866 to open a Tannery in Athens, PA with his friend Eugene Underhill. In 1869 he sold out to his partner and returned to New York supplying lumber to the Oswego-Midland RR to build bridges.
In 1871 he formed Kellogg & Maurice, with partner Charles Kellogg, to build road and railway bridges. They became one of the pioneers in iron bridges and were the second company to build a steel bridge. Some of their bridges were; the Tombigbee River, 3rd Ave Elevated Railway in New York City, and spans in Nova Scotia and Brazil.
In 1884 Kellogg & Maurice merged with other firms to form the Union Bridge Building Co. with partners George S. Field, Edmund Hayes, Thomas C. Clarke, and Charles McDonald (Field, Hayes and Clark were also Jekyll Club members). Their bridges included; Hudson River at Poughkeepsie, NY, the Niagara Cantilever Bridge, the Ohio River Bridge at Cairo, IL, Mississippi River at Memphis, TN., and the Hawkesbury Bridge at New South Wales, Australia.
In 1869, Maurice married Charlotte Marshall. Their children were Archibald Stewart, George Holbrooke, Marian Bridge “Mamie”, Charles Frazier, Cornelia “Nina”, Charlotte Marshall, Margaret Stewart “Peg”, Albert Touzalin, and Emily Marshall. The family was very active in the Jekyll Island Club life, coming early in the season and staying late. In 1890, he built Hollybourne Cottage, which still stands today as a part of the Jekyll Island Club National Historic Landmark District.
Enjoy History? Visit the Jekyll Island Museum, 100 Stable Road, Jekyll Island, GA www.jekyllisland.com/history
or become a Fan of the Jekyll Island Museum on Facebook
Update on The Driftwood Beach Shipwreck
Monday, June 1st, 2009by Chris McCabe, Underwater Archaeologist, GA DNR
Archaeologists Andrea Marroquin (left) and Chris McCabe (right) examine the likely wreck of the 19th century steamboat Magnolia.
In August 2008, Tropical Storm Fay caused significant beach erosion along the barrier islands of coastal Georgia revealing the partial remains of a wooden shipwreck. After the storm passed, DNR’s underwater archaeologist Chris McCabe and Jekyll Island archaeologist Andrea Marroquin examined the newly exposed wreck. The amount of time spent onsite was limited by tidal surf and the resulting redeposit of sand over the remains. Nevertheless the two managed to get a reasonable picture of the vessel’s skeletal structure before it was reclaimed by the shifting shoreline.
Follow-up investigations linked the design, construction, and damage of the remaining timbers with the historical and environmental records. Collectively they point to a 19th century coastal steamboat named Magnolia, which exploded and sank in the Frederica River in 1852. Newspaper accounts of the day reported that a boiler explosion ripped the vessel in half, tragically killing fourteen passengers and crew. Several witnesses saw the steamboat’s forward section floating downriver “nearly five miles distant from the place of the disaster.” The partial remains uncovered by last summer’s storm are very likely those of Magnolia’s bow. Wood sample analyses should reveal additional pieces of the puzzle and help determine if this is indeed the case.
For more information on the Georgia Underwater Archaeology Program, visit www.gashpo.org/content/displaynavigation.asp?TopCategory=79.
nice and peacefull relaxing ……