Sue Andersson, Jekyll Island Club Hotel
  
If there’s a detective lurking inside you just waiting to solve a “whodunit,” here’s the opportunity to become a super sleuth. The Jekyll Island Club Hotel has “An Island Getaway That’s Murder,” August 21-23, 2009. Expect the unexpected. Search for clues and solve the crime!
Guests are introduced to their master of ceremonies for the weekend, and almost immediately strange things begin happen. Be careful! You may be sitting next to…the “perp”! Meet other guests, become entrenched in the plot, and just have fun. The local detective answers all your questions as you try to uncover the real murderers.
  
The Jekyll Island Club Hotel is the perfect setting for a mystery. Located on a Georgia barrier island of great natural beauty, it’s a Victorian treasure. Recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 1978, it has been designated a Historic Hotel of America by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.Originally a hunting retreat for J.P. Morgan, Joseph Pulitzer, and their friends, the hotel today is a unique resort with architectural character and a charming historic ambience.
  
The Murder Mystery Package includes traditional accommodations with king or two double beds for two nights, welcome reception with open bar and heavy hors d’ oeuvres dinner on Friday evening, group breakfast buffet Saturday morning, group lunch, reception with cash bar and dinner Saturday evening, and closing Sunday breakfast. The package price is $899.00 per couple or $645.00 for a single.
  
All taxes and gratuities are included; resort fee is extra. The Weekend requires a minimum of 15 packages to be sold 30 days prior to event or hotel reserves the right to cancel the event. Cancellations within 14 days of event forfeit 50% of package price.
  
For more information or reservations contact the Jekyll Island Club Hotel, 371 Riverview Drive, Jekyll Island, Georgia, 31527, or call 800-535-9547or 912-635-2600. The e-mail address is reservations@jekyllclub.com. Visit the website at www.jekyllclub.com.

Tags: couples vacation, detective weekend, Georgia, georgia beaches, golden isles, jekyll island, jekyll island club, Jekyll Island Club Hotel, murder mystery weekend, mystery theme trip, theme vacation
Posted in Beachscape, May 2009 | No Comments »

By Andrea Marroquin
 
 
Jekyll Island Club Member Cornelius Newton Bliss, one of the biggest dry goods merchants of New York, was frequently nominated for public office and just as frequently declined the honor, refusing opportunities to be elected governor and mayor of New York and even turning down the opportunity to be President McKinley’s running mate in the 1900 national elections before Theodore Roosevelt accepted the nomination.
 
 
Like Theodore Roosevelt, Cornelius Bliss was a proponent of preserving America’s public lands. Perhaps for this reason, Bliss, famous for refusing public office, did accept the position of 21st United States Secretary of the Interior in President McKinley’s cabinet from March 6, 1897 to February 19, 1899. In this capacity, Bliss focused his attentions, in part, on forest preservation.
“The preservation of public forests. . . is a matter of vital interest to the entire nation,” Bliss proclaimed in November of 1897, in those days before the birth of the United States Forest Service. In his care were an estimated 1,835,017,692 acres of public lands including 19 Forest Reserves which encompassed almost 19 million acres. Bliss reported to the President regarding the need for “adequate laws for their protection and the proper enforcement thereof, coupled with the inauguration of a comprehensive forest system.”
 
 
“It was my intention originally to establish a forest bureau in this department, but the inadequacy of the appropriation for the work precluded my carrying into effect such [a] plan,” Bliss lamented.
 
 
Bliss had a relatively modest proposal for a beginning Forest Bureau, which he described as a trained corps of 50-60 professional forest agents, supervisors, patrolmen, and assistants to patrol the reserves and enforce regulations. While he was unable to establish a Forest Bureau during his tenure in office owing to a lack of funds, he did go a long way towards establishing a vision for preserving the nation’s forest resources. He spoke of the benefits of such a plan to preserve timber, prevent forest fires, and save the country’s forests for future generations.
 
 
Perhaps his greatest legacy as Secretary of the Interior was made through his hiring of Gifford Pinchot, who was related to Jekyll Island Club Member Amos F. Eno. In 1898, Bliss chose Pinchot as Chief of the Division of Forestry to design an organization to manage the nation’s forests. Pinchot was the nation’s first native professional forester. Under Pinchot, the Bureau of Forestry eventually became known as the United States Forest Service.
 
 
Pinchot advocated the conservation of the nation’s Forest Reserves by planned use and renewal and coined the term “conservation ethic” as it applied to natural resources. It was Pinchot who established the mission of the U.S Forest Service “to provide the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people in the long run.” He would run the U.S. Forest Service until 1910.
 
 
Today, the United States possesses a system of 155 National Forests, scientifically managed for multiple uses, including recreation, timber, wilderness, minerals, water, grazing, fishing, and wildlife management. Thanks in part to the enthusiasm, planning, and vision of predecessors such as Cornelius Newton Bliss and Gifford Pinchot, the Forest Service recently celebrated its 100th Anniversary. It is now launching into a new century of service in the United States.
 
 
An active Jekyll Island Club Member, Bliss served on the Executive Committee overseeing Jekyll Island’s management for at least 17 years, from 1892 to 1909, and owned a private flat in the Jekyll Island Clubhouse Annex. Bliss also helped raise funds to build the Jekyll Island Club Stables, purchasing Stall Number Two.
 
 
The historic Club Stables, located on Stable Road, is now the home of the Jekyll Island Museum. It contains exhibits and a Museum Store and is the gateway for daily tours of Jekyll Island’s 240-acre National Historic Landmark District. Call or visit the Jekyll Island Museum at (912) 635-4036 for more information about its many famous Jekyll Island Club Members and its daily tours of Jekyll Island’s historic district.

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Posted in April 2009, Beachscape | No Comments »

On This Day in Jekyll History…February 24, 1917, Edwin Gould, Jr. dies tragically while at Jekyll Island.

One of the great tragedies of the Jekyll Island Club era took place on a nearby marsh hammock. Kate Brown, tutor to the Macy children recorded it in her diary as such:

“There was a dreadful accident here last evening which makes us feel sad today. Eddy Gould, the one young man in (his) twenties in the Island and son of the Mr. Gould who brought us down here, went out last night to visit his coon traps. He had set them on a lovely island, separated from Jekyll by a mile or more of water and marsh, and the only person who went with him was a young man who is tutoring the Dowes children. It was a very dark night and Eddy Gould bent over a trap which was sprung to see what it had caught. In bending he knocked against his gun which he had carelessly left cocked and it went off, shooting him through the stomach and killing him. The tutor had to leave him there and struggle back to land. He was entirely unfamiliar with the swamp and overturned twice in his canoe and waded waist deep before he got back. It was hours before help could get there.”

The Goulds, who had been a very active part of the Jekyll Island Club rarely returned to the island after that day. Their home Chichota, falling into disrepair, was eventually demolished by the Club in 1940, leaving only the foundations and two stone lions standing guard in silent tribute.

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

Tags: 1917, Edwin Gould, jekyll island, jekyll island club, jekyll island history
Posted in History comes Alive, Uncategorized | No Comments »

On This Day in Jekyll History…February 19, 1917, Dr. Walter Belknap James elected to membership in the Jekyll Island Club.

Born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1857, Walter was the son of Henry James, a wealthy lumber merchant and banker, and Amelia Belknap Cate. He received his BA from Yale University in 1879 and an MD degree from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University. Further honorary degrees were conferred by Columbia (LLD), Yale(MA), and Harvard(LLD).

Dr. James was very career centered and practiced medicine in New York City from 1883 until he died, starting as a General Practitioner and then specializing in heart and lungs. He was a lecturer and professor at the College of Physicians and Surgeons and head of medical services at the New York Academy of Medicine. He was a visiting physician at Presbyterian Hospital and Roosevelt Hospital; a consulting physician at Bellevue Hospital for the Ruptured and Crippled and President of the Adirondack Cotte-Sanitarium at Saranac Lake, NY. James was the Chairman of the NY State Hospital Development Commission and instituted a complete re-organization of the Hospital System in the State of NY. He was on the Medical Committee of the American Red Cross Hospital in Paris, France and a Trustee for life at Columbia University.

In 1894 he married Helen Goodsell Jennings. Their children were: Oliver, Walter, Jr. who died at 18 months, Helen, and Eunice who married Henry E. Coe (also a Jekyll Club member).

In 1917 Dr. James purchased an apartment in Sans Souci from John Albright. Then in 1925 he bought the Shrady Cottage and renamed it “Cherokee Cottage”. The extended James family contained many Club members and he was very active in Club affairs and social life, eventually serving as President of the Jekyll Island Club from 1919 until his death in 1927.

or become a Fan of the Jekyll Island Museum on Facebook

Tags: Dr. Walter Belknap James, jekyll island, jekyll island club, jekyll island history
Posted in Diversions, History comes Alive | No Comments »

The Jekyll Island Club Hotel launched a $4.2 million renovation. The project will result in a complete refurbishment of the public areas and guest rooms in the Hotel’s Clubhouse, Annex and Sans Souci buildings, and the addition of 5000 square feet of conference space to the existing Ballroom. Design & Supply of suburban Philadelphia, selected by Hotel General Manager Kevin Runner for the project, has been serving the hospitality industry for over 25 years in the New England and Mid-Atlantic areas. The company has extensive experience with leading hotels and resorts including the Desmond Great Valley Hotel and Conference Center in Malvern, Pennsylvania, the Prestwick Chase in Saratoga Springs, New York and the Gettysburg Hotel in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Guest rooms will have new furniture and soft goods and be repainted. New carpet will be installed and wood floors refinished. According to designer Lee Stranburg, “The buildings are unique in themselves; a different color scheme has been selected for each one. The Club has rich tones in the fabrics and warm beiges on the walls. Sans Souci fabrics are cheerful and bright with a calming green on the walls to balance the effect. The Annex projects a sense of serenity with cream walls and blue fabrics.” Guests will enjoy flat-panel, 32” television displays that will be installed in the guest rooms. Bathrooms in 68 guest accommodations will be completely redone with replacement of floor tile, wall tile, wall coverings, granite vanities, mirrors and lighting, custom shower curtains and bathroom fixtures. With the completion of this project scheduled for early spring, all 134 guest bathrooms in the Club, Annex and Sans Souci buildings will have been completely renovated. At this time, the hotel will implement a nosmoking policy in all guest rooms. The Jekyll Island Club Hotel, constructed in 1886-1902, has been designated a Historic Hotel of America by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and it continues to win awards annually for its conference facilities and services. Originally a hunting retreat for the nation’s wealthy elite, the hotel today is a unique resort with architectural character and a charming historic ambience. For more information on this project, reservations, group meetings or weddings, please contact the Jekyll Island Club Hotel, 371 Riverview Drive, Jekyll Island, GA, 31527, or call 912-635-2600.

Tags: georgia beach vacation, jekyll island, jekyll island club, the jekyll island club hotel
Posted in Beachscape, February 2008 | No Comments »