We took off one morning headed to Brunswick, GA. We drove through Waycross and continued towards Brunswick. There was a fork in the road straight to Brunswick, right to Jekyll Island. I suggested we see what the Island was about. We turned right.

As you head towards the Island it’s a long road with great vegetation around and as you head to the toll gate, you can go left to the gift shop. We stopped in the gift shop and used the restroom, which were nice and clean. At the gift shop the lovely women working there, explain all the great things on the Island. I will say this small island has so much to offer. We only spent a few hours here because it was a cold rainy day but this is one of those places that you should spend a few days exploring.

As you leave the gift shop and drive on the island you will pay a toll to get on the island. We turned left towards the riverside of the island, towards the mansions and the old hotel. There are 5 mansions that face the river. We were there right after Christmas so they were still decorated. There are tours of the mansions, which we didn’t take because of the cold. They run them at certain times. Check at the gift shop for the times.  The ones I remember were the Rockefeller and the Goodyear mansions. These were their summer homes, the are absolutely beautiful from the outside.  Another thing in this area is the big gorgeous trees. There is Spanish moss everywhere and trees and flowers.

We walked around here for a while then we went up by the dock over the river. The tide was down on the river and so it was a little smelly.  We walked the dock where there is a small gift shop and a restaurant. We headed towards the pier but the wind was too strong and way too cold. So we headed back to the car.

We continued around the island and came upon this shell of Horton House.  This is a really cool stop. The walls are made with oyster shells in the mortar. There is also a grave site across the street that we visited. here are some pictures of both:

Down the road from the house is the Georgia Sea Turtle Center.  When you walk in you are in the gift shop and that is where you decide if you want to see the full center. I recommend going in and learning about the sea turtles that are in rehab.  There is an education portion before the turtle rehab that is hands on and fun. I had so much fun I didn’t take pictures of the rehabbing turtles.

We drove around the edge of the Island past the houses and hotels on the Island there is also a campground available and the prices are fairly good. At the end I will post the Jekyll Island website that has more in-depth description of what Jekyll Island has to offer. I also checked hotel prices and they are not too bad either.

On the ocean side of the island there is a small beach. In the parking lot of the beach there is a sign that says “do not torment the WILD dolphins” . I chuckled when I saw this because I don’t think of dolphins as WILD.  As we walked on the beach you can see dolphin tails in the water. We took some pictures from the beach. As we walked down the beach we  could see the fish jumping from the water and then there would be a rush of water.  It was the WILD dolphins doing some fishing. It was awesome to watch. It is hard to take a good picture but here is a picture of the dolphin fishing.

There are also these very large fallen cypress trees on the beach that are unbelievable. I would love to have seen the trees when they were standing tall.