Saving Jekyll...The Saga Continues

The image you see here was taken by my daughter. She visited Jekyll Island a few weeks ago and she had a blast. While the beach was nice what she really enjoyed was the parts of the island that are NOT developed.

I recently received the following by email and wanted to share it. Pay close attention the highlighted sections with information regarding how you can help:

When the Jekyll Island Authority’s (JIA) board of directors first announced its intent to undertake a comprehensive redevelopment of Jekyll Island State Park, a number of organizations urged the board to employ professionals in public land planning for the purpose of identifying the best path to follow in revitalizing the Park and to determine extent to which Jekyll can handle more development without negatively affecting the quality of the experience enjoyed by its visitors and without compromising the island’s environment or wildlife habitats.


Responding to public encouragement, the Authority recently conducted a planning study called an “Analysis of Long-Term Impacts of Development on Jekyll Island.” The study, which was done for the JIA by the Bleakly Advisory Group (BAG)—the consulting firm that selected Linger Longer Communities as the JIA’s private partner and helped write the request for proposals for the controversial Jekyll town center—marks a milestone in the history of the Jekyll development issue, as it offers a forecast of where BAG believes the Authority must head if it is to acquire the financial resources to maintain, operate and further develop Jekyll Island State Park and to boost visitation to desired levels.


Designed to provide an analytical framework for considering the appropriate level of future development on Jekyll Island, BAG’s study may prove to be one of the most important and influential documents in the history of Jekyll Island State Park. With its recommendation for increasing the number of Jekyll’s hotel rooms, condos and cottages from its existing 1,624 units to 3,700 units, and with its projected boost in the island’s average daily population from the existing 6,000 to 15,000 in peak season, the BAG report, understandably, has raised some eyebrows.


BAG will be holding a meeting at 2:00 on September 29th at the Jekyll Convention Center to summarize the report and take questions from the public. Anyone interested in the future of Jekyll Island State Park should consider attending this meeting.


People who will be unable to attend the meeting but would like have their voices heard at the session may send their comments or questions to the Initiative to Protect Jekyll Island State Park (IPJI) by writing to degan@igc.org.


The IPJI will then incorporate the input it receives into the questions its representatives will raise at the meeting.


A summary of the BAG report, and the full report itself, can be found at the IPJI’s website, Save Jekyll Island

You can see other posts I’ve written regarding Jekyll Island here and here.

Hello, Jekyll Island!

What are the three most important words in the history of telephone communication?

No, no, no. Don’t be silly. The answer is not “Watson, come here.”

Sure, those were the first words uttered by Alexander Graham Bell to his assistant Mr. Watson, but there are three words that matter even more, especially to Georgians, when it is concerning coast-to-coast communication.

On January 25, 1915 a group of men sat huddled around what we would consider today to be crude form of the telephone in the Jekyll Island Club off the coast of Georgia. In New York City a group of men including Alexander Graham Bell sat around a second phone. A third group sat with Bell’s assistant Thomas A. Watson in San Francisco while President Woodrow Wilson was ready to congratulate AT&T president Theodore Vail from the Oval Office of the White House.

An army of 1,500 AT&T employees stood at the ready from Jekyll Island, to Washington D.C. to New York, and across to San Francisco for any problem that might arise, and it’s a good thing too. Along the 4,500 mile line a pesky tree fell over the lines at some point, but it was soon removed and the line was reconnected.

Theodore Vail had his entire reputation and the success or failure of AT&T riding on his shoulders that day. At a point when it looked like AT&T would be going out of business and phone calls were limited to a 2,000 mile distance he make a huge prediction much like President Kennedy’s prediction regarding the United States reaching the Moon. Theodore Vail declared that coast-to-coast communication would occur and soon.

Of course all of Vail’s friends and colleagues had complete confidence in him. The Jekyll Island Blog quotes publisher B.C. Forbes….”What Woolworth was to the five-and ten, what McCormick was to the harvester, Vail is to the telephone. Bell invented it, but Vail put it on the map.”
Actually, a Newsday article advises that AT&T had completed the construction of the first transcontinental phone line when the last pole was erected in Wendover, Utah on June 27, 1914, and the first trancontinental call could have been made then. However, the company waited until the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco to open before the important call was made.

So, you might be wondering why such a momentous event took place on one of Georgia’s barrier islands. It’s very simple. Since 1886 members of the Jekyll Island Club had owned Jekyll Island using it as a winter hunting and vacation spot. Members included J.P. Morgan, Joseph Pulitzer, George Macy, Edwin Gould, Marshall Field, William Rockefeller, William Vanderbilt, Frank Goodyear, and of course, Theodore Vail. These business giants and their families enjoyed their island, their very large club, and their cottages (many were 8,000 plus square feet) for many years. W hen they were all present the members of the club represented over one-sixth of the world’s wealth at that time. Besides sunning, hunting, and supping the club members talked business. In fact, Jekyll Island is the location where the ideas behind the Federal Reserve Bank were hatched.

Actually though Vail had intended on leaving Jekyll Island in time to be in New York for the all important call, however, he injured his leg and was unable to make the trip.

When the big moment came on January 25, 1915 Alexander Graham Bell placed the call to Watson and said, “Mr. Watson, come here. I want you,” which of course was a reinactment of the first ever call made on March 10, 1876. A Newsday article regarding the transcontinental phone call advises Mr. Watson joked and stated it would take him “a week” to come here since “here” was in New York and he was in San Francisco.

The words “Hello, Jekyll Island,” also sounded across the phone lines as Mr. Vail was hailed and congratulations flew across both ends of the line, and President Wilson offered his words of pride to Bell and Vail.

The all important Jekyll Island Club survived for a bit longer as the playground of the rich, but during World War II and the increase of income taxes the club members began to come to the island less and less. The property was finally condemed by the State of Georgia for $675,000 in 1946. The island was then turned into a state park for all to enjoy. The club building is still on the island and is open as a resort. The “cottages” are still intact and can be toured. The magic of Jekyll is that the majority of the island is still natural and undeveloped; however, there are some who are attempting to change this.

Make sure you check out my related posts listed below.

Related Posts: Jekyll Island Development: What's Your Opinion?
A Shameful Part of Georgia's History

Jekyll Island Development: What's Your Opinion?

Jekyll Island is one of the jewels in Georgia’s crown. Since 1946 the island has been owned and controlled by the State of Geogia by and through the Jekyll Island Authority. Through legislation no more than 65 percent of the island can be developed. Unfortunately, the Jekyll Island Authority is proposing redevelopment of the island which includes allowing Linger Longer (LLC) to develop the main beach which is currently uninhabited by condos and hotels.

If they have their way the main beach, which is undeveloped natural oceanfront, will end up with a 64-acre town center with 277 condos, 160 time-share units and 3 hotels totaling 725 room. I guess “they” don’t get it……part of what makes Jekyll such a special place to go isn’t the condos, time-shares, and hotels….it’s the undeveloped natural oceanfront.

In a January 8th AJC article it appears the a lack of permit could delay the project but the war of words continues.

An article in the Florida Times Union advises the organization Save Jekyll Island found that a majority of people that took part in a survey want development to take place within existing footprints of current or former buildings, protecting the public’s beachfront access from development. The article states:

A grassroots organization, Save Jekyll Island was created to inform the public and hopefully halt some of the proposed development. Recently they put up a link to Senator Jeff Chapman's resolution that the public might want to think about suporting calling for the park’s main beach to be maintained for the benefit of the general public.

One interesting fact that has come to my attention is Wade Shealy of the Jekyll Island Company, which did not win the bid and since filed a lawsuit protesting the bidding process, estimates that the profits for the development will be $500 million…..that’s a $500 million profit for a private company developing a PUBLICALLY owned state park.

Wilson over at Whats Going On? provides a history behind the Linger Longer company and provides some more details regarding the bidding process in his post Linger Longer at Jekyll Island: Fact or Fiction? and Wade Shealy responds to Wilson’s questions in Jekyll Island Development: A Question of Fairness and Justice.

A blog, the Jekyll Island News is keeping people advised as well.

Here are a couple of opinion pieces….one from a letter to the editor published in the online version of the Athens Banner Herald from November, opinons from the Topix online forum., and a more recent opinion from January 14th in the Marietta Daily Journal.

Another must read is The Fight Over Jekyll Island State Park from the Daily Kos: State of the Nation.

As you can see this issue isn’t just for people along the coast. This is a matter for all Georgians to have their say.

What’s your opinion?