Jekyll Island, GA

In 1886, Jekyll Island was purchased to become an exclusive winter resort for America's most elite families, known as the Jekyll Club. For more than 50 years, the nations leading families, including the Rockefellers, Morgans, Pulitzers, and Goulds came to Jekyll Island to secure an escape. 

The first wing of the club house was the structure to the left in the photo above. As the Jekyll Club grew, the large wing at the right was added.

Some visitors became tired of the noisy crowds at the main club house, and wanted a quieter retreat, but still wanted to use the amenities at the club house.  Henry B Hyde, of the Equitable Life Insurance Company, was the “manager” of the Club at the time. He decided to build the San Souci above, and sell units to those who wanted more privacy.

It wasn’t long until others started building their own “cottages”. Some are pictured below.

It wasn't long before Jekyll Island was a bustling winter community for the elite. An area of the island was designated for smaller homes for the visitors chauffeurs, boat captains, the steam ship captain who piloted the clubs own steam ship, cooks, and housekeepers.

Marc, Michele, Pat & I waited quietly to play a game of croquet, while sipping our mint juleps!

Then we wandered thru the club house, marveling at the exquisite furnishings.

The marina we were staying at had bicycles we could borrow, and the island had some very nice trails. A club employee we talked to said we should be sure to stop by Gator Lake on the way back.
Jekyll Island  was  a great stop! We just marvel every day at how much of this wonderful country we are seeing!

What an adventure!!!

Captn’ Ken 

Gator toes and beaches!

As we left St. Augustine early Thursday AM, we passed under the Bridge of Lions.

We were headed for Jacksonville Beach, where I hoped to hook up with Charlie & Arlene, boating friends from the 80’s. Six years ago they moved to Jacksonville, and I have not seen them since. Turns out they had both been in Tampa visiting their kids, but Charlie came home early for work. Arlene stayed. A quick phone call, and Charlie said he would come to the marina, and take us to a “neighborhood” establishment for dinner.

He took us to an establishment called Clark’s Fish Camp, located on a creek off the St Johns River.

When we arrived, I noticed numerous people looking over the guardrails, into the water. 

There are gators in these waters, and they expect part of your dinner!

When we walked inside, the place was FULL of animals! This restaurant is HUGE, and everywhere you look there are exotic stuffed animals and fish!  This is said to be one of the largest displays of exotic animals in the States.

There were even some specimens I have never seen!

This place didn’t miss a trick! Even the bathrooms made you feel like you were on a safari.

Even the menu was unique. I had the Gator Toes, with the house special Toe Jam dipping sauce!

Thursday  morning we headed to an anchorage at Cumberland Island State Park, just across the Florida / Georgia line. We have been in Florida a LOOOOOONG time! This is a large island that separates the North Atlantic Ocean and the Intracostal Waterway. It is sparsely populated, and mostly a State Park. There are wild horses here.

We followed a trail across the center of the island, through moss covered trees.

We soon saw sand dunes, welcoming us to the shore.

We spent the afternoon walking the beach and collecting shells.

On the way back, we found some exotic animals swinging in the trees. They better look out, or Clark will come for them!

Pat & Marc just blew their Conch shells, signaling another sundown, and an end to another fabulous day!

See Ya Next Time

Capt’n Ken

St. Augustine....

St. Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied city in the nation, settled in 1565 after first being discovered by Ponce de Leon in 1513!  Such history in these few square miles.  Let me share some of it with you.

St. Augustine began its renaissance in the 1800‘s with the arrival of Henry Flagler, the railroad tycoon.  Flagler constructed several decadent hotels including the Ponce de Leon hotel (now Flagler College), the Alcazar Hotel (now the city offices) and the Casa Monica (recently restored and returned to its roots as a beautiful hotel).    

The picture is the Alcazar Hotel.  Flagler built it as an entertainment hotel for guests at the Alcazar and at the Ponce de Leon Hotel.  It had a bowling alley and an indoor swimming pool to name a few.  Today, in addition to serving as the city offices, it is the venue for many weddings!

Casa Monica remains a hotel today!  It is absolutely spectacular!  We didn’t find out what a room rate is for a night but I am sure it is more than the Hampton! 

By far the highlight of our sight seeing was seeing the Ponce de Leon hotel that now is part of the Flagler College.  It is the picture shown at the beginning of the post and here.  Today it is a girls dormitory.  How lucky are these girls to be able to call this home for their college years.  The wiring in the hotel was done by Thomas Edison himself.

Above is the dome in the entry.  Anything you see that is gold is really GOLD!

The dining hall that seats 600 served in its day as both a formal dining hall and ballroom. 

The windows were done by Louis Tiffany, you know that name.  It is said to be one of his first if not his first project.  As you can see the windows are magnificent!!!!!

Moving on to other sights in St. Augustine.......we visited the oldest jail where Ken was arrested and locked in the bird cage cell.  The jail was actually used until 1953.  Per the jailers wife above, it was hot, stinky and a horrible place to be .  Fortunately she let Ken off easy!

You will be happy to know we both drank from the Fountain of Youth!  We will be around for many years to come as a result.  The story is that the Tumucuan Indians were living well into their 60’s while living in St. Augustine.  The white men were only living into their 40’s.  They figured it must be the water!  
We  finished our two days of seeing the sights with touring the oldest store, the oldest school, the catholic cathedral, Flager’s church and finally wine tasting at San Sebastian winery!  Whew!  We are tired!

What a wonderful stop on our loop!  Here is a shot from the water of this beautiful city!

Pat

 

Cruising to St. Augustine!

After we left Cocoa Village Marina, we stopped for a night in New Smyrna Beach Marina.  The rains came so we ate on the boat and called it a night early! 

The next morning we were headed for Fort Matanzas and an anchorage on the Matanzas River Inlet!  Our cruise took us past Daytona Beach!  It was Sunday and Spring Break in the area so there was a lot of boat traffic.  We were in no hurry and it was fun to enjoy the sights!

Daytona has 4 bridges, one of which has fancy tile pictures!  One is the International Speedway bridge but I couldn’t see the track!!  The shopping areas and the condos were very colorful.  One house had a beach scene carved in the stucco front!  Pretty darn fancy!

We arrived at our very windy anchorage in time to drop the dinghy and tour Fort Matanzas!  This was a fort built by the Spanish in the 1700’s to keep out the British!  A National Park Ranger was there to give us a history of the fort!  He was a wealth of information!   You can see 20BUCK$ anchored behind the fort!

After a short dinghy ride out to the inlet, we were back on the boat for Ken’s beauty treatment on the swim platform!

The tides change 3.5 feet in this anchorage so we were going to do a couple 180 turns during the night!  It was a spectacular night after a gorgeous sunset!  There were billions and billions of stars and a bright crescent moon! 

Enjoy the photos!  Next post will be on St. Augustine, the oldest city in the nation!  Pat