December Beachscape - Jekyll Island, GA

Celebrate Holiday Island on Holiday Island

Each holiday season, Jekyll Island is transformed into Holiday Island with millions of lights, a special tour of the Jekyll Island Club Era cottages, loads of special events, and of course, an extra special dash of southern hospitality! So, when you visit, take the driving tour, don’t miss the “Holidays in History Tour” at the Jekyll Island museum, pick up a Faith Chapel commemorative ornament, and visit www.jekyllisland.com/holidayisland to plan all the events you want to attend.

And enter our photo contest!

Guests Enjoy the Holidays In History Tour on Jekyll Island

This holiday season, the Jekyll Island Museum gives the remarkable gift of time travel. That’s right, guests embarking on the tour, entitled “The Holidays in History,” can expect to experience holiday celebrations from the 1700s to the present day.

This holiday tour hints at how Christmas traditions first arrived in this country and transformed through time. Tours will begin at the Jekyll Island Museum on Stable Road, with a guide shepherding small groups of guests through the centuries by lantern-light. Along the pathway through time, they will encounter a series of costumed interpreters representing characters from the island’s past.

Throughout the evening, time travelers will encounter period characters celebrating the holidays at particular moments in time to the music of the day. Guests will sample gingerbread and help to decorate a Paradise tree in the 1780s. Next they will travel to the 1870s-1880s to meet a representative of the Dubignon family, which owned Jekyll Island for almost a century. In 1890, during the Jekyll Island Club Era, they will encounter Head Housekeeper Minnie Schuppan showing off her holiday decorations for Club Cottage. They will then encounter Club Superintendent Ernest Grob preparing for the 1899 club season. Finally, they will be mistaken for newly-arrived Jekyll Island Club Members when they visit Indian Mound, the World War I Era cottage of William Rockefeller.

Guests will hear the carols that were popular in each period and see costumed interpreters perform reenactments of how the holidays may have been celebrated from the Colonial period, to the Victorian period, and into World War I. Along the way, meaningful customs of each time will be revealed.

To create a warm holiday memory in the present day, take the “Holidays in History” tour! This program will be offered on Saturdays and Sundays, December 8-16, at 7:00, 8:00 & 9:00 p.m. The special rate for this seasonal tour is $10 for Adults, $5 for Children 6-12, and Free Under 6. Space is limited and reservations are required. For reservations and more information contact the Jekyll Island Museum at (912) 635-4036.

By Andrea Marroquin, Museum Specialist

The Jekyll Island Museum’s 2007 collectible Christmas ornament depicts historic Faith Chapel. The three-dimensional ornament is part of a series of collectibles representing Jekyll Island’s historic structures. The first in the series, portraying Hollybourne Cottage, was presented last year for the 2006 holiday season.

Faith Chapel was the second chapel on the island. Union Chapel was the first, built in 1898, but was outgrown almost immediately. Faith Chapel was built in 1904 as an interdenominational house of worship for the Jekyll Island Club. Club members and employees attended services and were active in the church choir. Kate Brown, governess to the Valentine Everit Macy family, wrote about participating in the church choir during the 1917 season. After one practice for an offertory hymn, she wrote “we hope people will drop enough money in the plate to drown us out!”

Full of architectural whimsy, the chapel contains elements of many architectural styles, from its cypress shingle interior and exterior to its gothic elements. Six animal carvings, called grotesques, ornament the roof trusses and guard the interior of the building, while four terra cotta gargoyles surround the steeple.

Two important works of American stained glass were also commissioned for the chapel. David Maitland Armstrong and his daughter Helen designed the exquisite altar window, entitled “Adoration of the Christ Child,” in honor of Club Member Joseph Stickney. Joseph Stickney was head of Conyingham & Co., an anthracite coal company in Pennsylvania. He was a founding member of the Jekyll Island Club, and as a member of the Jekyll Island Associates he had an apartment on the first floor of the Sans Souci. The window created in his honor depicts the Magi visiting Mary and the baby Jesus and is well worth a visit during the Christmas season.

A second window, signed by famous artist Louis Comfort Tiffany, portrays the theme “David Set Singers Before the Lord.” It was added to the western façade of the building in 1921, in memory of Club Member Frederick Gilbert Bourne, head of the Singer Sewing Machine Company and a director of many other firms, including the Aeolian Co., the Knickerbocker Safe Co., and more.

Faith Chapel continues to charm visitors and is a popular location for wedding services, special events, and meditation today. The interior is typically open for viewing 2:00-4:00 pm daily, when not otherwise reserved for a special occasion.

There is only one recorded Faith Chapel Wedding involving a Club Members’ family. Charles and Charlotte Maurice’s youngest daughter Emily was married to Charles Whitney Dall in Faith Chapel in December of 1911. The next Christmas Emily stayed with her in-laws, but wrote happily to her father, “Mrs. Dall vows it’s my duty to go to Jekyl this year for Christmas! Hurrah!”

For all those who hold the Christmas season on Jekyll Island special, the new Faith Chapel ornament makes a thoughtful gift. It is also a wonderful memento for those who celebrated their vows in the small island church.

The 2007 collectible ornament is currently available at the Museum Store located in the old Club Stables on Stable Road, (912) 635-4168. It is also available online at www.jekyllisland.com. The first shipment of ornaments went quickly last year and interested parties are encouraged to purchase their collectible ornaments early, in order to have them in time for the holiday.

By Kim Tripp, Contributing Editor

The season for giving is upon us, and American Express has made it easier to donate to the Jekyll Island Foundation, or your charity of choice, through their online GivingExpress® program. American Express will even reward your generosity with membership rewards points. Now through Dec. 31, 2007, when you make your charitable donation you can earn double Membership Rewards points for every dollar you give with an eligible, enrolled American Express Card.

When you contribute to the Jekyll Island Foundation, your gift goes to support conservation, historic preservation and environmental education efforts on Jekyll Island. The non-profit Jekyll Island Foundation was created to support the Jekyll Island Authority and fund projects that both protect the Island and enhance our enjoyment of the island. For instance, your financial support enables The Georgia Sea Turtle Center, a research and a rehabilitation center for endangered and threatened sea turtles as well as a center for public education.

Donating online through the GivingExpress® program means that your transaction will be processed quickly and your information will remain safe and secure. Credit card donations help non-profit organizations reduce administrative costs so that they can do more with the money you give. It eliminates the need to have paid staff or volunteers accept donations by phone.
Of course, your donation is tax deductible. When you donate through the GivingExpress® program, you will receive an email receipt. This receipt will provide the amount, transaction date, and the charity name; all things you will need to satisfy your tax records.

Just visit the Foundation’s website at www.jekyllislandfoundation.org to help support and protect a place that we all love, Jekyll Island.

SPOTLIGHT: UPCOMING EVENTS (click here to visit the event page on www.jekyllisland.com)

Tuesday, December 4, 2007 :: 4:00 p.m.
Candlelight Tour and Reception, Jekyll Island Club Hotel.
Tour the Hotel by candlelight. 912-635-2600. Free.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007 :: 1:30 p.m.
Holiday Chef’s Demonstration, Jekyll Island Club Hotel.
“Sweet and Savory Christmas Pies” is a demonstration of delicious ways to please yuletide guests. 912-635-2600. Admission.

Friday, December 7, 2007 :: 7:30 p.m.
1810 Holiday Dinner with the DuBignons, Jekyll Island Club Hotel. Step into the year 1810 with “M. and Mme. Christophe DuBignon.” Reservations & admission required. 912-635-2600.

Saturday, December 8, 2007 :: 10:00 a.m.
Christmas Woodcarving Workshop, Jekyll Island Club Hotel.
Carve yourself a merry little Christmas memento under the direction of master woodcarver, Clay Smith. 912-635-2600. Admission fee.

Saturday, December 8, 2007 :: 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.
Holiday Storytelling and Children’s Choir, Days Inn & Suites. Enjoy holiday tales and festive music with hot chocolate and cookies. Free with donation of a wrapped gift or a non-perishable food item. 912-635-9800

Monday, Dec. 10 - Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007:: 4 p.m.
Holiday High Tea, Jekyll Island Club Hotel. Tea sandwiches, scones, and exquisite petite pastries complement the perfect cup of tea in Grand Dining Room. 912-635-2600. Admission fee.

Friday, December 14, 2007 :: 7:30 p.m.
Community Christmas Party, Jekyll Island Club Hotel. Small group? You can still have a special Christmas party in the Club Ballroom. Reservations & Admission fees. 912-635-2600.

Saturday, December 15, 2007 :: 12 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Santa’s SEAson’s Greetings, Georgia Sea Turtle Center.
Santa visits at 1:30 p.m., 3:30 p.m., & 5:30 p.m. Adults: $6/adults; children 4-12: $4; children 3 & under: free. 912-635-4444

Saturday, December 15, 2007 :: 7:30 p.m.
A Dickens Feast, Jekyll Island Club Hotel. Based on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, the Atlanta acting company revists Christmas. Reservations & Admission required. 912-635-2600.

Sunday, December 16, 2007 :: 11:30 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Santa at Crane Cottage, Jekyll Island Club Hotel. Jolly Old St. Nick welcomes children at Crane Cottage with an invitation to share their Christmas wishes. A photographer is available to capture the moment (fee). Reservations required. 912-635-2600

Sunday, December 16, 2007 :: 3 p.m.
Carols of the Bells, Jekyll Island Club Hotel. The Hand Bell Choir of St. Simons Presbyterian Church in concert. 912-635-2600. Admission fee.

Monday, Dec. 17 - Monday, Dec. 24 :: 4:00 p.m.
The Jekyll Christmas Bagpiper, Jekyll Island Club Hotel. Scottish bagpiper Tim Akins pipes each evening at dusk during the week preceding Christmas. 912-635-2600. Free.

Monday, Dec. 17 - Monday, Dec. 24 :: 4:00 p.m.
4th Annual La Posada, Jekyll Island Convention Center. A Mexican Christmas tradition! 877-4-JEKYLL.

Monday, December 17, 2007 :: 7 p.m.
Flute Choir and Ensemble Concert, Jekyll Island Club Hotel
A choir of a dozen flutes and the Stewart-Law Chamber Ensemble. Reservations are required. 912-635-2600.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007 :: 7:30 p.m.
Celtic Christmas Concert, Jekyll Island Club Hotel
In the tradition of Irish folk music, “Malarkey” plays a concert of Christmas airs. 912-635-2600. Admission fee required.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007 :: 7:30 p.m.
“A Child’s Christmas in Wales”, Jekyll Island Club Hotel
Dr. Dennis Elkins from SCAD presents this classic story. 912-635-2600. Admission fee required.

Friday, December 21 :: 5 p.m.
Caroling at the Club, Jekyll Island Club Hotel. Carol folks at Crane and Cherokee Cottages, the Club, and Sans Souci. Hot cocoa and cookies afterwards. 912-635-2600. Free

Monday, December 31, 2007:: 7:30 p.m.
New Year’s Eve Celebration, Jekyll Island Club Hotel. With parties in the Grand Dining Room, Courtyard at Crane, and the Captain’s Table Club Cotillion, there is something for everyone to enjoy. Reservations & admission required. See www.jekyllclub.com for pricing. 912-635-2600. Admission fee required.

Monday, December 31, 2007:: 8 p.m.
New Year’s Eve Big Band Bash, Jekyll Island Convention Center. $25 admission per person includes Hors d’oeuvre buffet, party favors, champagne toast, and the sounds of the finest Big Band in the Southeast! Visit www.jekyllbigband.org for info.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Island Treasures Kick-Off, Jekyll Island Beaches. Comb the beaches of Jekyll to find beautiful, one-of-a-kind glass fishing floats.Each day a select number of the floats are placed along the beaches just above the high tide line. If you find an Island Treasure then it’s yours to keep! 1-877-4-JEKYLL.

Thursday, January 3 - Saturday, January 5, 2008
32nd Annual New Year’s Bluegrass Festival, Jekyll Island Convention Center. Don’t miss out on the 32nd Annual New Year’s Bluegrass Festival. If you love Bluegrass, this is the way you’ll want to kick off 2008. 877-4-JEKYLL. Admission fee.