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Georgia

Spend Christmas on Historic Jekyll Island

Program No. 13410RJ

Celebrate Christmas on Jekyll Island, where you’ll enjoy world-class cuisine, explore the festively decorated National Historic District and learn the grand story of this “Golden Isle.”

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6 days

5 nights

13 meals

4B 4L 5D

Check-In, Registration, Orientation, Welcome Dinner

Jekyll Island, GA

Historic District, Turtle Center, Musician

Jekyll Island, GA

History & Culture on Saint Simons Island, Gullah Performance

Jekyll Island, GA

Cookies, Ecology, High Tea, Jekyll Lights by Trolley

Jekyll Island, GA

Christmas Brunch, Boat Tour, Present Swap

Jekyll Island, GA

Program Concludes

Jekyll Island, GA

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At a Glance

Experience the splendor and history of Jekyll Island during the Holiday season! More than a century ago, many of the nation's richest families, such as the Rockefellers and the Pulitzers, discovered the serenity and beauty of the jewel of Georgia's east coast. It became the winter retreat for many wealthy families. Imagine Christmas through the ages as you venture inside the cottages in the National Historic District with some curators in period dress. Complement the program with dinners at the nationally renowned Jekyll Island Club Hotel and the Jekyll Ocean Club. Other highlights include presentations of the Gullah-Geechee culture, a visit to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center and holiday high tea.

Activity Level

Easy Going

Walking a few blocks per day and getting on & off a bus during the St Simon's field trip. At the hotel, there are steps leading from the Bellstand to the veranda at the entrance (there is a handicap lift available). There are also 4 steps leading to the front desk. There is a gift shop at the hotel that has steps as well, which include 3 steps up and 3 steps down.

Best of all, you’ll…

Enjoy an unforgettable Christmas Day brunch in the Grand Dining Room of the renowned Jekyll Island Club Hotel.
Get into the holiday spirit on the Holly Jolly Trolley as we enjoy the festive holiday music, hear historic anecdotes, and see more than a million lights adorning the Jekyll Historic District.
Spend an afternoon on the largest of the “Golden Isles,” St. Simon’s Island.

General Notes

Due to the nature of this program, listening devices are not available.

Featured Expert

All trip experts

Georgia Graves

Georgia Graves has developed and coordinates teacher training workshops on Georgia's sea turtles, shorebirds, marine mammals and coastal ecology for the Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve, one of 26 such reserves in North America. Georgia leads nature and history programs and works with Georgia's sea turtle conservation project.

Please note: This expert may not be available for every date of this program.

Georgia Graves View biography

JoAnn Buisson View biography

JoAnn Buisson is a retired elementary school teacher from Boston, Mass. After college, she was employed as a nursery school teacher until 1981. She remained at home until 1994 in order to raise her children. In 1994, JoAnn accepted a position with a local elementary school as an art teacher, eventually retiring in 2014. Upon retirement, she moved to Jekyll Island with her husband. She continues her interest in the arts, taking several classes in pottery.

Suggested Reading List (2 books)

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Spend Christmas on Historic Jekyll Island

Program Number: 13410

Splendid Isolation: The Jekyll Island Millionaires Club 1888-1942

by Pamela Bauer Mueller

AN HISTORICAL NOVEL Untamed, and virtually unchanged since its discovery in 1733 by General James Oglethorpe, Jekyll Island s history unfolds with the excitement and suspense of a fairy tale. Because so many of the world s greatest minds and bank accounts gathered together in virtual isolation for three months each year, history was made on Jekyll Island. A group of tycoons with surnames such as Rockefeller, Morgan, Vanderbilt, Pulitzer, Baker and others formed their exclusive Millionaires Club on this island hideaway the richest and most inaccessible club of that time. Between 1888 and 1942, Jekyll Island was open only to Club members families and their guests for hunting, relaxing and playing in luxurious ease. In this sweeping historical saga, you will discover the Millionaires joys, tribulations, and deeply guarded secrets told through the unique voices of four Club employees. In this true story of the island getaway that offered them sovereignty, discover how the decisions of these powerful men changed the face of world finances, business and politics as they built modern America.

The Jekyll Island Colony

by June Hall McCash

During the Gilded Age, Jekyll Island, Georgia, was one of the most exclusive resort destinations in the United States. Owned by the most elite and inaccessible social club in America, a group whose members included Rockefellers, Pulitzers, Vanderbilts, Goulds, and Morgans, this quiet refuge in the Golden Isles was the perfect winter getaway for the wealthy new industrial class of the snowbound North. In this delightful book, a companion volume to The Jekyll Island Club: Southern Haven for America's Millionaires, June Hall McCash focuses on the social club's members and the "cottages" they built near the clubhouse between 1888 and 1928. Illustrated with hundreds of never-before-published photographs from private family collections, The Jekyll Island Cottage Colony tells the stories of each home, the owners' connections with the island, and their interactions with one another.

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Spend Christmas on Historic Jekyll Island

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At a Glance

Best of all, you’ll…

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