Snowbirds Flock to Jekyll Island

While on our snowbird tour, we enjoyed our time in the campground at Jekyll Island State Park in Georgia so much we returned for a second stay. There was a good reason for that.  We have enjoyed every stop on our trip with Gracey (travel trailer), but Jekyll Island is so beautiful, and with so much to do in the area, we wanted a second chance to explore. In this post, we’ll give readers a glimpse into our first visit.

As is evident in the picture above large trailers and motorhomes fill the campground.  They arrive from a variety of regions, but predominately they come from the northern states and Canada, towed or driven by snowbirds seeking to avoid harsh winters back home. When walking the trails through the campgrounds, it is fun to count the number of different states and Canadian provinces represented.

On our first pass through the area, the skies were very clear, but the weather was cold and windy. Nevertheless, Helen (adorable wife) was determined to walk Driftwood Beach, just a very short distance away. This scenic beach is so named because the northern end of Jekyll Island is slowly eroding and deposited on the southern end of the island.  Large, dead trees end up tossed onto Driftwood Beach and resemble a tree graveyard. It makes for some great pictures, and some interesting beach walks although we found no shells or shark’s teeth.

Near the campground is the historic Jekyll Island Club and after leaving the beach, we toured it by car. The resort, founded in the late 1800’s, became the winter getaway for some of the country’s wealthiest families.  Names like Vanderbilt, Morgan, Pulitzer, and Rockefeller were among those on the membership roster and on the deeds of beautiful homes on the streets near the resort. The home on this picture belonged to the Rockefellers. A picture of the resort also is shown.  Please note that a group is playing croquet and dressed in traditional white clothing.

Snowbirds camping at Jekyll Island are a very busy bunch.  A whiteboard just outside the door of the community building listed all of the activities available to campers.  On a daily basis, coffee and donuts were available for early birds, and the room filled up pretty quickly with campers eager for conversation. A bus was always available to shuttle golfers to nearby courses or to take campers to town in Brunswick, or Saint Simons. Exercise enthusiasts had the opportunity for Zumba sessions or yoga classes, while another group immersed themselves in quilting or knitting. Since we were not going to stay very long on the first visit, we chose to do what we do best—find a great place to eat.

The name of the eatery that we heard most often was Southern Soul Barbeque in St. Simons.  Listed among the “Best in the South” by Southern Living Magazine in 2017, Southern Soul would be hard to pass up for anyone who considered themselves a barbeque junkie, and we qualified. We arrived in the late afternoon to order meals for take-out.

After salivating over the menu, Helen chose a brisket sandwich with coleslaw and fried green beans.  The sandwich was good and smoked well, and the green beans were an interesting twist to vegetables. She enjoyed them with a side of ranch dressing.  I had to get a slab of ribs, fried okra, and potato salad.  The ribs were meaty, and the sauce was very tasty and tangy. In all honesty, however, I’ve had better ribs.  I suspect that they were cooked a day or two earlier and refrigerated then re-heated…disappointing.  The potato salad was excellent. I ate everything nonetheless.

The disappointment with the ribs was a minor issue and did nothing to take away from our stay at Jekyll. On the drive to St. Simons I had to stop and capture a picture of one of the marshes that do much to enhance the beauty of the Island. On the return trip, I stopped to take the picture at the top of this page as dusk approached.  We’ll have more on our second visit to Jekyll Island and St. Simons in a future post. For now, I hope you enjoyed the pictures. We’re having fun just…Easin’ Along.