Jekyll Island Club Resort
Built in 1887 as the winter retreat of America's wealthiest families, the Jekyll Island Club drew Morgans, Rockefellers, Pulitzers, and Vanderbilts to its riverfront verandas, a Gilded Age enclave so exclusive that members were said to control a sixth of the world's wealth. General Lloyd Aspinwall, slated to be the club's first president, died in 1886 before it opened, and members later swore they glimpsed him pacing the Riverfront Veranda at dusk, hands clasped behind his back, but only on the September anniversary of his death. Railroad magnate Samuel Spencer, killed in a 1906 train collision, is said to never have abandoned his morning ritual: guests in his old Annex suite return to find their coffee sipped and their newspaper rumpled and refolded. And on the second floor, a bellhop in 1920s livery is reported to knock softly on doors, pressing the suits of bridegrooms the night before their weddings, as though the old club still insists every guest be looked after.
📍 371 Riverview Drive, Jekyll Island, GA 31527, Jekyll Island, GA · Get directions