Jekyll Island Marathon

After visiting North Carolina for Rich’s dad’s 96th birthday, we traveled to Jekyll Island Georgia for a marathon, Jekyll Island is a barrier island south of Savannah with a long history. For thousands of years, the island was home to Native American groups. The Europeans arrived in the 16th century, and the island later passed between Spanish and British control before becoming part of Georgia. After changing hands several times, Jekyll Island was used for plantations where most of the workers were slaves. In 1947 the state of Georgia purchased the island and turned it into a park.

The island became famous as the Jekyll Island Club, an exclusive private retreat for some of America’s wealthiest families—Rockefellers, Morgans, Vanderbilts, Astors, and others. At the time it was considered one of the richest clubs in the world. The current club is a modest hotel popular with families.

This photo is near the marathon finish after we had been running in cold rain for more than 3 hours.

he day after the marathon was sunny and cold and we did a little exploring of the island.

Much of the island is preserved with bike paths and hiking trails.

Driftwood beach is one of the most unique areas of the island - a stretch of shoreline on the Island’s north end where the ocean has exposed an sculpted the roots and trunks of dead oak trees. Several movies and the Walking Dead TV series filmed scenes at this beach.

Staci looking out at the Atlantic on a cold winter day.

We also spent some time exploring St. Simons island to the North. St. Simons is larger and much more developed than Jekyll Island.

St. Simons lighthouse was built in 1810 to help guide ships through the dangerous St. Simons sound, a key waterway between Jacksonville and Savannah. Today it serves as a museum.