Jekyll Island

Jekyll Island was originally named Ospo by the Native Americans, Gualdaquini by the Spanish, and Isle de la Somme by the French. In January 1793, General James E. Oglethorpe named the island after Sir Joesph Jekyll (1663-1738) who was a lawyer and statesman who helped finance the colonial venture.

The Spanish first came on the island around 1556 and maintained a Jesuit mission until around 1742. In 1791, four Frenchmen purchased the island, and the du Bignon family owned Jekyll Island until 1886. The first Englishman to settle here was Major William Horton; he established a brewery to supply the Frederica community on St. Simons Island nearby.

From 1888 to 1942, millionaires including Astor, Morgan, Pulitzer, Rockefeller, and Vanderbilt maintained cottages here. In 1947, the State of Georgia bought the island for $675,000 to establish the Jekyll Island State Park with 11,000 acres consisting of ten miles of white sandy beach.