Six remarkable historic figures that every Jekyll Island visitor should know

Jekyll Island’s modern history is among the most storied in the South. Since General James Oglethorpe colonized it in 1733, the island has experienced four distinct periods: the Colonial Era, the Plantation Era, the Club Era, and the State Era. During the Colonial Era, Oglethorpe and his men successfully fought off invading Spaniards to form the Georgia colony and learned to grow acres of indigo and barley in the sandy coastal soil. The island’s Plantation Era, from 1792 to 1862, was filled with attacks from British ships, with soldiers raiding homes and stealing enslaved plantation workers. It’s also marked by the arrival of the infamous slave ship, the Wanderer , in 1858. The Jekyll Island Club Era lasted until the 1940s, and during that period, Jekyll was known as the most exclusive,