Golden Isles

Fun Places to Go

If you've read Edith Wharton's oeuvre and seen the film “Somewhere in Time” more than once, you've connected with a golden era in American history. For nearly 50 years starting in 1888, the world's wealthiest families—Gould, Morgan, Rockefeller and a league of Gilded Age titans known collectively as the Jekyll Island Club—wintered annually on Jekyll Island. The remarkable 240-acre Jekyll Island Club Historic Landmark District is a time capsule of Victorian gentility, a destination where visitors can dine in elegant surroundings, play croquet on a tournament greensward or take a moonlight carriage ride under an oak canopy, as the Jekyll millionaires did more than a century ago.

Vestiges of Georgia's colonial and plantation periods hold their own beside gated communities, pro-designed golf courses, art galleries, shopping enclaves and local restaurants ranging from barbecue joints to bistros throughout St. Simons Island. A swath of beach hugging the southeastern tip is a beehive of things to do with kids, particularly in the good ole summertime. Here, a quaint village with shops and food places, a fishing pier and several maritime attractions set a hospitable tone for leisure travelers.

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Two private islands espouse exclusivity. Long a favorite retreat of dignitaries and celebrities, Sea Island and its iconic luxury hotel, The Cloister, offer amenities expected of a sophisticated resort plus naturalist-led activities ensuring full immersion in the pristine environment. But if you've ever dreamed of owning an island, a few nights on Little St. Simons Island might be as close as you get to living the dream without going to an act of purchase. Only 32 lodge guests at a time have free roam of this uncompromised, 10,000-acre private sanctuary, begging the question, is extreme islanding a travel type?