The entire length of Georgia's seacoast is covered with a string of large barrier islands that include many small islands known as hammocks. Jekyll Island, one of the most famous Golden Isles, lies just off the Georgia coast from Brunswick. Its modern history dates back to 1733 when General James Oglethorpe established an English settlement, naming the island after his friend Sir Joseph Jekyll. Originally, the island was primarily used for agriculture. A few decades later the DuBignon Family, ousted by the French Revolution, arrived in America and purchased the island in 1792. Ownership remained in the family for almost 100 years.
   In 1885 the Jekyll Island Club was formed. The plantation days came to a close as the island was transformed into a resort for those elite of the Gilded Age. Jekyll Island became the most inaccessible, exclusive, and richest clubs in the world. From 1886 through 1942 the Jekyll Island Club received some of the most luminary figures of the 19th and 20th centuries. Soon after the Depression Era and during World War II the club suffered financially and the state purchased the land in 1947.
   Today, 65 percent of the island remains in an undeveloped state. The remainder of the island features golf courses, biking paths, public beaches, a convention center and its landmark historic district that dates back to the late 1800s. One of the most recognized landmarks on the island is the Jekyll Island Club Hotel. The club hotel underwent a massive restoration project, with cost estimates at 20.5 million, and became one of the largest projects in the state of Georgia. The award winning transformation, a Victorian beauty, turned the Jekyll Island Club Hotel into a first class resort once again. The 157 room clubhouse is the centerpiece of Jekyll Island's National Historic Landmark District.

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