December 2008

In this issue.....
 

• Hotel News
• Events
• Chef's Notes
• History
• Gift Shops
• Packages
• Island Events

New Years Eve Package

     Come join the celebration and festivities at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel for New Years Eve. Count down the seconds to the New Year with someone special. We have a party for everyone!

The package Includes:
• Two nights accommodations with Queen, King or Two Double Beds
• Your choice of New Years Eve Dinner and celebration including party
    favors and champagne toast at midnight

Grand Dining Room (Dinner Menu )

Early Seating $549.00*     Late Seating $599.00*
Captain's Table Club Cotillion (Hall of Mirrors) $549.00*
Courtyard at Crane $449.00*

* This offer is per couple. All tax and gratuities on package features and resort fee are extra. Courtyard at Crane is serving their regular a la carte menu. Deluxe and suite upgrades available for an additional fee per night. Subject to availability. Valid 12/30/08 - 1/1/09 or 12/31/08 - 1/2/09.

Craig and Sandi Hodge Win Drawing for Bed and Breakfast Package

     Mr. and Mrs. Craig Hodge of Yulee, Florida, are delighted to have won the drawing for the Bed & Breakfast Package at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel. Their prize includes beautiful Victorian accommodations with king, queen or two double beds and breakfast buffet in the Grand Dining Room.
     While they are at the resort, the Hodges will be able to enjoy tournament level croquet, heated swimming pool, putting green, and a tour of this historic hotel. Other available amenities on the island include three eighteen-hole golf courses, a tennis center, horse back riding, the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, miles of biking and hiking trails, and charter fishing and boating opportunities. Tram tours of the Historic District are also available.

     Sign up now for your chance to win a free Bed and Breakfast Package. Come enjoy this spectacular National Historic Landmark. Make the Jekyll Island Club Hotel your home away from home.
     A winner is selected each month and announced in the next issue of the Club News. Click here to register.
     For full Bed and Breakfast package details click here.

Love Knotts Opens at the Club

     Love Knotts, located on the garden level of the Annex building, opened mid-November with customers waiting at the door to see everything this new shop has to offer. It not only is a florist shop with a variety of beautiful cut flowers, potted plants and seasonal arrangements, Love Knotts also has gifts and accessories to please everyone on your Christmas list.
     Miriam Conley and Wren Thomas, her son and partner, have selected handsome, unique items for the store. Work by local potters and other craftsmen are on display as well as watercolors and other paintings. The shop also has specialty pieces of glassware, serving pieces, and gift items.
      “We offer a full spectrum of floral services for weddings, anniversary parties, birthdays and other social functions,” says Miriam. “With more than 20 years of experience in the area, we’re able to accommodate traditional tastes as well as contemporary concepts in design for our clients.”
     Love Knotts is open seven days a week from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. They may be reached by phone at 912-635-2600, extension 1010, or email here.

Riverview Gallery

     Long admired for her exquisite wedding photographs and family beach portraits, Kathy Lipthratt at last opened her photo gallery at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel November 30th. “This has been my dream for some time, to open a gallery at the Hotel,” says Kathy. “There could hardly be a more beautiful setting for wedding pictures, or any pictures, for that matter.”
     Riverview Gallery, located on the garden level of the Annex and easily accessible from the courtyard, has an evolving photographic display of Kathy’s work, both in black and white and in color. Staff is on hand to talk with clients about their requirements from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.
     Kathy Lipthratt at Riverview Gallery specializes in wedding photography. She says, “We ensure that our clients get the quality and creativity they are looking for on their special day. Our goal is to help make each Wedding Day a memory of a lifetime, capturing photos that tell the story as if we weren't there. We want to make sure every detail is photographed and shows the love that went into the making of this special time in your lives. Most important to us is showing at the end of the day the love and romance in your eyes through our work. Our photography team is professional as is our equipment. We use top Pro Labs that ensure our products are beautiful!
     Contact the gallery at 912-635-2600, extension 3721, or visit the website.

Grand Dining Room December Celebrations

     The Grand Dining Room celebrates the season with a specially priced holiday dinner each evening. December 1 through 23 (excluding December 13th), this special menu features a main course of Petite Certified Angus Filet Mignon with Béarnaise Sauce and Four-ounce Cold Water Lobster Tail with drawn butter.
     Opening for dinner at 6:00 p.m., the Grand Dining Room is elegantly appointed with Christmas finery. The fragrance of the evergreens and the traditionally decorated tree welcome guests to a dining room once enjoyed by J.P. Morgan, William Rockefeller, Joseph Pulitzer and their friends. Bring that special someone or treat your out-of-town guests.
     Piano music provided by a local artist adds to the ambience.
     Dinner reservations may be made by calling 912-635-2400 or reserve online.

Amnesty on Jekyll Island

     Jekyll Island historians and museum curators hope to see the return of more artifacts to the museum this season. “These items will help fit pieces of the puzzle together about the past,” says one museum curator. Items may be returned anonymously, and the contributor receives a tax deduction, a Certificate of Amnesty and an Escape Pass for Jekyll Island amenities. Contact: email here.

“Gingerville,” A Gingerbread House-making Workshop
 - Dec 6, 2008, 10:00am

This 2-hour morning workshop is led by our talented pastry chefs. Components are ready ahead of time so participants put them together, ice, and decorate. There's time to make gingerbread people, trees and flowers…an entire village… ready for photos before they're taken home to enjoy. $25 per individual or $35 for a family.
     For reservations: 912-635-2600.

Holiday High Tea - Dec 9 and 10, 4:00pm

     Tea sandwiches, a savory, warm scones with fruit compote, and exquisite petite pastries complement the perfect cup of tea served in the hotel's Grand Dining Room. Instrumental music of the season adds to the delight of this holiday affair. For reservations call 912-635-2600. $30.00 per person.
     Jackie Monroe, the pianist for the Holiday High Teas, is a local favorite. Beautiful, talented, and charming she has gained an impressive following. Her CDs are very popular; perhaps more than any other is her recent “Spend a Quiet Christmas with Jacquelyn Monroe.” She and her husband, who is a chef, divide their time between Coastal Georgia and New Jersey.
       For reservations: 912-635-2600. $30.00 per person.

A Dickens Feast - Dec 13, 7:30pm

     A Dickens Feast in the Grand Dining Room of the Jekyll Island Club Hotel is musical dinner theatre at its very best. Decorated in all its Christmas finery with the fragrance of live greenery in the air, the Hotel is never lovelier than during the holiday season. The dining room with its Victorian ambience seems the perfect place for a tribute to Charles Dickens and his immortal A Christmas Carol.
     Guests gather in the Boar’s Head Lobby between 7:00 and 7:15 pm to meet each other and, just before seating at 7:30 pm, drink a toast to Christmas Present. The Atlanta based acting company may also pay a visit, sing some spirited carols, and “set the stage” with lively commentary. A cash bar is available at this time.
     The feast begins with an appetizer of Smoked Quail Stuffed with Apricots and Roasted Chestnuts and then Shellfish Consommé with Poached Shrimp. The next course if Bibb and Red Oak Leaf Lettuce with Herb Brie Lemon-Parsley Creamy Vinaigrette. The evening’s entrée is Horseradish Crusted Petite Filet Mignon with Dijon Crème Glace, Young Vegetables and Herb Roasted Potatoes. The perfect ending to the feast is Caramel-Orange Rice Pudding with Chocolate and Spice Petite Cakes. A vegetarian menu may be requested.
     Between the courses, a musical version of A Christmas Carol, is presented by a merry band of musically talented actors. They greatly enjoy engaging the audience in the performance, and assign “parts” to guests who’ve agreed to it ahead of time. It’s and evening of delight in one of the most treasured yuletide stories in the English language.
The cost of the event is $100.00 inclusive, per person, and reservations are required: 912-635-2600.

Santa at Crane Cottage - Dec 14, 11:30am - 2:00pm.

     Jolly Old St. Nick welcomes children to Crane Cottage with a great big "Ho-ho-ho" and an invitation to share their Christmas wishes. Dressed in their Christmas best, children confide in Santa. At first, some are a little skeptical, but they quickly warm to Santa's beautiful smile and gentle ways. A photographer is available to capture the moment. (A fee is charged for photography.)
     Courtyard at Crane will be serving lunch from 11:00am-4:00pm. For reservations: (912)635-2600 ext.5100

The Christmas Bagpiper - Dec 19-24, 4:00pm 

      Scottish bagpiper Tim Akins heralds the season at the Club. Beginning at Crane Cottage, he plays traditional airs and holiday favorites. As he pipes and parades toward the Club, a small crowd follows. As he plays before the Riverfront Veranda, others gather and enjoy his music and remark about his full tartan regalia. As dusk approaches, he advances to the banks of the Jekyll River for a last salute. Mr. Akins pipes each evening of Christmas week.
     Tim’s piping is also a tribute to the highland tradition celebrated in our area. Both Glynn County and nearby McIntosh County are home to the descendants of Scottish highlanders. “Over 250 years ago, the coastal town of Darien was settled by 177 Scottish Highlanders. These determined and hardy people were specially recruited by General James Oglethorpe and were integral to the success of the British control over the southern frontier of the fledging Georgia colony. Their military prowess as well as their hardiness with the rigors of frontier life resulted in the permanent town of Darien as a Georgia community,” according to one local historian.  Free.

Evening Movies and Popcorn - Dec 20, 26, and 27, 7:30pm

     There are plenty of easy chairs and hot popcorn for everyone at the “living room theatre” tonight. Those movies we love to see again every Christmas season are on the schedule: “Miracle on 34th Street,” “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and “Going My Way.” These movies are especially fun for families.
    For reservations: 912-635-2600. Movies are free; popcorn and soda $5.00

A Medieval Christmas Concert
at Faith Chapel - Dec 21, 3:00pm

The Goliards, an early music ensemble in Savannah, Georgia, perform a concert of early Christmas music. Dedicated to scholarly yet engaging presentations, they perform on a variety of historic and reproduction instruments and sing in a variety of languages. Among the instruments they play are the lute, harp, vielle, recorder, and drums. The haunting beauty of this performance promises to be a highlight of the season.
     The setting for this concert is Faith Chapel, built in 1904, with its distinctive Gothic details and two stunning stained glass windows. At the east end of the chapel behind the altar is the beautiful glass window entitled “Adoration of the Christ Child” created by Maitland Armstrong and his daughter, Helen. At the opposite end of the chapel is a magnificent, signed example of the work of Louis Comfort Tiffany.

     Admission is $10.00 per person.
     For reservations: 912-635-2600.

Matinee Movies and Popcorn - Dec 22, 23 and 24, 3:00pm

     Have some hot popcorn, find a soft chair in our “living room theatre,” and enjoy one of these favorite holiday movies: “The Polar Express,” “Charlie Brown Christmas,” or “How Many More Minutes Until Christmas,” plus selected shorts. These afternoon movies are specially selected for the young at heart.

     For reservations: 912-635-2600. Movies are free; popcorn and soda $5.00

An Old Fashioned Carol Sing - Dec 23, 5:00pm

     This casual family event in the DuBignon Room features our favorite song leader, Tom Sarcona, with guitar accompaniment. Special guest guitarists, James and Sylvia Kalal, add to the festivities. Afterwards, cookies and hot cider for everyone!
     The event is free. Please call for reservations: 912-635-2600.

Christmas Day Feasts - Dec 25, 2008

     Experience the tradition of dining at the Club on Christmas Day. Decorated for the holiday in all its Christmas finery, the Club is a Victorian Christmas card come to life. The Grand Dining Room and the Courtyard at Crane Cottage have extensive menus with something to please everyone.

Grand Dining Room offers Christmas Day Brunch from 11:00a.m.-2:30p.m.
     View brunch menu
Grand Dining Room also offers a Christmas Dinner from 6:00-10:00p.m.
     View dinner menu
Courtyard at Crane offers a Christmas Brunch from 11:30a.m. – 2:30p.m.
     View brunch menu

For Grand Dining Room reservations: 912 635-2400
For Courtyard at Crane reservations: 912-635-2600

New Year’s Eve Celebrations

     Celebrate New Year’s Eve at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel. We have a party for everyone!
     The Grand Dining Room and the Riverview Lounge have two seatings: 6:00 pm and 9:30 pm. Enjoy a fabulous five-course meal with the piano accompaniment of Wayne Tate from 6:00 to 9:00 pm Then ring in the New Year with the variety and big band sounds of the Marc Dickman Orchestra from 9:30 pm to 1:00 am. The 6:00 pm seating is $125.00 per person; the 9:30 pm seating, $150.00 plus tax and gratuity (in both cases). Click here for the complete menu.
     Captain’s Table Club Cotillion in the beautiful rooms of the Hall of Mirrors accommodates parties of two to twenty. Guests are seated at 7:00 p.m. for an elegant five-course dinner. Click here for the complete menu. Throughout the evening a male quartet, the Friendly Stars, circulates throughout the area providing great southern tunes that are reminiscent of the Old South with some new songs added for good measure. The charge is $125.00 per person plus tax and gratuity.
     Courtyard at Crane offers a la carte dining all evening from 6:00 to 11:00 pm. Guests may dance the old year away to the high energy DJ sounds of Tommy Tucker of Dance Jammers. A cash bar and wine list are available.
     All festivities include party favors and a champagne toast at midnight. Reservations are required.
     The hotel is offering two-night packages for all party guests. Click here to see packages.

Cranberry Sauce by Chef Martin Heys

Recipe by Chef Martin Heys
Yield: about 4 cups

2 bags Fresh cranberries
1 ea Orange, seeded
1 ea Lemon, seeded
1 ea Lime, seeded
1 cup Sugar

Chop up the fruit, skin and all.
Place all ingredients into a food processor.
Pulsate 3-5 times to coarsely chop the berries and fruit rind.
Chill in refrigerator at least 2 weeks or longer. ENJOY!

A Maurice Family Christmas

     During the late 1880s and early 1900s, most members of the Club celebrated the Christmas holiday at their homes in the North and waited until after the New Year to bring their families to Jekyll Island for the season. The Maurice family was an exception. Charles and Charlotte Maurice and their eight children delighted in spending their Christmases on Jekyll Island. Their cottage, which they named Hollybourne, was a happy, exciting place to be.
     Usually the Maurice family arrived in early to mid-December to celebrate the holiday on the island and stayed for the entire club season. The trip from their home in Athens, Pennsylvania, to Jekyll Island was not always ideal. There were frequently long delays and occasional mishaps en route. On one occasion, they arrived five hours late and did not reach Brunswick until 8:00 p.m. as Marian reported in a letter to a relative.
          “We had to change at a miserable junction called Thalman where Papa
     had a bad fall owing to the fact that in one  place the platform was six
     feet from the ground, no railing & not a sign of even a hand lantern on
     this pitch dark night. It was a wonder he was not seriously hurt but...
      escaped with only a badly bruised back from which he has now recovered.”
     Nevertheless, the trip was worth the effort. Their Jekyll Christmases soon drove away all thoughts of hardship the trip might have caused. Cornelia, age 22, described their family traditions in a delightful letter to her Grandmother Holbrooke after the Christmas of 1898:
          “The children have a little
     tree every year which is put
     in my room beside the fireplace
     & all the stockings suspended
     from the mantel... I think the older
     children enjoy it nearly as much
     as the smaller ones... I lighted a
     fire in the fireplace & the candles
     on the tree which together give plenty of light to open the stockings, for it was still dark outside. Then everyone
     assembled in dressing gowns & slippers & George wrapped in a blanket caused a great deal of fun.”
     After the opening of the stockings, the family dressed and took the boat to Brunswick on the mainland for church. Then came their usual Christmas dinner, for which they always included the club superintendent, Ernest Grob, and until their marriage, the Club’s head housekeeper, Minnie Schuppan, and the boat captain, James Clark. This particular year of 1898 there was a special surprise.
          “We arranged a small tree in the centre of the table & around it a present
     for each one with a ribbon attached to it & the pile in the centre about the
     tree covered with holly. When dinner was over each one pulled the ribbon
     nearest them & out came the presents from their hiding places. It caused a good deal of surprise & fun.”
     Such memories left an indelible impression on all the children. Emily, the youngest of the Maurice children, also wrote to her grandmother that year, dutifully recounting the Christmas treasures she had received,“... a little train with a lot of track and a freight station, a dear little toy spinning wheel, a silver comb, three books, a little candle-stick and a very pretty doll.” The train was most likely intended for both Emily and Al, Emily’s senior by two years, who received among his bountiful gifts a little bridge, a switch house, a lamp, a lantern, and an extra car for a little railroad Emily and I have.”
      The family extended its generosity to others on the island as well. One year, for example, they “had a Christmas tree for all the Island employees’ children, 17 of them, of all ages…from six months to 11 years & they gave us a very lively two hours…The only interval of quiet was the period during which they were consuming large quantities of ice cream & cake & how they did enjoy it! It was great fun to watch them.”
     The Maurice family was the only one to be associated with the Jekyll Island Club from its founding in 1886 until the end of the Club era in 1948. The Maurice daughters continued to visit the Club each season until it was finally dissolved. Their lives were inextricably bound up in their Jekyll Island experience, and perhaps their Christmas memories were among the happiest. Today their cherished Hollybourne still stands on the north end of the Historic District and may be visited by special arrangement.

For Your Christmas List

      Are you looking for one more perfect Christmas gift? Choose something from the Jekyll Island Club Hotel gift shop with a logo that announces your surprise trip to Jekyll Island after the New Year. Club Signature and Club Collection, the Hotel’s two imaginative shops, have quite a selection. Choose a handsome tote bag, golf umbrella, or a comfy white terry cloth bath robe. The shops also have some lovely watercolor prints and several books about the Club and its remarkable history. The perfect stocking stuffer is a gift certificate.
     It’s easy to order on-line.  To see all the gifts available, visit here.
    Or, call the hotel directly: 912 635 2600.

     Golfer’s Heaven Package
     Dec 1, 2008 – Jan 31, 2009

     Golf at its best is perfectly packaged this winter at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel in the heart of the Historic District on Jekyll Island, Georgia. Bring your clubs for a FREE round of golf each day on your choice of Jekyll’s four superb courses. All complemented by splendid accommodations, great dining options and the coast’s welcoming weather. For information or reservations, please call 877-212-1890.

 From $79.00* per night

Please note: *Per person, per night, Sun.-Thurs. $99 per person, per night Fri.-Sat. Valid 12-01/08 to 1/31-09. Taxes and resort fee are extra. Package is based on double occupancy and subject to availability. The offer is not valid with existing reservations. Rates include accommodations and 18 holes of golf on Jekyll Island. Electric cart extra (required 8:00 am to noon). Advanced tee times are recommended. Reserve your tee-time here. For full package details click here.

Holiday Island - Nov 29, 2008 - January 1, 2009

     Jekyll Island is transformed into Holiday Island with month long festivities which open with the Christmas Tree Lighting Festival the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Real snow!  Santa's arrival, food, children's activities, story telling, tours, fireworks and more November 29th.
     Contact: The Jekyll Island Welcome Center / 877-4-Jekyll or visit the website here.

The Holidays in History Tour - Dec 6-31, 2008

     The cottages of the historic district are decorated for the season! Imagine Christmas through the ages as you venture inside the cottages of Jekyll Island's National Historic Landmark District and experience the holidays from the Victorian Era to the Jazz Age
     December 6-31, 2008, 11 am, 1 pm, & 3 pm daily, except December 25, approx. 90 minutes. $16 Adults, $7 Children 6-12, Free under 6.
     For more information about other specialty programs contact the Jekyll Island Museum at
912-635-4036.