Day Trips Near Jekyll Island

Located 18 miles north of The Club, St. Simons Island offers beaches, golfing, fishing, shopping and dining. A working lighthouse, museums and Fort Frederica are among the island’s many historic attractions.

Fort King George is the oldest English fort remaining on Georgia’s coast. From 1721 until 1736, Fort King George was the southern outpost of the British Empire in North America. Using old records and drawings, this eighteenth-century frontier fortification on the Altamaha River has been reconstructed for public tours.

The Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation, owned and occupied by the same family from 1804 to 1973, illustrates more than a century of Georgia’s coastal history. The plantation became a center for rice cultivation in the nineteenth century, and now serves as a beautiful historical tour site.

Cumberland Island includes designated wilderness areas, undeveloped beaches, historic sites, cultural ruins, critical habitats, nesting areas and wild horses. Located just south of Jekyll Island and accessible only by water, the ferry to Cumberland departs from St. Mary’s, Georgia. Reservations are recommended.

The 16,500-acre Sapelo Island is located north of Jekyll Island along the Georgia coast in McIntosh County. Attractions include deserted beaches, the lighthouse and the historic Reynolds Mansion. The Island can be reached only by ferry. Reservations are required.

Known as the “land of the trembling earth,” Okefenokee is a National Wildlife Refuge covering nearly half a million acres. The park, located near Waycross, Georgia, offers an interpretive center, nature exhibits, elevated walking paths and guided swamp tours.