Blythe And Beyond – Jekyll & St. Simons Island

A three night stay at Blythe Island Regional Park Campground, where we have stayed numerous times before, was next on our itinerary. This is another rustic, nature immersive environment and one of our favorites. Like Myrtle Beach State Park, the sites are dirt, and heavily treed with narrow roads. While big rigs fit just fine, the experience could be a bit intimidating to a new driver. Despite the heavy vegetation we did not experience any significant encounters with the brush or low tree branches. If your assigned site is a pull-thru, there is no need to unhitch your tow vehicle while entering or exiting, despite the narrow roads, as there are no excessively tight turns.

Despite the rustic environment, all sites have FHU (water, electric, sewer), plus cable (poor quality), a small concrete patio, a picnic table, and a fire ring. Of the 97 sites, about thirty are pull-thrus with 50/30A electric, the remaining 67 back-ins are also 50/30A, except for sixteen that are 30A only. Satellite access for TV or Starlink is usually a long shot due to the heavy tree cover. This year we have switched our primary TV from DISH to YouTube TV, which only requires a moderate speed internet connection, so the tree cover doesn’t matter. Cell service (Verizon Visible) on this trip was good and also provides our internet connectivity (we have a dedicated Visible account for the coach). We also picked up some OTA TV stations from Jacksonville for the local weather reports.

Most of the pull-thrus here are well spaced with good privacy. This time, however, we were initially assigned site #57 which was not appropriate for our 65′ long rig (including the toad), mainly due to the utility placement, so we requested a different site and moved to site #60 which was better suited for our rig. Fortunately the bugs weren’t bad this time of year so we enjoyed a campfire every night during our stay.

The park is waterfront on the South Brunswick River and has a small marina with boat ramp and fishing pier. There is also a freshwater lake in the park.

Overall, a really great place to enjoy nature – unless – the wind is blowing the wrong way! There is a paper mill less then two miles away as the crow flies, and boy if the wind is from the northeast, you will know it! More info about that on our 2013 blog post Peuwee What’s That Awful Stench??? Luckily the wind was favorable during this visit! FYI there is another campground on Jekyll Island, but we find it unappealing.

Although we have explored this area many times before, it was once again fun to play tourist even to revisit familiar places. The town of Brunswick is historical (see our Brunswick Bound post), and nearby Jekyll and Saint Simons islands are perennial favorites, definitely well worth visiting if you are in the area (see Touring The Golden Isles – Jekyll Island and Touring the Golden Isles Again – St. Simons Island).

A revisit to Jekyll Island ($10 fee) was first on our agenda. Jekyll Island has a rich and layered history from Native American use to early colonial diplomacy to becoming one of the most exclusive clubs of America’s wealthy elite. In 1886, a group of wealthy businessmen (Rockefeller, William Vanderbilt, J. P. Morgan, Joseph Pulitzer, Marshall Field, etc.) purchased Jekyll Island and formed the Jekyll Island Club quickly turning it into one of the country’s most exclusive private retreats.

While their “cottages” are not on as grand a scale as their summertime mansions in Newport, RI, the historical details are highly interesting and entertaining. Visit this website for descriptions and photos of each of the cottages. The grounds are just beautiful and surrounded by ancient live oak trees and towering pines.

In March, 2025, we took a fascinating Jekyll Island Landmark Tour to learn about the history of the island. During this tram tour we visited Indian Mound Cottage, the winter residence of William Rockefeller. These tours (adults $20; ages 4 to 12 $15; under 4 free) are offered seven times a day from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The cottage visited during each tour is listed on their website.

When we discovered that the 11:30 a.m. tour would visit Mistletoe Cottage, we quickly made a repeat reservation.

Why was that cottage of interest to us? Because it was designed by Architect Charles Alling Gifford who was best known as a designer of resort hotels, including Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire (which was owned by Club member, Joseph Stickney). Since we once owned a condo in Bretton Woods located very close to the Mount Washington Hotel, we were curious to learn more about him and see another fine example of his style of architecture.

When we arrived at the MOSAIC Museum, it wasn’t real busy so a museum volunteer gave us a personal tour of the exhibits, explaining each one and providing a lot of background information. So interesting and very cool!

Finally it was time to hop on board the tram. Lucky us – there were only six other people on the tour! Now you might think taking the same tour for a second time in the same year might be boring! But rest assured, thanks to Max, our tour guide, it wasn’t. He did an excellent job, presenting a lot of new facts and interesting information to us.

First a little about the history of Mistletoe Cottage….

It was built in 1900 by Henry Porter, a wealthy Pittsburgh industrialist and manufacturer of light locomotives and a Representative of the United States Congress for Pennsylvania. After Porter’s death, Mistletoe Cottage was sold in the mid-1920s to John Claflin, a dry goods magnate and one of the Club’s original members. Following the Claflins’ ownership, Mistletoe was held by the Jekyll Island Club until the state acquired it in 1947.

Mistletoe Cottage is a large late–Victorian/Colonial-Revival-inspired “cottage.” It originally contained 15 rooms and five bathrooms during the Jekyll Island Club era. Here are a few photos of the interior of the cottage:

Below is a picture of the sunroom which went through an extensive renovation and reopened in 2020. Read about what was done here.

All too soon, the cottage tour was over. Once everyone was back on board, the tram headed back to the Mosaic Museum where we disembarked. Visitors taking the tour can also visit Faith Chapel but since we had already visited it last Spring, we didn’t bother.

Just as an FYI, Jekyll also offers a Sea Turtle rehabilitation center which we visited in 2012 (see our post titled Georgia Sea Turtle Center & Driftwood Beach).

No visit to Jekyll would be complete without a visit to the Driftwood Beach, often described as “otherworldly” due to its unique landscape. Weathered tree trunks, gnarled roots and bleached driftwood strewn in the sand are remnants of a once-standing maritime forest slowly reshaped by decades of coastal erosion, tidal forces, and storms.

What a fun and exhausting day! Returning to the coach, it was time to rest and relax next to a roaring campfire!

But wait, although that day was over, we weren’t done with sightseeing yet! The next day we headed to St. Simons Island, which we had visited several times before (see Exploring St. Simons Island, St. Simon Sightseeing, and Touring The Golden Isles (Again). Once parked, we did our usual trek to the end of the pier. Then walked along the paved path bordering Neptune Park towards the lighthouse.

Having been there before, we didn’t bother stopping at the Visitor’s Center where we originally learned about the Tree Spirits.

Although we have several favorite restaurants in the area (Palmer’s Village Cafe and Indigo Shanty), this time we decided to try a new place, Mr. Shucks Seafood. Lunch consisted of a Shucketizer of fried green tomatoes ($9.95) and fried shrimp baskets served with battered potatoes ($13.95). Delicious!