Fortunately, changes had been occurring on St. Simons Island during the mill era that cushioned the shock of its demise. In 1887, a wooden pier was built on the south end of the island, inaugurating regular ferry service to and from the mainland. In the next few years, steamers such as the Emmeline, the Hessie, the Ruby and the Seagate brought an ever-increasing stream of summer visitors from Brunswick and south Georgia to enjoy the delights of St. Simons Island.

In 1888, the Hotel St. Simons, located at the present site of Massengale Park, opened to summer guests. Its owners also operated the Oglethorpe Hotel in Brunswick as a winter resort. The same furniture was used for both hotels, and was ferried across the sound at the change of seasons.

When guests arrived on the island, they were conveyed by mule-drawn trolley from the pier to the rambling hotel in the dunes; with its three stories and twenty cottages, it could accommodate three hundred guests. Although the original Hotel St. Simons burned in 1898, another structure just as imposing, appropriately named the New Hotel St. Simons, was built on the same site about 1910.

As the island accustomed itself to its new identity as a seaside resort, growth was not restricted to hotels. Near the lighthouse, a cluster of small, simple wooden cottages emerged that became known as the "Waycross Colony." Its name originated from the hometown of most of the cottagers. Many of these families would spend the entire summer on the island with the menfolk commuting by train on the weekends. This seasonal ritual was carried out from the 1890s to 1934, when the remaining colony, which had been losing cottages over the years to the rising sea, was destroyed by fire.

Around the turn of the century, the pier became a center of activity. Two hotels were built at its base, called the "Bellevue" and "Jekyll View." They were flanked by a pavilion, bathhouse, and huge wooden water slide. The mule-drawn trolley was replaced by a small steam-engine tram, the Florida Limited, which in turn gave way to a motorized trolley car.

The large grassy field between the pier and the lighthouse was utilized for many years as the summer training camp for the Georgia Militia; soldiers enjoyed the island as much as the vacationers. The old parade ground is today fondly known as Neptune Park in honor of the Retreat Plantation slave, Neptune Small, and nestles next to the village where the old hotels once stood.

Coast Guard Station

St. Simons was irrevocably connected with the mainland in 1924 with the completion of the Fernando J. Torras Causeway. Named after the young engineer who spearheaded its construction, the five-mile roadway and its complement of wooden bridges spanned the marshes, creeks and rivers between Brunswick and Gascoigne Bluff. Automobiles were soon driving under the oaks of Frederica Road and on the wide, sandy beaches that had heretofore been marked only by footprints erased with the incoming tide.

The new causeway also attracted the attention of Howard Coffin, the owner of the nearby island of Sapelo. The Detroit auto magnate had made a substantial fortune as designer and engineer of the Hudson Motor Car, and was a co-founder of the company that became United Airlines. He was also instrumental in organizing America's industrial effort in World War I.

After creating an island retreat on Sapelo that he and his wife enjoyed for over a decade, Coffin's attentions turned southward to Brunswick and St. Simons when the causeway was completed. He realized that the coastal highway, today's Route 17 that would eventually connect New York and Miami, created a tremendous financial opportunity for investment in St. Simons' resort potential. He purchased Retreat Plantation and Gascoigne Bluff in 1926, and immediately began constructing the golf course that would anchor his new development. Its clubhouse was built from the King's tabby corn barn.

The frenetic pace of Coffin's improvements rapidly changed the face of St. Simons. He had the entire county surveyed and zoned. He paved twenty-two miles of road on the island, which included the construction of a new avenue that ran directly from the causeway to the pier area, shortening considerably the former route that wound across the island. In this neighborhood, Coffin created St. Simons' first subdivision. But his attention turned to a little spit of land lying to the east of St. Simons that had been known by a variety of names over the years. Early settlers called it "Fifth Creek Island;" during plantation times it was known as "Long Island;" for years afterwards it was used as a pasture for goats, hogs and cattle; and in this century it was known as "Glynn Isle." Coffin purchased the tiny barrier island in 1926 for $350,000 from a group of disenchanted Brunswick investors, and "Sea Island" was born.

He planned to develop a towering eight-story hotel overlooking the magnificent beach with its attendant vacation cottage colony. He later revised his elaborate plans to settle for a more practical little forty-six room inn designed by Palm Beach architect Addison Mizner. The Cloister Hotel opened in 1928, and soon vacation cottages began to appear along Sea Island Drive.

Resurrection Fern

Coffin brought his young first cousin, Alfred W. Jones, who had managed his Sapelo estate, to take over the reins of the fledgling resort. Jones and Coffin soon faced the trials of the Depression, which cost Coffin his fortune and his health. The Cloister Hotel and Sea Island Company eventually passed into the hands of Alfred Jones, who continued the tradition of maintaining a hotel ambience where, as he put it, "ladies and gentlemen are served by ladies and gentlemen." And so it is today with Alfred W. Jones III at the helm.

On St. Simons, steady growth was hard on the heels of the Depression. Howard Coffin donated land for the island airport and Coast Guard station. The King and Prince, a delightful beach hotel built just south of the Hotel St. Simons site, opened just in time to be used as a naval officers' billet in World War II.

The war came quickly to St. Simons. In the early hours of April 8, 1942, explosions reverberated over the south end as two oil tankers, the S. S. Oklahoma and the Esso Baton Rouge, were torpedoed a few miles off the island. Their nemesis was the German submarine U-123, which was to become one of the deadliest of the Atlantic U-boat fleet. Twenty-two seamen died in the attack, and the survivors were rescued from lifeboats and taken to the Coast Guard pier on the Frederica River. These fortunate mariners were soon back in the war, as were the two tankers. Both were raised, refitted and returned to service, only to be sunk again and sent to a final grave in the Atlantic.

Meanwhile, as the military geared up for war, the Civil Air Patrol flew anti-submarine patrols out of the St. Simons airport from May 1942 until February 1943. By then a Naval Radar Training School was also established at the airfield. On the mainland, blimps operating from the new Glynnco Naval Air Station played an important role in protecting coastal sea routes for the duration of the conflict.

The war years introduced the many charms of St. Simons to thousands of young men from all over the country. The appealing island that had drawn visitors primarily from south Georgia and Atlanta was a closely-guarded secret no longer. When post-war prosperity sent Americans vacationing in many heretofore-undiscovered spots around the country, a substantial number found their way to the island. And over the years those numbers have continued to swell as accents from all over the world can now be heard on the often-teeming sidewalks of the Pier Village.

After the war the island also attracted the attention of the South Georgia Methodists. They had searched for decades for "a place where our people may find recreation and health, free from the moral laxity of worldly resorts; a place where we may hold meetings, Bible conferences, and other institutes for educational and inspirational work." The main grounds of Hamilton Plantation were finally deemed the perfect spot. Unfortunately, the Methodist Conference could not afford the entire plantation of over 1700 acres. So, Alfred W. Jones came to the fore. The Sea Island Company purchased Hamilton Plantation in 1949 and sold to the Methodists 43.5 acres gracing the banks of the Frederica River.

And thus was born Epworth-by-the-Sea. Under the leadership of Bishop Arthur J. Moore, the retreat center flourished. Venerable tabby plantation buildings were soon nestled amid new construction, and the St. James Union Church of the lumber mill era was beautifully restored. It was renamed Lovely Lane Chapel, after the church in Baltimore where the first Methodist service in America was held in 1784. Epworth has now passed the half-century mark and wears comfortably the patina of its maturity. More than a hundred thousand visitors of all faiths annually convene under its oaks and return home with a bit of St. Simons in their hearts.

In the early 1960s St. Simons was again impacted by a force from the north. A Chicago writer discovered the island quite by accident while driving south on a vacation. Eugenia Price was immediately beguiled by its beauty and the islanders she met. She decided to make St. Simons her home, and was inspired to write three novels in the next decade, based on the stories of island families. St. Simons has not been the same since. Millions of readers around the world were enthralled by her island sagas, and a goodly number have, in the ensuing years, made their way to St. Simons to see where it all took place. Eugenia Price died in 1996, leaving a legacy of thirteen novels of the southern coast along with numerous non-fiction works that continue to inspire new generations of islanders and visitors alike.

By the late seventies the seasonal migrations to and from Florida thronged the newly constructed I-95 that snaked across the island's mainland front porch. Ever-increasing numbers of island explorers exited the interstate pipeline and were spellbound by what they discovered. And the word spread.

The Lighthouse

St. Simons has now grown up. A sizeable permanent population and an ever-increasing stream of visitors has spawned the inevitable subdivisions, condominiums, shopping centers, golf courses - all the things that we demand for ourselves are now a part of the island. As St. Simons enters the twenty-first century, the future of the island has not yet been determined. Firm lines have been drawn between those who want to honor St. Simons' unique heritage and environment with carefully planned growth - and developers who view this exquisite island as merely an opportunity for profit. Compromises can be made, of course, but few have been reached. As the zoning wars rage, more oaks are sacrificed to often-to-be regretted architecture that this beloved island endures with hard-pressed dignity. The final act in this drama has yet to be written, and all who love the island can be a contributing playwright. The choice is ours.

We cannot go very far on St. Simons today, however, without having a direct confrontation with the past and the legacy it has bestowed upon us: the shell mounds of the Guale, the fort at Frederica, the tabby ruins of the plantations, Christ Church, and perhaps the most visible reminder of all - the lighthouse. With its beacon shining each night for over a hundred years, guiding us to the island, it is an enduring symbol of what St. Simons was, is and shall be.

Bibliography

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