Gilded Age Georgia and Florida, Part I

Lausanne Davis Carpenter

Oct 20, 2024

What is it about The Gilded Age that so enchants us?

I suspect we’re first seduced by the visuals.

The Tiffany windows:

'Landscape with a Greek Temple' by Louis Comfort Tiffany, c. 1900, Cleveland Museum of Art - Wmpearl, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

The lamps:

Tiffany Lamps at the Lightner Museum, St. Augustine, FL - Lausanne Davis Carpenter

Those revolutionary Impressionists:

William Merritt Chase, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

And the clothes!

What do we mean by The Gilded Age?

The narrow definition includes the period of US history from the 1870s to the turn of the 20^th century. Some historians point back to the Civil War and the industrialization that gave rise to Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Morgan. Others start the timeline later, but bring it right up to the 1910s as the world drifted toward the Great War.

Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner published their novel The Gilded Age in 1873, establishing the label. And they weren’t being complimentary. In it, they portrayed a time of monopolies, political favors, the unabashed power of robber barons, and extreme divergence between rich and poor.

The social examination by other novelists (Booker T. Washington, Henry Adams, Edith Wharton) marked the beginnings of reform movements and societal change. As WWI approached, the Gilded Age transformed into the Progressive Era.

But this age of extremes also resulted in huge technological advancements. The telegraph, the phonograph, electric lights and streetcars, the earliest autos, photography, and flight, all develop during this period.

The Gilded Age in the South

What sparked my interest was my 2010 move to North Florida and the discovery that this region oozes Gilded Age history. It seems tourism was a hot business during the period. While I thought Disney put Florida on the tourist map mid-twentieth century, in fact, Florida and Georgia became the winter destinations of the rich and famous way back in the 1880s. Many of Florida’s earliest resorts date to the 1830s when the blue spring waters attracted wealthy sufferers of tuberculosis. Perhaps Ponce De Leon’s 16^th-century claimed discovery of the Fountain of Youth set Florida’s medical tourism off to a running start.

I still know embarrassingly little about this topic, but I am slowly observing and collecting resources.

Why? Because there are stories here!

Consider the Jekyll Island Club, (Jekyll Island, Georgia): Exclusive getaway for the likes of Morgan, Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, and Pulitzer. The main clubhouse, pictured above, was completed in 1888. The Annex (below) added in 1901.

The Jekyll Island Club Resort Annex - Lausanne Davis Carpenter

Imagine having tea on one of those porches while a clandestine huddle of bankers drafts the legislation to establish the Federal Reserve. 1

Here one could escape the northern winters, hunt, or play a few rounds of golf.

You could make empire-building business deals over dinner in the club dining room, then retire to your own “cottage”:

Or to a unit in one of America’s first condo buildings:

The Jekyll Island Club - Sans Souci condos - 1896 - photo by Lausanne Davis Carpenter

The Club Today

Jekyll Island Club Historic District is a national landmark. The Jekyll Island Club Resort is run by Noble House Hotels and Resorts. A wonderful trolly tour includes walk-throughs of several houses. There are cafes, restaurants, gift shops, and a cooperative art gallery.

The District has become a favorite outing. Last Saturday's spectacular weather lured hubs and me there for a stroll. Our goal was non-screen time:

Walking the paths in the Jekyll Island Historic District - Lausanne Davis Carpenter

And a stroll on the beach:

The beach on Jekyll Island - Lausanne Davis Carpenter

Mission accomplished.

You can learn more about the club via their website: The Jekyll Island Club.

And from the book: The Jekyll Island Club from the Images of America series.

Two overview histories of The Gilded Age I am slowly working through:

The Gilded Age: 1876-1912—Overture to the American Century, by Alan Axelrod

America in The Gilded Age: From the Death of Lincoln to the Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, by Sean Dennis Cashman

I’ve just scratched the surface of the region’s early tourism history and hope to dig deeper in the future. It seems like rich territory for finding stories that need telling.