Great Christmas Light Display at Jekyll Island in Brunswick, Georgia

Jekyll Island Becomes Holiday Island at Christmas

Holiday Island on Jekyll Island, Georgia is the event that ushers in the Christmas Spirit around Brunswick and the Golden Isles. This large holiday lighting display begins each year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving with more decorations added as the season progresses. After a dark ride across the marshes of the Golden Isles, guests to Jekyll Island cross the bridge and are immediately surrounded by a twinkling array of lights that highlight the beach and marshes of Jekyll Island.

Large, lighted displays and twinkling palms delight children of all ages. If you head toward the beach, you will continue to enjoy these displays along the way. The beach hotels join in the decorations by providing some beautiful displays of their own. Many of the displays feature sea creatures but you will also find many that will remind you of snowier climates. However, the star of the show is the large display of holiday lights you will find on the grounds of the Jekyll Island Club Hotel.

While you can drive through most of this display in your car - or even bike, the weather is still plenty warm enough - the most fun can be had by pulling into the many convenient parking lots and walking the paths winding by the many homes and cottages remaining from the Victorian era.

The Jekyll Island Club was established in the late 1800's as a winter retreat for the wealthy. While the cottages and hotel that remain might have seemed small and quaint to the Pulitzers, Rockefellers, and Vanderbilts who frequented the island, by today's standards they are sumptuous and totally delightful dressed in their holiday best.

Wreaths and candles adorn the houses but tucked in between the homes and throughout the trees and Spanish moss are the lights and the large light displays that we have become familiar with in more recent years. The Jekyll Island Club staff do a beautiful job of combining the two types of displays for all to enjoy. Look for the snowflakes shining through the Spanish moss - a winter wonderland in the deep South.

More Holiday Events at Jekyll Island, Georgia