Southern voices

Here on Jekyll Island, Georgia, the winter cottages of the turn of the century tycoons are the tourist attraction. Rockefeller, Morgan, Astor, Goodyear, Pullizer, the who's who that controlled the world's wealth before the Federal Reserve and income taxes, bought this island in the late 1800's for $125,000 for an isolated retreat, a place to escape the Northeast winters and the persistent press. It was an invitation only club that endured only 4 decades until the last of the founders died. The next generation abandoned the traditions of wintering on the island. Some of the 'cottages' still stand, now part of a state park created in the 1940's when back taxes owed were higher than the property was worth.

To me, though, the attraction of Jekyll Island lies in the oaks, hundreds of years old, still standing despite hurricanes that blast this barrier island. They drip with moss, their branches bending like pipe cleaners every direction. They keep the secrets of the ages: the Indians, the Spanish, the English, the cotton plantation owners, the slaves, the soldiers and yes, those of  the very rich.