Georgia’s weirdest beach is a graveyard of silver trees — and it keeps winning awards

Jekyll Island’s boneyard won’t leave your head

You walk onto Driftwood Beach expecting sand and waves.

Instead, you get a shoreline tangled with massive fallen trees, their trunks bleached silver by the sun, their root systems twisted into shapes that look carved by hand.

This is the northern tip of Jekyll Island, one of Georgia’s Golden Isles, and nothing about it looks like a normal beach. Tripadvisor ranked it the No. 3 beach in the country in 2023.

The reason it looks this way goes back over a century.

These trees died standing and never left

The driftwood here didn’t wash in from somewhere else.

These were living oaks and pines, part of a thick maritime forest that once covered the north end of the island. Over decades, erosion pulled the soil out from under them.

Saltwater crept in and killed the trees where they stood. The sun bleached their bark silver-grey, and now they lie across the sand like bones.

The continental shelf extends far offshore here, so waves lose energy before they reach the beach. That’s why the trees have never washed away.

Low tide reveals a completely different beach

The tidal range on Jekyll Island runs six to nine feet, so what you see at high tide barely hints at what shows up when the water drops.

At low tide, the beach opens wide and the driftwood formations stretch further than you’d expect. Sunrise is the popular time to come, with the light hitting the fallen trunks from the east.

Check a tide chart before you go. And leave everything where it sits.

Removing driftwood here counts as theft of state property.

Georgia bought the whole island in 1947

Jekyll Island covers about 5,700 acres, seven miles long and a mile and a half wide, on the southern Georgia coast roughly halfway between Savannah and Jacksonville, Fla. The state purchased it in 1947 and turned the whole thing into a state park.

Only about 1,675 acres are open to development.

The rest stays wild, with more than a thousand acres of maritime forest, salt marshes, and 10 miles of shoreline running the full length of the island.

Rockefellers and Vanderbilts wintered right here

Back in 1886, a group of the wealthiest families in America bought Jekyll Island as a private winter retreat. The Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, Morgans, and Pulitzers all held memberships.

People at the time called it the richest and most inaccessible club in the world. Today, a 240-acre National Historic Landmark District preserves 34 structures from that era.

You can walk the grounds, bike through, or hop on a guided trolley tour past the restored cottages and original clubhouse.

A slave ship’s story told inside a horse stable

Mosaic, the Jekyll Island Museum, sits in the restored historic stables building inside the landmark district.

Interactive exhibits walk you through centuries of the island’s past, from its Native American roots to its years as a plantation, through the Gilded Age, and into its current life as a state park.

One section reconstructs the below-deck hold of the slave ship Wanderer, giving you a close look at the conditions people endured in the transatlantic crossing.

Follow a boy’s journey on the Wanderer Memory Trail

On the island’s southern end near St. Andrews Beach, a trail traces the story of one of the last known slave ships to reach the United States.

On Nov. 28, 1858, the Wanderer came ashore illegally on Jekyll Island carrying more than 400 enslaved Africans. Interactive exhibits along the path follow Umwalla, a young African boy who survived the voyage.

UNESCO gave the trail its Slave Route Project Site of Memory designation, one of a small number in the country.

Sick sea turtles get nursed back on Stable Road

Georgia runs its only sea turtle education and rehabilitation center right here on Jekyll Island, along Stable Road in the Historic District.

You can look into hospital tanks where injured and sick sea turtles receive treatment. Interactive displays cover turtle behavior, habitats, and conservation work.

From late May through mid-August, the center runs guided turtle walks during nesting season. Every dollar you pay in admission goes directly toward rehabilitation and research, so the ticket does double duty.

Seven beaches in 10 miles, and each one’s different

Jekyll Island spreads seven distinct beach areas across its shoreline. Great Dunes Beach Park draws families with picnic pavilions, play areas, and volleyball courts.

Glory Beach on the south end opens into wide sand dunes lined with sea oats. South Dunes has an elevated boardwalk that crosses 20-foot dunes and passes a freshwater pond.

St. Andrews Beach faces west, which makes it the only spot on the island where you can watch the sun go down over water.

Pedal 24 miles of flat trail under Spanish moss

More than 24 miles of paved bike paths loop across the island, and because Jekyll is flat, the riding works for just about anyone.

Routes run under canopies of live oaks draped in Spanish moss, past beaches, through the Historic District, and along salt marshes where you can stop and scan for wildlife.

Several rental shops on the island carry beach cruisers, tandems, adult tricycles, and surreys, so you don’t need to bring your own gear.

Dolphins in the surf, gators by the pond

The salt marshes and tidal creeks around Jekyll Island support a deep bench of wildlife. Bottlenose dolphins show up regularly off the beaches and on boat tours.

The island sits along the Atlantic Migratory Flyway and holds a spot on Georgia’s Colonial Birding Trail as one of 18 sites. Alligators hang around freshwater ponds like Horton Pond, a short walk from Driftwood Beach.

Loggerhead sea turtles nest on the sand from late May through mid-August, and crews mark and protect every nest.

The brown water is safe, and so are the dogs

First-time visitors sometimes do a double take at the brownish ocean water around Jekyll Island.

It comes from the Altamaha and Savannah rivers, which carry sediment, tannins, and microscopic plant life from the marshes as they empty into the Atlantic.

State agencies test the water regularly during high season, and it meets safety standards. The beach is dog-friendly year-round, too, as long as you keep your pet on a leash no longer than 16 feet.

Walk the driftwood at Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island

You can reach Driftwood Beach from North Beachview Drive on the island’s northern end. Parking along the beach access points is free, but Jekyll Island charges a $10 daily vehicle entry fee.

The beach stays open 24 hours, and you can get there by car, bike, or on foot.

No restrooms sit at the beach itself, but you’ll find public ones at the nearby Clam Creek Picnic Area. Go at low tide for the full effect, and check a tide chart before you head out.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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