The Dolphin Motor Hotel

The St. Andrews Beach Corporation, formed in early 1956 by many successful black business owners from Brunswick, worked with the Jekyll Island Authority to create a notable resort destination for African Americans on Jekyll Island's once segregated South End. Construction of the Dolphin Club and Motor Hotel began here in 1958, and by August 1959 the motel was open for business. Financial difficulties soon made the enterprise short lived, and the Jekyll Island Authority bought the resort for $299,000. In 1960, the authority leased the Dolphin Club property to Dave Jackson, a prosperous and respected black farmer, banker, and businessman from Adel, Georgia. With help from his family, including his sisters Annabelle Robinson and Betty Chandler managing the hotel and his nephew James Chandler overseeing the restaurant and lounge, Jackson made the Dolphin Club a popular vacation destination for African Americans. The Dolphin Club and Motor Hotel offered 58 rooms for $8.50 per night at one of the prettiest beaches on the island, but the segregated beach resort was eventually declared unprofitable following integration, and the property returned to the Jekyll Island Authority after Jackson's lease expired. Jackson closed the operation in June 1966 because of lack of business. The Jekyll Island Authority then remade the site as a Group Camp and Youth Center in 1968, where the buildings hosted church groups and youth oriented organizations. By 1970, sports fields had been added to the northern side of the complex. Georgia 4-H first leased the site in 1983 for limited courses for youth groups and schools, and by 1987 it had established a successful year-round environmental education program that continues today.

Jekyll Island, Georgia · United States