Sea Island Life Magazine Spring/Summer 2014 | Page 68

The original motor entrance

Calvin Coolidge planting a commemorative live oak tree

for the most part, managed by a woman, Anna
Matilda King, while her husband, Thomas
Butler King, pursued a political career in
Washington and beyond,” she notes. “When
build a golf course there, he preserved the
ruins of the plantation buildings, and guests
can see them today.”
In turn, Rogers is helping to reserve the
legacy of the resort’s founder. “I am fasci-

The Cloister, designed by architect Addison Mizner, opened in 1928.

selling for less than $1,000.

was needed for golf club guests to stay.

he purchased Sapelo Island in 1912, followed
by large tracts of land on St. Simons in 1926,
while envisioning the way automobiles could
change leisure travel. A causeway opened in
1924 between the mainland and St. Simons
that helped pave the way for tourism on
the islands. His company next bought

ship, docked in the Frederica River at Sea
Island Yacht Club, accommodated guests on
St. Simons Island throughout the summer
of 1928.
As Sea Island development continued

in a Spanish style popular at the time—
which would spawn the building of other
recreational facilities. The hotel was named

handed over management of Sea Island Co.
to his cousin, Alfred W. Jones. Thus began a
long legacy of family ownership that would
successfully shepherd Sea Island through
the Great Depression. In fact, members of
the Jones family would host a reception for
the 1949 impromptu wedding ceremony of
Sarah Churchill, daughter of British Prime
Minister Winston Churchill and widely
considered incorrigible, to photographer
Anthony Beauchamp, on Sea Island—without her famous father’s approval.
Maintaining this historical record and all
it entails is, of course, a great responsibility, but one that Rogers relishes. “The most

constructed in 1926 in Boca Raton, Fla.
During construction of the hotel, a place

deep respect for the value of preserving our
history and passing down knowledge and

Glynn Isle before settling on the name Sea
she says of Sea Island’s celebrated forefather.
“His dynamic, upbeat personality is apparent
in his photographs. He is usually smiling and
enjoying the people and activities around
him.” And, given his track record, describing
dream” is not hyperbole.
A Midwestern farm boy who made good,
Though his father died young, his mother
stepped in to see her gifted son get a good
for engineering and passion for new invenput his education to good use, becoming a
young millionaire as a founder of Hudson

causeway, linking St. Simons and Sea Island.
prediction proved true and, with scores of
visitors, would come glory days.
of Sea Island and its coastal sibling, installing telephone service, an electric power
plant and a water system. He commissioned
noted resort architect of the day, Addison

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