The State of Georgia owns Jekyll Island. Every acre of the 5,700-acre barrier island belongs to the state, which runs it as a state park through a public corporation called the Jekyll Island–State Park Authority. No private individual, family, or company holds title to any land on the island. Residents and businesses occupy their parcels under long-term leases from the Authority, which means they can own a house on Jekyll Island but never the ground beneath it.1Jekyll Island Authority. Property Ownership and Rental Info
How Georgia Came to Own the Island
For most of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Jekyll Island was private. A group of wealthy industrialists formed the Jekyll Island Club in 1886 and bought the island as a winter retreat, building cottages for families named Rockefeller, Morgan, Vanderbilt, Pulitzer, and Baker.2Jekyll Island Club Resort. Jekyll Island Club History The Depression weakened the club, and World War II emptied it when the federal government ordered an evacuation over fears of enemy submarines offshore.
In 1947, the state initiated condemnation proceedings and bought the island from the remaining club members for $675,000.3Jekyll Island Authority. Island History It opened as a state park the following year and has stayed entirely in public hands ever since.4Georgia Historical Society. Marker Monday: M.E. Thompson and the Purchase of Jekyll Island
The Jekyll Island Authority Is the Landlord
The Georgia General Assembly created the Jekyll Island–State Park Authority in 1950 to manage the island on the state’s behalf. The Authority is an instrumentality of the state and a public corporation with power to enter contracts, maintain infrastructure, grant utility franchises, and oversee the island’s economy.5Justia. Georgia Code 12-3-232 – Creation of Authority as Instrumentality of State and Public Corporation By statute, fee simple title to the island’s real property is vested in the Authority itself.1Jekyll Island Authority. Property Ownership and Rental Info
The Authority is governed by nine members. One is the commissioner of natural resources or a designee. The other eight are Georgia residents appointed by the Governor to staggered four-year terms, and at least two of those eight must come from the coastal counties around the island. The Governor also names the board’s chairperson each year.6Justia. Georgia Code 12-3-233 – Appointment of Members; Terms; Vacancies; Officers For anyone living on Jekyll Island, this board is effectively the landlord, zoning authority, and parks department rolled together.
What Jekyll Island Residents Actually Own
Buying a home on Jekyll Island is not a normal real estate transaction. The state never relinquishes the ground. Instead, residents hold long-term leases from the Authority that give them exclusive use of a parcel plus ownership of the house and other improvements, but no deed to the land.1Jekyll Island Authority. Property Ownership and Rental Info
Current residential leases carry expiration dates between 2049 and 2088, depending on when they were originally executed.1Jekyll Island Authority. Property Ownership and Rental Info During the term, leaseholders own their structures as property severed from the land and can sell or transfer that interest for the years remaining. A buyer steps into the same leasehold rather than acquiring traditional land ownership, so the closer a lease is to its end date, the less the improvements tend to be worth on resale.
The Costs of a Jekyll Island Lease
On top of any mortgage, Jekyll Island leaseholders owe annual lease rent to the Authority. The rent is calculated at 0.4% of the fair market value of the leased land, as assessed by the Glynn County Tax Assessor.1Jekyll Island Authority. Property Ownership and Rental Info A parcel assessed at $250,000 generates $1,000 a year in lease rent on its own.
Leaseholders also pay regular Glynn County property taxes on their leasehold interest and improvements. Anyone renting a home out to overnight guests needs a rental license from the Authority and owes 3% of gross rental revenues on top of the lease rent.1Jekyll Island Authority. Property Ownership and Rental Info Falling behind on lease obligations can trigger legal action or loss of occupancy rights.
What Happens When a Lease Ends
The leasehold arrangement has a hard ending that every buyer needs to understand. When a residential lease expires, title to all improvements still on the land transfers automatically to the Jekyll Island Authority. The house, the landscaping, the driveway: all of it becomes state property at no cost to the Authority.1Jekyll Island Authority. Property Ownership and Rental Info
There is one way out. During the final two years of the lease, a leaseholder can remove or relocate the improvements at their own expense, provided they restore the site to a vacant lot in compliance with Glynn County permits. In practice, that means either moving the structure or demolishing it and clearing the lot.
Why Public Ownership Shapes the Island
State ownership also sets strict limits on what can be built. Under O.C.G.A. § 12-3-235, the widely cited 65/35 rule requires at least 65% of Jekyll Island to remain in its natural state or as open parkland, capping all residential, commercial, and infrastructure footprints at 35% of the land area.7Justia. Georgia Code 12-3-235 – Powers of Authority Generally; Limitations on Developed Area The Authority’s design guidelines translate that into a ceiling of 1,675 developable acres.8Jekyll Island Authority. Jekyll Island Design Guidelines and Revisions The beaches must remain free and open to the public.
Within the developable area, every construction project and major renovation goes through a multi-stage design review overseen by the Authority’s Design Review Group, with the Authority’s board making the final call on approvals, denials, and appeals.8Jekyll Island Authority. Jekyll Island Design Guidelines and Revisions Plans must be prepared by licensed design professionals, and projects are judged against the Master Plan and Conservation Plan, Glynn County codes, FEMA flood rules, the state’s Marshland Protection Act and Shore Protection Act, and a beach lighting ordinance that protects nesting sea turtles.9Jekyll Island Authority. Sea Turtle Nesting Season
All of this flows from the single fact at the top: the island belongs to Georgia, not to the people who live on it. The state bought it in 1947 to keep it as a public resource, and the ownership structure is what lets Georgia keep that promise seventy-plus years later.