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In a contest that ran from January 4, 2010 to April 30, 2010, SeaPak awarded (4) Coastal Getaways for two to St. Simons Island.
Winners will stay at the St. Simons Grand, known for its luxurious collection of private oceanfront condominiums, from September 9 to 12, 2010. From a beautiful living room and balcony, winners will enjoy unobstructed vistas of the Atlantic Ocean.
The St. Simons Grand offers a variety of amenities, including a gracious courtyard with a large swimming pool and hot tub, peaceful lagoons with fountains, and a private pathway to the ocean.
In addition to accommodations, winners will receive round trip air travel, a historic trolley tour and boat tour, an exclusive chef-lead cooking class, a gourmet dinner hosted at the St. Simons Lighthouse, 18 holes of golf on Jekyll Island, and $300 in spending money.
The recently announced winners, include: Brittany Shaughnessy of Riverside, CA; Linda Burnett of Austin, TX; Mary Vallner of Montello, WI; and Catherine Buchanan Jordan of North, VA.
We are hiring! We have a seasonal inspector position available (May – August) in our growing vacation rental management division.
The ideal candidate will be energetic, motivated, and team oriented. Weekend work, a valid driver’s license, and reliable transportation is required. Please apply in person at 520 Ocean Boulevard, St. Simons Island – or via email at resumes@hodnettcooper.com
On Friday, April 2 the Atlanta Journal Constitution printed a story about Hodnett Cooper vacation rental owner, Jack Gerblick. See below. Article by C.W. Cameron.
It’s almost five hours door to door from Jack Gerblick’s home in Dunwoody to his vacation cottages on St. Simons Island.
In 2000, he bought his first lot there and built the house he calls “Yellow Jasmine.” Two years later he purchased a second lot, built “Tag Knot” for family and friends to enjoy, and moved his first house into the community rental program.
It wasn’t long before he started offering both houses for rent, and now he enjoys the houses when they’re not rented. They’re already reserved for family use this summer, when his oldest daughter, Natalie, will marry at the Jekyll Island Club. The houses are needed for his five brothers and sisters who are all traveling to St. Simons with their kids.
Why a beach house was important: Gerblick grew up vacationing at Delaware beaches, and as he and his family moved south, they vacationed on the Outer Banks, at Kiawah and Hilton Head in South Carolina, and at Sandestin Resort in Florida. When he was ready to buy a vacation home, he knew he was looking for an area that felt more like a community than a resort. St. Simons fit the bill.
A wonderful beach: “This is a great beach,” Gerblick said. “The water rises 7 feet from low to high tide, which is amazing. When it’s low tide, there are 400 to 500 feet of beach, perfect for riding your bike.”
He and his children enjoy dropping their sea kayaks on the marsh side and paddling around to the ocean. The town’s year-round residents give St. Simons a neighborhood feel, which is just what he was looking for.
A great property: It was on a bike ride that he and his daughters first saw Coast Cottages being developed. The charming cottages and red-brick streets drew them in. They built the fourth house in the development, hiring a local architect to create their cottage with its tin roof and wooden siding.
“We painted it yellow because that’s my daughter Kate’s favorite color and named the house ‘Yellow Jasmine,’ ” Gerblick said.
If you have owning rental property in mind: Gerblick’s choice of property worked out beautifully when he decided to begin renting his first home.
“If people are going to spend $3,500 to $4,000 a week to rent a place, they want to be close to the ocean, they want pools, they want their kids to have a safe environment to play in, and they want all the high-end features like flat-screen high-definition televisions,” he said.
He added that the house must have plenty of room to sleep 10 to 12 people, with a big enough kitchen and dining area that everyone can enjoy meals together. Designing a house so the bedrooms have en suite baths is another must.
Upkeep is critical: The beach environment can be tough on buildings, so exterior maintenance is key. Painting every three or four years keeps the wood in good shape, and meticulous attention to the caulking will keep the elements at bay. A good property manager who lives in the community makes it possible for Gerblick to follow things from Atlanta.
Community information
Realtor Len Hoshall, vice president of Hodnett Cooper Real Estate, said he’s comfortable predicting that St. Simons Island’s property values have seen all of the fallout they’re going to. The mix of primary residences and second-home rental property is about even. The rental market has remained strong the past three years. Homes are available on St. Simons from the $250,000s. There are still older beach homes available as well as larger new construction.
Just for fun, the Hodnett Cooper team donned an interesting array of Halloween Costumes on Friday. We saw everything… from a vampire to a doctor. A $100 prize went to the most original costume, “Mamma.” We had a blast dressing up, and our guests and clients enjoyed the fun.
Yesterday, our vacation rental group greeted more than 250 arrivals for the big game weekend. We are so thankful that the many Georgia fans once again chose St. Simons Island as their celebration destination. We hope everyone has a wonderful, and safe, holiday weekend. Go DAWGS!
Perhaps the most beautiful and recognizable landmark on the Georgia coast is the St. Simons Lighthouse, a much-visited, photographed, and beloved monument to the island’s nautical history. On a clear day, the climb of 129 steps to the top of the 104-foot gleaming white tower allows perhaps the most glorious view to be experienced on the Georgia coast. The keeper’s cottage, where the museum is located, is believed to be the oldest brick structure in Glynn County. It was built of Savannah grey brick with Georgia heart pine floors in 1872, and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The museum is furnished with antiques that belonged to the old families of St. Simons, including one early nineteenth century secretary from Retreat Plantation.
The first structure built in the area of the lighthouse was Delegal’s Fort, built in spring of 1936 by troops from South Carolina. It was replaced in 1738 by Fort St. Simons, which was destroyed by retreating Spanish troops after their defeat in 
the Battle of Bloody Marsh in 1742. The area became a plantation owned by John Couper, who sold 4 acres for $1 to the Federal government for the construction of a lighthouse. In 1807, James Gould of Massachusetts was hired to build the first lighthouse. Although the original specifications called for brick, Gould used tabby, a cheap, durable “coastal concrete” made of equal parts oyster shells, lime, sand, and water. He built a 75-foot octagonal tower, 25 feet in diameter at the base tapering to 10 feet at the top. The top 12.5 feet were constructed of brick, and supported a 10-foot-high, 8-foot-diameter iron lantern equipped with oil lamps suspended by chains. An 8-foot-thick base supported the weight of the structure. In 1810, Gould was appointed first keeper by President James Madison, and was paid $400 a year until his retirement in 1837. The lantern was originally powered by whale oil, but when the majestic animals were hunted to near extinction, lighthouses switched to kerosene. St. Simons Island author Eugenia Price wrote a historical novel about Gould’s efforts, titled simply The Lighthouse, which was the second installment in her trilogy about St. Simons Island.
In 1857, the lights of the lighthouse were greatly improved when it was fitted with a third-order, double-convex lens, which can cast a beam 18 miles. This improvement was to be short-lived, however, because of the arrival of the Civil War in 1860. Stationed at Fort Brown, a wooden bastion near the lighthouse to protect St. Simons Sound, were the Macon artillery troops and six field guns. In 1862, when Union warships blockaded the Georgia coast, the Confederates decided to abandon St. Simons, and before leaving, they dynamited the lighthouse and burned Fort Brown so they would not aid their enemy. The ruins of this first lighthouse are found on the complex grounds east of the tower.
After the Civil War, the Federal government decided a new lighthouse was needed on St. Simons Island. Hired to design and build the lighthouse and keeper’s house was noted Irish-born architect Charles Cluskey. He designed a graceful, 104-foot, round tower and a nine-room, two-story Victorian house for the keeper. The architectural details not only enhance the beauty of the house but also draw the eye upward to the lighthouse. Cluskey died of malaria a year before he was able to see his work finished in 1872. In 1876, the keeper’s house was upgraded and a speaker’s tube linking the house with the top of the tower was added. A fire-proof brick oil house measuring 9 feet by 11 feet that could hold 450, 5-gallon oil cans was constructed next to the lighthouse in 1890. This building’s purpose became obsolete when the kerosene lamp was replaced by an electrical one in 1934. When the last lighthouse keeper retired in the 1950s, the U.S. Coast Guard fully automated the lighthouse. Today, the Fresnel lens is illuminated by a 1,000-watt mogul lamp, which rotates once a minute.
In 1972, the Coastal Georgia Historical Society took over the unused keeper’s house, restored it to its original design, and opened it to the public. A series of renovation and restoration activities continued on the tower and complex until 1984, when visitors were allowed to climb to the top of the lighthouse.
Today, the romantic lure of the lighthouse is irresistible on a foggy night, as the light sweeps slowly out into the night, comforting sailors in the sound and reassuring residents in the community that part of their heritage remains intact for future generations to appreciate.
Directions: From Brunswick, cross F.J. Torras Causeway. Go right on Kings Way to Ocean Boulevard. At Mallery Street, continue to 12th Street. Turn right and proceed to lighthouse and museum.
Dates: Open Monday through Saturday 10–5, Sunday 1:30–5. Closed selected holidays.
Facilities: Lighthouse and museum, gift shop.
Fees: A small fee is charged for admission.
For more information: Coastal Georgia Historical Society, 101 12th Street, St. Simons Island, GA 31522. Phone (912) 638-4666. Museum of Coastal History, PO Box 21136, St. Simons Island, GA 31522. Visit saintsimonslighthouse.com.
One of our gorgeous vacation rental homes, 5 Via Serena, is featured in the September 2009 issue of Coastal Living Magazine. The six-page story features decorating tips from the owners, Debie and Brad Weitz. Highlights from the article below –
Writer: Audrey Davidow, Coastal Living Magazine, September 2009
“Built in 1952, the 1,800 square-foot island Colonial had been moved to a different spot on the property to make room for two new, large five-bedroom villas. But the cottage’s petite size sealed the deal for the Weitzes, who wanted to simplify. Today, the new houses and this old-school charmer share a palm tree-shaded courtyard and marsh views.
Debbie soon adopted “easy living” as her beach house style mantra. “’In Atlanta, I’m constantly surrounded by so much stuff,’” she says. “’Here, I wanted to keep thinks simple and calm.”” She stuck to a neutral palette of tans and whites, with an occasional punch of blue, to keep the mood serene and emphasize the marsh views. “’I didn’t want anything to take away from that,’” explains Debbie, who prefers to add interest with natural textures such as sisal rugs, hemp throws, and petrified-wood tables.
Read the full article here: viaserena_coastalliving_0909
We are hiring! We have an immediate position available in our growing vacation rental management division.
The ideal candidate will be energetic, motivated, and team oriented. Members of our vacation rental department share day-to-day responsibilities, which include: reservations, guest services, housekeeping management, and owner services. Previous experience in vacation rental, property management, or hotel services is preferred, but not required. Some weekend work is necessary.
This position is full-time, with salary plus benefits. Please email your resume to blog@hodnettcooper.com.
Hodnett Cooper joined the oceanfront condominium properties of the St. Simons Grand, the Beach Club, North Breakers and Shipwatch to celebrate Mardi Gras last Tuesday evening. A fun night was had by all, with guests enjoying festive green, gold and purple Mardi Gras décor; tasty appetizers like crab cakes, jalapeno cornbread and chicken wings; and yummy King Cake. The winter guests all gathered together to mingle and get to know each other and a great time was had by all!
With temperatures hovering near 70 degrees here in the Golden Isles, it’s hard to believe that Christmas is only two days away. If you’re like many of us and have been busy and still have a few gifts left to buy, or have that one present left for the impossible-to-buy-for-relative on your list who has everything, we have the perfect gift idea for you.
Give the gift of relaxation and rest on St. Simons Island!
Hodnett Cooper Vacation Rentals can provide gift certificates for vacation rentals in any increment, perfect for weekend getaways, summer trips, month-long stays or anything in between!
For one-stop shopping and a gift that’s guaranteed not to be returned or re-gifted, call Hodnett Cooper Vacation Rentals at 888-332-6181. Merry Christmas!
