When Christopher Columbus landed on Wilmington Island…sorry, I meant when General Robert E. Lee gave up his sword to General Ulysses S. Grant…OK, OK, just trying to embellish a little.

Wilmington Island is one of several barrier islands off the coast of Savannah, Georgia. Other islands in the area include: Tybee Island, Little Tybee Island, Wassaw Island, and Ossabaw Island, all on the Atlantic Ocean. Little Tybee, Wassaw, and Ossabaw Islands are only accessible by boat. Did I mention boating…walking on deserted Wassaw Island or fishing off Little Tybee Island? These are the Islands that the locals frequent. Fast forward two hundred years and you have a train to Savannah Beach (now Tybee Island) with it’s big bands of the thirties and forties, legal gambling and the Tybrisia Pier which extends into the ocean about 200 yards. I even think Doc’s Bar was there, but that is another story.

The next islands west are Wilmington, Whitemarch, Talahi and Skidaway all of which have been developed. Part of living on Wilmington Island is its location relative to the other area islands. If you like the beach, fishing, tubing, or water skiing, then Wilmington Island is for you.

When General Douglas Macarthur waded ashore near Hogan’s Marina… To tell you the truth, I don’t know who discovered Wilmington Island. It wasn’t General James E. Oglethorpe who developed the plan for the town of Savannah because he sailed up the Savannah River passing Wilmington Island. It must have been the Yamacraw Indians that were located throughout the Coastal Georgia area long before the General landed.

Now, for a little history of Wilmington Island. In 1926 Henry Walthour built the General Oglethorpe Hotel on the Wilmington River, which became the Savannah Inn and Country Club and then the Sheraton Hotel. When it was the Oglethorpe Hotel it was owned by the Teamsters Union Pension fund. Today it is The Wilmington Plantation, a condominium conversion, with expansive views of the river. Some older Savannahians still refer to it as the Oglethorpe or the Sheraton.

The islands’ first subdivision was Wilmington Park which was started in 1958 as an upscale subdivision that took advantage of the hotel’s golf course and the deep-water dock for its members. Today it is a very desirable mature subdivision with multiple shopping centers close by. Having major grocery store chains, banks, hardware stores and restaurants make for a convenient lifestyle. Doctors and dentists are also nearby.