Rockefeller Cottage

Rockefeller Cottage, sometimes called Indian Mound for an Indian burial mound on the grounds, is a 2.5-story balloon-frame house on Jekyll Island, Georgia. Gordon McKay, an inventor and shoe machinery manufacturer and member of the Jekyll Club, built it in 1892. William Rockefeller, younger brother of John D., acquired it in 1905 and used it as a winter home until 1942. During his ownership, additions included a large living room with a bay window, an elevator, bathrooms, and servants' rooms in the attic. The exterior is covered in cypress shingles over pine sheathing, with a porte-cochere and wide verandah. The state park authority bought the property in 1947 and opened it as a museum from 1950 to 1968. Restoration began in December 1968 under engineer Roger K. Beedle. The cottage is valued as a furnished museum of a prominent resident's retreat and as an example of shingle style resort architecture.