Several Georgia sea islands- Ossabaw, St. Catherines, Sapelo, and Cumberland- attracted the interest of northern industrialists seeking private winter havens. The Carnegie family built four major estates on Cumberland Island. The first, Dungeness, burned in 1953 and is now a noble ruin, but the others-Plum Orchard, Stafford, and Greyfield-survive. In 1911, Howard Coffin, founder of Detroit's Hudson Motor Company, purchased the twenty thousand acres of marsh and highland that made up Sapelo Island.  Coffin and his wife turned to farming, cultivating old fields and planting large tracts of grassland for cattle grazing. After ten years they extensively renovated the mansion of previous owner, Thomas Spalding. Set in landscaped gardens with broad views of the Atlantic Ocean, the Coffins created an island paradise unsurpassed in the Golden Crescent.

In the 1920s, Coffin turned his attention to developing the land of the former Retreat Plantation on St. Simons Island into a scenic golf course. Coffin hired renowned architect Walter Travis, who created a golfer’s paradise with dramatic holes overlooking the ocean and marsh refuges. Coffin also purchased the small island to the east of St. Simons. Later named Sea Island, Coffin embarked on the creation of a beach resort there and hired famed Palm Beach architect Addison Mizner for its design. The Cloister, as the resort was coined, quickly gained notoriety as a winter haven for the rich and famousl.

Florida's Fort George and Amelia islands were also popular destinations. The Fort George Hotel entertained many famous statesmen and other power brokers around the turn of the century. Although the hotel was completely destroyed by fire in 1888, Fort George Island remained a top haven well into the twentieth century. In 1923, Rear Admiral Victor Blue founded the Army and Navy Club on the island and accelerated recreational development there to cater largely to high-ranking army and naval officers.

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