JEKYLL ISLAND WOOS TOURISTS.

Byline: Ralph Vigoda Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wirepapers

Let me admit right up front that, given my lowly position, I have never eaten with a Vanderbilt.

I have, however, eaten a Vanderbilt.

Not only that, but I was able to eat a Vanderbilt in the very spot where a Vanderbilt used to eat.

Before this gets too confusing, some explanation is in order.

I was recently here on Jekyll Island, one of the Georgia coast's Golden Isles that for more than a half-century, from 1888 to 1942, served as the private playground of the mega-rich, including the Vanderbilts, Astors, Rockefellers, Carnegies, and J.P. Morgan.

Those barons built the huge, turreted Jekyll Island Club House, where they lodged and gathered to play whist, kibbitz about banking, railroads, oil, and other things that translated into fortunes, and plan the next day's hunt for wild boar.

The good times ended when World War II began. But the Club House survived, turned into a magnificent hotel. And in that hotel is the Grand Dining Room where William K. Vanderbilt et al. used to take their meals.

It has been restored to replicate what it was in their day. The high ceilings, fluted columns and fireplace remain. The view still takes your gaze across the lawn and out to the lovely Jekyll River.

And one of the items on the breakfast menu is the Vanderbilt: a croissant stuffed with scrambled eggs (and, if you wish, Canadian bacon), topped with herbed cheese and served with grits or hash browns, and juice.

You need little imagination to be transported back a century when the richest men in the world sat down for a meal. But in these times, the Jekyll Island Club Hotel is where being casual and taking it easy are - very easy.

From croquet on the expansive manicured lawn and fishing on the river to collecting sand dollars on the beach and golfing on one of the four courses, Jekyll Island is essentially a nine-mile-long recreational area.

And you no longer have to be rich to enjoy it. Rates at the historic hotel, for instance, begin at about $100 a night. If that's too steep, there are a number of less expensive oceanfront lodgings.

But even if you do opt for a Best Western or Days Inn, make sure you spend some time around the Jekyll Island Club Hotel. A national historic landmark, it's the centerpiece of the 240-acre historic district that gives you a peek at the simple paradise the rich built for themselves.

How rich? It is estimated that the families who spent the winter here in Millionaire's Village controlled 17 percent of the world's wealth.

They usually came at New Year's and left around Easter. A number of them, William K. Vanderbilt among them, built their own cottages - although it seems silly to call them cottages. The one owned by plumbing-fixture magnate Robert Crane, for instance, had 20 rooms and 17 bathrooms and resembled a 16th-century Italian villa.

Built in 1917, Crane Cottage is, like many others in the historic district, now barren and awaiting restoration. That will happen, but not for a while. In an unusual agreement, Jekyll Island, which is run by a state authority, is mandated to be self-sufficient. It gets no money from the state of Georgia, relying on donations, grants and tourist dollars to move ahead with the makeover. When enough money is collected, it's earmarked for another of the great homes. For now, you can wander through the first floor of Crane, but there's not much to see.

Four others, though, have been restored: Moss Cottage, built in 1896 by Philadelphian William Struthers; Goodyear (1906), named for a Buffalo lumber baron; Mistletoe (1900), constructed for locomotive magnate Henry Kirke Porter; and Indian Mound (1892), whose best-known resident was William Rockefeller, John D.'s younger brother.

Nearby is Sans Souci, a huge, six-unit apartment building - J.P. Morgan's was on the upper left - that was financed in 1896 for a half-dozen men who preferred their own places to the Club House.

The orientation center, which occupies the former stables, is the best place to start a 90-minute tour of the district. You can opt for the tram ride, or simply wander around with a $1 guidebook. Many of the workers' small homes also remain, converted to shops.

One of the best places to stop is Little Faith Chapel. Built in 1904, it is illuminated by a Tiffany window - one guidebook calls it the finest in the South - that invites open-mouthed staring.

The natural beauty of Jekyll Island will also make your jaw drop. Most of the island - which is just over a mile wide - is a state park. About a third of it is developed. There are 10 miles of white-sand beaches, 20 miles of paved bicycle and jogging trails. There are guided nature walks. The island teems with wildlife, from wild turkeys to shorebirds to alligators. And if you crave man-made attractions for the kiddies, there's a large water park.

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Photo: The Jekyll Island Club Hotel formerly entertained Vanderbilts and the like.

Knight-Ridder Tribune Photo Service