Brunswick tourist information

Brunswick was founded in 1771 and named for the duchy of Brunswick-Lueneburg in Germany, the ancestral home of King George II of Great Britain. Many of the street and square names reflect the city's English heritage - Gloucester, Newcastle, Norwich, London, Halifax, and Hanover are examples of such. The streets and squares of the town themselves were laid out in the grid style before the American Revolution by the Royal Province of Georgia in 1771, following James Oglethorpe's Savannah Plan. In 1789, George Washington proclaimed Brunswick as one the five original ports of entry for the Colonies. In 1797 the Georgia General Assembly transferred the county seat of Glynn County from Frederica on St. Simons Island to Brunswick.

In addition to being the second largest concentration of historic structures in Georgia, Brunswick and the surrounding area is also a year-round resort community. Because the city limits of Brunswick are relatively small (the majority of the city's metro-area population is located outside the city limits) the city has a small town feel. Located in Glynn County across from mainland Brunswick and the area's famous marshes are the Golden Isles of Georgia, which include St. Simons Island, Sea Island, Jekyll Island and Little St. Simons Island. Jekyll Island was the winter retreat for such wealthy families as the Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, Morgans, and Goodyears beginning in the late 1800s. The islands' beaches, resorts, shops, and historic sites continue to attract visitors from around the world annually. In 2004, Sea Island was the site of the G-8 summit of world leaders hosted by U.S. President George W. Bush.