Gibson Island Golf Courses

Gibson Island was acquired in 1921 by Stuart Symington, who developed it as a private summer community centered on golf, sailing, swimming and tennis. Its early members were largely businessmen, socialites and political figures from Baltimore, along with residents of Wilmington, Philadelphia, New York, Boston and other cities.

The community follows a formal plan drawn up in 1922 by the Olmsted Brothers of Brookline, Massachusetts, which worked with the island's natural topography, used native plantings and reduced roads to winding paved pathways. The original scheme called for 423 residential lots and two 18-hole golf courses; in practice the island holds roughly 190 private homes and a single nine-hole course, and the landscape still reflects the plan as built, making it a notable example of an early 20th-century planned recreational community.