It is connected to the mainland at Eastpoint, Florida by the 4-mile (6.4 km) long St. George Island Bridge over Apalachicola Bay.

St. George Island is informally divided into three regions: the Dr. Julian G. Bruce St. George Island State Park; a public strip of restaurants, bars, small businesses, homes and public beach; and a private, gated housing community with its own airstrip[5] that includes multimillion-dollar beach homes along the Gulf of Mexico.

The area is well known for its excellent variety of Apalachicola Bay and Gulf of Mexico fish and seafood including oysters, scallops, grouper, flounder, redfish, snapper, trout, mullet, and others.

With a shortage of food supplies, his crew depended on the island's ample store of oysters and crabs.

It was taken out of service during the American Civil War, but afterwards served as a navigational tool for incoming ships until it was decommissioned in 1994.

[9][10] During the early and mid-20th century the island's pine forest was used for turpentine production in naval stores.

During World War II, St. George Island was a practice range for B-24 bombers from nearby Apalachicola.

In 1973, the proprietors of Leisure Properties, Gene D. Brown, a prominent attorney from Tallahassee, and John Stocks, a real estate developer from Alabama, negotiated the sale of 1,800 acres at the east end of the island to the State of Florida to be designated as a state park.

Brown and Stocks also designed and developed a private gated upscale residential community on the west end of the island known as St. George's Plantation.

But their commercial plans were systematically met with great resistance from environmentalists and politicians, and eventually even the homeowners themselves.

Brown and Stocks dissolved their partnership in 1981, but they each continued to develop their respective interests on the island.

Today St George's Plantation boasts hundreds of multi-million-dollar luxury homes inside a private gated community.