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Amelia Island, Florida |
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Pictures fromAmelia Island.
Amelia Island is on the Atlantic Coast of Florida, north of Jacksonville by about 30 miles. It is the northernmost of Florida's Atlantic barrier islands and sits across Cumberland Sound, south of the Cumberland Islands in Georgia. Amelia Island is about 13 miles long and 2 miles wide at its widest point. The island's population was somewhat under 20,000 people for the year 2000 US census with about half or more living in Fernandina Beach. Tourism is one of its largest industries and swells the population during the entire year.
The pictures on this page actually show several small northeast Florida islands in addition to the largest, Amelia Island. On the north end of Amelia Island, just outside the city limits of Fernandina Beach, is Fort Clinch State Park, housing the main attraction of Fort Clinch. On the south end of Amelia Island is the commercial resort area known as Amelia Island Plantation and little known American Beach. Further south and just off Amelia Island we find Big Talbot Island and Little Talbot Island. The Kingsley Plantation is in what is known as Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve on St. George Island, south of Big and Little Talbot Islands. Visitors to Amelia Island, Florida can tour many local cities by car.
Jacksonville, Yulee, Mayport and the beach towns of Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beach and Neptune Beach are all within a 30-45 minute ride. The historic city of St. Augustine is about an hour away and Daytona Beach about 90 minutes. This area can be accessed best by aircraft from the Jacksonville International Airport (30 minutes).
Find more information about this area or activities and attractions in Amelia Island, Fort Clinch and Fernandina Beach.
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View the best known area of Amelia Island - Fernandina Beach HERE |
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Fort Clinch on Amelia Island |
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| The enlisted men's quarters at Fort Clinch. | Tunnels run from the bastions to the parade grounds. | ||||
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| Invaders from the sea got a taste of the big guns. | |||||
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Outside brick walls and bastion. |
Damaged wall shows St. Mary's River in background. | ||||
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| View from inside Fort Clinch. | Entry from the woodsy mainland via drawbridge over the dry moat. | ||||
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| Thick, high brick and stone walls with 5 bastions for crossfire and narrow rifle emplacements made the fort tough to take. With the development of better cannonry, though, brick and stone wall forts such as this became susceptible to attack. | |||||
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| Inside the fort. | |||||
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| Brick oven and fireplace. | Stockade and guard quarters. Upper middle picture shows prisoner cells. | ||||
Fort Clinch State Park |
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| Entrance to park. | Campgrounds on the Amelia River side. | ||||
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Beach side campgrounds. |
The pier and jetty at Fort Clinch State Park. |
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| View of the beach just outside the walls of Fort Clinch. | Boardwalk to beach. | Mystery buildings north of Fort Clinch? | |||
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| Views from the pier at Fort Clinch State Park. | |||||
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| This ¼ mile pier runs along the jetty. | |||||
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| It's a beautiful ride through the park. | Enlistment notice and pay scale. | Cook's area - brick oven hearth. | |||
American Beach |
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The prominent sign at the left refers to MaVynee Betsch or the "Beach Lady" as she is popularly known. A local celebrity, she works to preserve American Beach as Black Heritage. |
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| American Beach is a designated historic site. | |||||
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| Rough and tender from years of neglect, American Beach has seen better days. | |||||
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| Huge, impressive sand dunes encircle American Beach. | |||||
Little Talbot Island State Park |
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| These photos from Little Talbot Island show huge expanses of empty beach and it becomes easily imaginable to picture Indians or early settlers walking these shores. | |||||
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| Sand dune. | All alone except for sea birds. | Mayport across the channel. | |||
Kingsley Plantation - Fort George Island |
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| Ships and boats provided basic transportation to the Kingsley Plantation via sea routes and inland waterways. Foodstuffs and goods made on the plantation were loaded on ships and carried to foreign and domestic ports. | |||||
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| The view of the Kingsley Plantation main house from the river... | ...and from the front porch, the view of the St. John's River. | Park Service admin building. | |||
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| The plantation barn. | Entering the building area from the parking lot. | The kitchen house (left) and the main house (right). | |||
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Upriver and downriver views from the front yard. |
Plantation buildings. | ||||
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Main house side view (above left) and rear of house (middle). |
Front of main house. | ||||
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Plantation buildings (rear). |
The kitchen house was used to prepare foods. Risk of fire necessitated separate building for cooking. | ||||
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View of the St. John's River from main house porch. |
The slave cabins housed several families each. The structures were well away from the main plantation buildings. |
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