Amelia Island…we love this place!

3/18/22

On the way south, we stopped at the Oasis Marina in the town of Fernandina Beach, on Amelia Island. After a quick tour of the town, we put this on the must-stay-longer list for the way back. After a 3 night stay, it remains on the list as a longer term vacation destination.

The downtown area has restaurants and barrooms (The Palace Saloon is the oldest bar in Florida), stores for stylish clothing, beach ware, ice cream, or very loosely defined ”antiques” (where you can buy anything from a silver tea set to a Chubby Checker LP). It is relaxed, friendly and completely void of neon signs. Architecture on Centre Street is early 1900s and the neighborhoods north of downtown have stately mid 19th century mansions (built for the railroad & paper mill execs) while south of downtown are more modest homes, originally built for shop keepers, paper mill workers or railroad employees.

There are paper mills on each end of the island which give off great plumes of steam and, if the wind is right, a faint, slightly sweet aroma. Fernandina Beach was founded in the 1850s by David Yulee, as an east coast terminus for an east-west Florida railroad, with lumber, seafood and fruit as the original freight. The rail line predated Flagler’s north-south route, but eventually, the winter tourist trade made this town a destination, for both workers looking for opportunity and the rich & famous looking for a warm winter retreat.

Land based transportation, for transient boaters, is limited to taxis, (no Ubers) rental bicycles and rental golf carts. The island is the same size as Manhattan so we opted for a golf cart (which reminded me of cars that I used to drive in high school because they also topped out at 40 miles an hour).

We chugged over to the beach on the east (ocean) side of the island, where a few higher end hotels are located, and Fort Clinch on the northern end. Fort Clinch (like Fort Adams in Newport) was never used in combat but saw service as recently as WWII as a lookout for U-boats. This scenic island jaunt required some circuitous routing, because golf carts are not allowed on the high speed (45mph) roads, and logging trucks still barrel through the center of the island on their way to the paper mills.

Train whistles are part of the island’s audio background because there is a railroad bridge, over the ICW, from the southern end of the island to the mainland. This bridge has a 5 foot height clearance for boats and the Waterway Guide instructions note; the bridge is usually open, and boaters are advised to listen for the train whistle, which will indicate that the bridge is about to close. This is a swing bridge and we sped through, hoping not to hear the whistle mid way.

Amelia Island is strategically located for both military defense and smuggling. It has been governed by 8 different countries (including 2 pirates who decided to claim the island as their own) both the confederacy and the union along with the spanish, french and english. Each government has left its mark on the island and this is a big part of its charm.

The Island (and particularly the town of Fernandina Beach) is now geared towards tourism. Rental kayaks, paddle boards and small motorized catamarans are available at the waterfront along with wildlife tours by water and trolley tours by land. There is a lot to do here. However, there still seems to be something of a pandemic hangover, as some historic attractions have very limited hours.

One oddity of the island is a lighthouse over a swamp (this just didn’t seem like a useful place for a navigational aid). However, it turns out that this structure was moved here to act as a range marker. When viewed from seaward, a ship in the channel will see it line up with another lighthouse on the coast. When both lighthouses are lined up vertically – you’re in the channel. When not – you’re aground.

We’ll be back…and now travel on to St. Simons Island…