Amelia
Island & Fernandina Beach
The Isle of Eight Flags
Amelia
Island is the only place in the nation to have been governed under
eight flags since its original founding by the French. It is one of
the most popular US island resort destinations (as reported by Conde
Nast) with over 12 miles of uncluttered Atlantic beaches offering the
best of guest amenities and sights of major historical significance.
The
loosely-knit, semi-agrarian Timucuan Indians settled the area in the
second century B.C. and archaeologists estimate a peak population of
30,000 natives shortly before Huguenot leader Jean Ribault claimed
what he called "Isle de Mai" for his fellow religious outcasts in
1562. Three years later, the Spaniards, already well-ensconced in
nearby St. Augustine, drove the French out and erected the mission of
Santa Maria, only to be ousted in turn by the British in 1702. James
Oglethorpe, founder of Georgia, named the island after the Royal
Princess Amelia, daughter of King George II. During the Revolutionary
War, Amelia Island became home for many English Loyalists fleeing the
Colonies.
Pirate
Luis Aury sailed with his armada of three ships into the harbor in
1817. Three days later he hoisted the Republic of Mexico flag.. He
declared himself ruler of the island. Fernandina became a pirate haven
and location for buried treasure.
With all US ports closed to
foreign shipping under the Embargo Act of 1807, the Old Town of
Fernandina with its then Spanish-held port became the center for
smuggling of slaves, liquor, and luxuries from abroad. The bluff that
now boasts the mansion used in the movie "Pippi Longstocking" was
lined with baudy houses.
Eventually, this
"picturesque" period came to an end when Aury was run out of Fernandina in
1821 by a United States naval force.
In
1861, David Levy Yulee, a powerful U.S. Senator and entrepreneur,
built the first cross-state railroad, linking the island town,
Fernandina Beach, with Cedar Key on the Gulf Coast, creating a lure
for northerners seeking warmer climes. To accomplish this, he
convinced the town's inhabitants to relocate to the present
location--so as to benefit directly from the new rail line. Today, the
1899 Railroad Terminal serves as the Amelia Island/Fernandina Beach
Welcoming Center.
The historic site of Ft.
Clinch (now a State Park) was largely constructed by the Union Army's
1st New York Volunteer Engineers, but was never completed as no Civil
War battles were fought there. Park rangers, in period costume,
conduct reenactments of the "War of Aggression".
From
about 1870 to 1910, Amelia Island experienced a "Golden Age".
Fernandina was hailed as “The Queen of Summer Resorts” by an 1896
edition of American Resorts magazine. The Mallory Steamship Line of
New York enjoyed a brisk business ferrying thousands of visitors to
the area. Golden Age prosperity prompted a
building boom, producing many fine examples of Victorian Age
architecture.-especially the "Silk Stocking District" with it's
magnificently preserved mansions, called that because only the women
who lived there could afford the luxury of silk stockings. The boom attracted visitors such as the Vanderbilts,
DuPonts, and Carnegies. Fernandina was home to the First Customs House
in the United States.
The oldest newspaper in Florida was started in
Fernandina. The Egmont Hotel was considered to be one of the most
opulent in the country during the early 1900s, and the Florida House
is the oldest surviving hotel in the State of Florida. When Henry
Flagler built a new rail line which detoured much of the tourism
further south, Fernandina Beach and Amelia sunk into a period of slow
decline until immigrant fishermen poured their energies into the areas
long neglected shrimp industry.
Fernandina Beach is
credited with being the birthplace of the modern shrimp-fishing
industry, around 1900, because of the introduction of the first
powered shrimp boat, the fishing of offshore areas, and application of
the otter trawl. This historical fact is celebrated each May
with a three-day Shrimp Festival. Read more about the
history of the Shrimp Industry in Fernandina.
I
n
1912, prominent Fernandina businessmen built the elegant Keystone
Hotel, as a way to encourage a return of tourism to the area.
The extremely grand Egmont Hotel had provided accommodation for the wealthiest families
of the East Coast in the late 19th century, but was demolished in 1901.
The city burghers felt that a more modern replacement was needed, and so the
Keystone Hotel was born.
This hotel sat diagonally just across the street from
the Hoyt House, on the corner of 8th and Centre. In 1972 the hotel
was razed, and a bank building now occupies the site.
Visitors
today enjoy a low-key energy, which emanates from a 50-block historic
district with a string of old storefronts and Victorian era homes.
Though visitors crowd the 40-foot hand-carved bar at the gas lamp-lit
Palace Saloon (built in 1878, reputedly the oldest in Florida), more
recent establishments are just as intriguing. An amazing variety of
eateries and taverns (over 25) can be found within the charming and
quaint shopping district.
We have found a marvelous
article published in 1883 that purports to describe the City of
Fernandina as it would be in the year 1983. Some amazing
predictions are made, which are, of course, far from the mark--but
clever and interesting to our modern eyes. You can read this
article here: Fernandina in 1983.
A
short walk south from downtown is the informative Amelia Island
Museum of History, which chronicles the confusing history of this
coveted spot. From there, a short stroll east takes you to the initial
stretch of the islands pristine beaches. Just north lies Fort Clinch
State Park, which offers tours, re-enactments, and miles of priceless
nature trails. Originally built to protect seaborne access to Georgia,
masonry walls rendered the fort obsolete by the opening salvoes of the
Civil War. On a clear day, a look out over the water from her
unfinished ramparts affords views of famed Cumberland Island.
Hoyt
House proudly sits on this grand island, a grande dame of
Fernandina Beach, offering guests a casual
but extremely comfortable hospitality from which to experience all
that Amelia Island has to offer.
All
About Fred Hoyt and his House
