The Amelia Island Museum of History is located at 233 South Third Street, Fernandina Beach, Florida. It houses exhibits focusing on the history of Nassau County, Florida and is situated inside the old Nassau county jail. [1] The idea of the museum was first put forward in 1975 by the Duncan Lamont Clinch (DLC) Historical Society. This group formed a committee in hopes of creating a museum that would display items and artifacts related to the history of Amelia Island. During this time period resident William Decker, was collecting thousands of documents and artifacts related to the local history. When he passed this collection was then left to his son Doug, who wanted to be able to share his father’s work with the community. In 1977 a board of trustees was created from the original DLC committee that then formed the non-profit cultural institution called the “Fernandina Historical Museum. Through various fundraising activities the group lobbied the City of Fernandina Beach to purchase a portion of materials from the Decker collection. These materials were then donated to the museum group and housed in their first location, an old schoolhouse on Atlantic Avenue. [3]
The second location of this local museum was an old railroad depot that was donated by the CSX railroad company. In 1978 the depot became the dual residence of the Chamber of Commerce and the Museum. Items from the Decker Collection were put on permanent display along with traveling exhibits from the Smithsonian, Ft. Clinch, and George Davis Collection of historic photos. While this location served for the time being the trustees continued to look for a location all their own. When Nassau County built another jail in 1979 the Museum spoke to the county about taking possession of the old jail location. The county offered the Museum a 99 year lease at $1 per year. While the old jail location was in dire shape, volunteers worked to repair the space to a functional capacity. This new location then became known as the “Eight Flags Museum” after the creation of a contest within local schools. The first director of this new museum was Dorothy Groshell. In 1982 an additional space was cleared for the Victorian-era collection items and a new multi-media room. [3]
The direction of the museum changed somewhat in 1984 as it established a partnership with the Northeast Florida Railway Society and was renamed the “Florida Museum of Transportation and History”. The aim of this new direction was to distinguish the museum within the state and increase interest. However after only a year the museum saw that this theme was no longer drawing attendance and sought another direction. A volunteer by the name Deon Jaccard was responsible for the next phase of the museum’s life when they developed a ‘Spoken History’ program for the community and trained other volunteers to become tour guides for the museum and other district walking tours. At this time the museum came to be known by its current name “The Amelia Island Museum of History”. In 2003 the building completed a half million dollar update including the addition of an archive and research area on the second floor. Later in 2018 the museum underwent another renovation on the first floor that housed many of the museum’s permanent exhibits. Care was also given to balance the historical narratives presenting the history of Nassau County. [3] The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 18, 2009. [2]
Nassau County is the northeasternmost county of the U.S. state of Florida. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the county's population was 101,501 on July 1, 2023, up from 90,352 at the 2020 census.
Fernandina Beach is a city in northeastern Florida and the county seat of Nassau County, Florida, United States. It is the northernmost city on Florida's Atlantic coast, situated on Amelia Island, and is one of the municipalities comprising Greater Jacksonville. The area was first inhabited by the Timucuan Indian people. Known as the "Isle of 8 Flags", Amelia Island has had the flags of the following nations flown over it: France, Spain, Great Britain, Spain (again), the Republic of East Florida (1812), the Republic of the Floridas (1817), Mexico, the Confederate States of America, and the United States.
Yulee is a census-designated place (CDP) located within Nassau County, Florida, in the United States. The population at the 2020 United States Census was 14,195, up from 11,491 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Jacksonville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Yulee is a residential bedroom community for individuals commuting to Jacksonville, Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, and various locations in Southeast Georgia.
Amelia Island is a part of the Sea Islands chain that stretches along the East Coast of the United States from South Carolina to Florida; it is the southernmost of the Sea Islands, and the northernmost of the barrier islands on Florida's Atlantic coast. Lying in Nassau County, Florida, it is 13 miles (21 km) long and approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) wide at its widest point. The communities of Fernandina Beach, Amelia City, and American Beach are located on the island.
Fort Clinch is a 19th-century masonry coastal fortification, built as part of the Third System of seacoast defense conceived by the United States. It is located on a peninsula near the northernmost point of Amelia Island in Nassau County, Florida. The fort lies to the northeast of Fernandina Beach at the entrance to the Cumberland Sound, in the northeast part of the state. Today it is included within the boundaries of Fort Clinch State Park.
The Amelia Island Light is the oldest existing lighthouse in the state of Florida in the United States. It is located near the northern end of Amelia Island in the northeastern part of the state. Its light marks St. Marys Entrance, the inlet leading to St. Marys River, the Cumberland Sound and the harbor of Fernandina Beach, Florida along the Amelia River. The white light flashes every ten seconds which turns red from 344° to 360° when covering the shoal water in the vicinity of Nassau Sound.
The Fort Clinch State Park is a Florida State Park, located on a peninsula near the northernmost point of Amelia Island, along the Amelia River. Its 1,100 acres (4 km2) include the 19th-century Fort Clinch, sand dunes, plains, maritime hammock and estuarine tidal marsh. The park and fort lie to the northeast of Fernandina Beach at the entrance to the Cumberland Sound.
The Amelia Island North Range Light was built to mark a channel over the sandbar at the mouth of the St. Mary's River, which led to the harbor at Fernandina Beach, Florida, on Amelia Island. It consisted of a lighthouse and a front range tower with a light, arranged so that when ships could see one light above the other, they were lined up with the channel. During the Civil War Confederate forces removed the lenses from the lights. Union forces seized Fernandina Beach, Fort Clinch and the lighthouse in 1862.
The Fernandina Beach Historic District is a U.S. historic district located in Fernandina Beach, Florida on Amelia Island. The Fernandina Beach Historic District was included on the National Register of Historic Places on July 20, 1973 and encompasses approximately 1,500 acres, bounded by North 9th Street, Broome, Ash, South 5th Street, Date, and South 8th Street. On April 20, 1987, the National Register listing was expanded to include an additional 970 acres (3.9 km2), bounded by Sixth, Broome, North 3rd, & Escambia Streets; Seventh & Date Streets, and Ash. Approximately 300 buildings are included in this district.
The Original Town of Fernandina Historic Site, also known as "Old Town", is a historic site in Fernandina Beach, Florida, located on Amelia Island. It is roughly bounded by Towngate Street, Bosque Bello Cemetery, Nassau, Marine, and Ladies Streets. On January 29, 1990, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places as a historic site. Lying north of the Fernandina Beach Historic District, it is accessible from North 14th Street.
Five Oaks Museum, formerly known as the Washington County Museum, is a history museum in Washington County, Oregon, United States. It is located at the Rock Creek campus of Portland Community College (PCC), north of Beaverton, Oregon. From 2012 to 2017, its public exhibit space was located in downtown Hillsboro, Oregon, before it was moved back to PCC, its pre-2012 location and where the museum's research facility had already been located.
Fernandina Beach Municipal Airport is a city-owned public-use airport located on Amelia Island three nautical miles (6 km) south of the central business district of Fernandina Beach, a city in Nassau County, Florida, United States. It is designated as a reliever airport for Jacksonville International Airport.
The South Florida Fair is an annual fair held in West Palm Beach, Florida every January. The fairgrounds site occupies 100 acres and is located on the site of the former Palm Beach Speedway at the intersection of Southern Boulevard and Fairground Road, adjacent to the iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre. In 2012, the fair celebrated its 100th anniversary since its founding in 1912. Nearly 500,000 people attend the South Florida Fair each year.
The Museum of Lifestyle & Fashion History is a non-profit organization located in Palm Beach County, Florida. Currently the museum is seeking a permanent location.
John M. Drew is the current Tax Collector of Nassau County, Florida. He was first appointed Tax Collector by Governor Jeb Bush in May 2006. He was elected to the office later that year.
George Rainsford Fairbanks (1820–1906) was a lawyer, Clerk of the Circuit Court, Florida State Senator, president of Florida Fruit Growers Association and the Florida Fruit Exchange; editor of the Florida Mirror; the author of books on Florida history; and the founder and president of Florida Historical Society. He lived in Fernandina Beach. He is listed as a Great Floridian.
Robert Sands Schuyler, often written as R. S. Schuyler and occasionally as R. V. Schuyler, was a New York architect, designer, and religious leader who moved to Florida and joined political, religious, and civil organizations on Amelia Island. He served as Clerk of the City of Fernandina, chaired the Fernandina Library Association when it was established in 1891, and was a lay reader at the Santa Fe Lake, Florida, Episcopal congregation.
Fort San Carlos was a military structure built in 1816 to defend the Spanish colonial town of Fernandina, Florida, now called Old Town, which occupied a peninsula on the northern end of Amelia Island. The fort, a lunette fortification, stood on the southwest side of the town next to the harbor, on a bluff overlooking the Amelia River. It was made of wood and earthworks, backed with a wooden palisade on the east side, and armed with an eight or ten gun battery. Two blockhouses protected access by land on the south, while the village was surrounded with military pickets. An 1821 map of Fernandina shows that the street plan, laid out in 1811 in a grid pattern by the newly appointed Surveyor General of Spanish East Florida, George J. F. Clarke, today preserves nearly the same layout as that of 1821. The fort occupied the area bounded by the streets Calle de Estrada, Calle de White, and Calle de Someruelos. The structure itself has disappeared and only traces remain in what is now Fernandina Plaza Historic State Park.
Samuel Petty was a local politician and state legislator in Florida. He was also a delegate to Florida's 1885 Constitutional Convention.
