NaNa, the tallest dune in Florida, is a protected landmark due largely to the efforts of MaVynne Betsch (January 14, 1935-September 5, 2005), widely known as the "Beach Lady." Betsch, who once performed opera in London, Paris and Germany, returned . . . — — Map (db m59606) HM
During the period of racial segregation, African Americans were barred from most
of the beaches in Florida. American Beach was founded in 1935 to provide African
Americans with beach access in a resort atmosphere. Nana, as the sand dune . . . — — Map (db m58907) HM
Burney Park at American Beach was named for Isadore Horace Burney II, a native of Athens, Georgia. After graduating from Atlanta University in the mid-1930s, Burney began his life-long career as an agent in Athens for the Afro-American Life . . . — — Map (db m219573) HM
Evans' Rendezvous was renowned as a heartbeat of American Beach. Willie Brantley Evans was born in Orangeburg, South Carolina, on August 5, 1915. As a young man in the 1930s, he worked with the Civilian Conservation Corps for two years before . . . — — Map (db m205284) HM
The Franklintown community was first populated by ex-slaves from the Samuel Harrison plantation. Franklintown Chapel's congregation was organized in 1880 by Trinity M.E. Church, located in the City of Fernandina at the north end of Amelia Island. . . . — — Map (db m58542) HM
American Beach was established in 1935 under the leadership of Abraham Lincoln Lewis, one of seven co-founders of the Afro-American Life Insurance Company, and one of Florida’s first black millionaires. His vision was to create a beach resort as a . . . — — Map (db m58868) HM
American Beach, founded in 1935, was a renowned beach for Blacks during the segregation era when African Americans could not go to public beaches. In the early development of American Beach, a few private homes were built, including one hidden deep . . . — — Map (db m60434) HM
Side 1
The Guzman house is a one-story masonry frame Vernacular style home. It has an irregular plan protected by a side facing gable roof with a front gable extension. The exterior walls are covered with wood shake shingles. The fenestration . . . — — Map (db m219579) HM
The Stewarts' vacation cottage at 5449 Waldron St. was built in 1941 by Ralph and Marie Taylor Stewart. Waldron Street is one of the highest points on American Beach and was named after the Reverend J. Milton Waldron, one of the founders of what was . . . — — Map (db m227630) HM
The Florida Railroad was the state's first cross-peninsular railroad. David L. Yulee, a Florida resident and United States Senator, incorporated the Florida Railroad Company in 1853. Construction of the line began at Fernandina Beach in 1856 and was . . . — — Map (db m92991) HM
In the early 1900s, Nassau County had several schools serving its African American communities in Bryceville, Callahan, Hilliard, Kent, Evergreen, Kings Ferry, Musselwhite, Nassauville, Yulee, and Fernandina. Peck High School, established in 1927, . . . — — Map (db m163007) HM
June 30th, 1778, a force of 300 American Cavalry commanded by Colonel Elijah Clarke, participating in General Robert Howe's invasion of Florida, attacked a column of British at this place (Alligator Creek Bridge), but were unable to penetrate the . . . — — Map (db m172581) HM
In 1811, the town of Fernandina was platted according to the Spanish Law of the Indies, which prescribed how the site for a Spanish settlement should be selected, and how the town should be laid out in classical grid form. This law also stated . . . — — Map (db m144882) HM
Standing at the highest point on the island, the Amelia Island Lighthouse was built from bricks re-used from the Cumberland Island Lighthouse in 1839 on land purchased from Mary Fernandez. The 67 foot tall lighthouse has walls four feet thick at the . . . — — Map (db m33367) HM
1810 · 1886
David L. Yulee
Lived Near This Location
— • —
He was U.S. Senator,
Statesman, Developer,
Florida's first Railroad
Builder. — — Map (db m33429) HM
This site was part of an indigo plantation belonging to the estate of John Perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmont. After Lord Perceval’s death in 1770, his executors sent Stephen Egan to manage the East Florida estate. Under Egan’s supervision, Egmont became . . . — — Map (db m106652) HM
Louis Dargan (L.D.) Ervin was born in Darlington, South Carolina, in 1873. He attended the Georgia State Industrial College for Colored Youth of Savannah, the oldest institution of higher education for African Americans in Georgia. Ervin . . . — — Map (db m144776) HM
In the early 1930’s, A.L. Lewis, president of the Afro American Insurance Company, bought 200 acres of beachfront so his employees could enjoy the Florida shore during the days of segregation. For the next 40 years, American Beach was a paradise . . . — — Map (db m144780) HM
Built in 1885 by George Rainsford Fairbanks, lawyer, historian, and editor. Born in 1820 at Watertown, New York, Fairbanks moved to Florida in 1842 and became a major in the Confederate Army.
He edited the Fernandina Florida Mirror, presided . . . — — Map (db m59696) HM
During the Spanish and English periods of Florida history, many large tracts of land were granted primarily to induce settlement. All that remains of the Don Domingo Fernandez Spanish Grant is the family cemetery and this park. Royal title to . . . — — Map (db m33394) HM
American Beach was established in January 1935 when the Afro-American Life Insurance Company purchased 33 acres of land with a 1000-foot shoreline. This Masonry Vernacular home was built that year for the president of the company, Abraham Lincoln . . . — — Map (db m92952) HM
The First Missionary Baptist Church was founded by slaves in 1860 under the leadership of its first pastor. Elder William Rose of Savannah, Georgia. The congregation worshipped in multiple buildings until settling at its current location in 1873. . . . — — Map (db m174753) HM
Organized in 1858, this congregation worships
in Fernandina's oldest church building, and
one of the oldest in Florida. This colonial
structure rests on land donated by David L.
Yulee, Florida's first Senator, and a former
member of the . . . — — Map (db m121847) HM
The Florida Railroad Company was incorporated January 8, 1853, with David L. Yulee as president. The line received both federal and state land grants. Despite early financial difficulties, construction was begun from Fernandina, where the main . . . — — Map (db m33411) HM
Reconstruction and construction of roads, buildings and grounds was performed by Civilian Conservation Corps
Company 1420, 1937-1942. — — Map (db m33457) HM
You are standing in the general location of the Fort Clinch Military Road. The photo represents what a typical military road looked like during the Civil War.
In 1847, with the start of the fort's construction, military engineers realized the . . . — — Map (db m33438) HM
In 1847, with the start of the fort’s construction, military engineers realized the necessity to create a road that would connect Fort Clinch to Old Fernandina. The road would serve as a vital lifeline for the movement of soldiers, supplies and . . . — — Map (db m144854) HM
On this bluff overlooking the Amelia River, Fort San Carlos was completed by the Spanish in 1816. The fort was made of wood and earthworks and was armed with eight or ten guns. As the Spanish Empire disintegrated, Fort San Carlos became increasingly . . . — — Map (db m33360) HM
Site of the Battle of Amelia, September 13, 1817. On this hill, Spaniards erected a battery of four brass cannon, with about 300 men, supported by two gunboats. They shelled Fernandina, held by Jared Irwin, adventurer and former Penna. congressman. . . . — — Map (db m33343) HM
Methodism first came to Amelia Island in 1822 when the South Carolina Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church appointed the Reverend Elijah Sinclair as the first minister to East Florida. Sinclair arrived within months of Florida being ceded . . . — — Map (db m59687) HM
(side 1)
Mount Olive Baptist Church in Nassauville, Florida was established in 1870 by the descendants of West African born, Sam Hooper, and his native American wife. Sam, (aka I. Hupue) who was over 100 years of age in 1864, was the . . . — — Map (db m92956) HM
In honor of
American Revolutionary War Patriots
who settled in Nassau County, Florida
Burroughs Higginbotham, Soldier
Amos Latham, Soldier
John Tolson Lowe, Lieutenant
James Pelot, Patriot
John Daniel Vaughan, Private
For freedom, . . . — — Map (db m93831) WM
The 1891 Nassau County Courthouse is one of only a few remaining courthouses in Florida built in the late 19th century. An excellent example of the Italianate style, it features a square domed tower with cupola, brick corbelling, bracketed cornice, . . . — — Map (db m58486) HM
New Zion Baptist Church, the second oldest and largest black Baptist Church on Amelia Island, was founded on May 15, 1870 under the leadership of Reverend Lewis Cook (1834-1880). He and 69 parishioners held their first meeting in a stable on First . . . — — Map (db m58939) HM
Original site of
Fernandina
Last Spanish city platted
in the Western Hemisphere
Platted 1811
Listed on the
National Register Of Historic Places — — Map (db m144773) HM
(Side 1)
The groundwork for Peck High School started in 1880, when a group led by Henry B. Delaney petitioned for an African American school in Fernandina. In 1885, a four-room building known as Colored School No. 1 opened at Atlantic . . . — — Map (db m93837) HM
On February 5, 1875, Jean-Pierre Augustin Verot, Bishop of Saint Augustine, purchased this cottage from Sarah Phelan. The Sisters of Saint Joseph lived here in the year 1877, when a devastating epidemic of yellow fever swept over the Amelia Island . . . — — Map (db m59963) HM
This land high above the Amelia River was a campsite for Indians in pre-historic times, as early as 2000-1000 B.C. In the early history of the state, it assumed military importance because of the fine protected harbor on the northern boundary of . . . — — Map (db m33349) HM
Cast iron lamp posts originally flanked the south and west entrances to the post office building. The lamp posts represent the first standardized type approved for Federal buildings. Removed in the early 1950s, only these two survived. They were . . . — — Map (db m144878) HM
In May 1777, Colonel Samuel Elbert's Continentals landed on the North End of Amelia Island at Oldtown Bluff, approximately one mile north of Florida. A patrol engaged in a skirmish with British troops on the south end of the island. An officer, Lt. . . . — — Map (db m33414) HM
A nearly two year ordeal for 100 enslaved Africans in Florida ended when they departed from Fernandina in 1829 and relocated to a settlement for freed slaves called New Georgia, in Liberia, Africa.
The Spanish slave ship Guerrero, . . . — — Map (db m144894) HM
The church was organized as a mission in 1858 and was consecrated the following year by the Rt. Rev. Francis Huger Rutledge, first Bishop of Florida. During the War it was used by Federal forces occupying Fernandina and many of its interior . . . — — Map (db m58814) HM
In May 1887, the original wood frame building of St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Fernandina was given to the black congregation and called Good Shepherd Episcopal Church. The structure was moved to face east on Ninth Street. The rectors of St. . . . — — Map (db m92955) HM
This Classical Revival style residence, built by Dr. John F. Lesesne circa 1860, is one of the oldest homes in Fernandina Beach. Lesesene left Fernandina during the Civil War and did not return. In 1868 the house became the property of the family of . . . — — Map (db m58467) HM
The Old Nassau County Jail has occupied several buildings on this site from 1878 through 1978. In 1868, the Nassau County Board of County Commissioners began the process of creating a stand-alone jail, and in 1871, the deed for this property was . . . — — Map (db m154094) HM
Plaza San Carlos, located atop a bluff of the Amelia River in Old Town, is one of the most historically significant places on Amelia Island. The area was inhabited by Native Americans of St. Johns culture as early as 1000 BC, and was later used . . . — — Map (db m144885) HM
(side 1)
Launched in 1994, the international and inter-regional project ‘The Slave Route: Resistance, Liberty, Heritage’ addresses the history of the slave trade and slavery through the prism of intercultural dialogue, a culture of peace . . . — — Map (db m152489) HM
Side 1
In 1822, the South Carolina Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church added Amelia Island to the St. Mary's Circuit. They appointed the Rev. Elijah Sinclair as the circuit rider, and early services were held in the Donald McDonnell . . . — — Map (db m219576) HM
Dedicated in 1912, this Italian Renaissance Revival building was designed under the direction of Treasury Department architect James Knox Taylor. The interior was custom built to accommodate the building’s three original functions as a United . . . — — Map (db m144847) HM
Side 1
During Florida's British Period (1763-1783), the small trading hamlet of Mills Ferry was established here on the St. Marys River. Mills Ferry was first chronicled in the early 1770s by William Bartram. He noted that the Seagrove & . . . — — Map (db m93857) HM
The town of Italia was founded here in 1882 by Irish-born entrepreneur William MacWilliams. Italia was located at milepost 18 on the Florida Transit Railroad, which ran from Fernandina to Cedar Key. The town began when former U.S. Senator David Levy . . . — — Map (db m54185) HM
When the American War of Independence began, the new British colonies of East and West Florida did not seek separation from England. East Florida remained comparatively free from serious fighting throughout the course of the Revolutionary War. In . . . — — Map (db m41222) HM
Side 1
Bryant Academy opened in the 1950-1951 school year, the result of an effort by the Nassau County School Board to provide more adequate schools for African Americans. The school board issued revenue bonds and closed nine existing African . . . — — Map (db m170000) HM
The light of freedom still burns brightly in our world today because of the service and sacrifice of America’s men and women in uniform.
Our Nation’s servicemen and women have fought the forces of tyranny and
won victories for liberty, human . . . — — Map (db m134479) WM
In 1855, construction began in Fernandina on the first railroad in Florida to connect the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. The final tracks were completed in Cedar Key in March 1861 just a month before the start of the Civil War. Named the Florida . . . — — Map (db m153377) HM
Early in his career, famed naturalist John Muir passed this location on his “Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf” from Indiana to Cedar Key in 1867. From Fernandina, Florida, Muir followed the route of the Florida Railroad, the first rail . . . — — Map (db m153376) HM
During the War of 1812, Georgia settlers invaded Spanish East Florida in an attempt to destabilize Spanish control and prevent British forces from using the region as a military staging ground. This conflict was known as the Patriot War. In March . . . — — Map (db m150640) HM
