Florida's Historic Coast and Amelia Island

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This is the first in a series of articles about Florida’s north-east “Historic Coast”, which includes Amelia Island, Saint Augustine, and dozens of miles of beautiful unspoiled beaches.

During the bitter and seemingly endless winter of 2015 Margo and I were fortunate to obtain a condo for a month on this charming and unspoiled isle, just below the Georgia border. This tranquil barrier island has known eight different flags during its colourful existence – those of Spain, France, England, Mexico, the Confederacy, the USA, and even of some pirates and usurpers whose claims were short-lived. The Island was named for Princess Amelia, daughter of King George II of England.

Often touted as an example of the “Florida of old”, it is different from most of the modern State because of what it does NOT have – there are no hordes of sun-and-amusement seeking tourists, raucous students on Spring Break, legal and illegal immigrants, or thunderous auto races. Amelia Island is simply a clean and tranquil place with happy and friendly people, thirteen miles of pristine beaches, two State Parks, three golf courses, very little crime, a section reserved for high quality gated resorts, and a town of 12,000 which has fifty blocks of historic buildings listed on the National Registry. To us it seemed almost as if we had stepped back into an earlier and more genteel era. We loved every bit of it, so much so that we’ve reserved the same condo for next winter ! For a wealth of information, Google Amelia Island on Wikipedia.

This first article provides a general overview: future ones will present more details, and then will give information about other parts of the Historic Coast.

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