Alluring Amelia Island

Approximate time: 4 hours

Amelia Island is known as Florida's Golden Isle. One of a chain of barrier islands stretching from South Carolina, Amelia Island is a charming place - 13 miles long and two miles wide. Settled by the French, developed by the Spanish, named by the English and tamed by the Americans, Amelia is the only location in the United States to have been under eight different flags.

Follow Coastal Highway A1A north to the northernmost tip of Amelia Island to begin the day at Ft. Clinch State Park. Ft. Clinch is interpreted through a living history program. Rangers, dressed in Union uniforms, carry out the daily chores of the 1864 garrison soldiers.

Downtown Fernandina Beach is an historic 50-block area boasting many unusual and beautiful Victorian homes. Stroll down Centre Street to enjoy shopping in the boutiques and browsing in the galleries. Fernandina Beach, birthplace of the modern shrimping industry, is proud of this fact and has many seafood restaurants.  In fact, visitors traveling in May, must sample the coast's offerings at the Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival, held annually the first weekend in May in the historic district.

Take an afternoon tour hosted by the Amelia Island Museum of History, housed in the old Nassau county jailhouse. Or, take to the water with a narrated tour about the ecology and history of the shoreline of the area with Amelia River Cruises and Charters. Tours depart regularly from downtown Fernandina Beach. For those who have energy to spare, golf and tennis are readily available; and for those looking to escape it all, schedule a spa treatment at a seaside resort.