Florida Historical Markers Programs - Marker: Nassau

Nassau

PECK HIGH SCHOOL

Location:516 South 10th Street
County: Nassau
City: Fernandina Beach
Description: 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 Avenue and 11th Street. Moses H. Payne, a Howard University graduate, became the first principal and teacher that same year. William H. Peck, also a Howard graduate, joined Payne in Fernandina in 1887, and served as assistant principal. Following Payne’s death in 1888, Peck was promoted to principal, a position he held until 1931. Professor Peck developed the high school’s curriculum and graduated its first class in 1891. In 1909, a four acre parcel was purchased on South 10th Street to build a larger school. Peck tenaciously gathered support from within the community and from the Rosenwald Foundation, a program for African-American school construction funded by Julius Rosenwald of Sears, Roebuck & Co. In 1911, the school was renamed in Peck’s honor. Peck High School was completed in 1927, serving grades 1-12. Peck, who died in 1950 and is buried at Bosque Bello cemetery, was widely respected in the community and recognized in the state’s Great Floridians 2000 program. Side 2: As one of the oldest African American high schools in the state, Peck High School was the center of the African American community and a source of pride. Used for classes in the day, the school served as a meeting place for community groups in the evening. In later years, adult education and industrial skills were also offered. Teachers were an integral part of the fabric of the community and embraced their roles with great pride and commitment, understanding that they were educating students, families, and a community. When schools in Fernandina were desegregated in 1969, Peck was closed. Students were integrated into other schools and by 1976 the building was vacant. Recognizing the impact the deteriorating building had on the spirit of an entire community, a diverse group including Ellie Colburn, Elmo Myers, Charles Albert, and Willie Mae Ashley began the campaign to save Peck High. In the 1990s, state grants and the City of Fernandina Beach funded its restoration, and it reopened as the Peck Center. The center houses non-profit groups, city offices, and hosts recreational activities and special events, making it possible for Peck to celebrate its past while continuing to serve the community.
Sponsors: Peck Alumni Association, City of Fernandina Beach

KINGS FERRY

Location:Kings Ferry Boat Ramp, end of Bill Johnson Road
County: Nassau
City: Hilliard
Description: Side One: 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 American naturalist William Bartram. He noted that the Seagrove & Co. trading post existed here where the British King’s Road crossed the river. That road connected Charleston, South Carolina, with St. Augustine, Florida. In the mid-1770s, the British built Fort Tonyn, one mile east of this site, to keep the Georgia militia from invading Florida. Towering longleaf yellow pine was cut along the St. Marys River to mast the tall ships of the British Navy. During Florida’s Second Spanish Period (1783-1821), the crossing took the names of Whitehouse, (Casa Blanca), and Drummond’s Ferry before finally becoming Kings Ferry in the mid-1820s. Zachariah Haddock, William Drummond, and William Nelson were some of the first Spanish land grant owners between 1790-1805. Other families include Higginbotham, Braddock, Vanzant, McKendree, Libby, Davis, Albertie and King. In the decades after Spain relinquished Florida in 1821, Protestant congregations organized including Ephesus and nearby Mt. Olive Baptist Churches. Side Two: Brothers Gilbert and Franklin Germond and their father constructed and operated a mill here in the early 1850s. African-Americans constituted the bulk of the labor force. After 1865, many African-Americans remained in the area. They worked in the mills, in the forests, and on the docks, loading four and five-masted ships with lumber bound for all parts of the world. African-American family names included Thompson, Taylor, Cooper, Timmons, Albertie, and Scipio. In 1870, William and Jackson Mizell arrived and expanded Germond’s “Little Mill” into the largest milling operation in Nassau County. In the late 1870s, Hilliard and Bailey constructed a mill next to the Mizell mill. They also built a log tram south to what would become the Town of Hilliard. In the 1890s, Kings Ferry was at its peak and boasted a post office, millinery shop, Masonic Lodge, schoolhouse, churches, skating rink, blacksmith shop, newspaper, and many drinking establishments. By the 1920s, the town’s economic activity had waned. Today, all signs of commercial life are gone, leaving memories and a scattering of private homes. The two-story T.W. Russell house, built in 1875, is located east of this marker.
Sponsors: West Nassau Historical Society

BATTLE OF THOMAS CREEK

Location:on U.S. 1 at Thomas Creek
County: Nassau
City: South of Callahan
Description: 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 the summer of 1777, however, Americans initiated an invasion aimed at capturing St. Augustine. The expedition was composed of Continental Army troops and Georgia militia forces under the command of Lt. Col. Samuel Elbert. Preparations for the defense of east Florida involved the East Florida Rangers, a force of mounted provincials, British Regulars, and Indian allies. On may 17, 1777, a portion of the invading American expedition was attacked by a detachment of British Regulars under Maj. J.M. Prevost assisted by Rangers under Col. Thomas Brown and Indians. The battle took place at a site on Thomas Creek south of its confluence with the Nassau River. After suffering heavy casualties, the Americans, already discouraged by lack of supplies and the heat, began their retreat from Florida. Only one more unsuccessful invasion of East Florida occurred during the remaining years of the American Revolution.
Sponsors: Sponsored by florida society, children of the american revolution in cooperation with department of state

FERNANDEZ GRANT

Location:N. 4th Street.
County: Nassau
City: Fernandina Beach
Description: 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 this property was granted August 9, 1807. This land was once a part of the Earl of Egmont property on Amelia Island, which included the present site of the City of Fernandina Beach. On January 1, 1825, the Legislative Council of the Territory of Florida passed "an act to incorporate the city of Fernandina." Little development resulted until 1853 when the Florida Railroad Company announced that Fernandina would form the eastern terminus for the first cross state railroad in Florida. This stimulated the growth of Florida by making a portion of the interior more accessible for further development and population growth.
Sponsors: The People of Saint Michael's Parish in Cooperation with Department of State

FLORIDA'S FIRST ATLANTIC TO GULF RAILROAD

Location:Atlantic Avenue & Front Street
County: Nassau
City: Fernandina Beach
Description: 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 office was located, in 1856. The Final trackage to Cedar Key was lain March 1, 1861, and Florida had its first cross-state railroad.

FORT SAN CARLOS

Location:Corner of Estrada and White St.
County: Nassau
City: Fernandina Beach
Description: 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 vulnerable to foreign intervention. Commissioned by representatives of revolting South American countries to liberate Florida from Spanish control, Sir Gregor MacGregor seized the fort in June, 1817. After his withdrawal in September, the Spanish attempt to reassert their authority was repelled by forces led by MacGregor's lieutenants, Jared Irwin and Ruggles Hubbard. Somewhat later, the pirate Luis Aury gained control of the fort. Because Aury's privateering threatened negotiations concerning the cession of Florida, United States troops occupied Fort San Carlos in December, 1817. Although upset by U.S. interference at Fort San Carlos, Spain did cede Florida in 1821, and the U.S. abandoned the fort shortly after the transferral. Archaeologists estimate that two-thirds of the area has disappeared through erosion.
Sponsors: sponsored by general duncan lamont clinch historical society of amelia island in cooperation with department of state

HISTORIC AMERICAN BEACH

Location:Lewis St. at Ocean Blvd.
County: Nassau
City: Amelia Island
Description: 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 benefit for company executives and as an incentive for employees to exceed in sales. Florida’s beaches were racially segregated until the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Because of this, American Beach became regionally popular since it was one of the few beaches in the Southeast open to African Americans. Other sites in American Beach trace their history to the Civil War era. Amelia Island was home to several Sea Island cotton plantations, including the Harrison Plantation. In 1862 Union Forces captured Amelia Island and the freed slaves founded Franklin Town at the south end of this island. The Franklin Town cemetery, which had been given by the Harrison family to their slaves as a burial place for their families, still exists today on the west side of Highway A1A. In 1972, encroaching development forced Franklin Town residents to move north to American Beach. Their Methodist Church, built in 1949, was also moved here where it now serves as the church’s fellowship hall.
Sponsors: AMERICAN BEACH PROPERTY OWNERS’ ASSOCIATION, INC. AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE

MEMORIAL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

Location:NE Corner of Centre and Sixth Streets
County: Nassau
City: Fernandina Beach
Description: 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 to the United State by Spain in 1821 and was welcomed by Protestant Scotch and English settlers who opened their homes to him for services. The congregation continued to worship in homes and the Pioneer Hotel after the town was relocated in the 1850s from Old Town, about a mile north of the present site of Fernandina Beach. In the mid-1800s a wood frame church was built on the northwest corner of Broome and Sixth Streets. The old church was torn down after it was replaced by the building on Centre Street. Construction of the brick Classical Revival style building began in 1926 on property donated by E.W. Bailey and John W. Simmons. The sanctuary was complete by 1930 and the first services were held on the second Sunday in February. Fund raising to complete work on the church was difficult during the Great Depression of the 1930's, and the three-story classroom section at the rear of the building was still unfinished when Bishop Paul Kern dedicated the church in 1940. The work was finally completed in 1951. It is the oldest United Methodist congregation in the Florida conference.
Sponsors: florida heritage sitesponsored by the General Duncan Lamont Clinch Historical Societyof Amelia Island and Florida Department of StateSandra B. Mortham, Secretary of State

NEW ZION BAPTIST CHURCH

Location:10 South Street, Amelia Island
County: Nassau
City: Amelia Island
Description: 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 Street and later in peoples’ homes. The 69 parishioners, supported by “Father Cook,” purchased the land for the church on April 1, 1878. The original wood church, built in 1881on the present site, was destroyed by fire on the morning of February 11, 1907. The current structure, built on the same site and completed by November 1907, was constructed of cement brick veneer and remains unchanged today. William “Billy” Rivers, a well-known black contractor, supervised the project. Reverend P.A. Callaham, Bachelor of Divinity, served as Pastor. New Zion has a historical, cultural and spiritual significance, particularly during the segregation era, when it was the leading and largest church used for graduations and other community events. Under the leadership of 22 pastors, New Zion has for over 100 years contributed to the community and remains a cherished historical site in the historic district of Fernandina Beach.
Sponsors: CITY OF FERNANDINA BEACH AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE

PLAZA SAN CARLOS

Location:Estrada st. near White St.
County: Nassau
City: Fernandina Beach
Description: This land high above the Amelia River was a campsite for Indians in pre-historic times, as early as 2,000-1,000 B.C. In the early history of the state, it assumed military importance because of the fine protected harbor on the northern boundary of Spanish Florida. In the first Spanish period, a village of Franciscans and Indians was established here by 1675, and a Spanish sentinel's house was documented in 1696. From 1736 to 1742, James Oglethorpe stationed Highlanders on this site. After the withdrawal of Oglethorpe's troops in 1742, the area served as a buffer zone between the English and the Spanish until 1763 when Flroida became a British possession. When Spain regained possession of Florida in 1783, this harbor was an embarkation point for British Loyalists leaving Florida. The U.S. Embargo Act of 1807, which closed all U.S. ports to European trade, made the border town of Fernandina a center for smuggling. On March 17, 1812, a group of Americans known as the Patriots overthrew the Spanish battery, but the U.S. flag replaced the Patriots' standard after one day. Spain regained control in May, 1813, and completed Fort San Carlos in 1816. As the fort's parade ground, this site was named Plaza San Carlos.
Sponsors: sponsored by General Duncan Lamont Clinch, Historical Society of Amelia Island in cooperation with the Florida Department of State

ST. PETER'S CHURCH (EPISCOPAL)

Location:801 Atlantic Avenue
County: Nassau
City: Fernandina Beach
Description: 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 possessions were lost. The building was restored to sacred use during the Reconstruction Period, but was destroyed by fire in 1892. The present neo-Gothic church was completed in 1893.

THE LESESNE HOUSE

Location:Corner of Centre and 5th St.
County: Nassau
City: Fernandina Beach
Description: This Classical Revival style residence, built by Dr. John F. Lesesne circa 1860, is one of the oldest homes in Fernandina Beach. Lesesne left Fernandina during the Civil War and did not return. In 1868 the house became the property of the family of Judge John Friend, who had been appointed district tax commissioner after the war by President Andrew Johnson. Friend was a lawyer and served as a county commissioner and judge. At the time of his death in 1878 he was state senator-elect from Nassau County. The descendents of the Friend family still occupy the home. This double galleried home, constructed of hand-hewn lumber fastened with wooden pegs, is one of the major points of interest in the Fernandina Beach Historic District which was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
Sponsors: The General Duncan Lamont Clinch Historical Society of Amelia Island and Angel Starke Davis, Ernest and Marie Davis Chaplin Family, Davis and Dee Chaplin, Saxby Caroline Sperau and Florida Department of State.

MARTHA’S HIDEAWAY

Location:Ervine ST.
County: Nassau
City: Fernandina Beach
Description: 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 in the woods at the end of Ervin Street. The Colonial Revival house, built for local African-American business owner and community activist Martha Hippard, is an unusual example of high style architecture in the beach resort community. Detached from the main house is a separate party house that some say was a gambling house. Others say it was used to host dances, club parties, and other civic and social activities. Both houses are constructed of hand-made concrete blocks from truckloads of crushed coquina shells hauled from American Beach and hand-molded bricks manufactured on the premises. The 1938 structures were built on nearly an acre of land, larger than any other parcel in the area. In January 1961, Elmo and Annette Myers of Fernandina purchased the house from its second owner, eduator Lottie O. Harris of St. Marys, Georgia. Martha's Hideaway, also called Hippard's Hideaway, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 12, 2001.
Sponsors: Nassau County and the Florida Department of State

A DUNE SYSTEM CALLED "NANA"

Location:Ocean Blvd.
County: Nassau
City: Fernandina Beach
Description: 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 to American Beach in 1975 as a full-time resident. Here, she used her resources and talents for the preservation of nature, the environment and the African-American community of American Beach. For this 60-foot dune system that she dubbed "NaNa," and the adjoining property to the shoreline, her efforts resulted in acquiring nearly ten acres as a national park now located in the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve. The "Beach Lady" also championed efforts that led to the posting of nesting signs for the protection of sea turtle eggs and encouraged residents to plant wildflowers on vacant lots to stabilize the sand as well as serve as hosts for butterfly nestlings and feedings. MaVynne Betsche, devoted the last 25 years of her life as this historic African-American community's most vocal advocate. Beach Lady is lovingly remembered for her mantra, "Getting the most from the least and living peacefully in harmony with nature is the most rewarding lifestyle."
Sponsors: The American Beach Property Owners Association and the Florida Department of State

NASSAU COUNTY HISTORIC COURTHOUSE

Location:416 Center St N
County: Nassau
City: Fernandina Beach
Description: 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, brick pilasters, arched windows, granite sills, and arcaded entrances with cast iron columns. Its architect, A.E. McClure, was from Jacksonville, but designed notable buildings throughout Florida, including the Lake City Agricultural College, forerunner of the University of Florida. The building's cornerstone was inscribed with the date 1891 and was scheduled to be laid on December 16 of that year, but the ceremony was delayed until April 12, 1892. Renovations to the courthouse include the 1926 addition of a vault for the recording office and a bell that was cast by Meneely & Co. of West Troy, New York. The bell served as part of the city's fire alarm until the mid-1930s. The clock was added to the bell tower in 1977. The courthouse is the tallest building in the Fernandina Beach Historic District and has served the county's judicial and governmental needs since its construction.
Sponsors: The Nassau County Board of County Commissioners and the Florida Department of State

PHELAN - VEROT HOUSE

Location:N. 4th St between Alachua St. and Broom St.
County: Nassau
City: Amelia Island
Description: The marker text reads as follows: "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 community. From this place, for three weeks as the epidemic raged, the small coterie of sisters risked their lives, night and day, as they nursed the stricken of every race, Catholic, non-Catholic, rich and poor. They offered comfort and prayers for the sick and dying, and even helped bury the dead. Grateful citizens thereafter called them "Angels of Mercy." Mother Celenie and Sister de Sales, young French nuns far from their motherhouse in LePuy, France, died of the fever. They rest in Bosque Bello Cemetery, their graves marked with simple stone crosses bearing the date 1877."
Sponsors: Amelia Island Fernandina Restoration Foundation and the Florida Department of State

ITALIA

Location:S.R. 200 between Gussie Ln and Police Lodge Rd.
County: Nassau
City: Yulee
Description: 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 Yulee, president of the Florida Transit Railroad, convinced MacWilliams to build a brick factory here. Timber businesses soon came to Italia with the openings of a wood-shingle mill and a sawmill to take advantage of nearby forests. By 1885, Italia had about 100 inhabitants and included a depot, post office and general store. Products made here were used in commercial and residential buildings in Fernandina and many other Northeast Florida locations. Thomas J. Shave brought new life to Italia when he built a turpentine still in 1905. By 1910, turpentine was the area's primary business. Italia suffered a fatal blow in the mid-1920s when the railroad was re-routed from Callahan to Gross, leaving the town without a viable link to distant markets. MacWilliams named his town Italia, reflecting a then-popular Florida marketing campaign which promoted the state as 'America's Italy' because of its similar peninsular shape and temperate climate.
Sponsors: Friends of Italia and the Florida Department of State

FRANKLINTOWN CHAPEL

Location:1415 Lewis St
County: Nassau
City: Fernandina Beach
Description: The Franklintown community was a 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. The Reverend J.G. Howard served as the chapel’s first pastor from 1880-1885. As the congregation grew, in 1888 ex-slave and Union soldier Gabriel Means and his wife, Edith Drummond Means, donated land for a building. In 1892, Means built the first Franklin Chapel, a one-room unpainted fame structure. In 1949, that building was demolished to make way for the construction of State Road AIA, and a new building was constructed. In 1972, following the purchase of the entire Franklintown tract by the Amelia Island company, the 1949 building along with the original bell from the 1892 chapel was moved the American Beach community. American Beach had been established as an African American ocean playground in 1935 by the Afro-American Life Insurance Company’s pension Bureau under its president Abraham Lincoln Lewis. Today, Franklintown chapel serves as the Gabriel Means Fellowship hall adjacent to the Franklintown United Methodist Church.
Sponsors: The American Beach Property Owners’ Association, Inc. and the Florida Department of State

THE GOOD SHEPHERD CHURCH

Location:801 Atlantic Avenue
County: Nassau
City: Fernandina Beach
Description: 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. Peter’s continued to serve the segregated congregations on Sunday mornings. Father Neil Gray, who served both parishes in the 1950s, called the walk between the two churches his “via dolorosa,” or “way of suffering.” In the 1950s, Good Shepherd included 59 confirmed adult members and 24 children. In 1964, the Good Shepherd building was destroyed by Hurricane Dora and a new building replaced it two years later. When Hamilton West, the Episcopal Bishop of Florida, declined to consecrate the new church, the black and white congregations were integrated. The new building, although never used as a church, became a youth center and stands on the northwest corner of the campus. The original church bell, which was cast from metal recovered from a pre-Civil War Florida railroad engine, was moved to Camp Weed in Live Oak, the camp of the Diocese of Florida.
Sponsors: St. Peter's Parish

FIRST HOME ON AMERICAN BEACH

Location:5466 Gregg Street
County: Nassau
City: Fernandina Beach
Description: 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 Lewis, by local African American shipbuilder William S. Rivers. Lewis was Florida’s first African American millionaire and his home was the first built on the beach. The resort community attracted thousands of African American vacationers until 1964. The passage of the Civil Rights Act desegregated beaches everywhere, and the tourist population sought closer or more popular beaches. Later that year, Hurricane Dora devastated the area destroying homes and businesses. Many residents chose not or could not afford to rebuild. In the 1970s one of Lewis’ great granddaughters, MaVynee Betsch, lived in this house and, with other property owners, fought to protect the community’s heritage from beachfront development. However, rising property taxes and declining health has reduced the population of American Beach’s permanent residents. The American Beach Historic District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2002, with the Lewis house as a contributing structure.
Sponsors: American Beach Property Owners' Association, Inc.

U.S. POST OFFICE-CUSTOMS HOUSE- COURTHOUSE

Location:401 Centre Street
County: Nassau
City: Fernandina Beach
Description: 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 States customs house, courthouse, and post office. The building features a symmetrical facade, uniformly-arched windows and doors with terracotta accents, second floor windows with gabled pediments, decorative balustrades, and small square windows on the top floor. Brick walls faced with stucco rise from a granite base three stories to a tiled, hipped roof with widely extending eaves supported by decorative brackets. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida met here until the creation of the Middle District in 1962. The building was then used by the Middle District until divisional judicial functions were consolidated in Jacksonville. The building is a notable feature of the city's urban landscape, and is the second tallest structure, exceeded only by the Nassau County Courthouse’s clock tower. In 1973, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing resource in the Fernandina Beach Historic District.
Sponsors: Pricness Amelia Chapter, National Society Colonial Dames XVII Century

THE BATTLE OF WATERMAN'S BLUFF

Location:Waterman's Bluff Subdivision off of Lents Road
County: Nassau
City: Yulee
Description: 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 1813, American forces encamped here on Eleazar Waterman's plantation because its commanding views of the Bells and Jolly rivers gave it strategic value. They remained throughout the spring and summer, living off of Waterman's crops and livestock. Spanish loyalists, coming by boat from Amelia Island and over land, attacked the American camp on August 8, 1813. Buckner Harris, the American commander, had thirty men well concealed in preparation for the attack. He and his men were able to turn back both Spanish assaults due to their superior position and by capitalizing on tactical mistakes of the Spanish. The battle lasted less than twenty minutes and resulted in eighteen Spanish casualties, six dead and twelve wounded. Harris’s victory at Waterman’s Bluff allowed American forces to launch further raids on the Fernandina region. Shifting politics in 1814, however, caused support for the Patriot War to dwindle, and the Americans were forced to abandon Spanish East Florida.
Sponsors: Trevett Building Systems, Inc.

ERVIN'S REST

Location:5448 Gregg Street
County: Nassau
City: Fernandina Beach
Description: Louis Dargan (L.D.) Ervin was born in Darlington, South Carolina, in 1873. He attended the Georgia State Industrial College for Colored Youth in Savannah, the oldest institution of higher education for African Americans in Georgia. Ervin eventually settled in Jacksonville, Florida, where he worked as a skilled mason and a licensed contractor. In 1901, Ervin was the first full-time agent for the Afro-American Life Insurance Company. Ervin stayed with the company for 63 years and retired as its vice-president. In 1935, Afro-American Life Insurance president Abraham Lincoln Lewis helped establish American Beach as a vacation community for African American due to racial segregation. In 1938, Ervin constructed this two-story beach cottage, the second home built on American Beach. Fondly referred to as Ervin’s Rest, it was the vacation home for Ervin and his family. Ervin’s Rest is still owned by his family, and is the only ocean-front home on American Beach that maintains its original structure. Ervin's Rest was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. L.D. Ervin’s legacy in the American Beach community was preserved with a street named in his honor.
Sponsors: The American Beach Property Owners' Association, Inc., Friends of American Beach, Inc.

JOHN MUIR'S WALK ON THE FLORIDA RAILROAD

Location:One Rayonier Way
County: Nassau
City: Wildlight
Description: 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 line to connect the east and west coasts of the state. The railroad’s route is largely paralleled by the current highways Florida A1A/SR 200 from Fernandina to Callahan, then US 301 from Callahan to Waldo, and then Florida 24 from Waldo to Cedar Key. Due to the area’s thick vegetation, swamps, and bodies of water, Muir believed that walking the Florida Railroad route would be the most efficient way to travel through the state on foot. Muir’s trek was no easy feat. He suffered from malaria, dodged alligators, and encountered many other obstacles. Even so, during his adventure, Muir meticulously documented North Florida’s flora and fauna, which contributed greatly to the field of natural studies. Afterwards, Muir relocated to California, where he was instrumental in creating Yosemite National Park and cofounding the Sierra Club. A journal of Muir’s experiences in his 1867 journey, titled A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf was published in 1916, two years after his death.
Sponsors: East Nassau Stewardship District

FLORIDA'S FIRST CROSS-PENINSULA RAILROAD

Location:East of One Rayonier Way
County: Nassau
City: Wildlight
Description: 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 Railroad, it spanned 156 miles and was the longest railroad in Florida prior to the Civil War. It was intended to streamline shipments between the east and west coasts. In 1862, however, the USS Hatteras raided Cedar Key and destroyed the railroad depot, seven freight cars, and several other buildings. That same year, a Union squadron seized Fernandina. In 1864, the Confederacy dismantled the Florida Railroad in order to build a new line from Live Oak, Florida, to Lawton, Georgia, to facilitate troop and supply movements. The president and chief stockholder of the Florida Railroad, who oversaw its initial construction, was Florida’s first U.S. Senator David Levy Yulee. In honor of his role in the development of Florida’s early transportation network, Yulee was nicknamed the “Father of Florida’s railroads,” and the town just due east of this location was named for him. Though the Florida Railroad no longer exists, its bed forms the foundation of portions of this trail.
Sponsors: East Nassau Stewardship District

PINE FOREST COMMUNITY SCHOOL

Location:450121 Old Dixie Highway
County: Nassau
City: Callahan
Description: 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, became the county’s first black high school. In the 1940s, Nassau County allocated nearly $725,000 for school improvements across the county. A majority of funds went to white schools, but over $280,000 went to improve black schools deemed to be inadequate. The Nassau County School Board acquired land off Old Dixie Highway, west of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, from the Crooms family. Starting in 1951, the black schools in Hilliard, Bryceville, and Kings Ferry were consolidated with the black school in Callahan to form Pine Forest Community High School. Construction of the new school’s campus was completed that same year. It operated for seventeen years, and served grades 1-12. When Nassau County public schools integrated in 1968, Pine Forest Community High School was converted into Callahan Middle School. Over time, nearly all of the original school buildings have been replaced. The gymnasium, built in 1965, is the only remaining Pine Forest building.
Sponsors: The Pine Forest Community High School Alumni, Nassau County School District, and the Florida Department of State

OLD NASSAU COUNTY JAIL

Location:233 S. Third Street
County: Nassau
City: Fernandina Beach
Description: 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 signed by former Senator David Yulee. Built in 1878, the first jailhouse started as a single-story, wood-frame structure, and was expanded to two stories by 1884. A new jail building was constructed on this site circa 1891, but was replaced in 1938 with this two-story masonry building. Designed in the Moderne style, it featured improved jail cells, plumbing, and cots. A 1954 addition nearly doubled the jail’s size, and included a desk clerk’s office, guest rooms, lockers, and showers. Four cells and two day-rooms for inmates were located on the first floor, and six cells on the second. There were separate areas for men and women, and for black and white inmates during segregation. In 1978, a new Nassau County jail was built in Yulee, and the county deeded this building to an early version of the Amelia Island Museum of History the following year. The building was extensively renovated in 2003 and 2007, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.
Sponsors: The Amelia Island Museum of History in Memory of Thomas M. Raymond, and the Florida Department of State

FIRST MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH OF FERNANDINA

Location:22 S. 9th Street
County: Nassau
City: Fernandina Beach
Description: The First Missionary Baptist Church of Fernandina 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. Completed in 1874, this wood frame vernacular church exhibits classical and medieval elements, and is the oldest known black Missionary Baptist Church with uninterrupted service in Florida. The church had many distinguished members, including Peggy Bailey, the first president of the Florida Women's Convention in 1899; Missionary Emma B. Delaney, founder of the Suehn Industrial Mission in Liberia in 1912; and the Reverend Edward M. Brawley, the first black graduate of Bucknell University and the first president of Morris College in Sumter, South Carolina. These distinguished members, and the congregation as a whole, were an integral part of Amelia Island’s culture. The church steeple was removed in 1958 after being damaged by lightning and was replaced after over 40 years. The First Missionary Baptist Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 as a contributing building in the Fernandina Beach Historic District.

EVANS' RENDEZVOUS

Location:5508 Gregg Street
County: Nassau
City: American Beach
Description: Evans' Rendezvous was renowned as the 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 serving in the U.S. Army as a cook during World War II. His military experience contributed to his successful future by building his ethics, shrewdness, and culinary skills. In 1948, Evans built this oceanfront nightclub, Evans' Rendezvous, with his friend, Ernest Favors. It was a 200-seat establishment with a long beachfront porch that served food and drinks, and provided musical entertainment and dancing. In its heyday, the club hosted notable celebrities, but the music from the jukebox kept customers in constant motion. Patrons traveled by the busload from areas throughout the Southeast and beyond. It was a venue where one could go and be treated with dignity and respect. One did not need prominence to get in the door but rather the ability to maneuver inside when the house was at full capacity. After nearly forty successful years, Evans sold the Rendezvous in 1980. Willie B. Evans passed away on August 9, 1996, at the age of 81.

BRYANT ACADEMY

Location:86063 Felmor Road
County: Nassau
City: Yulee
Description: Side One: 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 American schools in Nassau County. The students were consolidated into three schools, one each in Callahan, Fernandina, and Yulee. The Yulee schools were combined into what would become Bryant Academy, named in honor of its principal, James B. Bryant (1911-2010). The school board selected a 17-acre site and built a new elementary school in 1950. It consisted of 6 classrooms, a cafeteria/assembly room, an administrative suite, and a general facility space. Bryant Academy operated from 1950 to 1969. Per the county’s desegregation plan, the new Nassau County Public School District integrated black and white schools and removed the original names of formerly segregated African American schools. Bryant Academy became Yulee Elementary School, and over time the buildings that had made up the original school were replaced. This marker is a symbol for future generations of the value of Bryant Academy, and schools like it, to the communities they served. Side Two: Bryant Academy (B.A.) embodied the spirit of its principal and namesake, James B. Bryant. It symbolized his passion for education, for shaping the formative years of hundreds of young minds, and instilling in them the value of never giving up until a job is done. Bryant drew support from parents, teachers, and alumni to provide his students with resources such as the only reading improvement machine in the county. This same self-help philosophy was manifested in Bryant’s gathering of several boys from the school to assist him in pouring the concrete for the outdoor basketball court. Families and friends congregated there to cheer on the B.A. Dragons and Dragonettes. Through him, Bryant Academy became a community center where people could gather for operettas, the Miss and Little Miss B.A. pageants, and commencement and graduation ceremonies. Whether dressed in his black and white Oxford shoes, riding around Yulee in his Cadillac, or weaving his motorcycle through the annual Peck High School Parade, Bryant was remembered as a man of gigantic personality and spirit. With his infectious smile and kind and compassionate heart, James B. Bryant touched many lives as an educator, leader, and friend.

THE GUZMAN HOUSE

Location:5455 Waldron Street
County: Nassau
City: Fernandina Beach
Description: Side One: 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 consists of bronze aluminum double-hung sash windows with one over one lights. The cottage has a closed-in front porch and a car porch, all-inclusive in the single story building. This cottage was built in 1963 as an American Beach summer home for African American professors Jessie P. and Ignacio L. Guzman. Both served on the faculty of the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama. The Guzman House is significant in that it represents the diversity of people who traveled to American Beach to enjoy the "Negro Ocean Playground," during the period of segregation. During the heyday of American Beach, individuals and families from all over the country purchased property to become part of the community. Abraham Lincoln Lewis' vision of a resort for all people provided independence and affirmed status among people of color during segregation. The Guzman family’s influence on American Beach provided inspiration, and became the "North Star" to people of color. Side Two: Jessie P. Guzman was born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1898. From an early age, she was academically, professionally, and community oriented. She graduated from Howard University (A.B 1919, Alpha Kappa Alpha), Columbia University (M.A, 1924), University of Chicago, and American University. Guzman was an author, archivist, historian, civil rights activist, educator, and college administrator. In 1954, she ran for a seat on the Macon County Board of Education, the first African American to do so. For more than forty years, Jessie Guzman served as the Dean of Women and Director of the Department of Research and Records at the Tuskegee Institute, which included the management of records of lynchings in America for the NAACP. Her husband, Dr. Ignacio L. Guzman, was born in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, in 1898. His career at the Tuskegee Institute began in the early 1920s, where he taught and ran their lithography department. There he met and married Jessie in 1940. They retired to American Beach in 1965. The two of them were lifelong supporters of Tuskegee Institute, active in the Macon County community, and prominent figures on American Beach.

THE STEWART HOUSE

Location:5449 Waldron Street
County: Nassau
City: Fernandina Beach
Description: 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 Rev. J. Milton Waldron, one of the founders of what was then called the Afro-American Pension and Benefit Bureau in 1901. This single-family vacation cottage reflects the Frame Vernacular style that was common for the place and time period. The house has a rectangular plan protected by a front-facing gable roof. The exterior walls are covered with asbestos shingles. The fenestration consists of wood and aluminum, and features double-hung sash windows with two over two lights. The entrance to the home has an enclosed porch with a small front stoop. Ralph Stewart Sr. was the first actuary for the Afro-American Life Insurance Co. (“The Afro”), and retained the position until his passing in 1954. During the U.S. period of legislated racial segregation, the Pension Bureau of “The Afro” developed American Beach as an ocean-front resort for African Americans. Ralph Stewart Sr., a graduate of the Tuskegee Institute, was instrumental in recruiting alumni and faculty from Tuskegee to invest in homes and property on American Beach.

BURNEY PARK

Location:95570 Burney Road
County: Nassau
City: Fernandina Beach
Description: 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 Insurance Company. He later came to manage several branches of the company, including ones in Savannah, Tampa, and Atlanta. In 1954, he moved to Jacksonville to serve as Vice-President-Secretary of the "Afro." In 1967, Burney became president of the company, a position he held until his retirement in 1976. During his lifetime, Burney was a civic leader. He served on the boards of several organizations, including the YMCA, St. Vincent's Hospital, and the Boys Club. He was also a trustee of Jacksonville University. Burney’s community service helped him promote and fulfill the goals and aspirations of the Afro-American Life Insurance Company and the American Beach Community. After frequent visits to American Beach, beginning with their honeymoon in 1936, Isadore Burney and his wife, Miriam Cunningham Burney, built a vacation home on American Beach in 1965. Burney Park was dedicated October 1990, the first park named for a person of color in Nassau County.

TRINITY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

Location:715 Ash Street
County: Nassau
City: Fernandina Beach
Description: Side One: 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 home. In 1823, the circuit reported to have “21 colored members and 20 white members.” During the Civil War, most of the whites left Fernandina. In 1865, the Boston Semi-Weekly Advertiser published “Letter from Fernandina, Fla.,” which stated that “Sunday services are held only in the Methodist church. Rev. Mr. DeForrest (white) officiates. The congregations average about two hundred and fifty, and are attended by few white people. The colored people are constant and devout worshippers.” In 1866, the Rev. Joseph C. Emerson was assigned to Fernandina. In 1869, Emerson and his wife, Cecilia, transferred a tract of land in Fernandina to the trustees of what was then Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church. The Trustees were Samuel King, Smart Dorrill, Henry Clay, Syres Walker, John F. Murrell, Joseph Scott and Randall Albert. In 1869, one of the witnesses to the deed, the Rev. January Felder, constructed the first church, a wooden building just to the west of the present church. Side Two: In 1891, the Rev. J.F. Elliot was assigned to Fernandina. He and other congregation members began construction on the present church that same year. The brick building was constructed in the Masonry Vernacular style, and included pilasters, gothic arches, and a bell tower. Floral themes are repeated throughout the sanctuary from the lancet stained glass windows to the pew entrances and ceiling brackets. Local historians say Trinity is “Florida’s oldest brick church built for African Americans.” Notable former church members include Nassau County educators Dr. William H. Peck and the Rev. Dr. William E. Pollen, Florida Rep. Riley E. Robinson, Chief of Police Robert “Friday” Smith, and Judge John H. Stays. Church members Margurite Sheppard, Florence Holzendorf, and Celestine Shine remembered the days when there were three services each Sunday with the congregation filling the sanctuary and the balcony. An orchestra, featuring a violin, played for the worship services. In 1973, Trinity United Methodist Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing resource in the Fernandina Beach Historic District. As gateway to the district, it remains an integral part of Fernandina’s history.