The Complete Guide to Amelia Island History

Amelia Island is a barrier island near Jacksonville and has a long and colorful history. From the Timucua Indians to the Spanish to pirates, the history of Amelia Island exemplifies the diverse cast of characters which have shaped the history of not only this island but the entire state of Florida.

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Amelia Island history begins long before the arrival of Europeans. The Timucua tribe inhabited the island starting around 1000 AD and called their village Napoyca, or perhaps Nopoica. After 1562, the history of Amelia Island runs a tumultuous course. With its strategic position so close to Georgia and it’s two deep-water rivers, Amelia Island passed through many sovereign hands. This earned the island the nickname “Isle of 8 Flags”.

Amelia Island lies on Florida’s northeast coast as close to Georgia as one can get without crossing the St. Mary’s River. The island is 13 miles long, 2 miles wide at its widest point, and covers approximately 18 square miles. The Atlantic Ocean borders the island to the east with the St. Mary’s, St. Johns, and Amelia Rivers making up the northern, southern, and western borders respectively. Further south, between Amelia Island and the historic St. Johns River, lie two other islands – Talbot Island where one finds Big Talbot Park, Little Talbot Park, and Kingsley Plantation; and St. George Island with Huguenot Memorial Park. 

On Amelia Island, Fernandina Beach occupies approximately seven square miles and is the main town. It’s also one of the oldest towns in Florida. Other smaller towns exist along the island’s length – American Beach, Franklintown, and Amelia City.

Two roads access Amelia Island – Highway A1A from the south and Highway 200 from west which runs directly into Fernandina Beach. We came in on Highway 105, a two-lane road that passes by small fishing camps along the St. Johns. When 105 passes by the ferry port, it becomes A1A and crosses onto St. George Island, past the Huguenot Memorial Park, a tribute to the first European settlers on Amelia Island. From the salt marshes of St. George Island, A1A crosses another creek onto Talbot Island where Little Talbot Island State Park, Big Talbot Island State Park, and Kingsley Plantation are located. Much of the land and water around Amelia Island has been preserved for future generations in state parks, nature preserves, and wildlife reserves.

Amelia Island History in Pre-Columbian Times

Amelia Island has been inhabited since at least 1000 AD. The Timucua Indians settled a village on the island which they called Napoyca, or perhaps spelled Nopoico. This chiefdom was part of the St. Johns Culture, an archaeological culture defined by their pottery style and present along the St. Johns River in northeast Florida. The people who inhabited Napoyca would have relied heavily on the marine resources present around Amelia Island. The would have fished in the Amelia River, Egan’s Creek, St. Mary’s River, Nassau Sound, and in the many waterways and extensive salt marshes surrounding the island. Though Amelia is several miles long, the primary village was likely located on the bluff where Old Town Fernandina is now located.

The 16th and 17th Centuries

The 1500s and 1600s saw the French and the Spanish fight for control of what became Amelia Island and the surrounding islands.

Fort Caroline and the Huguenots

In 1562, Rene Goulaine de Laudonniere and a fleet of ships filled made landfall on present-day St. George Island, directly south of Amelia Island. They established the first European settlement in the New World and named the island “Ile de Mai” (Island of May). A group of settlers was left behind while the others attempted to establish other settlements further north. Rene Goulaine de Laudonniere was not able to return with supplies as quickly as necessary. The settlers left behind lasted less than a year before they boarded open ships and attempted to return to France.

In 1564, Jean Ribault and another group of settlers returned to Ile de Mai and built Fort Caroline near the St. Johns River. Were it not for the Spanish and an ill-fated sea invasion by Ribault, the entire history of Florida may have been different.

Jean Ribault was a Frenchman and a Huguenot. In the 16th century, nations raced to conquer the New World. At the same time, Huguenots (Protestants) and Catholics clashed in France. On Amelia Island, the French flag was the first of eight national flags flown over the island, giving it the nickname “Isle of 8 Flags”.

Invasion by the Spanish

While Jean Ribault built Fort Caroline in 1565, the Spanish, specifically Pedro Menendez de Aviles, established a settlement 40 miles south at present-day St. Augustine. The Spanish, of course, had been exploring Florida since 1513 when Ponce de Leon first landed on and named La Florida. The Spanish were having none of this French occupation so close to their new settlement. Pedro Menendez and several hundred men set off on foot to Fort Caroline. 

Meanwhile, Jean Ribault and the French felt equally unhappy about a Spanish settlement so close to Fort Caroline. Ribault and several hundred men set off by see to attack St. Augustine. Unfortunately for Ribault, Mother Nature had other plans. A fierce storm struck down the French fleet, sinking several ships and killing about half the men.

On land, Menendez took Fort Caroline. His men killed all but 50 women and children. He then hunted down the rest of Ribault’s men, who were shipwrecked south of St. Augustine, and killed them. The massacre occurred near Matanzas Inlet, named for the mass killing. With the French defeated, Spain abandoned Fort Caroline.

Mission Period in Amelia Island History

In 1573, Spanish settlers returned to the Amelia Island area, the second nation’s flag to fly over Amelia Island. They established a mission and renamed the island “Isla de Santa Maria”. The site of the mission was discovered in 1985 in a neighborhood now called Plantation Point. In a 1985 AP News article, archaeologist Ken Hardin explained:

This fortified mission compound was called Santa Maria de Sena.

By 1602, the Catholic village of Santo Domingo was established near the church. It fell under the jurisdiction of San Pedro de Mocama on present-day Cumberland Island in Georgia. The Spanish relocated residents from Mocama in the early 1600s and Gaule Indians from Santa Catalina de Gaule mission (Georgia) in the 1680s. The town of Fernandina was settled in 1685 at the site of Old Town Fernandina. The Spanish abandoned the island and its missions in 1702 when Carolina’s colonial governor, James Moore, invaded the island and destroyed the town and the mission.

The 18th Century

The 1700s saw pirates, the British, and the United States step into the fray of the Isle of Eight Flags.

The Third Flag – British

Though Isla de Santa Maria still fell under Spanish rule, Georgia founder and governor James Oglethorpe renamed the island in honor of Princess Amelia, daughter of King George II of Great Britain. In an 1841 biography of James Oglethorpe, Thaddeus Mason Harris describes the excursion to Amelia Island around 1736:

“On their excursions, they…went ashore on a delightful island, about 13 miles long, and two broad, with orange trees, myrtles and vines growing on it. The wild-grape vines here, as on the borders of Savannah, grow to the very top of the trees, and hang from limb to limb in festoons, as if trimmed and twined by art. The name of this island, Santa Maria, they changed to Amelia, in honor of her Royal Highness. On the third day they came to an island which had borne the name San Juan; but claiming it as belonging to his Majesty, and the southernmost part of his Provinces on the sea-coast of North America, they named it George’s.” (St. George’s Island)

Again, the island remained mostly uninhabited for many years.

In 1763, the British officially gained possession of Florida under the Treaty of Paris. The island was renamed Egmont Island after Lord Egmont who owned a fledgling plantation of roughly 10,000 acres, nearly the entire island. The headquarters of the plantation may have been located near Old Town Fernandina. 

During the American Revolution, British loyalists fled to the island and built a town on the bluff, naming it Hillsborough. They remained there until 1783 when Florida was returned to Spanish rule. The British dismantled the entire town and took the lumber with them when they left the island.

Second Spanish Rule

Life on Amelia Island remained relatively quiet for the rest of the 18th century. Mary Mattair, her children, and one slave laborer were the only inhabitants for a time. She received a land grant of 150 acres from the British government where the bluff site was. Spain honored the grant, though not the location, and gave her 150 acres where the present-day town is located. 

In 1795, marauders from the newly formed United States of America invaded and seized Amelia Island. They built a battery and remained in control of Amelia Island until Colonel Charles Howard of the Spanish military discovered the French flag flying at the island. He gathered troops and took back the island. Further south, on St. George’s Island, John “Lightning” McQueen began construction of his plantation in 1798. The plantation would eventually be known as Kingsley Plantation and is now a part of the US Park Service.

Pirates Enter the History of Amelia Island

Though Amelia Island was sparsely populated, or perhaps because it was, the island attracted smugglers, pirates, and slave traders. The deep water harbor at Fernandina meant that large sailing ships could sail right up the Amelia River. Along other parts of the Florida coast, large sailing vessels had to anchor offshore in the Atlantic and send men ashore in small skiffs. Fernandina’s harbor could hold lots of ships at once, even during low tide. The island and the town became a popular stop on the journey from the Carolinas to the Caribbean.

In 1811, Enrique White, Spanish governor of East Florida, named the town of Fernandina in honor of King Ferdinand VII of Spain. White platted the town several months. It was the last town platted under the Laws of the Indies, a body of laws the Spanish Crown issued for its American and Philippine possessions. Among other things, towns platted under these laws should:

• Be a town site that is in an elevated and healthy location; [be] with means of fortification; [have] fertile soil and with plenty of land for farming and pasturage; have fuel, timber, and resources; [have] fresh water, a native population, ease of transport, access and exit; [and be] open to the north wind; and, if on the coast, due consideration should be paid to the quality of the harbor and that the sea does not lie to the south or west; and if possible not near lagoons or marshes in which poisonous animals and polluted air and water breed.
• They [Colonists] shall try as far as possible to have the buildings all of one type for the sake of the beauty of the town.
• Within the town, a commons shall be delimited, large enough that although the population may experience a rapid expansion, there will always be sufficient space where the people may go to for recreation and take their cattle to pasture without them making any damage.
• Have site and building lots for slaughterhouses, fisheries, tanneries, and other business which produce filth be placed such that the filth can easily be disposed of.
• Have a Plaza Mayor (main square) of size within specified limits, from which twelve straight streets are built in a rectilinear grid; directions of the streets chosen according to the prevailing winds, to protect the Plaza Mayor; with a hospital for non-contagious cases near the church, and one for contagious diseases further away.

“Patriot War” and First Control by the United States

During the War of 1812, American troops took control of Amelia Island for over a year. Calling themselves “Patriots of Amelia Island” and with President James Madison’s approval, the insurgents invaded the island and aimed the guns of nine gunboats at Fort San Carlos (on the bluff) just under construction. General George Mathews of the US troops demanded the Spanish to fly the “Patriots” flag. The next day, the Patriots relinquished the island to the US government and the Patriots flag was replaced by the US flag.

The takeover of Amelia Island was a plan by the US government to annex East Florida to the US. Congress, however, felt different about this plan. Firmly entrenched in the War of 1812 against Great Britain, Congress didn’t want to get pulled into another war, with Spain. The US negotiated the return of Amelia Island to the Spanish and extricated their troops from the island in May, 1813.

Green Cross of Florida and Amelia Island Affair

By 1816, Spain completed construction on Fort San Carlos to protect Amelia Harbor and the town of Fernandina. Spain, however, had spread itself thin among all of its New World conquests. Illegal trade still dominated life on Amelia Island with pirates, smugglers, and slave traders driving the economy of the island. 

In 1817, Gregor Macgregor assaulted Fort San Carlos with 15 men. Born in Scotland, Macgregor was a soldier and a scam artist who fought for the independence of several Spanish territories in South and Central America. On Amelia Island, hearing of Macgregor’s approach, Spanish commander Francisco Morales fled the island. Macgregor raised the Green Cross of Florida, declared the island the “Republic of the Floridas”, and claimed it for “the brethren of Mexico, Buenos Ayres, New Grenada and Venezuela”.

Spain, however, was not giving up Amelia Island that easily. They attempted to retake the island, and in the fighting, Macgregor fled. His garrison, now led by American irregulars Ruggles Hubbard and John Irwin, fended off the Spanish attack. Later in 1817, French-born pirate, Louis Aury, joined forces with them and claimed the island for the Republic of Mexico, which was fighting its own war for independence from Spain.

In December 1817, the United States took control of Amelia Island again. President James Monroe vowed to keep the island “in trust for Spain.”

United States Era

Florida Becomes a US Territory

Florida became part of the United States in 1821, flying it’s seventh flag, though technically the US flag had already flown over Amelia Island. The United States abandoned Fort San Carlos. Much of Amelia Island became part of plantations growing indigo, sea cotton, and other crops. 

Construction of the Amelia Island Lighthouse began in 1837 near Egan’s Creek, the highest point on the island. Florida gained statehood in 1845, becoming the 27th state, and construction began on Fort Clinch in 1847 at the northernmost point of Amelia Island. Fort Clinch, however, was not a priority in the US defense system so construction halted and restarted often.

Meanwhile, Florida senator and businessman David Yulee, worked on the construction of a railroad to Fernandina Beach. He owned the Florida Railroad and wanted its eastern terminus to be located on the shores of the Amelia River; however, due to the marsh south of Old Town Fernandina, the railroad couldn’t reach that town. Town leaders decided to move downtown Fernandina one mile south to its present-day location. Yulee completed the railroad in 1861 just before the start of the Civil War.

The Civil War Years

During the Civil War, Florida sided with the South. It seceded from the Union in January 1861. Confederate troops took Fort Clinch, which was still under construction. Though Florida did not experience much fighting, the state still contributed significantly to the Confederacy, especially with supplies such as lumber. 

Federal troops retook Fort Clinch Amelia Island in March 1862, and the island became a safe haven for freedmen. Freedmen in the South congregated around Union strongholds where they could count on better protection. Amelia Island was such a place. Within a year, 1200 freedmen and their children and 200 white men lived on Amelia Island. Pleas were issued in the North for help with supplies, food, and funds for the people on Amelia Island. The aid helped fund two teachers, a school, and an orphanage on the island.

Reconstruction and Beyond

After the Civil War, life once again settled down on Amelia Island. Compared to the island’s pirate and smuggling days, the modern age is probably one of the island’s most quiet eras. On neighboring St. George Island, the Freedmen’s Bureau managed the Kingsley Plantation. Former slaves lived on the plantation until it was sold to the Rollins family. The plantation would become a luxury tourist resort, then a club for wealthy Jacksonville residents, before the US Park Service took over management of the plantation in 1955.

Meanwhile, segregation ran rampant throughout the South, including Amelia Island.The people of color on the island could not use the same beaches as the white residents and tourists so American Beach came about. Founded in 1935, the town became a vacation spot for African Americans. Today, many of those early homes still stand though luxury resorts crowd in from all directions.

Elsewhere on Amelia, businessmen built homes and businesses. Many of these buildings still stand in Fernandina’s historic district. Fort Clinch was not finished before it became a state park in 1935. Abandoned for many years, the state of Florida spent three years improving the grounds before the park was officially opened to the public in 1938.

Today, Amelia Island remains a friendly and laid-back island popular as a weekend getaway for residents of nearby Jacksonville. The fishermen on the island revolutionized shrimping, and Amelia Island is widely considered the birthplace of modern shrimping techniques. It’s known for its fresh seafood as well as it’s history, beaches, and natural beauty.

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