The graceful arches of stately Southern trees form a suitable canopy over the road leading to Fort Clinch State Park on Fernandina Beach, Florida.  The icing, so to speak, on all this Southern graciousness are the touches of green along the branches and wisps of Spanish moss that move delicately with the wind.

For more entries in Ailsa’s Where’s My Backpack? photo challenge — Travel theme: Graceful — click here.

Looking down one of the walls at Fort Clinch at Fernandina Beach

As we said in our last post, we just didn’t have enough time on Amelia Island.  After viewing two other forts (Fort Frederica at St. Simons and Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine), we knew we couldn’t leave without seeing Fort Clinch.

Fort Clinch, located within Fort Clinch State Park  in Fernandina Beach, Florida, had the potential for being “just another fort.”  But it wasn’t.  Billed as “a historic fort surrounded by alluring beaches,” Fort Clinch deserves a higher billing since “soldiers” make the difference.  That’s right.  Soldiers.  As in people who dress up and perform everyday operations on Fort Garrison Weekends when we, quite by accident, arrived.  (See post on the soldier who locked Bert up in “prison”!)

People made the difference at Fort Clinch — knowledgeable, affable, engaging.

The people made the difference.  As they strolled the grounds, chatted with visitors, and explained the functions of various rooms, history came to life.

Buildings and battlements at Fort Clinch, Fernandina Beach, Amelia Island

Named for General Duncan Lamont Clinch, Fort Clinch began in 1847, one of a series of masonry forts known as the Third System Fortifications.  Its purpose:  to protect Fernandina’s natural deep-water port.  Although it was never completed, Fort Clinch served as a military post during the Civil War, Spanish-American War, and World War II.

But what we liked doing (other than being amused by the tales told to us by the “soldiers”) was just walking the battlements, looking at the architecture and cannons and openings, and pointing out wildlife in the fort’s park-like setting.

Tunnel walkway, Fort Clinch, Amelia Island

The folks at Fort Clinch make it easy for tourists to travel back in time:  Hours are 8 AM until sunset, 365 days a year.  But if you want to talk to a “soldier” (who may never get out of character) and relive the Civil War experience, be sure to go on a reenactment weekend.  It’s a trip!

For more information:

Fort Clinch State Park, 2601 Atlantic Avenue, Fernandina Beach, Florida; 904-277-7274; www.floridastateparks.org/park/Fort-Clinch

For more posts in our Coasting series, click here.  We hope you enjoy the Georgia and Florida coastal attractions as much as we did!

Amelia Island at Fernandina Beach

The last stop on our Coasting adventure was brief.  Too brief.  And, as it turned out, a bit of a mystery.  We arrived in Amelia Island, Florida, early on a Friday afternoon, anxious to see as much as we could before heading home the next morning.

At a public access, we walked from the parking lot out to the beach.  The view?  Large, naturally rough sand dunes and a wide stretch of beach that looked even wider on a rather foggy afternoon.  (Would love to know what the beach is like on a “crowded” day.)

Then off to find the third lighthouse on our tour, the Amelia Island Lighthouse. (Read about the lighthouses on Tybee Island and St. Augustine in our earlier posts.)  And that’s where the mystery began.

We set the GPS for Lighthouse Road but with no luck.  (We know now from this site to look for North Wolff Street.)  Since we could see the lighthouse in the distance, we kept driving around until Lighthouse Road finally opened up in a subdivision.  Between two houses.  That’s right.  No visitor lot.  No signage.  We wondered what was going on.

Traveling between the two houses on a short stretch took us to a locked gate.  And that’s where the journey ended.  We stared at this sign and went no further.

Sign at Amelia Island Lighthouse

With no more information than what we are sharing here, we snapped a picture through the chain-link fence of the lighthouse, even with that pole of a tree obstructing our view. But try as we did, we couldn’t get a better shot since we couldn’t get past the gate.

Our best shot, pole and all, of the Amelia Island Light taken through a chain-link fence

One thing for sure:  The Amelia Island Light is lovely.  Standing tall in its white “clothing” only, the lighthouse looked old (and it is) and intriguing (and it is).

So here’s the limited information we found through an Internet search back home.  No guarantees this is accurate.  It’s the mystery we haven’t solved.  But it’s better than nothing.

Just the facts we could find:

• It’s the oldest lighthouse in Florida located on Amelia Island in Fernandina Beach.
• Built in 1838-1839, it’s perched high on a bluff above Egan’s Creek.
• It’s only one of two remaining lighthouses in the state designed by Winslow Lewis, an American lighthouse builder.
• It’s a double-walled lighthouse — a “cone within a cone” — that stands 67 feet tall and houses a very rare granite staircase.

If you want to see Amelia Island Light . . . 

• You must make a reservation in advance with Fernandina Beach Recreation Center located on Atlantic Avenue in Fernandina, by calling (904)310-3350.
• Tours are available only on the first and third Wednesdays, leaving the Rec Center promptly at 10:00.  Tickets are $5.00 for adults, $3.00 for children under 12.
• Lighthouse tours don’t allow visitors to climb the stairs.
• Property tours are open to the public on Saturdays from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM.

And that’s all we know about Amelia Island Lighthouse, a light that beckons from the locked gate — and probably looks better up close!

If you’ve been, leave us a comment about what you saw.  This is one mystery we’d love to solve, but we’ll have to get to Amelia Island on a Wednesday!

Resources:

Amelia Island Lighthouse Tour, City of Fernandina Beach

Amelia Island Lighthouse Tours Fernandina Beach, September 16, 2010

“Amelia Island, FL.” LighthouseFriends.com

For more posts in our Coasting series, click here.

Bert takes a look at a doorway in Fort Clinch.

While roaming through Fort Clinch State Park at Fernandina Beach, Florida, on a weekend when re-enactors were not only in costume but also in character, Bert wandered into a spacious room to take a look at an intriguing doorway.  The “guard” moved in, seizing the moment to talk about the prison cell behind the door.

Bert takes a closer look, peering into the darkness.

The authentically clothed guard then asked Bert if he’d like to go inside the cell.  Bert hesitated.  But then compelled by his curiosity and the guard’s insistence, my innocent husband wandered in.

How does it feel in there? A little small?

Immediately, the guard closed the door explaining that he wanted Bert to get the “full experience” of being jailed.  Of course, the guard assured him, you do have this little peep hole at the top and a slot where we’ll most assuredly shove your daily ration of bread!

Moral:  Beware of doorways in old prisons.  You never know when it just might be your turn to be on the “other side.”

For more entries into Ailsa’s Travel theme: Doorways at her blog Where’s My Backpack, click here.