june 2021
Amelia Island
Where: northeast Florida
Directions: first or second exit in Florida on I-95 heading south or penultimate or last exit in Florida heading north
Good to Know:
* Dogs are allowed on city and county beaches year-round but can’t go on the sand in state-owned property.
Why so good:
THE BEACH.
In Florida, dogs and beaches are often strangers, especially on the Atlantic coast. Amelia Island is just about the only place where you will find this, miles of seashore open to you and your dog:
As the northernmost beach area in Florida, Amelia Island actually has much more in common with its more dog-friendly neighbors to the north - Georgia and South Carolina. Fernadina Beach is the main drag of sand on the island with some 40 small beach access points tucked into residences nestled in the dunes along Route A1A. The highest of the dunes is Nana Dune on American Beach, the next beach south from Fernadina. American Beach, also dog-friendly is one of Florida’s most historic stretches of sand. Abraham Lincoln Lewis got his name as the first person in his family to be born outside of slavery. After he grew up to be Florida’s first Black millionaire as founder of the Afro-American Life Insurance Company he fought his own battles against the South’s exclusionary Jim Crow laws. He built the nine-hole Lincoln Golf and Country Club for Blacks in 1926 and then tackled the segregation on Florida’s beaches. Lewis bought 33 acres around the highest dune on the Florida coast and established American Beach as a place his employees could enjoy “Recreation and Relaxation Without Humiliation.” Lewis expanded the community to 216 acres with the hopes that the families would build vacation homes but not enough lots sold so American Beach was opened to all Blacks. New owners flocked from around the country. Restaurants and night clubs like Evans’ Rendezvous followed. Man and nature conspired to end the good times in 1964. First Hurricane Dora roared into American Beach and Lyndon Johnson finished the destruction by signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Now Blacks were free to experience the wonders of all Florida beaches they had missed out on for so long. American Beach is now a historic district and Evan’s Rendezvous, purchased by the Trust for Public Land and right on the beach, awaits restoration.
THE FORT.
Florida boasts one of America’s finest collection of defensive fortifications. Most, like Fort Clinch, never saw an approaching enemy. Facing Georgia across the Cumberland Sound on the Atlantic Ocean, Fort Clinch was started in 1847 and named for General Duncan Lamont Clinch, an important figure in Florida's Seminole Wars. The Confederates seized the unfinished fort at the beginning of the Civil War and the 3rd Regiment of Florida Volunteers was stationed here. Robert E. Lee ordered it evacuated in March 1862 and the Federals moved in and began attempting to finish construction. In the end, although of strategic importance, neither side ever engaged the fort's guns in battle. Its real Florida legacy is that it was one of the first half-dozen state parks created in 1935 when the Sunshine State decided to cash in on Depression-era money provided by the federal government. Today, Florida’s state park system is one of America’s largest and most heavily-used with 161 parks, 1,500 miles of trails, and 100 miles of beaches. For canine hikers that means about six miles of easy-going trails through an airy maritime forest.
THE NEIGHBORING ISLANDS.
Big Talbot Island, first, and Little Talbot Island, next, lie directly south of Amelia Island on the main road 1A1. Little Talbot Island is the choice here, serving up one of the premier hiking experiences along the northeast Florida coastline. Unfortunately for dog owners the four-mile loop includes a stretch along the banned beach so you can’t do this as a loop hike. Still, doing the trail as an out-and-back through the coastal hammock to the beach - finishing with a scramble over big dunes - is a worthwhile canine hiking adventure.
The Timucuan Preserve manages a mix of ecological treasures and history, including a fort, a plantation, and a century-old resort club. The prime hiking destinations with your dog are Cedar Point and the Theodore Roosevelt Area. The nature trails will immerse you in what the state likes to call “Old Florida” - landscapes that have been unaltered by tourists and homesteaders. Expect to see Spanish Moss dangling from the trees and quiet marshlands. And since these are definitely paths less traveled don’t be surprised if you have to dodge a few spiderwebs along the way.