I spent my first day in Florida hanging out with my friend at her home on Amelia Island. Tamu got rewarded for being stuck in the car so much with an hour and a half walk on the beach near my friend’s home in the southern end of the island. She and I caught up, and Tamu ran in the sand and had a wonderful time off-leash, chasing creatures he found there. Unfortunately, I took no pictures of our gorgeous morning.
My friend was one of my history professors in college, and when she retired to the area, she became a docent at the local history museum. So all three of us climbed into her convertible and toured around Fernandina with a personal guide and the top down on a beautiful day. Our first stop was American Beach, an African-American resort town founded by Florida’s first black millionaire during the jazz era, when Jim Crow laws required racial separation. It is well preserved and has an interesting history, but it was not open to much touring that day. Even worse luck, I was using my video camera that morning, and I had a tape change while we were in the area, so now I have no pictures of that beach, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.
We proceed into historic Fernandina, and my friend pointed out unique houses in the silk stocking area of the town, which is full of large Victorian-era homes. One had a carousel on the porch.
The housing was a pleasant mix of Georgia and Florida. The island is the size of Manhattan, with considerably less congestion. It had more of a small town feel, with many diversions and space for enjoying the beach rather than condos blocking it. There were palm trees and front porches in a mix of housing sizes and styles. We passed the museum which is housed in the old jail.
The town was putting on a staged version of A Christmas Story. The town exuded charm. We stopped for a leisurely lunch in the main town, and I walked Tamu along the pier and peeked over at Georgia.
David Levy Yulee chose Fernandina as the coastal point for railway line, which was designed to bring goods from the Atlantic to Cedar Key on the Gulf Coast rather than having to pay to go around the state by water. It was a great idea, but Yulee finished construction just as the Civil War broke out, and Florida’s secession ruined his plans to get rich from the effort.
At the end of this relaxing day, we drove back toward my friend’s home through the historic red light district looking at more interesting, if less grand, houses. Then we settled in for a quiet night back at her home. My memory is that she lit the menorah for the first night of Hanukkah, and I was delighted to share it with her, as it was her first since she lost her husband that year. The whole relaxing day had been a gift for me and Tamu to begin the holiday season.