Floridian Getaways 2008 - (Page 34) The pretty little island bears the name of a pretty little princess, George II’s daughter, Amelia. Clockwise from top left: The Florida House Inn, kids on the beach and Fernandina lodging. Left, Amelia Island Plantation Spa. Courtesy of AmeliaIsland.org gave it stuck. Since the mid 1700s, the pretty little island has borne the name of a pretty little princess, George II’s daughter Amelia. (The state of Georgia, by the way, was named for Amelia’s dad.) In the late 19th century, Amelia Island was a premier tourist destination in all of Florida, with direct steamship lines bringing thousands of vacationers from New York City for a sunny holiday. In Fernandina Beach, two large and elegant tourist hotels were usually fully booked with sun-seeking New Yorkers. But once southern Florida became a major tourist magnet, the pace on Amelia Island slowed considerably. To my mind, that’s one of its attractions. The people who developed Amelia Island Plantation in the 1970s were obviously entranced by the slower lifestyle and the beautiful, natural environment. They brought in a University of Pennsylvania landscape architect whose specialty was ecology. The result is a resort and residential area that, at season’s peak, houses thousands of people in an area where nearly 80 percent of the original forest canopy has been preserved. Amelia Island Plantation takes up the entire southern end of the island, including about five miles of its beach. The island is beautiful beyond belief, with a steady chorus of multiple varieties of birds twittering from overhanging moss-draped trees and lofty palms. Strict rules are in place for keeping the beach postcard-perfect (it’s a state law – no walking on the dunes!) and for maintaining the plant, aquatic, bird and wildlife in the forest and marshes. I was often told to go hunting for sharks’ teeth along the beach. The clerk at the Ship’s Lantern, a souvenir shop and art gallery in Fernandina Beach, gave me a tooth identification card for the mostly fossilized choppers that wash up on the beach. She said after a high tide or a storm is the optimal time for finding teeth. The weather was perfect and my tide timing was off, so I left the beach empty-handed, though I was tempted to emulate other beachcombers and gather up a bunch of pretty shells. I picked up a walking tour of Fernandina Beach’s historic district and, starting from the docks, which are renowned as the birthplace of the modern shrimping industry, I headed up Centre Street. I was quite serious about studying the Victorian architecture, even stopping into the 1878 Palace Saloon (just to look, mind you), before I got distracted by all the fun shops. There was Go Fish, with clothing and jewelry; Twisted Sisters, with slightly more funky clothing and jewelry; Christmas on the River; two bookstores and – the place where I spent most of my time – Fernandina’s Fantastic Fudge. Stephen Colwell, who has owned the shop for 20 years, told me he and his employees make the eight flavors 34 Floridians.VISITFLORIDA.com http://AmeliaIsland.org http://Floridians.VISITFLORIDA.com
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