Amelia Island

The weather today was uncertain - it rained all day yesterday (Sunday) and the front was still moving through our area this morning.  We woke to an overcast, chilly day when we took our morning stroll around the campground.

Nevertheless, we decided to take a chance and drive to Amelia Island, just over the state line in Florida, to see Fernandina Beach and Fort Clinch State Park.

The closer we drove to the beach, the bluer and clearer the sky became.  We parked the truck in downtown Fernandina Beach, unracked the bicycles, and cycled over to the visitor information center for some preliminary information and maps, which we absorbed over lunch at a little brewpub called Karibrew.

Hopping on our bikes, we started the 5-plus mile ride out to the beach and through Fort Clinch State Park, out to historic Fort Clinch.  Along the way, we cycled past Amelia Island Lighthouse:

At one time, the lighthouse had been close enough to the Amelia River and the Cumberland Sound, which opens out into the ocean, that ocean-going ships could be guided by its light.  However, in as little as 100 years, shifting sand, rivers and salt marshes buried the lighthouse so far inland from the ocean that it would be of little use today.

Fort Clinch is one of a series of brick and masonry forts build in the first half of the 19th Century to protect ports and harbors along the East Coast.  It was one of the "Third System Fortifications," so called because they were the third-generation of seacoast forts; each generation became more sophisticated than the last, and this Third Generation is said to be one of the most extensive military fortification efforts in history.

As we rode up toward the Fort, we ran across a bike path, and decided to take it.  This was a true back-country bike trail, and we had lots of fun dodging tree roots, trying to climb sand hills and generally dodging trees as we made tight turns.  Here's David in action on the trail:

Fort Clinch was laid out on a fairly standard plan similar to many other forts of the same era such as Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, Fort McHenry in Baltimore and Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas off Key West.  This particular fort was laid out as an irregular pentagon, with five bastions, or towered points, guarding the narrows between Amelia Island and Cumberland Island leading to Amelia River and the ports of Fernandina and St. Mary's.  The construction used large earthen works buttressed and faced by brick:

This particular fort is one of the best preserved of its type, and we enjoyed poking around in the tunnels, bastions, along the earthworks, around the cannon, through the sallie port and across the swing bridge.  The wind was brisk and cold despite the warm sun, and we had to bundle up against the breeze as we walked around.  Nevertheless, in the bright sun, the red and earthen brick colors of the fort contrasted colorfully with green and golden grasses, and the blues of the sea and sky in the background:

After touring the fort, we bicycled around the two RV campgrounds in the state park.  One was in the woods toward the middle of the island's northern point; each site was woodsy and screened from other sites.  The other campground was set in the open dunes along the water and took the full brunt of the wind as it came off the ocean, but also basked in the warm, direct sunlight.

Another attraction we visited was the park's fishing pier, which was at least a half mile long, stretching out from the land side of a line of dunes, across and along a wide, white sand beach, paralleling a huge rock and concrete slab jetty, jutting nearly a quarter mile out into the ocean.  When we stood at the far end of the pier, it felt that we were on a boat in the middle of the sea, with the winds whipping about our head and the whitecap waves crashing around us below.  Here is a photo of the pier stretching out nearly to infinity, with the beach curving around and paralleling it under the cerulean sky:

Having drunk our fill of the park's beauties, we pedalled back into Fernandina Beach, racked the bikes and drove home with these vivid pictures still in our minds.  Back at the campground, it was still overcast - they hadn't had any of the bright sun we had enjoyed at the beach, but it was breezy and a bit chill.  We were happy to get into our warm and cozy little home on wheels and anticipate a warm dinner of turkey, squash, cranberries and soycutash!