Fernandina Beach Historic District, Historic district in Fernandina Beach, Florida, US.
Fernandina Beach Historic District covers about 1,500 acres on Amelia Island, bounded by North 9th, Broome, Ash, South 5th, Date and South 8th Streets, with a 1987 addition of 970 acres. Its roughly 300 buildings are mostly frame vernacular with Queen Anne influences; St. Peter's Episcopal Church and Public School No. 1 were designed by Robert Schuyler, and the Post Office is credited to James Knox Taylor.
David Levy Yulee, one of Florida's first U.S. senators, platted "new" Fernandina when his railroad from Fernandina Beach to Cedar Key opened on March 1, 1861, moving the town south from Old Town. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 20, 1973, covering about 1,500 acres, and expanded by 970 acres on April 20, 1987. In 1975 the city passed a preservation ordinance creating a Historic District Council to review rehabilitation projects.
The district's name comes from King Ferdinand VII of Spain, and its streets carry names such as Broome, Ash, Date and Escambia. Each May the Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival fills the district with thousands of visitors, a nod to the shrimp boats that once worked the Amelia River waterfront.
The district spans about 1,500 acres, later expanded by 970 acres, bounded by North 9th, Broome, Ash, South 5th, Date and South 8th Streets. The Amelia Island Museum of History sits directly adjacent, and Fort Clinch and the beach lie a short distance east. The Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival fills the streets each May.
Yulee's railroad was not transcontinental: it ran across Florida from Fernandina Beach to Cedar Key on the Gulf, opening on March 1, 1861. Building it, he platted "new" Fernandina and moved the town from Old Town to its present site, and the line plus the Amelia River maritime trade fueled the district's late 19th-century growth.
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