Fort Clinch State Park, Civil War fortress in Nassau County, Florida

Fort Clinch State Park covers 1,100 acres on a peninsula at the northern end of Amelia Island, including the 19th-century brick Fort Clinch, sand dunes, plains, maritime hammock and estuarine tidal marsh. The fort is a two-story red brick structure with a low-pitched gray roof, four brick chimneys, and rows of white-framed, multi-paned windows; a tall flagpole stands in front.

Fort Clinch was begun in 1847, after the Second Seminole War, and named for General Duncan Lamont Clinch, a figure in the First and Second Seminole Wars. Confederate troops occupied the unfinished fort in 1861, after Union forces withdrew from Florida. In 1862 the Confederates left because their manpower was needed elsewhere, and Union forces retook the area without a shot. Union construction resumed and continued to the end of the war.

On the first weekend of each month, costumed interpreters at Fort Clinch reenact a Civil War soldier's life as it was in 1864. The drills and work in the fort's laundry, infirmary, kitchen, barracks, quartermaster, United States Sanitary Commission and carpenter shop are shown. Other encampments are held during the year.

The park opens daily at 8 AM and stays open until sunset, with the ranger station staffed from 10:30 AM to 5:30 PM. Wear sturdy shoes since trails cross uneven ground and sandy areas.

No battle was ever fought at Fort Clinch. Confederate troops occupied the unfinished fort in 1861, then withdrew in 1862 because manpower was needed elsewhere; Union forces retook the area without a shot being fired and resumed construction. The fort later served as a Union base through the Reconstruction Era.