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Fernandina Beach

Fernandina Beach, Florida
City
City of Fernandina Beach
Images from top, left to right: Beach, statue of a pirate (the mascot of Fernandina Beach High School), Nassau County Courthouse (Florida), shrimp statue (representing the annual Shrimp Festival), United States Post Office, Custom House, and Courthouse (Fernandina, Florida, 1912), Fort Clinch, Old School House, Fort Clinch Pier
Images from top, left to right: Beach, statue of a pirate (the mascot of Fernandina Beach High School), Nassau County Courthouse (Florida), shrimp statue (representing the annual Shrimp Festival), United States Post Office, Custom House, and Courthouse (Fernandina, Florida, 1912), Fort Clinch, Old School House, Fort Clinch Pier
Official seal of Fernandina Beach, Florida
Seal
Nickname(s): Isle of 8 Flags
Location in Nassau County and the state of Florida
Location in Nassau County and the state of Florida
Fernandina Beach, Florida is located in the US
Fernandina Beach, Florida
Fernandina Beach, Florida
Location in the U.S.
Coordinates: 30°40′10″N 81°27′42″W / 30.66944°N 81.46167°W / 30.66944; -81.46167Coordinates: 30°40′10″N 81°27′42″W / 30.66944°N 81.46167°W / 30.66944; -81.46167
Country United States
State Florida
County Nassau
Commissioner Len Kreger
Government
 • Mayor Johnny Miller
 • Vice-Mayor Robin Lentz
 • Commissioner Roy Smith
 • Commissioner Robin Lentz
 • Commissioner Tim Poynter
Area
 • Total 10.7 sq mi (27.8 km2)
 • Land 10.7 sq mi (27.8 km2)
 • Water 0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2)
Elevation 25 ft (7.6 m)
Population (2010)
 • Total 11,487
 • Density 1,073.6/sq mi (2,780.6/km2)
Time zone EST (UTC-5)
 • Summer (DST) EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP codes 32034-32035
Area code(s) 904
FIPS code 12-22175
GNIS feature ID 0294308
Website www.fbfl.us.

Fernandina Beach is a city in Nassau County, Florida, United States, on Amelia Island. It is the northernmost city on Florida's Atlantic coast, and is one of the principal municipalities comprising Greater Jacksonville. The area was first inhabited by the Timucuan Indian tribe. Located on Amelia Island, known as the "Isle of 8 Flags", Fernandina has had the flags of the following nations flown over it since 1562: France, Spain, Great Britain, Spain (again), the Patriots of Amelia Island, the Green Cross of Florida, Mexico, the Confederate States of America, and the United States. It is the only municipality in the United States that has flown eight different national flags.

According to the 2010 census, the city population was 11,487. It is the seat of Nassau County.

Prior to the arrival of Europeans on what is now Amelia Island, the site of the original town of Fernandina was occupied by Native Americans. Native American bands associated with the Timucuan mound-building culture had settled on the island about 1000 A.D., calling it Napoyca. They remained on the island until the early 18th century, when European settlement began there. In 1736, James Oglethorpe, the governor of Georgia, ordered Fort Amelia to be built at the mouth of the St. Marys River to house a garrison of Scottish Highlanders. The American naturalist William Bartram visited Amelia Island in 1774, noting the presence of several very large tumuli, or earthwork mounds, which the colonists called "Ogeechee mounts". France, England, and Spain all had maintained a presence on the island intermittently during the 16th through 18th centuries, but the first permanent European settlement was not made until Spain took over Florida from Britain at the end of the American Revolution. During later colonial times the site had gained military importance because of its deep harbor and its strategic location near the northern boundary of Spanish Florida. On January 1, 1811, Enrique White, governor of Spain's East Florida province, named the town of Fernandina, about a mile from the present city, in honor of King Ferdinand VII. On May 10 of that year, Fernandina became the last town platted under the Laws of the Indies in the Western hemisphere. The town was intended as a bulwark against U.S. territorial expansion. In the following years, it was captured and recaptured by a succession of renegades and privateers. The proclamation of the Adams-Onis Treaty on February 22, 1821, two years after its signing in 1819, officially transferred Spain's territories in Florida, including Amelia Island, to the United States.


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