FERNANDINA BEACH

city, seat (1824) of Nassau county, extreme northeastern Florida, U.S., on Amelia Island, near the mouth of the St. Marys River, 25 miles (40 km) northeast of Jacksonville. The site was occupied by Timucuan Indians when the French attempted settlement in the 16th century. Spaniards built a fort and a mission there (c. 1680) and named it for Don Domingo Fernndez, a landowner. The British took possession in 1763, and large numbers of Tories settled there during the American Revolution; most Tories left in 1783 when Florida was ceded back to Spain. The settlement thrived as a haven for smugglers, pirates, and slave traders after becoming a free port (1808). In 1817 Sir Gregor MacGregor, a Scottish military adventurer and advocate of Spanish-American independence, briefly held it captive. The pirate Luis Aury claimed the island for Mexico that same year, but it was taken over by the United States (1818) and held in trust for Spain. The United States took formal possession of the island after 1821 and built Fort Clinch, which was seized by Confederates in 1861. The fort became a centre for blockade running until its capture by a Union naval force (1862). The economy of Fernandina Beach is based on pulp and paper milling and fishing (crab and shrimp). The city is the state's northern entry point to the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. Fort Clinch State Park offers recreation facilities. The former city of Fernandina was consolidated with Fernandina Beach in 1951. Inc. town, 1824; city, 1952. Pop. (1990) 8,765.