Amelia Island Museum of History

Great, knowledgeable docent, nicely organized museum, with lots of interesting history.

The friendliest staff and volunteers. they are so on it with the tours they give. it is a spoken fistury. I was sitting there and as we moved from room to room I learned about different historical periods and the people who lived on Amelia island. There was seating as we moved from room to room.
an absolutely delightful way to spend some time. The tour area is on one floor.
When you are done the gift shop has some interesting local items.

Just enough history but not too much. Lots for kids. Well thought out.

A grand little museum housed in the old jailhouse. It features stories on the many changing of hands of Amelia Island as well as the maritime history and some cogent, riveting anecdotes. It delves well into Black history, is which AI played an important role as a nidus of the early slave trade and later as a refuge for runaways. In more recent times American Beach served as a Black resort of some note with the likes of Cab Calloway and others paying visits. We did not take the tour but we did take our time reading the fascinating exhibit notes. Friendly staff, well conceived exhibits — very much worth the $ 7.

The museum (a former jail house) while small contained a labyrinth of with well outfitted rooms filled with the islands very interesting history. If you are lucky, Carol will be available for a griot — style recounting of the history displayed on the walls of each room.

I give ‘em a four. Guided Spoken History Tours are also offered Mon-​Sat 11a & 2pm, and Sundays at 2 pm.
There is a Research Library of archives upstairs. This is not open to the public tour. However, it open for researchers 10 – 4, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

I attended the Friday night ghost tour and a Saturday morning museum your. The ghost tour was great. It provided both history of the town and ghost stories all while avoiding the cheesiness most ghost tours have. The website says it’s an hour, but it’s really more like an hour and a half. The museum tour was very informative. It provided a lot of the history of the state of Florida and the role Amelia Island played in various wars. I just wish it would’ve focused a little more on the island’s history than the state’s history.

Great place. It is very small. Unless you are totally into history it can be a bit boaring.

Haven’t been to this museum in about 20 years and I could hardly recognize the place. They have done a wonderful job and our guide, Christian, was very knowledgeable. The guided part took about an hour for our group of 6. It explains the 8-​flag history of the island rather well. There were videos and push-​to-​play exhibits as well as a LOT of poster sized descriptions to read. There was an explanation of how the indigenous Timucuan tribes were devastated by the European diseases, how France, Britain and England all vied for influence of the area, how the port was booming in the early days of the train, how modern shrimping was developed here and how the timber, lumber, paper and pulp mills all helped the area through the tough economic times. After the Revolutionary War, it became a major smuggling hub with a significant Pirate connection. The Civil War brought many non-​rich northerners to the area who returned with their families after the war. Later, when it was hailed as «The Newport of the South», there were passenger ships that would bring people from New York City to enjoy the climate, beaches, luxurious hotels and beautiful homes of the area. It explained how the 50 block historic area came to be preserved and protected after the destruction one of the grand downtown hotels. The «Magery» is a children’s interactive area built like a ship with a mounted spyglass to look through, a place to tie seaman’s knots, and a place to demonstrate how ships use compasses to navigate. Other than the «Magery» area, the overall museum should only be considered kid-​friendly for children who have a thirst for knowledge and patience to read a lot. It is a great place to get a real feel for the rich history of this area if you have an hour or two to invest. It is like our local «treasure chest» of information about the area.

My husband and I visited the Amelia Island Historic Museum on June 25^th in the afternoon. There is a fee of $ 7 per person to get in. This may have been a little much for what you get, and $ 5 would have seemed more appropriate. But I guess they do have to maintain the history. It is a small museum located inside the old county jail. You walk through the rooms and read all about the history of Amelia Island. It is very interesting history, and should only take you about an hour to go through it all. Great place to stop if you are looking for a short reprieve from the summer heat.

Excellent museum about the history of the area. The tour guide is utilized twice a day and he is excellent! Well worth the visit, especially if it’s raining.

This is a cute, quaint museum a few blocks away from Fernandina Beach’s shopping area. Make sure you wear comfy shoes if you plan to walk it. Or you can drive here. There’s plenty of parking.
The Amelia Island Museum of History actually started out as a jail, and you can still walk into one of the cells. What amuses me, however is that whoever was holed up in that cell had a great view. The windows are pretty wide and inviting for inmates. Not only that, they were served 3 square meals a day — all home cooked. Man, to be a troublemaker in those times. Must have been the life. Haha.
The day we went, we saw the exhibit Florida’s Lost Tribes. There were displays on Timicuan history and a beautiful gallery featuring gorgeous paintings of Native Americans from different tribes who used to live in North Florida.
We went on a slow day and the tour guide was great. She gave us a private tour of the garden at the back and took us to a historic room where she taught us about the history of Fernandina Beach and Amelia Island.
Eight flags flew over these parts at different times throughout its history. That’s pretty impressive for such a small town.

The Amelia Island Museum of History is fun to go to and read all about it at your own pace. This small museum packs a ton information about Amelia Island and North Florida, and some South Georgia into a small space!
It is located in the old Nassua County Jail and that makes it cool all by itself. You do get to see how the prisoners lived and go in a remaining cell. It is unsettling in a kooky kind of way, even though you know you can leave!
We took the kids and arrived just before a guided tour at 2pm. It doesn’t cost any extra ($ 7 for adults and $ 4 for kids) so we decided to hop aboard! While the tour was extremely in depth and our guide was knowledgeable, it was too long for the girls (ages 8 and 10) and I had to bribe them to please suffer through with dignity. An hour and ½ later we were ready to get out of there (starving!) so we didn’t get to go through and read a lot of stuff we would have enjoyed looking at more.
I think it is worth the stop and I am glad we found them by accident!