Last week, I visited the Fort Clinch State Park on the northern end of Amelia Island, Florida. It’s a nice park, with all the amenities. The fort is in excellent condition. Admission to the park is $6.00 per car. An additional $2.50 per person is required to walk around the fort.
Fort Clinch was constructed as part of the United States government’s Third System of coastal fortifications. The fort was built at the northern end of Amelia Island to guard the deep-water port of Fernandina. The structure consisted of an outer masonry scarp and an inner earthen rampart. Bastions were located at the corners, with covered passageways between the interior of the fort and the bastions.
Shortly after Florida seceded in January 1861, state troops took possession of Fort Clinch. Although construction began in 1847, the fort was only two-thirds finished, and no guns had been mounted on the walls. Rather than continue work on the fortification, the Confederates built earthen batteries adjacent to the structure.
The Federal government ordered a blockade on southern ports within days of the Confederacy declaring its independence. The Union navy soon determined that its ships would need southern ports for refueling and refitting to maintain an adequate number of blockaders on station. Planners estimated that 50% of the blockading force was enroute to or from northern fueling stations at any given time.
The Navy Department recommended the establishment of coaling stations at Cape Hatteras, Port Royal and Fernandina. Union forces captured Cape Hatters in August 1861. In November, Port Royal came under Union control. In March 1862, a Union expedition seized Fort Clinch and Fernandina. Fort Clinch had been abandoned by the Confederates shortly before the Union forces arrived.
After the war, the army placed the fort into caretaker status. It was reactivated for a year during the Spanish American War, then idled again. The army sold the installation to private interests in 1926. The fort became one of Florida’s first state parks in 1935, and for the next few years, the Civilian Conservation Corps reconstructed the fort and added a road, a museum, and a campground. The park opened to the public in 1938.
Copyright © 2021 – 2025 by Kirk Ward. All rights reserved.