Amelia Island
— — the live oaks holding the road in green shade.
Not only on a wall.
“A thirteen-mile barrier island at the top of the Florida coast, the Atlantic on one side, the Amelia River and the marsh on the other. Fernandina Beach holds the historic downtown — brick streets, a working shrimp fleet, the old Centre Street running to the water. Eight flags have flown here over four centuries. The live oaks along the road still do most of the work the eye remembers. — from the studio
Amelia Island, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Amelia Island is a barrier island at the northeast corner of Florida, the southernmost of the Sea Islands, in Nassau County. It runs roughly 13 miles north to south and is separated from the mainland by the Amelia River and the salt marshes of the Intracoastal Waterway. The principal town, Fernandina Beach, sits on the northwest shore and preserves a 50-block historic district of late-19th-century brick storefronts and Victorian houses. To the south the island grades into Amelia Island State Park; to the north, Fort Clinch State Park guards the mouth of the St. Marys River and the Georgia line.
Amelia is the only American place that has flown eight different national flags: French, Spanish, British, Patriots of Amelia Island, Green Cross of Florida, Mexican rebel, Confederate, and United States. That sequence runs from a French landing in 1562 through the Civil War. The Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival, held the first weekend in May since 1963, marks both the city's heritage and the role of the shrimp fleet that still works out of the downtown waterfront. Fort Clinch, begun in 1847, is the visible piece of the federal-era story at the north end of the island.
The island is reached by State Road A1A from Yulee on the mainland, with Jacksonville International Airport about 30 miles south. Fort Clinch State Park is open daily from 8 a.m. to sundown; the fort itself charges a small per-person fee on top of the state-park entry. Fernandina Beach's historic district is walkable, with Centre Street running about eight blocks from the marina to the courthouse. Amelia Island State Park, at the south end, is one of the few Florida state parks that permits beach horseback riding by permitted concessionaire.