Travel: Fort Clinch State Park Home: greenlightwrite.com featuring |
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Travel: Fort Clinch State Park Home: greenlightwrite.com featuring |
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GraciousJaneMarie USA Fort Clinch State Park on Amelia Island, Florida plays rather prominently in my life. It is a favorite place to visit with company or when we just feel like taking in a bit of living history.
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Fort Clinch is a brick, five-sided military fort, sitting at the mouth of the St. Mary's River. It was built in 1847 to protect the deep water port of Fernandina Beach, Florida on Amelia Island. Named after General Duncan Lamont Clinch, who served during the Seminole Wars, the fort was occupied by the Confederacy in 1861 at the beginning of the Civil War. A year later, General Robert E. Lee ordered his troops to pull out. The fort was then held by the Union until the end of the war. Except for the Spanish American War and World War II, Fort Clinch was lightly garrisoned. It became a 1153 acre Florida state park in 1935. The Civilian Conservation Corps began restoration in 1936, developing roads and a campground. The park was opened to the public in 1938. There are currently 62 campsites in two campgrounds with water and electricity. The park offers swimming, fishing, a nature walk, hiking and biking trails, shark tooth hunting and birding. These days, reenactors man the fort every day, but the first full weekend of every month has the most activity. Yankee soldiers, and often their families, take visitors back to 1864 in period dress, activity and drama. Whether it's the medical/surgery demonstration, dipping candles, spinning wool, baking of bread, cooking of stew, blacksmithing, marching, firing rifles and cannon, guarding the brig, raising the American flag, washing clothes by hand in big wooden tubs, payment to the troops by the quartermaster, or the teasing of the modern day ladies accused of being fancy women because they've got red polish on their nails, Fort Clinch is always a fun and interesting education for the whole family. The last few years, Fort Clinch has featured History of the American Soldier as a fall evening event to honor all branches of the military. By spotlight, soldiers dressed in uniforms from the Revolutionary War through the present day are introduced by the music of their eras. The program includes short oral histories, weapon firings and a grand finale. The order of the evening is chilly bumps or a humble tear. Throughout the year, Fort Clinch hosts Confederate Garrison weekends, a Spanish American War event, a World War II event around Memorial Day Weekend, a Kids' Free Fishing Clinic in June, Nassau Sport Fishing Association Youth Fishing, and a Union Holiday Encampment in December. Each Easter morning, come sunrise, I'm at Fort Clinch with my Amelia Ringers, playing our handbells for crowds of 500 or 600. One special service on the parade ground was led by a reeanctor / pastor whose daughter sang a beautiful a cappella version of Amazing Grace while dressed in a hoop skirt, bonnet and shawl. Visitors sat on wooden benches on the parade ground and sang along from replica hymnbooks. I am proud to say the gift shop at Fort Clinch carries my historic romance novel, The Goodbye Lie, as recommended by George Beringer, one of head re-enactors. I'll never forget his kind words about my story. "What's not to like," he told me. "There are old buildings, pretty women and Fort Clinch!" One of the beauties of fiction is that I can make anything happen at whim, the only effort being a few key strokes. That's exactly what I did. I wanted to feature the fort and several soldiers. Since the fort was not garrisoned in 1882, the time in which my story is set, I decided to have a fictitious military officer and a small staff placed on a temporary assignment to determine the possibility of reopening the fort. That way, I could locate a Christmas dance and other events there. My husband Bruce and I actually attended a Christmas dance at Fort Clinch many years ago. The wooden staircase leading to the second floor grand hall above the officers' quarters was swaged with red and green paper chains, a fire glowed golden in the huge fireplace at the end of the long rectangular room, and cookies hung from ribbons to decorate the huge tree in the center. There was even a small boy carrying a bucket of water who called out, "Ladies, mind your skirts," as they passed the tree with the burning candles lighting it. Only the reenactors in period gowns and uniforms were permitted to participate in the dancing of waltzes and jigs to music played on antique instruments. Fort Clinch is a wonderful addition to our island home and fantastic inspiration for a writer's daydreams. For more information, please call 904/277-7274. The opening paragraphs of this article were gleaned from the pamphlet "Fort Clinch State Park … the Real Florida," revised 03/04. |
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