FERNANDINA BEACH, FLORIDA

Full Stop

After seeing so many beautiful homes over the last few weeks, I thought I'd be rather blasé over another raft of them on Amalie Island. 

Not so. This small town had quite the collection of very well maintained classics.

Another stunner - Queen Ann style.
One of the reasons that there are over 400 historically significant buildings is that the first cross-Florida railroad began here and then Fernandina beach became an important shipping terminal to the rest of the world.

Gingerbread detail from one of the smaller cottages. 

Appropriately, this is known as the Tabby House for the type of concrete used in the structure. I've come to the conclusion that as much as I love concrete as a building material, tabby concrete doesn't always please my eye especially when incorporated into some architectural designs.

The Bailey Mansion was, up until recently, a B & B but tightening building safety requirements forced the owners to sell.

This home typlifies what I think of as Southern style of architecture with wide two story verandas, storm shutters and lap siding. The flowering shrub in the foreground is called a shrimp flower plant. Camellias bloom at the edge of the picture.

Though our two week cruise has stretched into a two month travelog, things are far from over. Over the next few months the blog will focus on the sights closer to home, or at least the West. Stay tuned and thanks for traveling in the passenger seat. If you have comments you can leave them at the blogsite (ferrytrails.blogspot.com). Emails are always appreciated but if you are a subscriber do not reply to the blog post directly as it is a "no-reply" type of email; drop me a note directly (billatferry360dotcom).