Farsighted Fly Girl

Located on northeast Florida's Amelia Island, American Beach is a dreamy stretch of 200 acres that was established as a beach resort for African Americans in 1933, during the Jim Crow era when most beaches were segregated. American Beach remains an undeveloped historical gem, brimming with cultural history. The very first thing that caught my eye on the beach was the bottle tree above, glistening between two palms. Bottle trees are a hallmark of Southern gardens but the tradition reaches back further, centuries ago in the Central African nation of the Congo.  Bottles were slipped onto tree branches to catch spirits trying to enter a house. This tree shows the customary sea green and " haint blue" bottles that whistle like captured ghosts when the wind blows. The other thing that immediately grabbed my attention was this swirling 60 feet sand dune called Nana, a West African term for  great mother.  Nana is the tallest sand dune in the state of Florida an...

This is the turtle that ambled in front of me as I started a tour of  historic American Beach on Amelia Island. He crossed Ocean Blvd casually and confidently, as if he wanted to be part of the tour too. But he got spooked when I moved close to snap his photo. Or maybe he heard my tour guide, Marsha Phelts explain that the only reason he was so big was that the women who live on Ocean Blvd are too old to catch him and make turtle stew!