Amelia Island

It was a very short drive from Sea Island, Georgia to just below the GA/FL border to Amelia Island/Fernandina Beach. We found a great campsite- Hance’s First in Florida RV Park. No pretense- it had concrete pads, cheek by jowl, just off I-95. After a stop at the Florida Visitor Center, we headed to Fernandina Beach and the historic district. The historic district was tiny, but absolutely beautiful. Huge Victorian houses built by railroad and shipping money in the late 1800’s.
The island itself is home to about 20,000 people and is only 30 miles north of Jacksonville airport. It is 3 miles long and 2 miles across at it’s widest point. Driving south on the island, we noticed the roads filled with Volvo’s, Lexus, Porsche’s and high end retail outlets. The northern money had found Amelia Island. We had lunch at the local coffee shop complete with Sunday NY Times. The downtown area is adorable- Italianate buildings, 2 bookstores, waterfront at the end of the block.

We met with a local realtor in the morning. He turned out to be a wealth of information about the island and real estate.

A few notes:
Almost 100% of the island is built out.
The growth area is now the area from the island to I-95. Most of the housing being built is entry-level ($125K+) with golf courses.
Much of the growth is coming from Jacksonville sprawl. Becoming bedroom community to Jacksonville, off-island particularly. (3500 houses going in off-island)
Average home price on the island is $200K.
Much of the property buyers are from Atlanta (a 5 hour drive, 1 hour flight to the beach.)

We found a few properties on the IntraCoastal Waterways- gorgeous views of the water, but they needed alot of work and the price tags were outrageous....back to square one....