Amelia Island Trail

The Amelia Island Trail is a planned bikeway that will link 20 existing parks and beach access points on Amelia Island. It will run from the Grady Bridge on A1A on the Nassau Sound northward to the Marina at the foot of Centre Street in Downtown Fernandina. It wil also become a link to the larger East Coast Greenway network of trails that runs from the Northeast US to South Florida. Their link: http://www.ameliaislandassociation.com/ameliaislandtrail.htm

Eagan's Creek Greenway in Fernandina Beach

I went to the Eagan's Creek Greenway on Amelia Island today. It is a 300 acre nature preserve managed by the City of Fernandina Beach that follows Eagan's Creek. The prinstine waterway starts on the west side of the dune line and runs northwards past the lighthouse and turns westward south of Old Town. It is a great trail if you want to take a slow paced trop through nature. Looks like they are having a bird watching gathering there on Saturday, September 12th, at 8:00 AM. The entrance to the Greenway is beside the Atlantic Avenue Community Center at 2500 Atlantic Avenue in Fernandina Beach. Here is a link to their site: http://ourgreenway.org/default.aspx

Railfanning in Crawford FL

The rains has stopped in Nassau County, FL long enough to rail fan in Crawford, FL. The once thriving sawmill town 4 miles southwest of Callahan was founded around 1900 at the crossing of the Atlantic, Valdosta and Western RR with the Florida Central and Peninsular RR. Two years later the AV&W was bought by Southern Rwy and renamed the Georgia Southern and Florida RR and used as Southern's entry to Jacksonville, FL and its ports. Today's rail traffic include car carriers and intermodals to Jacksonville with connections to South Florida via the Florida East Coast RR. It is single tracked from Macon to Jacksonville with a 2 mile long siding stretching from Crawford southward to Keene. The FC&P line was once know as the Florida Railroad. It was built through the area in 1856 as the Sunshine State's first cross peninsular railroad. It became Seaboard Air Line's main line into Florida in 1902. The most common rail traffic on this CSX sub line is manifest and coal. It is single tracked from Callahan to Baldwin with two sidings beginning just south of the diamond: One siding is used as a waiting place for many North bounds to enter the double tracked line in Callahan and the other is used for dropping cars off at the Mulch Manufacturing Plant. Crawford is one of only a few places that CSX and NS intersect in Florida and is a good place to rail fan.

Trains and Trails of Nassau County Florida is a blog dedicated to sharing the many train hot spots and various trails of Florida's Crown of the First Coast, Nassau County, Florida.