Additional Information for Fort Clinch State Park
Plant Life
Significant plant communities throughout the park's 1,100 acres include sand dunes, overwash plains, maritime hammock and estuarine tidal marsh. Many of these can be observed from the nature trail at Willow Pond or the paved roadway through the hammocks.
Wildlife
Resources
Fort Clinch State Park has some of the last remaining examples of coastal strand habitat left in Northeast Florida. These areas are mixed scrub oak and pine and include coastal strand grassy areas. Hardwood oak hammocks are to be found within the confines of the park also. These are dense shady areas with heavy canopy providing relief from the sun for both wildlife and park visitors alike. The park is riddled with large sand dune ridges that have acted as windbreaks for small saplings to grow into large trees. Some of these primary dunes indicate the continuous ocean breezes in the way their limbs have grown away from the ocean.
The park has a very well preserved Civil War era fort with a long and storied history. The structure served during the Civil War, Spanish-American War, and World War II. Many of the fort’s structures were rebuilt and repaired by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the 1930s as part of the public works program enacted by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The coastline along the Cumberland Sound, where the fort is located, has the remnants of many buildings scattered along its beach. Some of these were associated with the fort and later the caretaker residence after the fort was abandoned. Another remnant is a brick fireplace that can be seen when the sand level allows. This fireplace is assumed to be all that is left of a beacon house that was situated on the sound. An attached light beacon helped ships navigate the entrance into the St. Mary’s/Amelia river. Along the park drive is the masonry structure believed to have been the oil storage house for another beacon located near there. These two beacons, the one on the Cumberland Sound and the one on the park drive, were used to line up with larger Amelia Island Lighthouse when ships were coming into the channel to visit the port of Fernandina.
Pets
Pets are welcome but are restricted to the hiking trails, picnic areas, campgrounds and roadways. They cannot go on the beaches, boardwalks, pier or the fort. Pets must be on a leash at all times and cannot be left unattended.
Please see our General Parks Pet Policy for more information.
Links
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