Amelia Island Museum of History

The Amelia Island Museum of History is located at 233 South Third Street, Fernandina Beach, Florida. It houses exhibits focusing on the history of Nassau County, Florida and is situated inside the old Nassau county jail. The idea of the museum was first put forward in 1975 by the Duncan Lamont Clinch (DLC) Historical Society. This group formed a committee in hopes of creating a museum that would display items and artifacts related to the history of Amelia Island. During this time period resident William Decker, was collecting thousands of documents and artifacts related to the local history. When he passed this collection was then left to his son Doug, who wanted to be able to share his father’s work with the community. In 1977 a board of trustees was created from the original DLC committee that then formed the non-profit cultural institution called the “Fernandina Historical Museum. Through various fundraising activities the group lobbied the City of Fernandina Beach to purchase a portion of materials from the Decker collection. These materials were then donated to the museum group and housed in their first location, an old schoolhouse on Atlantic Avenue.