Photo by Michael Kappel
Founded in 1935 by Florida’s first black millionaire and president of Afro-American Life Insurance Company, American Beach is a historic beach community that still welcomes visitors. Abraham Lincoln Lewis purchased land on Amelia Island’s Atlantic shores and developed an area where his company’s employees and their families could vacation and own homes. Numerous celebrities were hosted at this location. Desegregation of public venues by the Civil Rights Act shifted the beach’s popularity but did not lessen its historic significance. MaVynee Betsch, Lewis’s great-granddaughter and known to locals as the Beach Lady, began raising awareness for the declining beach area in 1977. Her efforts were rewarded in 2002 when the National Register of Historic Places added the site. Current onsite amenities include restrooms at Burney Park. For more information about wheelchair accessibility/beach wheelchair, please call 904-277-7350. For beach driving permits, please call 904-491-6430 or 904-310-6124.
Photo by Michael Kappel
Founded in 1935 by Florida’s first black millionaire and president of Afro-American Life Insurance Company, American Beach is a historic beach community that still welcomes visitors. Abraham Lincoln Lewis purchased land on Amelia Island’s Atlantic shores and developed an area where his company’s employees and their families could vacation and own homes. Numerous celebrities were hosted at this location. Desegregation of public venues by the Civil Rights Act shifted the beach’s popularity but did not lessen its historic significance. MaVynee Betsch, Lewis’s great-granddaughter and known to locals as the Beach Lady, began raising awareness for the declining beach area in 1977. Her efforts were rewarded in 2002 when the National Register of Historic Places added the site. Current onsite amenities include restrooms at Burney Park. For more information about wheelchair accessibility/beach wheelchair, please call 904-277-7350. For beach driving permits, please call 904-491-6430 or 904-310-6124.
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