Fort Clinch State Park: Exploring Florida One Campground at a Time

Every time we think we have found our favorite Florida State Park, we visit another one and fall in love all over again. The truth is that the Florida State Parks continue to surprise and delight us with their own unique attributes. Our latest adventure was to Fort Clinch for a long February weekend. After what seemed to be the longest week ever at work for both of us, we were finally headed off to an adventure we had booked over six months ago!

Usually the drive is just a means of getting to our location, but the drive up to Fort Clinch deserves a mention. Once we passed Jacksonville, we drove up the coast on A1A to reach the campgrounds. It was breathtakingly beautiful as we passed by the Huguenot Memorial Park, Little Talbot Island State Park, Big Talbot Island State Park, and up through the coast of Amelia Island. It gave us a chance to add additional places to our list of future trips, including camping at Big Talbot Island State Park. The roads were excellent for towing a camper and significantly less traffic than the major highways. This made the last part of our drive go by very quickly and made us even more excited when we arrived at Fort Clinch State Park.

We were greeted by an amazing member of the state park team at the guardhouse, she even had treats ready for the dogs and as we came through the gate. We are easily won over by fellow dog lovers and were impressed they gave us a tag to indicate that our camper had dogs inside in case of trouble. By the time we pulled into our site and set up, we were feeling relaxed and ready to get the weekend started.

The Campgrounds

This state park has two very different campgrounds, Amelia River Campground and Atlantic Beach Campground. Beachside is located right along the Atlantic Ocean, just a couple of short steps away from the crashing of the waves on the beach. The campground is open with no shelter or shade from trees, giving the sites little privacy. The sites are large enough for big rigs and easy to back in. Although this campground is right on the beach, it is a drive or bike ride over to the Fort. Riverside is on the other side of the park, with a completely different atmosphere. The sites are shady from the heavily wooded area and sit right along the river. The sites and roads are narrower, but had more privacy in the sites because of the trees.

Riverside is within easy walking distance of the Fort, but a drive or bike ride to the beach. Riverside is by far the “FAN FAVORITE” and the campground we would have selected given the option. This trip we stayed at Atlantic Beach Campgrounds because it was the only option available when we booked six months in advance. We were a little worried that we were not going to be happy with beachside because we had read the reviews and we usually opt for the woods, but we LOVED beachside! We had never stayed at a campground in such close proximity to the beach. We could feel the ocean breeze, we could smell it, and we could walk right out on the beach to catch the sunrise. Although we might opt for riverside next time to check out something different, beachside has inspired us look at more beachside campgrounds for future trips. Just a couple of thoughts for you:

• Bring bikes if you have them because the trails in the park are multi-purpose for riding and hiking.

• Pay attention to the power when you book as not all sites have 50 amp.

• The currents in the sound are strong and it is not recommended to kayak in most areas.

• Riverside roads are narrow and tight, if you have a large rig it might be harder to navigate especially in the dark.

• Bring a camera because it is a beautiful park

The Fort

We love exploring forts and had been looking forward to staying at this state park because we wanted to visit Fort Clinch. The fort sits on the north end of the park looking over the Cumberland Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. The entrance is located close to the riverside campground, but a good distance from beachside. You enter and exit the fort through the gift shop, which has a good selection of souvenirs including some of our favorites; state park stickers, magnets, and walking stick medallions. As you walk into the fort, you walk through the fort museum. The museum was small and very informative, which was nice to see in the beginning to learn a little bit of the history before exploring the grounds. As we walked into the fort, we decided to walk a loop on the inside walking into all of the buildings, sleeping quarters, prison, armory, dining halls, etc… we call it the educational portion of the tour where you really learn about the life and history of the fort. We stopped and spoke to one of the park volunteers acting as the Quarter Master working in the Quarter Masters Office. Then it was time to explore, walking up on the high fort walls, climbing the stairs to every single lookout point, and admiring the enormity of the canons. The fort looks out over the inlet across to Cumberland National Seashore and out to the Atlantic Ocean. It is beautiful and a great location for photo opportunities. We stood on the fort walls looking out over the water watching the boats going in and out of the busy shipping inlet. It was very windy that day, giving the smaller boats a bit of trouble as they passed by the fort. After exploring the fort, we walked around the outside right on the beach. On a less windy day, it would have been a great place to set up camp for a bit, but the wind made it a bit chilly for us Floridians. As we left the fort, we were directed right back through the gift shop, which was perfect because we were able to pick up the souvenirs we “needed” to take home!

Amelia Island

I had always heard that Amelia Island was a great place to visit, but we have never been up to the area. To be completely honest, I was so excited about staying at Fort Clinch I did not plan to leave since we were only there for a short weekend stay. Once we realized how close we were to the historic downtown area, we could not help wanting to check out the area. We are so glad we decided to make the short 10 minute drive to walk through the downtown streets. It is exactly what you would expect from a historic beach community, picturesque charm, a pirate giftshop, lots of phenomenal restaurants, ice cream shops, unique artsy shops, a museum, a visitors center, and a beautiful marina. As we drove back to the campground, we passed by the lighthouse, the beaches, beautiful hotels, golf courses, and a couple of historic sites. If we make it back to this area, there are a couple of things that we will check out:

• Rent a boat from Amelia Boat Club & Rentals to explore Amelia River and St Mary’s River

• Head over to the Cumberland Island National Seashore that you can see across the river as you stand on the beach at Fort Clinch

• Check out the Marlin & Barrel Distillery tour

• Visit the Amelia Island Museum of History located right downtown, followed up by lunch and ice cream on the downtown strip

• Climb to the top of the Amelia Island Lighthouse, which is the oldest lighthouse in Florida

We were not ready to leave when our weekend came to an end, but that always seems to be the case. We easily could have stayed here for a couple of weeks and not run out of things to do at Fort Clinch and Amelia Island. Exploring Florida as we visit different campgrounds continues to inspire additional travel and the excitement to see what we will find during our next trip.