---
title: "Amelia Island Parks Are Run by Five Separate Owners. Here Is Who Has What."
description: "Fort Clinch, the Egans Creek Greenway, Peters Point, the Nana dune and the Plantation's private parks answer to five different owners. Here is who runs what, and what each offers."
published: "2026-09-21"
canonical: "https://blog.angieheitzer.com/blog/amelia-island-parks"
author: "Angie Heitzer"
---

Amelia Island parks are not one system. Florida State Parks runs Fort Clinch and [Amelia Island State Park](https://blog.angieheitzer.com/blog/amelia-island-state-park). The City of Fernandina Beach runs the Ron Sapp Egans Creek Greenway plus its named neighborhood and beach parks. Nassau County runs the beachfront access parks. The National Park Service owns a dune at American Beach, and Amelia Island Plantation's association keeps private parks for its residents.

That split shows up the first weekend you try to plan around it. Hours, fees, parking and access rules are set by whichever body owns the ground, and none of it carries across a property line. Knowing who runs a park tells you most of what you need before you load the car.

## Who runs the parks on Amelia Island?

Five separate owners run the parks on Amelia Island: Florida State Parks, the City of Fernandina Beach, Nassau County, the National Park Service and the Amelia Island Plantation Community Association. Each one sets the hours, fees and access rules for its own ground, so the table below pairs every park or trail with the body that holds it.

| Park or trail | Owner or operator | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| [Fort Clinch State Park](https://blog.angieheitzer.com/blog/fort-clinch-state-park-florida) | Florida State Parks | [1,400 acres](https://www.floridastateparks.org/fortclinch) around a 19th-century fort |
| Amelia Island State Park | Florida State Parks | 200-plus undeveloped acres, horses allowed on the beach |
| Ron Sapp Egans Creek Greenway | City of Fernandina Beach | 300-plus acres of grass trail through town |
| Main Beach, North Beach, Seaside, Central Park and others | City of Fernandina Beach | Neighborhood parks and in-town [beach access](https://blog.angieheitzer.com/blog/amelia-island-beach-access-parking-guide) |
| Peters Point Park, Burney Park, the beach walkovers | Nassau County | Beach access outside city limits |
| The Nana sand dune at American Beach | National Park Service | [8.5 acres](https://www.nps.gov/places/american-beach-nana-sand-dune.htm), a protected landform |
| Drummond Point Park and the internal trails | Amelia Island Plantation Community Association | Private, for that community |

## What are the Florida state parks located near Amelia Island?

Two Florida state parks sit on Amelia Island: Fort Clinch State Park, which covers 1,400 acres and is built around a fort whose construction began in 1847, and Amelia Island State Park at the southern tip.

The quieter one does more for daily life. Amelia Island State Park keeps [more than 200 acres](https://www.floridastateparks.org/amelia-island) of sea island undeveloped and belongs to the Talbot Islands group of seven parks. It is [the only Florida state](https://www.floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/amelia-island-state-park/beach-horseback-riding) park where you may ride your own horse on the beach, which is not a novelty if you keep a horse in Nassau County. There is also a hand launch for [a kayak or paddleboard](https://www.floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/amelia-island-state-park/experiences-amenities) at $1 per person, which puts you on the water at the southern tip without a trailer or a boat ramp fight.

## What is the Egans Creek Greenway?

The Ron Sapp Egans Creek Greenway protects more than 300 acres running north to south through [Fernandina Beach](https://www.fbfl.us/1088/Trails), with grass trails for walking and biking and a nature pavilion with restrooms at the Atlantic Avenue entrance. It [opened in the summer of 2000](http://www.fbfl.us/DocumentCenter/View/22795/Egans-Creek-Greenway-Brochure-Text-Only) as an undeveloped park for passive recreation. Passive recreation is the entire design brief, which is why you walk on grass instead of asphalt and why the creek itself is the attraction.

The name is new even if the land is not. In November 2023 the city named the Greenway for Ron Sapp, a teacher and longtime city official, at a ceremony one speaker [called "The Woodstock of Fernandina."](https://www.fbnewsleader.com/local-regional-newsletter/egans-creek-greenway-named-ron-sapp) The same account traces the land back to a ballot measure he championed: an open-space bond that voters passed by a slim 52 percent margin in 2001, and that became the primary funding source for the Greenway. It did not look obvious at the time. Fellow commissioner Beano Roberts called the bond "the biggest boondoggle in city history."

Three hundred acres of open ground inside a city that size does not survive by accident. It survived a close vote.

The city's other holdings are smaller and closer in. Its [parks and beaches list](https://www.fbfl.us/1086/Parks-Beaches) includes Amelia River Waterfront Park, Atlantic Park, Central Park, Egans Creek Park, MLK Jr. Park, Pirate Playground, Sunrise Park and Simmons Park, plus three beach parks with street addresses you can put straight into a map: Main Beach Park at 32 N. Fletcher Ave., North Beach Park at 1230 N. Fletcher Ave., and [Seaside Park](https://blog.angieheitzer.com/blog/seaside-park-fernandina-beach) at 2002 S. Fletcher Ave. The same department also looks after the [Amelia Island Lighthouse](https://www.fbfl.us/1077/Parks-Recreation) and Bosque Bello Cemetery, which tells you how the city thinks about public land here. Recreation and history sit in the same budget.

## Which beach parks does Nassau County run?

Nassau County runs the beach access outside city limits, and its [beachfront parks and access points](https://www.nassaucountyfl.com/472/Beach-Front-Parks) include Peters Point Park and Burney Park at American Beach, along with the Scott Road, Southend and Summer Beach walkovers. Peters Point Park, at [4600 Peters Point Road](https://www.nassaucountyfl.com/facilities/facility/details/Peters-Point-Park-21), has beach fishing access, indoor and outdoor showers, and picnic tables. After a morning in the surf, an indoor shower is the difference between a normal afternoon and sand in the car until Thursday.

American Beach carries a third owner. The National Park Service owns the 8.5-acre Nana sand dune on the south end of the island, and the [American Beach Historic District](https://blog.angieheitzer.com/blog/american-beach-amelia-island) was added to the National Register of Historic Places on [January 28, 2002](https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail/NRIS/01001532) under reference number 01001532. Federal ownership of a single dune is unusual, and it is why that stretch of shoreline reads differently from the rest of A1A.

## Are the parks inside Amelia Island Plantation open to the public?

No, the parks inside Amelia Island Plantation are private, owned and maintained by the Amelia Island Plantation Community Association for its residents. Some of the best-kept green space on the island comes with the address, including [Drummond Point Park,](https://aipca.net/parks-trails-info/) about 9 acres on the marsh side of the community with a pavilion and observation platform, restrooms, grills, a playground, and pickleball and petanque courts. The association's internal trail network runs more than 8 miles, and that is separate from the public 6.2-mile Amelia Island Trail alongside A1A. Buying inside that community buys access to the association's parks. Living nearby does not.

## Why does park proximity matter when comparing homes?

Park proximity is one of the few amenities you cannot renovate into a house. A kitchen can be redone. A trailhead four blocks from your front door either exists or it does not, and the difference is whether you use it on a Tuesday or twice a year.

The useful question is which one you would actually walk to. A house near an Atlantic Avenue Greenway entrance suits someone who wants a morning loop on grass. A house closer to Peters Point suits someone whose weekend starts with a surf rod and ends with an outdoor shower. If you keep horses, the state park reshapes the whole search. Those are different daily lives, and they sit within a few miles of each other.

That is the comparison I run with buyers before they narrow a list: what you would do on an ordinary Tuesday, mapped against what is within reach of each address.

Public land is the part of the island nobody has to maintain and everybody gets to use. Five owners, one shoreline, and a good share of it protected on purpose by people who voted for it before you got here.