Day Trip: Amelia Island, Florida

'Romantics will opt for horse rides, offered on the beach 4 times a day.'

Day Trippin' Column: Amelia Island

Amelia Island kayaking at sunset Just about an hour's drive from Jacksonville's metropolis, Amelia Island lies open to the Atlantic Ocean and the rivers that swirl around it. It's in Florida (but just barely), it's a barrier island (but connected to the mainland), and it's got 2 state parks (one on each end of the island), so it's a perfect place to kick back and explore natural Florida for a day or a weekend.

When most people think of Amelia Island, they are thinking of Fernandina Beach, the main town here and the scene of the island's preserved history. Here on the northern end of the island -- Georgia is just across the river -- are some 50 blocks of homes, shops and restaurants that make up the historic district. Visitors see many signs indicating national historic landmarks along the streets. Some of these are Victorian homes that are now bed and breakfast inns. Every year, the B&Bs dress themselves up for the holidays and invite people in for a tour. (For tickets, call 866-4-AMELIA.) Here in the historic district, you can browse in antiques stores, sit down in the oldest saloon in Florida and visit the Civil War-era fort at Fort Clinch State Park.

You might arrive at Fort Clinch during a volunteer demonstration of cannon fire and recount of the fort's red brick construction. If you're more into nature than history, though, you can hike 6 miles of trails or walk along the beach to look for shorebirds. And if you're a camper, this is the place to camp on Amelia Island; the park has 62 campsites near the beach and near Amelia River.

At the southern end of the island, Amelia Island State Park waits for beachgoers. Romantics will opt for horse rides, offered on the beach 4 times a day. Anglers can find their own spot on the mile-long fishing pier.

If you visit the park, you owe it to yourself to go a bit farther south to undeveloped Big Talbot and Little Talbot islands, where you can drive A1A past beautiful coastal marsh vistas in a large preserved area. Big Talbot Island and Little Talbot Island state parks offer additional beach access, and roadside outfitter Kayak Amelia (904-321-0697) will help you explore it all. Bird Emergency Aid and Kare Sanctuary (B.E.A.K.S.), a wildlife rehabilitator, is just down the road on a path under huge live oaks.

Amelia and the Talbot islands are in a string of islands that also includes Cumberland Island north of Amelia. It's in Georgia, but it's so close that as long as you're visiting, it's worth a side trip. Most people think of Cumberland Island as the place where late John F. Kennedy Jr. got married. But the island is preserved as Cumberland Island National Seashore (888-817-3421), and you can get there by ferry from St. Marys, Georgia. There are few facilities on the island, but you'll enjoy the trails, undisturbed dunes and possibly the wild horses that roam here. You can camp here, by reservation only. But most visitors spend just a few hours before heading back on the ferry.

With so much to do on Amelia Island, that's probably just right.