Architectural Treasures of Amelia Island

Architectural Treasures of Amelia Island

Amelia Island offers a unique opportunity to experience history. Fernandina Beach's Historic District is a living museum. Like sleeping beauties, the island's Victorian-era homes have been frozen in time. Each offers a story about the people and events that shaped the history of Florida's northernmost barrier island.

Once a month, we will feature a home located in Fernandina Beach’s Historic District.

The Hinton Baker House

Exploring Fernandina Beach's Historic District delivers great rewards if you want to learn more about Amelia Island. One especially notable house, the Hinton Baker House, is on the corner of North Sixth Street and Alachua. The area is known as the Silk Stocking District because when the houses were built, only those who could afford silk stockings could afford to live on the fashionable street. The block between Alachua and Broome Streets offers a rich collection of houses built during Amelia Island's Golden Age in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The Hinton Baker House is a two-story frame vernacular home. Like many homes built during Amelia Island's so-called Golden Era, it combines various architectural elements, including Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, and Stick influences. The eclectic exterior combines a variety of treatments, including decorative shingles, brackets, and two unique and prominent horseshoe arches. The added garage complements the house's design.

Sixth Street is always a highlight of any tour of Fernandina Beach's Historic District. With its tall palms, ancient oaks, and setbacks, it offers a glimpse of its once prestigious elegance. You rarely find so many well-maintained and fine examples of houses built during the Victorian era. Each home has its own interpretation of what was popular at the time and could be fashioned by island builders. Many houses were built by island shipbuilders when they were not working on building boats. John Mann, a popular local builder, built the Hinton Baker house.

All of the houses offer fascinating family stories about the movers and shakers in Fernandina's glory days after the Civil War. The harbor was busy, Centre Street was lined with shops, and David Yulee's many enterprises, including his railroad, were thriving.

It was not unusual for family members to live in the same community and often on the same street. The Baker family was quite prominent. The Reverend Archibald Baker was the founding pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. The family house was built in 1869 and was the second to be constructed on North Sixth Street, conveniently located near his church, just off Centre Street.

Reverend Baker's grandson, Judge Hinton J. Baker Jr., built his house right next door. Baker Jr. fought in the Civil War, serving in the 2nd Florida Cavalry and fighting in the battles of Olustee and Natural Bridge. A graduate of Davidson College, Judge Hinton was a prominent attorney practicing in Jacksonville and Fernandina. He served as the General Counsel for the Florida Railroad, a county judge, mayor of Fernandina for 15 years, and city attorney. Most notably, he was instrumental in getting the War Department to establish Camp Amelia during the Spanish-American War. He was an elder of the First Presbyterian Church, his grandfather's church, for 30 years.

Take time to stroll down North Sixth Street. First, pass by the classic Presbyterian church and continue down the block between Alachua and Broome streets, and imagine a time when the leaders and prominent families lived in the houses that line the street.