Peg Leg Pete's fate still undecided

Just how long Peg Leg Pete stands watch at the Amelia Island Museum remains to be seen.

The statue was quietly moved from the Visitors' Center on Oct. 7 after city engineers warned of severe deterioration. As Downtown District Manager Lisa Finkelstein explained, a Sept. evaluation determined “that either a fence needed to be erected, or the removal of the statue needed to happen. It was just too deteriorated … to have it in that regard.”

Last Tuesday’s city commission workshop marked the most detailed public discussion to date about Pete’s future, presenting the statue’s full history, cost estimates for restoration, and the option to install the new pirate statue carved in 2023.

Commissioners acknowledged the emotional connection residents have with the original carving but questioned putting large sums of unbudgeted dollars into a statue with no long-term guarantee.

In 2023, local woodcarver Jet Paxson completed a new pirate statue for the Fernandina Pirates Club. Finkelstein said the club’s proposal is to “install the new statue now” while Pete undergoes either preservation or full restoration at the museum.

Commissioner Genece Minshew supported that direction, saying, “I think that getting the Pirate Club and the community more involved and engaged in the restoration and or replacement is a really great idea.”

“Fernandina is big enough for both pirates,” Brown said.

Marian Phillips walked through the original 1978 fundraising effort, the community naming contest (“His name was going to be Peg Leg Pete”), and the statue’s decades as a downtown fixture.

Vice Mayor Darron Ayscue summarized his position candidly - restoring Pete and returning him to his former location “doesn’t seem like it’s that much … easy, peasy to me,” though he stressed he wanted to hear all viewpoints.