We are looking to buy houses in Nassua County!
(Zip codes: 32226, 32218, 32219, 32209, 32235, 32041, 32046)
Jacksonville is home to a number of great neighborhoods. From urban centers to quaint and quiet suburban streets, the city sprawls west into the countryside and east to the coast from it’s central feature, the St. Johns river. Amelia Island, Fernandina, Yulee and Callahan make up an interesting north of the city in Nassau County. It spans from the large planned communities, and resort like beachfront homes to very rural countryside and everything in between.
Freedom Home Buyers understands that no matter where you come from what your community looks like, home ownership can be tricky. You may be dealing with a property that is damaged from fire or water and needs repair. Sometimes you find yourself in a bind financially, owing back taxes, struggling to make payments. You may even fall behind or be facing foreclosure. This can happen for any number of reasons:
- Divorce
- Family Tragedy
- Losing a job
- Medical costs
- Unplanned expenses
We understand that sometimes you just need to get out from underneath the financial obligation of your house to be able to get back on your feet and off on the right track again. You may find that the cost of repairs on a property isn’t worth the headaches. No matter what your situation is, from the million dollar beachfont homes to a single wide on a acre of land, Freedom Home Buyers can help. We specialize in helping you solve your real estate problems. We are CASH BUYERS and can close fast. We can buy your home as-is and save you the cost of repairs. We can even cover the closing costs and see if you qualify for our FREEDOM-MOVE program to help cover the cost of relocation. What have you got to lose. We can have a FAST, FREE, FAIR CASH OFFER on your house in just a few minutes. Give us a call or fill out the form on this page. We can help you get back on track today!
Some interesting history about Amelia Island.
American Indian settlement to British Loyalist haven
American Indian bands associated with the Timucua people settled on the island around 1000, which they called Napoyca. They remained there until the early 18th century. In 1562, French Huguenot explorer Jean Ribault became the first recorded European visitor to Napoyca, and he named the island Île de Mai. In 1565, Spanish forces led by Pedro Menendez de Aviles drove the French from northeastern Florida by attacking their stronghold at Fort Caroline on the Rivière de Mai (later called Río de San Juan by the Spanish, and later the St. Johns River in English). They killed Ribault and perhaps 350 other French colonists who had been shipwrecked further down the coast.
In 1573 Spanish Franciscans established the Santa María de Sena mission on the island, which they named Isla de Santa María. In the early 17th century, the Spanish relocated people from former Mocamasettlements to Santa María de Sena.
In 1680, British raids on St. Catherines Island, Georgia resulted in the Christian Guale Indians abandoning the Santa Catalina de Guale mission and relocating to Spanish missions on Isla de Santa María. In 1702, the Spanish abandoned these missions after South Carolina’s colonial governor James Moore led an invasion of Florida with British colonists and their Native American allies.
Spanish rule returns
After the British evacuation, Mary Mattair, her children, and a slave worker were the sole occupants left on Amelia island. She had received a grant from Governor Tonyn of the property on the bluff overlooking the Amelia River. Following the exchange of flags in 1784, the Spanish Crown allowed Mattair to remain on the island. In trade for the earlier British grant, the Spanish authorities awarded her 150 acres (61 ha) within the present-day city limits of Fernandina Beach. The site of Mattair’s initial grant is today’s Old Town Fernandina.
In 1783, the Second Treaty of Paris ended the Revolutionary War and returned Florida to Spain. British inhabitants of Florida had to leave the province within 18 months unless they swore allegiance to Spain. In June 1795, American rebel marauders led by Richard Lang attacked the Spanish garrison on Amelia Island. Colonel Charles Howard, an officer in the Spanish military, discovered that the rebels had built a battery and were flying the French flag. On August 2, he raised a sizable Spanish force, sailed up Sisters Creek and the Nassau River, and attacked them. The rebels fled across the St. Marys to Georgia.
In 1811, surveyor George J. F. Clarke platted the town of Fernandina, named in honor of King Ferdinand VII of Spain by Enrique White, the governor of the Spanish province of East Florida.
“Patriot War”
On March 16, 1812, Amelia Island was invaded and seized by insurgents calling themselves the “Patriots of Amelia Island,” under the command of General George Mathews, a former governor of Georgia. This action was tacitly approved by President James Madison.General Mathews moved into a house at St. Marys, Georgia, just nine miles across Cumberland Sound from Fernandina on the northwest end of the island.
That same day, nine American gunboats under the command of Commodore Hugh Campbell formed a line in the harbor and aimed their guns at the town. From Point Peter, General Mathews ordered Colonel Lodowick Ashley to send a flag to Don Justo Lopez,commandant of the fort and Amelia Island, and demand his surrender. Lopez acknowledged the superior force and surrendered the port and the town. John H. McIntosh, George J. F. Clarke, Justo Lopez, and others signed the articles of capitulation; the Patriots raised their own standard. The next day, March 17, a detachment of 250 regular United States troops were brought from Point Peter, and the newly constituted Patriot government surrendered the town to General Matthews. He took formal possession in the name of the United States, ordering the Patriot flag struck and the flag of the United States to be raised immediately.
This was part of a plan by General Mathews and President Madison to annex East Florida, but Congress became alarmed at the possibility of being drawn into war with Spain while engaged in the War of 1812 against Great Britain. The effort fell apart when Secretary of State James Monroe was forced to relieve Matthews of his commission. Negotiations began for the withdrawal of U.S. troops early in 1813. On May 6, the army lowered the flag at Fernandina and took its remaining troops across the St. Marys River to Georgia. Spain seized the redoubt and regained control of the island. In 1816 the Spanish completed construction of the new Fort San Carlos to guard Fernandina.
Battle of Amelia Island
On September 13 the Battle of Amelia Island started when the Spaniards erected a battery of four brass cannons on McLure’s Hill east of the fort. With about 300 men, supported by two gunboats, they shelled Fernandina. Irwin’s forces included ninety-four men, the privateer ships Morgiana and St. Joseph, and the armed schooner Jupiter. Spanish gunboats began firing at 3:30 pm and the battery on the hill joined the cannonade. The guns of Fort San Carlos, on the river bluff northwest of the hill, and those of the St. Joseph defended Amelia Island. Cannonballs killed two and wounded other Spanish troops clustered below. Firing continued until dark. The Spanish commander, convinced he could not capture the island, withdrew his forces.
Civil War
In the days before the American Civil War, Confederate sympathizers (the Third Regiment of Florida Volunteers) took control of Fort Clinch on January 8, 1861. This was two days before Florida seceded. Located on the north end of the island, it had been under construction. Federal workers abandoned the site. Confederate General Robert E. Lee visited Fort Clinch in November 1861 and again in January 1862 during a survey of coastal fortifications.
Union forces restored Federal control of the island on March 3, 1862. They had 28 gunboats commanded by Commodore Samuel Dupont. The island attracted slaves to the Union lines, where they gained freedom. By 1863 there were 1200 freedmen and their children, and 200 whites living on the island. This was one of numerous sites where freedmen congregated near Union forces.
In 1862 Secretary of War Edward M. Stanton had appealed to northern abolitionists for aid in caring for the thousands of freedmen who camped near Union forces in areas of South Carolina and Florida. Among those who responded was Samuel J. May of Syracuse, New York, who organized a “Freedman’s Relief Association” in the city. Funds were raised to support two teachers on Amelia Island; one was Chloe Merrick of Syracuse. She went to the island, where she taught the freedmen, established a school and orphanage in 1863, and raised continued aid in Syracuse for clothing and supplies for the poor of the island. She continued her support for education and welfare in the whole state after marrying Governor Harrison Reed of Florida in 1869. By 1872 about one-quarter of school-age children were being served by new public schools.
So what’s the bottom line?
Freedom home Buyers wants to buy houses in the area. We are actively buying NOW… TODAY. We have cash and can provide a FAST, FREE, FAIR CASH OFFER for your home in as little as an hour. Why wait? Contact us today. There are properties all over the area that are in need of some love and the right buyer to fix them up. If you know of one, reach out today and we will be happy to discuss the possibilities with you.
We are Freedom Home Buyers… We solve real estate problems.
A portion of this article (in the grey area above) was borrowed, edited and paraphrased from articles originally published on:
wikipedia (Click Here for the original article)
Metro Jacksonville (Click Here for the original article)
* We are not lawyers, nor are we attempting to provide legal advice in any way. Please always seek the advice of qualified legal council if you have questions about real estate or any other legal matter.
