Jacksonville, FL state park
One of the few remaining undeveloped barrier islands in northeast Florida, about 25 minutes south of Amelia Island: five miles of Atlantic beach, maritime forest and marsh trails, a campground, and no development behind the dune.
Little Talbot Island is what Amelia Island's beach would look like with nothing built behind it.
About twenty-five minutes south of Amelia Island on A1A, it is one of the few genuinely undeveloped barrier islands left on Florida's northeast coast, protected as a state park. Roughly five miles of Atlantic beach, backed by dune, maritime forest and salt marsh, with no houses, no condominiums and no road along the shoreline.
Wide and long, with the same firm grey-gold sand as the whole of this coast. Because access is limited to the park's parking areas and there is nothing behind it, the density falls off to nothing within a short walk.
There are restrooms and picnic facilities at the day-use areas, which is what separates this from Big Talbot next door. There is no lifeguard, and the currents at the island's ends — where the inlets are — are strong. Swim in the middle stretches and near other people.
Several miles of trail through maritime hammock, dune and along the marsh side. Flat, sandy underfoot, and good for birds — the marsh edge and the beach flats between them give you waders, shorebirds and raptors.
Bring insect repellent. The forest and marsh trails here are not a place to be without it from spring through autumn.
The park has a campground, reservable through Florida State Parks, taking tents and RVs. It is one of the better coastal campgrounds within reach of Amelia Island, and it books out on holiday weekends.
Florida State Parks charges a per-vehicle entry fee; check the park's own page for the current rate and hours rather than relying on a figure here.
There is no food in the park. Bring it, and bring water.
The obvious day from Amelia Island runs south down A1A: Big Talbot Island and Boneyard Beach first for the photography, then Little Talbot for the beach and lunch, then Fort George Island and Kingsley Plantation if you have the appetite for more.
That whole run is roughly a twenty-mile stretch of coast and it holds more undeveloped shoreline and more directly interpreted history than most Florida day trips.
Because this is the same coast without the buildings, and the difference is more noticeable than it sounds. Amelia Island's beach is excellent and it has a town behind it. Little Talbot's has dune and forest behind it, and on a weekday out of season you can walk a mile without seeing anyone.
The inlet ends of the island accumulate shells the way Amelia Island's do, for the same reason: moving water at an inlet drops what it carries. Low tide, after a blow, is the time. The same flats are the birding hotspots.
Off this map Little Talbot Island, Kingsley Plantation, Big Talbot Island
A National Park Service site in the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, about 40 minutes south of Amelia Island, holding the oldest surviving plantation house in Florida and a semicircle of tabby cabins built and lived in by enslaved people.
Details unconfirmed
A Florida state park south of Amelia Island across Nassau Sound, best known for Boneyard Beach — a shoreline strewn with the bleached, salt-killed skeletons of fallen live oaks, one of the most photographed coastal landscapes in the state.
Details unconfirmed
Two hundred undeveloped acres at the island's southern tip on Nassau Sound: beach, dune, marsh and maritime forest, with no buildings and no lifeguards. The only Florida state park offering guided horseback riding on the beach.
Part of Amelia Island attractions — our full guide to the complete amelia island, florida visitor guide.