WATER & COAST
Vilano Beach
St. Johns County · Atlantic Coast
A beach town two miles north of St. Augustine that was the city's seaside playground in Flagler's day, now rebuilding itself.
ABOUT THIS PLACE
Vilano Beach sits on the barrier island between the Atlantic and the Tolomato River, just north of the St. Augustine inlet. When Henry Flagler's hotels filled with northern visitors, this was where they came to swim. The land was platted in the boom of the 1920s and the Coastal Highway, A1A, was cut through in 1928. In 1926 the developer August Heckscher built a Mediterranean Revival casino here on a lot 300 feet by 250, with a saltwater pool 150 feet long and a dining room that brought in the acts of the day. A hurricane destroyed it in 1937 and it was never rebuilt. Motels and motor courts filled in after the Second World War, among them the Magic Beach Motel of 1951, used as a location for the television series Safe Harbor in 1999. The Bluebird of Happiness, an eight-foot roadside bird rescued by public subscription, now stands at the Vilano Beach pier. The beach itself is quieter than the town beaches south of the inlet
Not identified in this guide as an officially clothing-optional beach. This is a visit category, not a safety rating—check surf, lifeguards, water quality and posted rules.
BEACH CONDITIONS
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