MUSEUM & CULTURE
American Beach Museum
Nassau County · North Florida & First Coast
The museum of American Beach at 1600 Julia Street, renamed the A. L. Lewis Museum at American Beach when it reopened on October 15, 2022.
ABOUT THIS PLACE
Abraham Lincoln Lewis was president of the Afro-American Life Insurance Company and the first Black millionaire in Florida. In 1935, with Black families barred from the public beaches, the company's pension bureau bought thirty-three acres here and opened a resort of their own; it grew to two hundred and sixteen acres with hotels, restaurants, nightclubs and houses. Lewis described the purpose as recreation and relaxation without humiliation, and that phrase is the title of the museum's main exhibit, told through photographs, documents, film and the company's own archives. Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, Joe Louis and Hank Aaron all came. Hurricane Dora wrecked much of it in 1964 and the Civil Rights Act of the same year removed the reason it had to exist. Lewis's great-granddaughter MaVynee Betsch, the Beach Lady, came home in 1977 and spent the rest of her life preserving it. Open Friday and Saturday ten until two and Sunday one until five
Keep comparing