Attachment_LOI_Response_NPS_to_Proponent_202112_American_Beach_0001.pdf

Interior Region 2 • South Atlantic−Gulf Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi

North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, U.S. Virgin Islands

1.A.2

December 21, 2021

Mr. Brian Katen, FASLA Landscape Architecture Program Virginia Tech 121 Burruss Hall 0190 Blacksburg, VA 24061

Dear Mr. Katen:

Thank you for your recent letter inquiring about the potential of American Beach in Nassau County, Florida, to be designated as a National Historic Landmark (NHL). We have reviewed the letter, conferred with NHL Program staff in our Washington Support Office, and we believe that this property appears to warrant further consideration for NHL designation. As part of our review, we recommend addressing the comments below in a future draft nomination.

American Beach appears to meet NHL Criterion 1, as an outstanding example of the growth of African American resorts and leisure accommodations during the segregation era, and NHL Criterion 5, as a resort community comprised of a collection of buildings, structures, and landscape features that together outstandingly illustrate a segregated planned ocean beach resort established by African American professionals. Criterion 5 is rarely used on its own as many historic districts also use Criterion 1. While your letter also mentions additional criteria, using one criterion is usually sufficient. Nominations that use multiple criteria are not stronger or better nominations and we feel that your argument will be strongest using the aforementioned criteria.

Located on Amelia Island, American Beach played a significant role in providing a resort opportunity to African Americans traveling to the region. Founded in 1935, American Beach endures as an outstanding example of this trend and is prominently known as an African American resort community along the Atlantic coast. The period of significance of 1935 to 1964 reasonably aligns with the establishment of the ocean beach resort community and ends with the notable obsolescence of these resort facilities following the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The history and significance of the resort community is also tied to the national rise of 20th century consumerism, which is evident in the growing spending power of African Americans to create and support Black-owned businesses across the country. As your letter indicates, American Beach was established by an ambitious African American entrepreneur, Abraham Lincoln (A.L.) Lewis and contains examples of Black-owned food, hotel, and entertainment venues that aimed to fill a national void in the leisure economy. The resort community physically

United States Department of the Interior

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

Atlanta Federal Center

1924 Building 100 Alabama Street, SW

Atlanta, GA 30303

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demonstrates the assertion of African American agency as travelers and business owners in a historically discriminatory era.

Your letter mentions A.L. Lewis, president and founder of the Afro-American Life Insurance Company of Jacksonville, Florida, which specialized in aiding African Americans acquire life insurance and mortgages, and the company’s Pension Bureau. The nomination should expand upon Lewis and his vision of American Beach as a recreation resource and resort for his company’s African American executives and employees as well as the resort as a revenue generating venture for the company’s employee pension fund

Furthermore, we note there is anecdotal information about the relationship between well-known African American celebrities and musicians vacationing and/or performing at American Beach venues. Your letter specifically mentions Zora Neale Hurston, Joe Lewis, Henry Aaron, A. Philip Randolph, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Ray Charles, and Billy Moore. We recommend further investigation to document these connections.

American Beach appears to have a high degree of integrity for location, setting, feeling, and association, as required for designation as an NHL. The American Beach Historic District National Register nomination from 2002 states, “Despite these social changes, the harsh coastal environment, and local developmental and economic pressures on the community, it survives with a high degree of physical integrity and its unique environmental setting is intact.”1 Nonetheless, further assessment of integrity for design, materials, and workmanship is needed since changes were made to the community after the period of significance. Additional research is needed to clarify known alterations and additions to the ocean beach resort community.

We appreciate your effort in identifying other similar African American resorts and venues in your letter. The Comparative Analysis section of the nomination will need to distinguish American Beach from similar properties while supporting the arguments for the property’s national significance. In particular, the list of comparable properties should be honed to the most representative examples of similar properties with Idlewild in Michigan and Oak Bluffs in Massachusetts as some of the leading examples. The draft nomination will need to make a convincing case for why American Beach should be recognized as nationally significant among the comparable properties.

Thank you for providing us the opportunity to consider American Beach for NHL nomination.

The depth of research, clarity of presentation, and overall excellent work in preparing the letter is also appreciated. We look forward to reviewing a draft NHL nomination. Should you have any questions or concerns, and for assistance through the remainder of the nomination process, please feel free to contact Alesha Cerny at (404) 276-5092 or alesha_cerny@nps.gov.

Sincerely, Cynthia Walton Acting Chief, Cultural Resources, Partnerships, and Science Division

Cc:

1 Joel McEachin and Robert O. Jones, “American Beach Historic District,” National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 2002), Section 8.

mailto:alesha_cerny@nps.gov

Mr. Paul Zwirecki, Organization of American Historians (via email) Déanda Johnson, Civil Rights Historian, National Park Service (via email)

Pastor Carlton Jones, Chairman, Friends of American Beach, Inc. (via email) Timothy Parsons, Florida State Historic Preservation Officer (via email) Thad Crowe, Planning Director, Nassau County, Florida (via email) Professor Terry Clements, Landscape Architecture Program Chair, Virginia Tech (via email) Dr. C. L. Bohannon, Landscape Architecture Program, Virginia Tech (via email) Ms. Sherry Frear, Chief, National Register and National Historic Landmark Programs (via email)