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A heartfelt thank you to our members, volunteers, and community partners for making this year’s Cars and Cannons Vintage Car Show such a great success! We welcomed 667 visitors to the Fort and received 485 People’s Choice ballots. The 2025 People’s Choice Award was presented to Art Cusick for his 1945 Army Jeep. Congratulations Art! We’ll be sharing a photo slideshow of the event next week, so stay tuned.

We also want to give special recognition to the park rangers and staff of Fort Clinch State Park, the Visitor Center team, Auto Legends Amelia, Laid Back Band, photographer David Beverly, and Pinay Island Kitchen for their incredible support.

Finally, we’re always looking for more Friends! Membership helps fund restoration projects, educational programming, special events, and the park’s renowned living history program. If you’d like to join us in preserving and enhancing this historic treasure, please visit our Membership Page!

As we prep for the 2025 Car Show, here a look at 2024:

The 7th Annual Cars & Cannons Vintage Car Show is set for September 20, 2025 thanks to the dedication of over two dozen hardworking volunteers from Auto Legends Amelia and the Friends of Fort Clinch!

To enter your car, 1995 or older, for the 2025 show
please register here!

We recently hosted our 3rd Annual Family Fun - Mill Day—a special event made possible through our partnership with three local mills: RYAM, Smurfit WestRock, and LignoTech Florida.

Alongside their employees and families, we spent the morning giving back to the park—taking on projects like painting, laying sod, spreading pine straw, road maintenance, and a beach cleanup. It was a true team effort!

FOFC is once again matching, dollar for dollar, all contributions from our mill partners. Last year, this collaboration generated around $20,000—and we’re hopeful to reach that milestone again this year. These funds help support important park projects that may not otherwise receive funding from the State of FL.

The park manager, rangers, and the entire Fort Clinch team are incredibly grateful for the tools, equipment, materials, and volunteer hours that make this event such a success.

Looking back, Fort Clinch became a state park in 1937—around the same time some of our local mills began construction. For over 88 years, Ft Clinch and the local mills have grown and served as vital pillars in the community.

It was truly special to come together, even just for a few hours, to give back. We had a great time, and we’re already looking forward Family Fun - Mill Day next year! Hope to see soon, at Fort Clinch!

On April 18, 2025, the stars aligned—literally and figuratively—for an unforgettable night of stargazing inside the historic walls of Fort Clinch. Hosted in partnership with the Northeast Florida Astronomical Society (NEFAS), our annual Astronomy Night once again drew a fantastic crowd. With 314 attendees—including Friends of Fort Clinch members and their guests—the event was our biggest yet!

In the spirit of giving, attendees also brought along 278 pounds of canned goods and non-perishable items for the Barnabas Food Bank. Thank you to everyone who donated!

The weather couldn’t have been more perfect—clear skies, a comfortable 72 degrees, and not a cloud in sight. Even better, the moon took the night off, giving everyone a beautifully dark sky ideal for spotting deep-space wonders. Mars shone bright in the sky, visible to the naked eye, and telescopes pointed toward Jupiter and its four Galilean moons were a major hit. One of the evening’s highlights was the Orion Nebula—often mistaken for a star in Orion’s “sword,” but actually a massive cloud of gas and dust where stars are born.

The crowd favorite? David Whatley’s laser-guided “Sky Tour,” which captured the imagination of both kids and adults. Dave shared constellation myths and stories, like how Orion met his end at the pincers of a scorpion, and how Zeus flung the bears—Ursa Major and Ursa Minor—into the heavens by their tails, stretching them into the familiar “dippers” we know today. The audience loved it, and the Q&A was full of curious and enthusiastic young astronomers in the making.

NEFAS volunteers were thrilled with the turnout, calling it their biggest and favorite event of the year. While Fort Clinch may be close to town, the thick walls of the fort help block out light pollution, making it a surprisingly great spot for viewing the night sky—especially looking east over the water.

A huge thank-you to everyone who came out and made the night such a success. We can’t wait to do it all again next year!

If you’d like to learn more about NEFAS, check them out at nefas.org. They also host monthly public astronomy events at Hanna Park in Jacksonville. And here’s a cool perk: NEFAS members can borrow loaner telescopes before investing in their own gear—perfect for beginners looking to explore the stars without breaking the bank.