from Chapin, George M., Florida, 

1513-1913, past and future; four 

hundred years of wars and peace

 and industrial development; (c) 1914, 

Vol. 1, pgs. 600-601

NASSAU COUNTY 

This county occupies the northeastern corner of Florida, and the 
St. Mary’s river separates it from the State of Georgia. It has an 
area of 630 square miles and its population by the 1910 census was 
10,525. 

The general topography of the county is level and the soils vary 
from low rich swamp lands to high pine lands. The agricultural 
resources of the county have not been developed to more than a frac- 
tion of their possibilities. The wide extent of pine lands adapted to 
turpentining and timber have delayed the agricultural development 
of this area. It has been demonstrated that all the crops of grain, 
fruits and vegetables that can be raised in the northern half of Flor- 
ida, can be cultivated here with profit. The large area of streams and 
water covered lands in the western part of the county and the influ- 
ence of the ocean, afford a protection from the cold of winter quite as 
effective as in the interior counties two hundred miles further south. 

The waters of Nassau county abound in fresh and salt water fish 
in many varieties and the natural oyster beds are the equal of any that 
border the State of Florida. 

Fernandina is the county seat, the most important town within 
the county, and is located on one of the best deep water harbors on the 
Atlantic coast. For a hundred years this has been a shipping point 
of varying importance, and it has an important part in the later 
Spanish history of Florida.