Thank you for taking the time to enjoy my blog. Please share it with your friends and family. I am looking forward to 2013 and I can't wait to have you be a part of my year!
Blessings, Love and Laughter
Lea November 29, 2011
November 19, 2011
It was wonderful to be back with this amazing group of people this year at the Ritz Carlton on Amelia Island! I can not say enough about the heart this group has. Thank you and I will see you in Charleston next year!
American Beach is a historic beach community popular with African-American vacationers. It is located north of Jacksonville, Florida on Amelia Island in Nassau County. During the time of segregation and the Jim Crow era, African Americans were not allowed to swim at most of the beaches in Jacksonville, and several black-only areas were created. American Beach was the largest and most popular, and was a community established by Abraham Lincoln Lewis, Florida’s first black millionaire and president of the Afro-American Life Insurance Company.[1] It contains American Beach Historic District
American Beach was founded in 1935 by Florida’s first black millionaire, Abraham Lincoln Lewis, and his Afro-American Life Insurance Company. The plan was for his employees to have a place to vacation and own homes for their families by the shore.[1] Throughout the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, summers at American Beach were busy with families, churches and children. The beach included hotels, restaurants, bathhouses and nightclubs as well as homes and other businesses.
American Beach played host to numerous celebrities during this period, including: folklorist Zora Neale Hurston, singer Billie Daniels, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, Billy Eckstein, Hank Aaron, Joe Louis, and actor Ossie Davis. James Brown was actually turned away from performing outside Evans’ Rendezvous, a nightclub on the beach. In 1964, American Beach was hit hard by Hurricane Dora, and many homes and buildings were destroyed. The passage of the Civil Rights Act that same year desegregated the beaches of Florida, and American Beach became a less and less popular vacation destination as more African American Jacksonvillians turned to locations nearer their homes.
A.L. Lewis’ great-granddaughter MaVynee Betsch, known to locals as the Beach Lady, returned to American Beach in 1977 to fight for its preservation. For years she planted trees along Lewis street, offered historical tours of the beach, and fought to raise public awareness of the beach and its struggle until her death September 2005. As of January 2002, American Beach is listed as a historic site by the National Register of Historic Places.
November 14, 2011
Meghan and Kevin are two amazing people and I am so happy that they found each other and that mom and I had the pleasure of helping them make their wedding day a success.
Meghan and Kevin met in December of 2008 at a New Year’s Eve party. They became an “official” couple in February. They love to do almost everything together; read, talk their Bernese Mountain puppy, watch movies, and spend time with family. Meghan says she and Kevin compliment each other in every way! They share dog walking responsibilities, they compromise, Kevin cooks and Meghan bakes, and they always say I love you and have each others backs when the hard stuff sneaks in.
They hope to make Ireland their honeymoon destination soon but for now they are enjoying Rhode Island where they live.
They picked such a pretty venue too for their wedding last weekend. Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina. Thanks again you guys.
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share this post link to post add a commentJo: Incredibly romantic! My! (November 30, 2011 9:16 pm)
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