FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 The fight over the future of a beloved Fernandina Beach pirate statue has been paused after discussions of safety concerns and the potential discovery of human remains inside the statue.<\/p>\n
The city\u2019s Historic District Council (HDC) met Thursday to discuss a proposal that would send the aging \u201cFernandina Pirate\u201d statue to the Amelia Island Museum of History and replace it with a new one. <\/p>\n
However, just hours before the meeting began, City Attorney Teresa Prince said she was approached by a \u201ccredible source\u201d who said, \u201cThere are cremains that have been interred in Peg Leg Pete.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prince recommended the discussion be deferred so the city can investigate the claims and research proper removal. <\/p>\n
Councilmembers said the city did not know the remains were there and that they were placed without permission. <\/p>\n
The \u201cFernandina Pirate\u201d statue has been in front of the Amelia Island Welcome Center since 1978. After over 40 years, the structure has experienced rapid deterioration. <\/p>\n
The Peg Leg Pete statue has been in front of the Amelia Island Welcome Center since 1978. (Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, I would think he\u2019s almost a liability, with still people climbing on him. If he was to crumble and fall over, he\u2019s going to hurt somebody.\u201d Joe Brown, President of Fernandina Pirates Club, said. <\/p>\n
Two years ago, Pirates Club commissioned a local student, Jett Paxton, to carve the new statue and to be painted by artist Julie Delfs.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people worry that it\u2019s not a hometown feel, but I feel like it\u2019s the perfect hometown story. I\u2019m a local boy. We got local high school students to paint the carving. We got local artists to design the sword. The Pirates Club, a local pirates club, who\u2019s been here for 50 years, has helped put together the base,\u201d Paxton said.<\/p>\n
Finished Peg Leg Pete statue carved by student Jett Paxton (Jett Paxton)<\/p>\n
Some community members who spoke asked that the current Peg Leg Pete be restored, but others said that there is nothing left to repair. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou can stick the best restorationist on there, but when you start removing what\u2019s bad, there\u2019s nothing left,\u201d a councilmember said. <\/p>\n
While looking over the proposal, officials said it lacked the features, such as safety, needed to be approved.<\/p>\n
The HDC requested more details about the statue base and the proposed 30-inch fence that would surround it, as well as a risk assessment of the current statue vs the new one to help them make an informed decision. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not trying to replace Peg Leg Pete; we\u2019re trying to preserve him. He needs to be retired and taken down. We don\u2019t want to see him crumble,\u201d Brown said. <\/p>\n
The discussion has been tabled until the updated proposal is presented to the Council. If the proposal is approved by the HDC, it will then become the city commission\u2019s responsibility to approve or deny installation.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 The fight over the future of a beloved Fernandina Beach pirate statue has been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119855,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88,21037,40359],"class_list":["post-119854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-fernandina-beach","tag-nassau-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}