- Home
- Departments
- Neighborhoods Department
- Recreation Division
- Turtle Crawl
- Historic Continental Hotel
Historic Continental Hotel
Welcome to the Atlantic Beach Turtle Crawl! If this is the first turtle you’ve found, there are 23 others scattered throughout our park system, in places of historic significance, and even in some unexpected locations. If you’re up for a scavenger hunt to find every turtle on our Turtle Crawl, you can find a map HERE.
Named for its massive block-like head, the Loggerhead Sea Turtle is the most common sea turtle found in Florida. The symbol of Atlantic Beach is a world traveler who comes here to lay her eggs between May and October. A sea turtle nest can contain up to 125 eggs and incubate for approximately 60 days. The same female turtle will return to her nesting beach every two to three years an average of four times a season. Once hatched, the young will dig out of the nest and crawl to the ocean. Survival rate of the young during their first year is low as they have an extensive number of predators in the marine environment.
In the late 19th century, Henry Flagler created the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) and the Florida East Coast Hotel Company, both significantly boosted development and tourism for Florida. By 1900 Flagler had purchased the local Jacksonville and Atlantic Railway. The line was expanded to create the Mayport Branch of the FEC. It was along this branch that Flagler opened up a luxury oceanfront hotel in 1901, the Continental Hotel of Atlantic Beach. With approximately 300 rooms, it was built soon after the depot on a tract of land lying between the depot and the beach. Rising majestically with a six-story rotunda and sprawling wings, the hotel exuded an air of elegance. Guests, a wealthy clientele seeking refuge from the harsh northern winters, flocked to the Continental for its luxurious accommodations, exquisite meals, and proximity to the pristine Atlantic beaches. The land surrounding the hotel was subdivided and sold for summer homes. Though it was considered one of the smaller and less ornate of Flagler’s line of winter resorts, the Continental boasted several attractions, including two of the area’s first golf courses and “automobiling” on the oceanfront. Previously, Atlantic Beach was one the most remote areas of the Jacksonville Beaches. The arrival of the FEC and the Continental sparked development in the community of Atlantic Beach while creating a new tourism destination for Florida. The hotel was sold in 1913 to the Atlantic Beach Corporation and was renamed the Atlantic Beach Hotel. The original hotel burned down in 1919 and a second was built on the site in the mid-1920s. Both hotels were part of the Atlantic Beach community for several decades.