Fastsigns owner shows the way to historic American Beach

No conversation about American Beach is complete without talking about MaVynee Betsch, known as “The Beach Lady.” Thanks to a local company, her likeness points the way to the landmark community for visitors as they come onto Amelia Island across the Shave Bridge.

Eric Webb is the owner of Fastsigns of Fernandina Beach. When the signs at the intersection of State Road 200 and Amelia Island Parkway that indicate the route to the Omni and The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island became dilapidated in 2021, he replaced them. There was also a sign for Summer Beach. Webb said when he found out the Summer Beach sign was not going to be replaced, he thought of the cultural landmark that is American Beach, which is also on the south end of the island, in the same direction of the Omni and the Ritz.

“American Beach is just an extremely unique treasure,” Webb said. “I approached Carol Alexander, who works at the American Beach Museum, and Ron Miller, who conducts African-American tours on the island, about making a sign for it.”

Betsch, a descendent of American Beach founder Abraham Lincoln Lewis, was a preservation activist for the historic Black community of American Beach, which was founded in 1935 to give African-Americans beach access during segregation. Lewis was the president of the AfroAmerican Life Insurance Company and Florida’s first Black millionaire. He purchased 33 acres of shore-front property on Amelia Island and invited African-Americans to the beach property and offered parcels for sale to the Black community. Betsch died in 2005.

Webb designed a sign based on a locally famous photo of Bertsch, in which she is in profile, her trademark dreadlocks tucked under her arm, her face tilted upward in joy. After having it approved by Alexander and Miller, he approached both the city of Fernandina Beach, as the sign is on the city’s right-of-way, and was told the location of the sign is county property. Asked if he approached Nassau County about the sign, he simply says, “No, I just went ahead and put it up.”

“It was during COVID, and at that time, we wanted to do as much as we could for the community,” Webb said. “The sign was the same footprint, and I didn’t get any response from anybody, so I just went ahead and put it up. I just told (the people at) American Beach, ‘That’s your sign.’”

The sign, which is a high-density urethane, was designed, routed and painted in-house at Fastsigns. Webb said from the time of his inspiration to put up a sign pointing to American Beach to installation of it was about two weeks. He said the sign has a $3,000 value.

Fastsigns has created or replaced other local landmarks, including the “Welcome to Amelia Island” sign in the marsh just south of the Shave Bridge, a marker proclaiming Yulee the home of NFL player Derrick Henry and lettering on the WestRock paper mill.

Webb spent a career working all over the country in huam resources, including a shipyard in Jacksonville. When he retired, he wanted to continue to work and stay in the area, and so bought the local Fastsigns franchise without ever having set foot in the business’s former location on 14th Street.

Webb said he enjoyed the creative side of his HR career, such as designing commercials and marketing materials and creating company events, and that talent is apparent in his shop, where displays of his wood-based artwork, most with an island theme, adorn the walls. He says he is glad to be out of the corporate world.

“I have worked in every industry from aerospace to shipping, steel, oil and gas, plastics, from Fortune 500 companies to recently acquired small businesses and corporations transitioning into corporate structure,” Webb said. “This is just a great business, 30-plus years in a tight-knit community. Our customers are amazing.”

jroberts@fbnewsleader.com