North Beach

Located between the Atlantic Ocean and the Tolomato River, south of what was known as Grant’s Villa in the British Period is a stretch of barrier island that came to be known as North Beach. In 1799, the land was first claimed on a Spanish land grant to Joseph Arnau as White Oyster Bay. But before and after that date, the land was primarily used as a place to fish or hunt rather than for permanent habitation, but imprisoned Native Americans who died at Fort Marion were interned somewhere in the North Beach area from the 1830s-1880s.

Land ownership went down the generations of the Arnau family to Aldolphus Pacetti in 1878 who in the 1890s partnered with The Saint Augustine and North Beach Railway to build a spur line from the St. Augustine and Halifax Railway out to North Beach for the ease of access for visitors to Flagler’s hotels. This North Beach resort offered dining, dancing, horseback riding, bathhouses, and of course ocean swimming near today’s Reef Restaurant. The complex burned down in 1895, but not before the sale of lots in the general vicinity had taken place to establish residences.

In 1900 the Minorcan family of Frank and Catherine Usina moved into one of the abandoned homes and became the first permanent residents of the area. They fished and operated a charter boat to bring tourists over to the island for a day at the beach. Their descendants still operate Aunt Kate’s Restaurant and tour-boat business.

Across from today’s Vilano Beach on the mainland is the Fountain of Youth and in 1901, the MacConnell’s bought up land with the plan for a hotel as an extension of their tourist spot on the mainland. They began construction of a drawbridge from Magnolia Avenue over to the island, but it was taken over by the Hoggson’s who lived on the island.

In 1904, a rival tour-boat company was founded by the Minorcan Paul and Helen Capo family south of the Usina’s with a horse-drawn trolley across the island to a beach they called Surfside and built a Casino. They laid out a plat for North Beach City in 1914 that was sold to the Mario Brothers and renamed the Surfside subdivision in 1926. The Casino remained in operation until the 1960s, and after not being maintained, was torn down in the 1970s.

It was during the 1920s that the name "vilano" began to be used, which means "thistle-burr" in Spanish, and in 1927, August Hecksher built the Grand Vilano Casino, an entertainment hall for beachgoers with a saltwater swimming pool and fine dining. Hecksher purchased the drawbridge being built by the Hoggson’s and improved it to provide vehicular access to the mainland. The casino was built too close to the ocean though and was demolished in 1938 after the actions of the waves made it structurally unsound. Hecksher saved the ornate columns from his casino and donated them to Florida Memorial College. The hamlet of Vilano Beach developed around the casino near the southern tip of the barrier island which is known as Porpoise Point. The area grew substantially between the 1970s and 1990s.

Hecksher’s drawbridge purchase was timed just right to make the bridge part of the new Highway being built by the Federal government down the east coast of Florida, known as the Coastal or Ocean Highway (now A1A) and the connection point from the barrier island over to the mainland just north of St. Augustine. This bridges meant easier beach access for tourists to St. Augustine and in fact, in the 1930s, Kim's Guide listed Vilano Beach as one of the three beaches tourists should visit when in St. Augustine; the others were St. Augustine Beach and Lighthouse Park Beach. Part of the drawbridge burned in 1938, but was rebuilt in 1948 and stood for decades, until being replaced in 1995 with the 65-foot-tall cement bridge named after Francis and Mary Usina. Part of the original drawbridge remains as a fishing pier.

Civic improvements for the residents occupied the 1990s and first part of the 21^st century including the introduction of electricity, and improvements to the town center, including building a Publix in 2012. More beach homes have been built up and down Hwy A1A throughout the 21^st century, obstructing the one long stretches of ocean views. Vilano Beach though remains a one-traffic light town.

Today, North Beach, Vilano Beach, and Surfside Beach are considered separate. When exiting the Usina Bridge, one enters Surfside Beach. To the south is Vilano Beach, and driving north on HWY A1A part way up to the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve is North Beach. The local attraction, Castle Otttis is in North Beach.

The following books, articles, websites, and photographers were used to find the above photographs or illustrations:

Photograph 1 (1890): Browning, Vivian C., Sallie L. O’Hara, John T. Pilechi, and Vilano Beach Main Street. Images of America: Vilano and the North Beaches. Acadia Publishing, 2015.

Photograph 2 (1948): Browning, Vivian C., Sallie L. O’Hara, John T. Pilechi, and Vilano Beach Main Street. Images of America: Vilano and the North Beaches. Acadia Publishing, 2015.

Photograph 3 (1995): Browning, Vivian C., Sallie L. O’Hara, John T. Pilechi, and Vilano Beach Main Street. Images of America: Vilano and the North Beaches. Acadia Publishing, 2015.

Photograph 4 (2025): Zufelt, Holly. "North Beach." October 2, 2025.

Photograph 5 (2025): Owens, Katherine. "Surfside Historic Marker." October 17, 2025.

Photograph 6 (2025): Owens, Katherine. "Old Bridge's Dolphins." October 17, 2025.

Photograph 7 (2025): Owens, Katherine "End of the Old Bridge and the New Bridge." October 17, 2025.

Photograph 8 (2025): Owens, Katherine "Vilano Beach Casino Historical Marker." October 17, 2025.

Photograph 9 (2025): Owens, Katherine "Vilano Beach." October 17, 2025.

The following books, articles, and/or websites were used to find information about this location:

Browning, Vivian C., Sallie L. O’Hara, John T. Pilechi, and Vilano Beach Main Street. Images of America: Vilano and the North Beaches. Acadia Publishing, 2015.

Florida Vilano Beach Main Street. “History.” https://www.vilanobeachfl.com/history/.

Kim’s Guide to Florida. Anna Maria, FL: Ethel  Byrum Kimball, 1937.

King, Phil. “Vilano Beach ~ Its Time Has Come!” Old City Life Magazine, Inc. December 15, 2012. https://dinestaugustine.wordpress.com/2012/12/15/vilano-beach-its-time-has-come/.

Rajtar, Steve, and Kelly Goodman. A Guide to Historic St. Augustine, Florida. 1^st edition. The History Press, 2007.

St. Augustine Record. “Around the Region: There’s a Lot of History in the Bridges of Vilano.” February 17, 2015. https://www.staugustine.com/story/news/local/2015/02/17/around-region-theres-lot-history-bridges-vilano/16249239007/.

Visit St. Augustine. “Vilano Beach.” https://www.visitstaugustine.com/thing-to-do/vilano-beach.

The following St. Augustine Fiction books feature this natural feature as a location:

Colcorton
Flamingo Rising
Florida Is Closed Today
Forbidden Area
Ghosts: Another Summer in the Old Town
A Golden Sorrow
Grace: A Suspenseful Love Story Laced with Intrigue
One Summer in the Old Town
St. Augustine's Spirits in Our Midst
Stepping Off a Cliff