By Kate Kimmel
Nassau NewsLine
City officials and Fernandina Pirates Club members gathered at dawn Thursday to relocate the beloved Peg Leg Pete statue to the Amelia Island Museum of History.
Peg Leg Pete made headlines in late August after it was revealed that a vial of the cremated remains of a Fernandina Pirates Club member were located within the statue’s chest cavity. Discussions about moving the statue, however, began years earlier, when Pirates Club President Joe Brown raised concerns about its deteriorating condition.
“The Pirate Club brought the issue to the forefront, which is when we got the engineers to come out and look at him, who determined that he was full of water and a mess basically,” said Mary Hamburg, the city’s communications manager.
An engineering report concluded that Pete was in peril, and that leaving the statue downtown posed a safety risk to people who climbed on its pedestal for photos.
Phyllis Davis, executive director of the Amelia Island Museum of History, said the decision to relocate the statue came together quickly. The museum originally planned to place Pete beside the Palace Saloon pirate statue, but Pete was too large to fit through the door.
“For now, the plan is to keep him outside, and we may put up a temporary installation,” Davis said. “Since the future of the statue is still uncertain, we aren’t planning on creating anything permanent. If it does stay at the museum, we’ll look for a way to keep people off of it.”
City officials, Fernandina Pirates Club members and statue enthusiasts were relieved that the relocation went smoothly and are hopeful the move will preserve Pete until restoration is possible.
“The city is in the process of getting quotes from people who think they can restore him, but unfortunately, no one has been able to guarantee that it will stay together,” Hamburg said.
The Fernandina Pirates Club has commissioned an artist to carve a new statue to replace Pete on the now-empty pedestal, but the plan must still go before the City Commission, said Downtown District Manager Lisa Finkelstein.
“We’ve been working with the Pirates Club on the new statue, but it’s been tabled until this gets sorted out,” Finkelstein said. “They’ve been with us every step of the way.”
For now, Peg Leg Pete’s future remains uncertain, but he’ll stand outside the museum for the foreseeable future.
kkimmel@nassaunewsline.net
