The 47-year-old Peg Leg Pete statue stands at 102 Centre St. in Fernandina Beach. | Amelia Island Tourist Development Council
Published on September 11, 2025 at 4:52 pm
Free local news and info, in your inbox at 6 a.m. M-F. Sign up for the Jacksonville Today newsletter.
Folks love Peg Leg Pete, a popular wooden statue perched in front of the Amelia Island Welcome Center in Fernandina Beach.
But after 47 years on display on the historic city’s waterfront, an engineering review says the pirate statue is unsafe and no one should climb up to take a selfie with it.
Jacksonville Today thanks our sponsors. Become one.
Their recommendation: Fence Peg Leg Pete so no one can climb atop the oaken sculpture or move it. A decision is likely to be discussed at the city’s next Historic District Council meeting on Oct. 16.
“Allowing human interaction such as children climbing on the statue, is beyond the intent of this work of art, especially at its current age and condition,” said the review by Gillette & Associates. “Due to the current visible damage of the structure, and most likely hidden damage, it is not recommended that pedestrian interface be allowed. It is our professional opinion that the structure can remain visible to the public but should be protected from public interaction.”
Artist Wayne Ervin originally carved Peg Leg Pete from a single 10-foot piece of live oak. Pete was placed on downtown Fernandina Beach’s waterfront in 1978, then later moved next to the visitor’s center.
Jacksonville Today thanks our sponsors. Become one.
In recent months, city officials have noticed serious signs of weather damage to the 5-foot-tall statue, which stands atop a concrete base just off Centre Street.
In late August, a proposal to send the current Peg Leg Pete to the Amelia Island Museum of History for conservation was brought before the historic council. Members of the historic council saw images of the current statue that showed signs of “rapid deterioration” with peeling paint, cracks and rot.
A proposal was made to replace it with a new statue, commissioned by the Fernandina Beach Pirates Club and carved by Jett Paxton, with a 30-inch-tall wrought iron fence around it to prevent people from climbing on it.
But during that meeting, City Attorney Teresa Prince reported that she had heard from “a reliable source” that the statue holds human ashes.
Pirate Club President Joe Brown said that he has seen the cremains and that the club even tried to find relatives of the person whose ashes are there.
Bobby Brown Jr., whose father donated the wood that was carved into Peg Leg Pete, said he remembered his father putting a box of keepsakes in its base, but nothing containing cremains.
Peg Leg Pete’s options
City project coordinator Jacob Platt said Peg Leg Pete is in such bad condition that it’s either going to fall apart or be moved to a climate-controlled area for preservation. The council tabled the statue swap and requested a new engineering assessment.
The one-page assessment, sent to city officials Sept. 5, states that the statue appears to have had minimal maintenance over the years, “with visible decay and soft areas noticed in several places.”
“Based on the visible decay areas, it would be logical that further decay, at a minimum, exists below the surface of these areas,” it says.
The review ends with two options: Immediately fence Peg Leg Pete, with signs telling people to stay off it, or move it “to a place out of possible physical interaction.”
As to a decision to replace it with Paxton’s pirate statue, store for the past two years after the Pirates Club commissioned him to carve it, no decision has been made on replacing Peg Leg Pete with Paxton’s pirate statue or what to do about the cremains.
