Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

According to the local paper in an unfortunately paywalled article, this Putt Putt course has been at Main Beach in Fernandina Beach for a little bit longer than I've been around: 66 years. For many years it kept the classic look with the vintage Buster mascot, and a small checkin & concession stand which sold ice-cream, shakes & hotdogs. The article mentions that the building was owned by the city for some reason, and I get the feeling from the course's Facebook that the demolition and rebuild was not really their idea. It looks like the new building will be a little larger, and I wonder if it will have bathrooms & inside space. Bathrooms were not really an issue as the Main Beach facilities are just a little way across the parking lot, but it might be nice to have a bit of air conditioned space in the summer. And given that it is blazing hot in Fernandina during the summer days, that may explain why in all the years we visited, my parents never took us to play here. (That and the fact that it cost money, and we could play for free at Bell Camp back home.

Here are a number of photosets from over the years with the new construction shown in the last one. You can see that the course was looking a bit tattered in 2008, and that by 2010 it had been freshened up, at which time Buster lost his name. I'm not sure exactly what finally happened to him. I hope someone didn't just cart him off during the night.

The course is planned to re-open sometime this fall, but exactly when is still unclear.

19 July 2008:

23 August 2010:

1 Jan 2013:

6 July 2025: