Fish Island

Running for 40 miles of scenic oceanfront in northeast Florida, St. Johns County is one of the fastest-growing counties in the nation. It’s also an emblem of the latest growth paradox facing Florida: People want to live near the sea, but climate change is making coastal development riskier. We report from St. Augustine, where America’s largest homebuilder proposes developing Fish Island, one of the last private-owned wild swaths in the area. In a too-often forgotten development story, we look at the archaeological significance of the site, where enslaved Africans may have been buried in its plantation days.