By MATT COLEMAN,
The Times-Union

AMERICAN BEACH - The walls of the Evans Rendezvous Club pulsed with live performances from Ray Charles, Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington in its heyday in the 1940s and 1950s.

About that same time, a lively business owner named Martha Hippard was throwing house parties and dances - and some say high-stakes card games - at her secluded home a few miles away.

But when segregation was abolished, development in the predominantly African-American beach community tailed off.

That hasn't stopped the area's tight-knit residents from banding together to help reinvigorate Nassau County's one-time cultural hot spot.

The Trust for Public Land organized a design workshop Saturday with property owners and community members to brainstorm a new use for the unoccupied club. A couple of hours later, the current owner of Hippard's home, Annette Myers, unveiled a historic marker in her front yard dedicated to the rich tapestry of African-American history in American Beach.

Renovating a legend

Community members spent the morning discussing ideas with the project's architect, John Zona III, on how best to utilize Evans Rendezvous and the surrounding property. Zona said his history with the area led him to take on the job. He was previously commissioned to study the property while he lived in Fernandina Beach. Zona said the club was a popular destination for touring musicians and many who played the Florida Theatre made the half-hour pilgrimage to American Beach to get back to their roots.

"This club was where the real action was," Zona said.

He said he has a few ideas of his own for how to renovate the historic club, and the workshop participants were mostly on the same page. The group agreed on a few popular uses for the space, which included turning it into an educational facility to celebrate the club's history.

"They were emphatic that they didn't want it to be a nightclub again or serve alcohol," Zona said.

The venue will include a juice bar and have space for weddings and family reunions. Susan Cobb Grandin of the Trust for Public Land said there will be another workshop in September to hammer down the final details of the project.

Honoring the past

Annette Myers has held American Beach close to her heart for more than four decades. The widowed author spent her honeymoon at Martha Hippard's in the 1950s and fell in love with the community.

That love was palpable as she and her son and daughter-in-law unveiled the marker to honor the house's storied legacy. Myers bought the house from its second owner, Lottie Harris. She has spent years maintaining the two-story mansion, which is in a secluded area away from the road.

Martha Hippard's Hideaway was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in October 2001. American Beach is the first stop on the Florida Black Heritage Trail, and Myers' house is a popular destination.

She is thinking of making it into a museum or bed-and-breakfast.

"Everything in there is old," Myers joked to about 50 people at the unveiling ceremony. "This way, some others would be able to see history in person."

matt.coleman@jacksonville.com,

(904) 359-4654