"A" rated by the State of Florida. The nickname of Fernandina Beach High School's athletic teams is the "Pirates". Amelia Island Montessori School is near American Beach and is accredited by the Florida Council of Independent Schools and is an associate member school with the American Montessori Society. Nassau County Public Library operates the Fernandina Beach Branch. Notable people William B. Allen, political scientist who was chairman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights from 1988 to 1989, was born in Fernandina Beach in 1944 Liberty Billings, Reconstruction era politician Raymond A. Brown, attorney whose clients included Black Liberation Army member Assata Shakur, boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and "Dr. X" physician Mario Jascalevich George Rainsford Fairbanks, a Confederate Major in the U.S. Civil War, he was also a historian, lawyer and Florida State Senator. The Fairbanks House is listed on the NRHP and is operated as a bed and breakfast lodging establishment Joseph Finegan, businessman, Brigadier general for the Confederate States Army; resident of Fernandina Beach Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley, wife of slave trader and planter Zephaniah Kingsley, lived in Fernandina (at the time it was not yet Fernandina Beach) during all of 1814 and part of 1815. Samuel Petty, politician Rick Stockstill, football head coach at Middle Tennessee; raised in Fernandina Beach David Levy Yulee, Florida Territorial representative to Congress and the first U.S. Senator from Florida when it became a state, member of the Confederate Congress, builder of Florida's first cross-state railroad (Fernandina to Cedar Key), and the first person of Jewish ancestry to serve as a United States Senator. There is a statue of Yulee in the town Attractions The 1988 fantasy film The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking was filmed in Fernandina Beach and at soundstages in Jacksonville. The house that stood in for Villa Villekulla, Pippi's home, is known locally as Captain Bell's House and is on Estrada Street in the Old Town area directly across from the Fernandina Plaza (parade ground for the Spanish fort) and overlooking the Amelia River. The Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival occurs annually over the first weekend in May. Events and activities of the festival include vendors with seafood, arts, crafts, collectibles and antiques, live music, the Miss Shrimp Festival pageant, a fireworks display and a parade. Historic places Original Town of Fernandina Historic Site Fairbanks House Historic Nassau County Courthouse United States Post Office, Custom House,