PARADISE FOUND
Why has low-key Jacksonville emerged as perhaps Florida's most desirable relocation destination?
First, water. Blessed with uncrowded beaches as well as the mighty St. Johns River and the Intracoastal Waterway, you canít drive far without running into shimmering bodies of water. Second, natural beauty. Visit the Guana River Marsh Aquatic Preserve for sunset over the marshes and estuaries of the Tolomato and Guana Rivers. Spend an afternoon exploring the Black Creek/Ravines Conservation Area. Head over to the Jacksonville Beach Pier and scan the horizon for a pod of Northern right whales. Third, livability. The Jacksonville area boasts most of the cultural and recreational perks found in glitzier (and more expensive) Florida cities. So, where should you buy a home? Lets look at the choices. In 1803 Zephaniah Kingsley purchased 1,880 acres on the western shore of the St. Johns. The wealthy land baron and slave trader dubbed his plantation Laurel Grove, for the laurel trees that were so abundant. By the late 1870s the tract had become a resort community and was renamed Orange Park, this time for the citrus groves that had replaced the laurel trees. The last remnants of the orange groves died off after severe freezes in the mid-1980s and were quickly replaced by new homes and businesses. Orange Parkís residential development first gathered momentum in the early 1920s when Caleb Johnson, president of the Colgate-Palmolive Company, built Villa Mira Rio, a $500,000 estate on the riverbank. A scattering of gracefully aging residential showplaces still stand along River Road, while Johnson's Mediterranean-style mansion survives as Club Continental, a popular special-event destination. Otherwise, Orange Park, the county's largest city with about 10,000 residents, is a thoroughly modern place, where amenityrich, master-planned communities attract hordes of buyers and public recreational facilities abound. Key selling points in the county include its highly rated school system, the presence of Naval Air Station Jacksonville and a plethora of retail and entertainment outlets, including the recently renovated Orange Park Mall, Orange Park Kennel Club for greyhound racing and the Thrasher-Horne Center for the Arts. Green Cove Springs, population about 6,000, is the county seat, while other municipalities include Keystone Heights and Penny Farms, founded by department store pioneer J.C. Penny as an experimental farming village. Middleburg encompasses most of the countyís unincorporated area. Much of Clay County still remains rural, with Gold Head Branch State Park, Kingsley Beach, Jennings Forest and Black Creek/Ravines Conservation Area offering camping, hiking, fishing and hunting.
ARLINGTON INTRACOASTAL WEST
Arlington is home to Jacksonville University and some of Northeast Floridaís most precious environmental and historical landmarks. Itís also a center for commerce, encompassing Regency Square Mall and numerous shopping centers, restaurants and office buildings. Downtown is a short drive over the Mathews Bridge, and the Beaches are 20 minutes away via Atlantic Boulevard. Although much of Arlington was developed in the 1950s and 60s, its history goes back much further. French explorer Jean Ribault landed here in 1562, preparing the way for a second French expedition and colony called La Caroline two years later. The Spanish later routed the French and captured Fort Caroline. Remains of the triangular fort and the meadow on which it stood were swallowed when the river was dredged. But in 1964 a replica was built, which stands today in the 680-acre Fort Caroline National Memorial.
Much of Arlingtonís growth is occurring in the area informally known as Intracoastal West, where the Intracoastal Waterway marks the traditional dividing line between Jacksonville proper and its coastal communities.
THE BEACHES
Mayport, Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach and Jacksonville Beach are contiguous coastal communities known for lively pubs and good restaurants. Although tied to Jacksonville by geography, The Beaches, as locals refer to the area, have steadfastly sought to maintain separate identities. When Jacksonville and Duval County adopted a consolidated government in 1968, the three Beaches cities insisted on retaining their own municipal governments. Starting from the north, hereís a look at these once-remote cities settled by rugged pioneers, which still attract people seeking a casual, coastal lifestyle.
MAYPORT
Unincorporated Mayport, at the mouth of the St. Johns, retains a gritty, rough-and-tumble charm and is home to commercial fishing and shrimping operations as well as the huge Mayport Naval Station. Locals enjoy traveling to Mayport via ferryboats, which run between Mayport and HecksherDrive at the southernmost tip of Fort George Island. The main attractions: dining at rustic seafood eateries such as Singletonís, a local landmark, buying fresh seafood just off the boat or going on deep-sea fishing excursions. Gambling cruises also depart from Mayport daily. By the 1870s Mayport was a popular getaway for Jacksonvillians, many of whom built cottages along the ocean. In the 1880s construction of two huge jetties allowed ships to enter the channel safely, boosting Jacksonvilleís stature as a port city. In 1899 Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway bought the defunct Jacksonville Atlantic Railway, which ran from Arlington to Jacksonville Beach. Flagler, the legendary developer, then extended a northward line to Mayport, making all the Beaches communities more accessible. In contrast to its working class neighbor to the north, Atlantic Beach began as a lavish playground for the wealthy. In 1899, when his rail line was complete, Flagler began to develop the area as a resort community, the centerpieceof which was the fabulous
Continental Hotel.
ATLANTIC BEACH
By 1910 Atlantic Beach was attracting year-round residents, thanks in large part to the opening of Atlantic Boulevard, which connected Arlington to the Beaches. Today, Atlantic Beach's treelined streets are primarily residential, with funky old beach cottages next to sprawling new mansions. Non-beachfront residents can access the sand and surf from many well-placed, well-maintained dune crossings.There's also plenty of action in Atlantic Beach. The Town Center area of Atlantic Boulevard between Third Street and the ocean, refurbished in the late 1990s, boasts some of Northeast Florida's liveliest nightspots.
NEPTUNE BEACH
Spunky Neptune Beach, smallest of the Beaches communities, was originally part of Jacksonville Beach. It was incorporated as a separate entity following a 1931 tax revolt by residents who felt they were receiving short shrift on city services. Neptune Beach's most notable
landmark is perhaps Pete's Bar, a friendly hole-in-the-wall mentioned in the John Grisham bestseller, The Brethren. Pete's, established in 1933, is the oldest continuously operating tavern in Northeast Florida.
JACKSONVILLE BEACH
The largest, oldest and southernmost Beaches community is Jacksonville Beach, originally known as Ruby, named for the daughter of a pioneering family who settled the area in the 1880s. Jacksonville Beach has long offered an escape for harried inlanders, first with resort hotels like the 350-room Murray Hall in the 1890s, and later with an amusement park featuring a wooden roller coaster. But the community really started to grow when Beach Boulevard opened in 1949, supplying a second, more southerly route from Jacksonville to the coastal communities. Jacksonville Beach was once a mecca for rowdy festivals, but as the area has gentrified, city leaders have scaled back such events. Springing the Blues, a three-day music festival held each April, has remained and is considered the cityís signature event.
DOWNTOWN JACKSONVILE
On May 3, 1901, a family living in downtown Jacksonville began to prepare lunch. An errant cinder leapt from the chimney of the stove and floated west, landing on a pile of moss in the yard of a mattress factory at Davis and Beaver streets. That spark began a cataclysm that would become the third-largest urban fire in U.S. history up to that point. The so-called Great Fire of 1901 destroyed 2,368 buildings most of downtownóand left 10,000 people homeless. However, no sooner had the smoke cleared than a new Jacksonville arose, quite literally, from the ashes. Within five years, 1,500 new buildings went up, including several designed by nationally recognized architects energized at the prospect of helping rebuild a major city. In the decades that followed, Jacksonville has been characterized in turns as a resort destination, a movie capital, a golf mecca, a business center and, as of 2005, a Super Bowl city. The international exposure provided a boost, but downtown was already on the rise. In addition to 5.6 miles of river frontage, Jacksonville's urban core boasts 256 acres of parks and public spaces, more than 100 eateries of every type imaginable and numerous galleries, museums and theaters. Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville and Veterans Memorial Arena make up the sports and entertainment complex at the east end of downtown. Housing units downtown are also on the rise. Today there are roughly 2,100 condominiums and rental apartments with about 4,600 more proposed. A Friday market in Hemming Plaza, First Wednesday ArtWalk and frequent events at cultural venues such as the Florida Theatre and the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts are also downtown draws.
MANDARIN
When Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of the anti-slavery classic Uncle Tom's Cabin, settled in rural Mandarin in the 1860s, she was attracted by the area's natural beauty and its suitability for growing citrus. Stowe, who in addition to farming established a school for former slaves, later wrote about her life in Mandarin, which she termed a tropical paradise, in the book Palmetto- Leaves. This modest series of sketches, widely read in the North, did much to promote Floridaís charms and encourage relocation. Just a short drive south of Jacksonville's city center, Mandarin is bordered by Beauclerc to the north, Julington Creek to the south and St. Johns River to the west. Surely, Stowe wouldnít recognize the community today, with its affluent riverfront developments and its smorgasbord of businesses. Yet, despite more than a century of uninterrupted growth, Mandarinís history has not been forgotten. The Walter Jones Store and Post Office, a circa-1911 structure, now serves as meeting, exhibit and function space operated by the Mandarin Museum and Historical Society.
NORTHSIDE
The Northside has been described as Duval Countyís last frontier for development. Its 850 square miles boast stunning scenery and such ecological wonders as Huguenot Memorial Park, Big Talbot and Little Talbot islands and the Timucuan Ecological and Historical Preserve. Increasingly, new subdivisions are cropping up, spurred in part by plentiful, relatively affordable land and adjacency to Jacksonville International Airport. Consequently the Northsideís population is expected to grow by 33 percent over the next three years, eclipsing the Southside as Jacksonville's fastest-growing sector.
ORTEGA
Ortega, tucked south of downtown Jacksonville on the Westbank, is a quintessential old-money enclave. The neighborhood is a peninsula boasting stately old homes, a small retail district and two private clubs: the Florida Yacht Club and Timuquana Country Club. Drive along the tree-lined streets and that lofty assessment seems reasonable. The lovely old homes feature an eclectic mixture of architectural styles, and the neighborhood is dotted with parks and lush with stately oaks. Ortega Village, a charming shopping district, boasts a drugstore with an old-fashioned soda fountain and the newly popular Village Cafe. The neighborhood known as Old Ortega is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Ortega River Bridge, also known as the Old Ortega Bridge or the Grand Avenue Bridge, is a local landmark. Built in the 1920s, itís Florida's oldest operational drawbridge.
RIVERSIDE/AVONDALE
For a neighborhood steeped in history, Riverside/Avondale is bustling with activity. Posh new condominium and townhome projects take shape along the St. Johns River while architects and remodelers carefully restore some of the region's most beautiful old homes. Riverside was founded after the Civil War by Northern real estate speculators who sought to transform the vast plantation acreage overlooking the St. Johns into a neighborhood for the elite. Riverside's first heyday lasted from about 1895 to 1929, when architects and builders sought to out do one another with impressive Colonial Revival, Georgian, Queen Anne and Tudor residences. Even proponents of Frank Lloyd Wrightís Prairie School found expression in Riverside. In 1920, a group of investors bought property immediately south of the neighborhood and subdivided it into 720 lots. Avondale, as the development was called, at first boasted primarily Mediterraneanstyle homes influenced by architect Addison Mizner. Eventually the two neighborhoods grew together, and are now all but indistinguishable from one another. The Riverside/Avondale Preservation Group keeps careful watch over proposed new projects and renovations. Shopping and dining in Riverside/Avondale is an adventure. The nearby Five Points retail district is one of the most eclectic in the Southeast. Riverside Market Square brought the neighborhood a new Publix Supermarket, assorted restaurants and shops. In addition to lovely architecture, fine shopping and adventurous dining, Riverside/Avondale is home to several public parks, the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens and St. Vincent's Medical Center.
SAN MARCO
In the 1920s developer Telfair Stockton and his family vacationed in Venice, Italy, where they visited the elegant Piazza San Marco. Fortunately for Northeast Floridians, Stockton was so enchanted by its quaint beauty that he sought to recreate it along the banks of the St. Johns. Today, with its graceful homes and welcoming business district, San Marco is one of Jacksonville's neighborhood treasures. When Stockton first began selling San Marco lots in 1925, he envisioned a community with a Mediterranean motif. But by the time San Marco began to blossom, public fascination with all things Mediterranean had faded, clearing the way for Tudor, Georgian and Colonial styles. Likewise in the business district, which had been dubbed San Marco Square despite its triangular shape, a variety of architectural styles emerged. The 1930s Art Deco facades of the San Marco Theater and neighboring Little Theater were decidedly avant-garde for the time. Today, a wedding cake-style fountain flanked by carved lions is the centerpiece of the small triangular park at the center of The Square, which is flanked by some of the regionís most popular eateries and an array of intriguing boutiques.San Marco's proximity to downtown makes it popular for commuters, who can use the Kings Avenue Parking Garage and catch the Skyway into the city.
SPRINGFIELD
North of downtown's central business district, Springfield is emerging as Jacksonvilleís new arts hub as well as a residential neighborhood where the future is bright and home values are rising as gentrification takes hold. Along Springfieldís 12-block Main Street, local trendsetters dine and drink at 9th & Main while enthusiastic crowds listen to live jazz at Kluthoís Jazz Bar in the Epicurean Market and Cafe. Still, few would have thought such revitalization was likely just a decade ago. This once prosperous expanse of 1,800 stately homes and its 22-block commercial district had become a slumóand there was little reason to believe that change was in the offing. But Springfield has been resilient. In fact, according to the Springfield Preservation and Revitalization Council, more than one-third of the historic neighborhoodís homes have now been renovated or restored. And Main Street now sports a treefilled median with antique-style streetlamps and brick crosswalks. This recent activity marks the most hopeful chapter in Springfieldís roller-coaster history. First settled in the 1820s, the subdivision was platted in 1882. But Springfield came into its own following the Great Fire of 1901, which spared it from destruction thanks to Hogan's Creek, which acted as a natural firebreak. Many downtown dwellers who were burned out of their homes sought to rebuild their lives in Springfield. And because many of the relocators were well-to-do, the homes they built reflected an array of architectural styles, including Queen Anne, Colonial Revival and Prairie School.
SOUTHSIDE
Want to see a movie, grab dinner or go shopping? If so, you're likely to end up on the Southside, which is generally considered to lie northeast of Philips Highway, south of Atlantic Boulevard, east of University Boulevard and west of St. Johns Bluff Road. The Cinemark Tinseltown, a movie megacomplex with huge screens and comfy, stadium-style seating, has established itself as one of the most popular draws in Northeast Florida, bringing crowds to Southside Boulevard to catch a flick and enjoy the nightlife. Popular nightspots include Aromas, a cigar bar, and other out-of-theordinary venues for dining, cocktails and entertainment. New on the Southside is The St. Johns Town Center, an open-air mall at J. Turner Butler Boulevard and St. Johns Bluff Road. Among the tenants are 40 retailers new to the region and eateries such as P.F. Chang's, Maggianoís Little Italy and Ted's Montana Grill. The Southsideís other regional mall, The Avenues, is located on Philips Highway between I-95 and Southside Boulevard. This burgeoning where-theaction- is ambience has kicked the Southsideís residential appeal up a notch, especially for younger Jacksonville newcomers working at nearby office parks. The campuses of the University of North Florida and Florida Community College at Jacksonville are added draws.
WESTSIDE
Perhaps Jacksonvilleís most affordable housing can be found on the Westside, a vast expanse that encompasses Naval Air Station Jacksonville and Herlong Airport as well as dozens of older subdivisions and shopping centers. In addition to numerous neighborhoods and the communities of Marietta, Maxville and Whitehouse, the Westside includes one small incorporated city: Baldwin. Much of the Westside remains rural, offering opportunities for hunting, boating and fishing. Baldwin, in fact, marks the terminus of the 14.5-mile Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail Trail, which follows abandoned railroad lines between Imeson Road and S.R. 121. Another Westside treasure is the 509-acre Westside Regional Park, with a nature center, outdoor classrooms, picnic areas, biking trails and an elevated platform for viewing the expansive wetlands. The Cecil Commerce Center, formerly Cecil Field Naval Air Station until its decommissioning in 1999, is home to the state-of-theart Jacksonville Equestrian Center and a growing number of companies in the aviation and transportation industries.
FLAGLER COUNTY
For decades, even most Jacksonvillians regarded Flagler County as significant only for its monolithic blue water tower at Palm Coast, a convenient milepost halfway between the River City and Disney World. In recent years, Flagler has ranked among the fastest growing counties in the nation. And people are coming from everywhere, attracted by subtropical forests, freshwater lakes, unspoiled beaches and resort-like housing developments. Visitors who leave the interstate and explore the real Flagler County will be surprised to find upscale subdivisions along the Intracoastal Waterway, lavish condominium towers along the ocean and world-class golf courses designed to accentuate the areas natural splendor. But Palm Coast, marketed heavily in the Northeast and Midwest, was an idea ahead of its time. By the early 1980s there were only a few thousand residents, mostly retirees. ITT, the international conglomerate that had tried to create a bustling city in this once-remote stretch of coastal Florida, phased out its development division in the 1990s and sold its Flagler holdings. Palm Coast became an incorporated city in 1999 and today is the population center of Flagler County, with some 45,000 residents. A 1,550-acre project called Town Center at Palm Coast, just south of Palm Coast Parkway, will provide a distinctive downtown for the booming community. Although Palm Coast is Flagler's highest-profile city, three other municipalities lie within the county: Flagler Beach (population 3,850), known for its 656-foot fishing pier and board-walk; Bunnell (population 2,156), a sleepy inland city that serves as the unlikely county seat; and Marineland (population 10), a tiny city encompassing a venerable dolphin-themed tourist attraction that reopened in 2006 after restoration.
NASSAU COUNTY
Everybody, it seems, wants a piece of Amelia Island. Floridaís northernmost barrier island, 32 miles from downtown Jacksonville, has been ruled under eight different flags since French explorers first came ashore in the mid-1500s. In addition to the French, Spanish and English, past conquerors have included Mexican rebels, Scottish mercenaries, local insurgents and the Confederate Army. Nowadays the Stars and Stripes are firmly entrenched in this Nassau County oasis, which has more in common with Key West than with West Jacksonville. Todays invaders of the 13.5- mile-long island are generally friendly tourists seeking pampering at posh resorts, relaxation at pristine beaches and good times at frolics and festivals held in funky Fernandina Beach, the historic city anchoring the island's northern edge. Fernandina's 50-block downtown district, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is packed with intriguing shops, restaurants and taverns occupying charming 18th-century buildings. Victorian mansions, many of them built between 1870 and 1900, front brick-lined residential streets. The heart of the historic district is Centre Street, stretching the width of the island from the Intracoastal Waterway to the ocean. And at the junction of Centre Street and the Intracoastal, Fernandina's docks bring in nearly 80 percent of Florida's sweet Atlanticwhite shrimpónearly 2 million tons per day. There are about 13,000 permanent residents on the island, but the population can swell to more than 100,000 when special events are under way. While there are a number of intriguing infill projects in Fernandina, ranging from luxurious condominiums to traditionally themed, single-family neighborhoods, the bulk of Nassau Countyís growth is now inland, particularly around Yulee, at roughly 10 square miles the countyís largest unincorporated area. Indeed, planners say that about 70 percent of all new homes expected to be built in Nassau County over the next 20 years will be built in and around Yulee. ST. Johns County
NORTHERN ST. JOHNS COUNTY
C.R. 210 meanders across the top of St. Johns County, connecting the Atlantic Ocean with the St. Johns River. In some places, it remains a quiet country road dotted by marshes and bays stretching inland from the Intracoastal Waterway and flanked by open fields where horses graze. Now a plethora of upscale master-planned communities, some the size of small cities, are springing up in this once-rural setting south of Jacksonville. New residents are attracted by the county's stunning natural beauty, its convenient location and its highly touted school system,among other assets. Although a boom is clearly under way, St. Johns County officials are planning ahead to preserve the area's quality of life. In 2004, a 180-member task force called St. Johns Vision released a strategic plan for the county pinpointing six ìfoundation areas, including education, economic development, infrastructure, quality of life, government and private-sector leadership.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH
The home of The Players Championship golf tournament and some of Northeast Floridaís most expensive real estate was a mining camp in 1914, when two young chemical engineers discovered more than a dozen industrial minerals in the dunes along the ocean. What is now Ponte Vedra Beach was called Mineral City in those days, when the National Lead Company began producing titanium and zirconium during World War I. But when the war ended and demand for minerals slackened, National Lead ceased mining and converted the property into the region's first golf and country club the precursor of today's Ponte Vedra Inn and Club for the exclusive use of its executives and directors. Jacksonville developer Telfair Stockton bought 800 acres from National Lead in 1942, building homes and expanding the golf course. In the early 1970s half-brothers Paul and Jerome Fletcher bought 6,000 acres from a company that had planned to develop a manufactured home community and began selling off tracts for such upscale developments as Sawgrass. The Fletchers also started their own luxury community, Marsh Landing. In addition to luxurious living, Ponte Vedra Beach has become synonymous with golf and is home to the international headquarters of the Professional Golfers Association as well as The Players Championship, held each spring at Sawgrass. Sometimes overlooked is the fact that Ponte Vedra Beach is also home to the Association of Tennis Professionals, which holds
its Pro Tennis Classic here each October, as well as various exhibition matches and tournaments throughout the year.
ST. AUGUSTINE
The aspect of St. Augustine is quaint and strange, in harmony with its romantic history...It is as if some little, old, dead-and-alive Spanish town, with its fort and gateway and Moorish bell towers, had broken loose, floated over here and got stranded on a sandbank. Harriet Beecher Stowe That circa-1872 description of the Oldest City remains accurate, at least physically. But the St. Augustine Stowe visited was a sleepy, isolated place where, she noted, ìThe current of life has an indolent, dreamy stillness. For anyone who has visited St. Augustine on a weekend, the words ìindolentî and ìdreamy are not likely to come to mind. This is a bustling place, teeming with shopping, nightlife and some of the state's best restaurants. And there's always a festival of some sort going on, including Founders Day, Mendez Day, Greek Landing Day, the Minorcan Festival and the Gamble Rogers Folk Festival. Located 35 miles south of Jacksonville beside the Matanzas Bay, St. Augustine was founded in 1565 by Spanish Admiral Don Pedro Mendez de Vallas. That makes it the nationís oldest continuously occupied city. Castillo de San Marcos, completed in 1695, still overlooks the bay, while more than 85 other historic sites line the cobblestone streets alongside intriguing Spanish- and Victorian-style homes. Most new development bearing a St. Augustine address, including the massive Palencia and World Golf Village projects, is occurring on the vast open tracts north and west of the city.
 |