Exploring Jacksonville

Treaty Oak near downtown Jacksonville

Recently I have spent a good amount of time working on a project in Jacksonville. I wanted to make a post about what I found there. Amid claims that Jax is an armpit town, we (Kym O'Donnell and I) discovered that this town has what many others are missing. That missing part, the part that is strong in Jacksonville, is a dedication to pursue your own city's history and proudly display that history. It is remarkable, in this time, to witness a hold out against corporate greed in favor of preserving a history. The funny thing is that the Treaty Oak shown in the first image on this post is just an early example of this tendency to work against development to preserve nature, history ( even false history ) and culture against the forces that "develop" spaces and properties. I will get back to that.
I am going to try to present the places we visited in a roughly chronological format.
First we visited the Kingsley Plantation. This site is amazing

Pictured here are the remains of the slave's homes. They are in stark contrast to the main dwelling (not pictured here). The history of this site and how the slave owners conducted themselves on this plantation were considered progressive- the slaves could actually work until freed. More like indentured servants. It just goes to show that no matter what the conditions, slavery was brutal.

We also visited the drift wood beach at Big Talbot Island State Park. Very beautiful and strange.

One thing that struck me about Big Talbot Island was that I saw no birds, no lizards no life. I found out later that this area was long ago reserved for munitions testing.

Speaking of testing munitions.... We visited the ....which had many documents pertaining to America's use of atomic weapons against Japan including hand drawn pictures of the shape of the mushroom cloud by crew members and this signed picture of the "Little Boy" bomb.

We also visited the Ritz Theatre and Museum which houses really interesting displays of African American centric items and even has an animatronic scrim show featuring animatrons depicting James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson recalling their history and creation of music that would influence our nation. Particularly powerful is the recollection of writing "Lift Every Voice and Sing"

Pizza sized cheeseburger from Blue Boys Deli. Try it if in Jacksonville! You have to bring some folks to share with because you can't eat it by yourself.

 NaNa's Dune, close to American Beach, is an interesting place to visit. Gopher Tortoises walk by oblivious to traffic and the largest dune structure of its kind in Florida rises before you impressively. Named after a famous Beach Lady

American Beach is another fascinating location close to Jacksonville. Once a tourist spot for African Americans established by Florida's first African American millionaire, it is now the only hold out on the long stretch that doesn't sport giant beach side condos. Designated in the Registry of Historic Places it enjoys a bit of immunity from the out of control development around it. The question is, How long can a small community like this hold out against the power and money that development represent?