June 30

Jacksonville; Our Fair City

I love, love, love this city.  Being born here  in Jacksonville, Florida and living my entire life here except for my short time in college at Florida State University and a month with my sister in Hepzibah, Georgia, I know nothing else.  I’ve enjoyed  traveling to different and various places, visited the Queen and now King in London but there is nowhere I’d rather be than in this beautiful city of Duval County with its St. John’s River and magnificent trees such as highlighted on the Southbank at the Treaty Oak site.

My church is here where I love to serve. My immediate family is here and with that, I am set for life.

See you tomorrow,

Nan

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June 30

Lift Every Voice and Sing to be Honoured in Jacksonsville

The song written by James Weldon Johnson, a Black man from Jacksonville, Florida is being highlighted at a new “commons” area going up in Jacksonville, Florida.  Located along Adam’s Street, a main road for getting onto the busy Jacksonville Interstate 95, the park will honor Johnson’s song which by some is called “ The Black National Anthem”.

According to the NAACP.org website, the lyrics were written by James Weldon Johnson and his brother composed the music.  The song was first performed in a celebration of President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.  The song was “adopted but the NAACP and prominently used as a rallying cry during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s.”

See you tomorrow,

Nan

Sources:  Wikipedia, NAACP, Person visit to the site

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June 29

The Jacksonville Ford Plant Demolished

After 98 years, it has finally come down to the fact that Jacksonville will no longer have need of the auto plant built in Jacksonville by the famous Henry Ford.  According to the Jaxdailyreocord, ELEV8 Demolition has taken down the old facility and the metal, steel and debris is all broken a part and mangled.  It was a long time coming but the Jacksonville City Council, Preservation Committee, Historical Society and more did all they could do to try to preserve this work of history but in the end, it will become a shipyard. According to Matt, a worker at a nearby site.

Today, I took a trip over to 1900 Wambolt to find just that- a totally dismantled and destroyed Ford factory with only the mangled steel beams distributed all over the 14.64 acre spot with old rivets showing.  Talking to one of the workers at Hall Construction Co., the old plant was basically put together by a machine that would  join the steel together tightly.  Almost 100 years ago that was amazing.  Generally speaking, a hole would have to be  drilled in the steel, a rivet placed in the hole and using a strong tool, a rivet connected holding two or more pieces of steel together.

We will keep you posted in the up-and-coming events related to this property.

See you tomorrow,

Nan 

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