Things to Do – Jacksonville Blogger

Jacksonville Collector Extraordinaire

On February 20, Jason Wittkopp wrote on his “Jacksonville Florida History/Collecting” page, “You’ll never know what’s out there if you don’t go”. On Tuesday, February 24, 2026 my daughter and I were deep in the two story, 40,000 square foot , crammed with everything imaginable warehouse off of 18th and Myrtle when a guy was high on a ladder pulling and pushing different metal signs. He offered to get down so we could pass but there was no reason as we could simple go the next aisle. Knowing I was going to write about the warehouse, I asked him if I could take a photo.

Then I asked him his first name and if he worked there . As soon as he said his name and turned to answer “My name is Jason. No,I don’t work here. I’m a Jacksonville collector”. I said “Whittkopp?”, “Jason Wittkopp”.. I knew exactly who he was. How fun! I happen to be a member of his collectibles site.

Jason was born in Portsmith, Va and moved to Jacksonville when he was 5. He says he’s been collecting since he was young but began a serious go of it in his 40’s. He’s now 51 and even while working a full time job he takes at least a one day a week and in addition online time, collects treasures. I was interested to know where he kept all of his findings and he said “Unfortunately for my wife, at my home”, although he said he did have another place as well. He said that while she was not a collector she understood about his love to collect and keep his finds.

One thing that I love that he got was a very large Greenleaf and Crosby(now Jacobs Jewelers) mantle clock. Greenleaf and Crosby was founded in 1868 in Jacksonville by Damon Greenleaf and J. H. Crosby, Jr. They are recognised as the oldest jeweller in the city. They operated as a family-owned business for over 40 years. In 1901 a Seth Thomas clock was located at the corner of Bay Street and later moved to the corner of Laura and Adams where it now stands. It is often called the Jacobs Jewelers clock. In 1930, V.E. Jacobs acquired the business and it was renamed Jacobs Jewellers. The store closed in 2023 and the building will now house residents.

With over 9,000 members to his Jacksonville Florida History/collecting Facebook site, he has a lot to offer. Other finds that Jacob share with his followers are those such as baseball ticket stubs, signs, bottles, phonebooks, luggage tags, jugs, mugs, ceramic souvenir items, photographs and more. Check his site out. It won’t disappoint. He also offers items on eBay so there’s that.

Oh, and I’ll be out and about soon because as Jason says, “You’ll never know what’s out there if you don’t go”

See you tomorrow,

Nan

Sources: Facebook, Jacksonville Florida History/Collecting, Google Search, Vaughan Publishing, Nannette V. Ramey.

Category: History, People, Things to Do | Comments Off

March 8

Jacksonville’s River Run

My brother and I ran the River Run one time. That was back in the day when I had sandy blonde hair without grey strands.There is no forgetting that the most difficult place in the run for me was the Hart Bridge. Yes, the one with a 140-foot vertical climb over the St. Johns River. It was on that bridge that Pat literally pushed me up the bridge towards a successful finish. The 2026 announcer at the starting gate reminded the thousands of runners at the Shipyards area about this difficult lasts leg of the run.

The Gate River Run, which it is now officially called, is a 15-kilometer run first held in 1978. At this writing, there are more than 20,000 runners who participate in this huge event. In 2026, the day before the run, Race Roster posted these words: “River Run events are SOLD OUT . Thank you”.

Being wildly popular, the annual River Run is one that attracts competitive and fun-runners. Since 2007, it has been the largest 15-k run in the country. That is something to be proud of for Jacksonville, the 10th most populous city at this time in the United States.

The Jacksonville Track Club (now JTC Running) is credited to having established the River Run 15,000, with the first sponsor as the Florida Publishing Company. At that time, the FPC published The Florida Times-Union and the Jacksonville Journal. Early records show the organizers met first at theYMCA and before long this run was a literal go.

Over the years, the run has gained momentum and today it stands as a premier running event for many world athelets and fun-runners alike. The early expectations for the first 1978 run was over a thousand participants but it ended up with at least 2, 800 entries. In 2013 there were over 17,000 runners. The day before the race in 2026, it took some participants over an hour to get down San Jose Blvd to the place set up to sign in and get their bib numbers. in Mandarin where the River Run Expo was set people from all over traveled to up to sign in and pick up their bib numbers, get some freebies from vendors and even shop a little at the in-house store set up just for this event. More runners had signed up than ever before in the race.

At this writing, the top men finish the race in about 45 minutes while women follow with some 51- 55 minutes. The rewards are many: personal satisfaction, a t-shirt, ribbon, medal and top runners get cash awards.

In my younger years, I was so happy to participate in runs and have many bibs to prove it. This year, I walked through the River Run expo rewarding myself with pens, pencils, key chains and other freebies from the event sponsors. It was a great walk through the expo. I was also happy to watch others run on race day.

See you tomorrow,

Nan

Category: Sports, Things to Do | Comments Off

January 19

Cell Phone Rings at the Symphony and She Answers! (From the Front Row)!

Did a Woman Answer Her Phone on the First Row of the Symphony Hall During the Concert? GASP! Yes! Today, a friend and I went to the Jacoby Center Concert Hall to hear the magnificent Jacksonville Symphony. In a deep voice from an announcer cell phones were to be turned off and no flash photography taken. We had the very first two seats on the center-front row right there in the front. How did that happen? Talking about some of the best seats in the house. We were right there! Literally, we had “front row seats”.

The concert began in usual fashion with the lights being brought down a bit, the announcer giving the 5 minute start alert and then everyone was seated and ready. The orchestra members were in place and the Conductor came out with a round of applause. Excitement was certainly in the air.

After the conductor told a bit about the pieces to ne heard, the music began and before long a cell phone on the front aisle went off. I noticed the woman fumbling in her purse to find it, I thought to turn it off but “NO”, she answered it. In the middle of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Air from Orchestral Suite No 3 in D major BWV 1068, the woman began speaking to a person on the cell phone! Thankfully, the call was short but not without the front-seated violinist raising his eyebrows twice as he stroked his bow onto his violin.

Gasp! She answered the call. I’m still flabbergasted.

See you tomorrow,

Nan

Category: Art, History, Things to Do, Visit This | Comments Off

May 2

Flat Stanley

Flat Stanley is such a great friend! You can take him anywhere and it makes you so happy to do so. Flat Stanley, the book was written by Jeff Brown and published in 1964. It’s interesting to note that until Flat Stanley became a classroom star, Brown did not publish any further works until some 2 decades later, he published a series of books and by mention from Wikipedia had sold over a million copies by 2003.

In the first edition published by Harper and Row(1964-1985), the story tells about the adventures of Stanley as he is pressed flat by a bulletin board. He does the best that he can being flat by traveling and having great fun.

Flat Stanley in London-2009 ( Ramey Collection).

Teachers far and wide have had their students create Flat Stanley’s and have gone on field trips, had them go on trips and take their Flat Stanley and more.

My Flat Stanley has been many places including Buckingham Palace where I’ll take him again during the coronation.

See you tomorrow,

Nan

Category: Art, Books/Documents, Things to Do, Travel, Visit This, World Wide | Comments Off

March 18

The Karpeles Manuscript Library in Jacksonville

It has closed. After 30 years in Jacksonville, the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum clicked the lock and will no longer service the Jacksonville area. Karpeles manuscript library was begun by David Karpeles’. He had a love for old documents and began a collection which ended up being placed in about a dozen libraries in the United States.

Karpeles closing week. Grandson and I visited to find a metal detector scanning premises.

Jacksonville’s library was housed in the old 1921 building built by Marsh and Saxelbye once was used for First Church of Christ in Springfield. David Karpeles died in January of 2022. The Jacksonville location closed in January of 2023 as will others around the country while Karpeles’ daughter, Cheryl Alleman, and her brother, Mark Karpeles downsize and reorganize. It has been reported they will go from 15 manuscript libraries to 10 over time.

Manuscripts laying on the stage the week of closing.

For thirty years, Jacksonvillians and guests could visit and find rare and authentic documents such as the first printing of the Ten Commandments from the Gutenberg Bible (c 1455), the famous E=MC2 formula by Einstein, the original manuscript of Roget’s Thesaurus, the sheet music of the Wedding March, Abraham Lincoln’s signature of 1861, the Apollo Translunar trajectory plotting America’s space flight and more. Through the years manuscripts were transferred from one library to another rotating the authentic pieces so many could view them in glass cases.

10 Commandments first printed by Gutenburg Press

Taxation without Representation document

The library opened in Jacksonville in 1992 and closed its doors here in January of 2023. I am told there is a small library nearby that can be visited. It is being touted as “the smallest walk-in-museum in the United States” and is located in the Nation’s oldest city, St. Augustine.

Mini Museum in St. Augustine, Florida-Opened 2023

You should check it out. I’m going to….

See you tomorrow,

Nan

Location:

St Augustine location for Karpeles Mini Museum-

St George’s Row- Unit L

106 St. George St.

St Augustine, Fl 32084

9:am-10:00 pm daily

FREE

Old location of the Jacksonville Karpeles-101 West 1st Street ( formerly 1116 North Laura Street)

Category: Buildings, History, Random Posts, Things to Do, Visit This | LEAVE A COMMENT

March 12

Geocaching or Treasure Hunting From Your Phone

We found a geocache in the log box of the NASA shuttle fuel tank…

Many of you like to treasure hunt. Geocaching is the new treasure hunting event. In a nutshell, you create an account with Geocaching or another app that offers treasure hunting by phone and you follow treasure hunters in your area who put out different treasures. Some offer free stuff, others simply allow you to find the treasure and login by writing your geocache name. Generally, a pen or pencil is left at the geocache site with a login paper in a secure, box or container.

We wrote our geocache name inside the geocache paper left inside the container…(We left a bracelet).

It’s really a lot of fun. Recently, we visited the external fuel tank from NASA just outside of Duval County City limits in Green Cove Springs. While we were there looking, we happened upon a geocache in a box at the foot of the external tank. While we did not look it up, we did sign the log in the box and logged in to confirm we were there.

You need a geocache account and name to login your visit…

You can do this too. Some geocache apps are free while others cost to be a member. Google geocache and go from there. It’s really neat and definitely an adventure every time you try to find the treasures. Geocaching is world-wide now so you can go to most any town, state or country and find different geocaches.

See you tomorrow,

Nan

Geocache . com or other apps that provide the same service. Some are free. Others are paid subscription.

Category: Family, Things to Do, Visit This | LEAVE A COMMENT