Somewhere about the age of 7 we moved into our Crystal Springs home. Our parents were the kind that would do what they could do themselves to save money. They were not people of means so saving money was important. They both wanted more not less in life so they both equally worked hard to do themselves what many would have the money to do using contractors and the like.
Alec and Geneva Vaughan bought the property on Crystal Springs road in the 1960’s. It was a 10 acre undeveloped plot on the Westside of the city. My father worked as a Civil Service worker so he didn’t make more than government wages. Mama was a stay-at-home Mom; totally her focus.
She was known to shop at the thrift stores and could be found on the bent aisle area trying to save a buck. The thing was, that both of my parents had visions of grandeur. They both wanted certain things in life and besides a Christian home, which was number one, it was to live life to the fullest.
Sometime after purchasing the land, building a home(Jim Walter) and starting a tiny( 2 cows, 1 horse, 5 chickens) farm, they decided to build their own pool and all this while Daddy worked full time with the Navy. With shovel in hand for every member of the family, we dug our own pool. We did. Over time, we carved out of the soil of Duval County property, a 20 x 40 sized Olympic pool with filter and all. It was rectangle, built directly behind our home and had a depth from 3-6 1/2 feet.
Many parties and events were held with that swimming pool. Stay tuned because there is more.
For some time now I’ve been noticing a train logo flag with the name “Rail Yard District”. I rode the neighborhood and turns out it’s west of downtown in the Beaver Street, near the train depot and convention centre area. It includes such addresses as:
The old Farmers Market 1810 West Beaver Street, Jacksonville, Florida 32209
Eco Relics, a salvage store living in a former rail depot.-106 Stockton Street, Jacksonville, Florida 32204
Shot gun houses east of the viaduct on the North side of Beaver Street.
The actual “rail yard”.
The old viaduct and rail yard with trains n’ all, east of the Farmers Market on west Beaver Street.
There are some 75-100 businesses in this area and although much of the area has been neglected since the 1970’s, its making a come back with new business and opportunity.
Visiting 1810 Beaver Street was a treat while growing up. Our small family lived on Lowell Avenue only a couple of miles from the market. We spent many a day there, picking up fruit, tasting the samples provided and walking away with greens and corn for a Sunday dinner.
Farmers Market photo
The Farmers Market is one of the oldest markets in Florida. It began in 1938. From dawn to dusk you can find vendors of all kinds selling produce, including honey, corn, onions, greens, watermelons, oranges, apples, berries, squash, a variety of beans, sugar cane, and more. On Apple Maps, it indicates the hours to be 7am-5pm. This is a big man’s delight and a dieters haven. In 2019, the Jacksonville Farmers Market won the “Jax Best” seal so congrats and with that it touts having over a million visitors each year.
1938-ish. Fl Memory
It’s located in the Rail Yard District on West Beaver Street. Back-in-the-day, one of my best friend’s family, the Napoli’s had a bay. We spent a lot of time helping set up things, shine the produce and sit and wait for customers. Well, mostly we played. Ha! Fun times though, for sure.
Visit Jacksonville indicates that the “Where Jacksonville Begins” has the “largest urban park system in the entire nation”. Wow! Be proud fellow citizens. Jacksonville already is known for being the largest city by landmass in the U. S. A. , for having the beautiful St. Johns River where “The Cowford” began in 1822(former name of Jax) and has about 25 mies of sandy white beaches. So Jacksonville is quite the city! To add to its beauty, it has an extensive park system.
Emerald Trail
Here is a short list of these destinations:
Fort Caroline National Park, Kingsley Plantation, Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, Huguenot Memorial Park, Riverside Park, Memorial Park Stockton Park, Losco Regional Park, Mandarin Park, Riverside Park, Talbot Islands State Parks including Little Talbot and Big Talbot, Dutton Island Preserve, Yellow Bluff Fort, Fort George State Park, Hannah Park, Fort Family Regional Park (Baymeadows), James Weldon Johnson Park (Formerly Hemming Park).
Now, That’s something to brag about but wait until this is added! By 2029 an almost 30 mile park will be added to that list. Called, “ The Emerald Trail”, it will span in and around the city turning and wind along paths, transform dead spots, vacant areas, shared bike paths, travel under bridges, by the river and more.
Hogans Creek
Those involved, along with the city government is Path Foundation, JTC Running, Kaizen landscaping, Giving Forward Community Endowment, Community Foundation and even individual donors like you.
Hogan Street
Places that you’ve known before as eye sores will be transformed into beautiful flora and fauna and in a matter of hours you will be able to bike, walk or trail this new Jacksonville park.
Pay attention. That park may wind by your home or school. It is is slated as a park to encourage “healthy lifestyles” and will be a touchstone to 17 schools, 17 parks, Hogans Creek, McCoys Creek, downtown Jacksonville and the St. Johns River.
McCoy’s Creek
Not an ordinary park for a unique city.
Northbank near Waters St.
See you tomorrow,
Sources- Emerald Trail photo- JTC Running, Visit Jacksonville, Giving Forward, Community Foundation, Kaizen, Path Foundation
This week, I visited the First Baptist Church of Augusta. It was the site of the founding church of the Southern Baptist Convention. Also visited was the first Baptist Church in Georgia which is in Appling.The interesting thing about both is that they tie to Jacksonville; sort of….
The First Baptist Church of Augusta, located at 802 Greene Street began in 1817 with a “Praying Society”. It expanded and in 1821 a brick building was dedicated . The fellowship continued and in 1845, the Southern Baptist Convention was established. A historical marker is outside of the church with this inscription:
In March 1817, eight men and two women meeting in an Augusta home formed “The Baptist Praying Society of Augusta” – the forerunner of the First Baptist Church. Two months later the society was constituted a church under the leadership of the first minister, Wm. T. Brantley, this property was purchased in 1870. A church on this site was dedicated May 26, 1821. In 1845, after serious friction arose in the national Triennial Convention, 327 delegates from eight southern states and the District of Columbia met here to form the Southern Baptist Convention. This building was erected in 1902.
The first Baptist Church of Georgia, Kioke Baptist Church, is located in Appllng, outside of Augusta. It began with a meeting house in 1772 with the Rev. Daniel Marshall as pastor. It held church meetings at least 45 years before the First Baptist Church of Augusta
In Jacksonville, Florida, there is a historic building at 218 West Church Street less than a block from the Historic Hobson, the First Baptist Church, built after the Great Fire of Jacksonville. The “Florida Baptist Building” was designed by the Jacksonville famous, Henry John Klutho. In January of 1984, it was designation a U. S. National Register of Historic Places. It is now being repurposed to have apartments and living quarters for residents. It was there that Southern Baptist Convention business was conducted, newspapers for the Southern Baptist Convention were written and more.The photo below is the original rendering by Klutho.(credit:unknown).
When Kioke Church, the oldest Baptist church in Georgia, built its beautiful current facility, it asked the Southern Baptist Convention founding Church, the First Baptist Church of Augusta which was in disrepair since they changed their facility to another location, to give them some of the stained class windows from their former church in downtown Augusta. They did and today, those beautiful windows can be seen in their lovely facility in Appling, Georgia. The former church where the Southern Baptist Church was formed is in total disrepair but their former windows are seen in beautiful display in Appling.
In Jacksonville, The building once used by the Southern Baptist Convention in Jacksonville, which through the years has moved to another location in Duval County, is being repurposed to house others and create living and retail space.
In all, the Church is alive and well although the facilities have changed, God remains The I AM.
After selling the property in Nanville in 2022, which was part of the old Seymour and Maria Pickett land grant of 1812, I took a few pics of the items left inside of the small 3 br, 1 ba block house. Most items were household things including pots and pans, furniture, personal times including a bed, stove, and refrigerator.
But leaving behind a Weber Piano? Wow! There was no date on this item but in looking up the new versions, they cost upwards, $14,000. I could not get in close enough to look for a series number but I’m sure it had one.
The Weber Piano Company was one that manufactured pianos in New York City beginning in the 19th century. The company went out of business in 1985 and it was sold to Young Chang of South Korea and later sold again to Samsung Group.
The piano now sitting on the famous land grant property of the Pickett’s(now in a Nanville home) was a “Weber”, the lower end of the piano brand. The other photo provided shows an upper brand called the “Albert Weber.”
Albert Weber was born in Bavaria in 1929. At the age of 16 he emigrated to the United States holding his first job as an apprentice of Charles J. Holder, a piano builder.
Weber went on build his own piano company selling pianos in Manhattan, NY. Weber died in June of 1879. His piano brand lives on and yes, in Nanville.
I don’t know what will happen to the piano. I wonder if the builders will demolish the house with it inside? I’ll try to keep you posted.
After my Father passed away, we were at the home place cleaning and straightening when a wild looking schnauzer-type dog ran up. She was dirty, matted and frightened. We could not catch her, yet she wanted to be caught. There was no petting her, though she wanted to be stroked. It took a couple of days to lure her to us. We fed her and when I left the first day, gave food to a neighbor to keep her fed until we could figure out what to do with her. I had 3 cats. I did not need another animal.
For the next few visits I determined to wash her and offer her to someone on Facebook. I felt that someone had dropped her off on the long, Crystal Springs Road so giving her a new family would be great. After I listed her photo on Facebook, a woman claimed her and gave me a tongue lashing about offering her to a general audience without trying to find her owner. That actually never crossed my mind as It was obvious (in my mind) she had been dumped.
This woman contacted the police and told them that I had her dog and would not release her. Through a turn of events, a police woman called and we met at a vet on St. Augustine Road in my city where the dog could be checked for a chip. There was no chip thus the puppy did not belong to her as she indicated her puppy had a chip. The police officer released the dog to me and I’ve had her since 2015. It is believed she was about 6 then making her about 13 now. She’s beginning to show signs of age, plus she’s blind and deaf. Her life is often a bit challenging.
I have an outdoor Russian Blue male cat who cannot be trusted around Puppy. Just last week, after cutting Puppy’s hair , she stepped off of the front porch to shake and stretch. Hardly before she got down the walkway, the large and very strong cat rolled her before I could get to her causing wounds and hurt feelings. Poor Puppy.
She has been lost twice and thankfully, both times she made way to the safe arms of a good Samaritan. The first time was about a year ago when she went out to piddle. Somehow, she got turned around and ended up through a long patch of woods to the neighborhood next door. A family kept her a week and finally turned her into the animals shelter where they posted her photo and I found her and quickly got her home. At that time, I realized she cannot go outside alone at all.
The most recent loss was when I went to Augusta to spend time with family and left her with a caregiver. She somehow got out and ended up a quarter of a mile from home where at 7 AM she was found in the middle of a busy road, lost and confused.
Even being out of town, I took to the internet posting her photo on multiple sites. When that happens, animal lovers unite and if an animal can be found, it is… Such was the case. By midnight, when I received a call from the vet in Mandarin, I learned she had been found and was sleeping “curled up” and safe. She is now in her own bed…happy and safe.
See you tomorrow,
Category: Animals | Comments Off on “Dog of 9 Lives”.
Beginning in 1984, I began purchasing at least 7 pieces of the Seymour and Maria Pickett land grant dating back to 1808. In a matter of time, I had my own “Ville”; “Nanville”. At this time, it is still in existence with population, 29.
Mr. Pickett was at the right place at the right time. Land was being given alway in the 1800’s. According to Jean Mizell, writer of “The Pickett Family”, Seymour had a way of “petitioning” to the government and being awarded land grants. He had already received a grant in 1803 after his former wife had been lost in a shipwreck. Then he purchased land in Fernandina somewhere around 1804 and was living in East Florida . By the time Jacksonville became a town in 1821 he was again petitioning the government again, as the Indians were pillaging and burning down the countryside and he had been affected.
Specialty Tree on Pickettville- Nanville property-Ramey land(Sibbald Land Grant)
Somewhere around 1812, due to this loss at the hands of Indians he received 640 acres on Sibbald’s Tract in Duval County, Florida. He and his family settled there and it became what we know as Picketville. That brings us to Nanville, which is located near the crossroads of Old Kings Road and Lane Avenue.
In 1984, I decided to purchase an almost 3 acre piece of this beautiful, majestic land. It was full of oak trees, flora and fauna and was located south of Lane Avenue on Jacks Road. It was the beginning of Nanville which would grow to at least 9 parcels by 2022.
While Nanville is a small area, it is significant and part of the Sibbald Tract as well, with 7 small purchases bounded by Lane Avenue, McDuff, Interstate 10 and Old Kings Road. My neighbor on the Jacks Road property was Cecil Overton Pickett, also known as “Gator”. On his tomb stone it is written of him: “The last of a rare breed. A man of integrity whose word was his bond. He was loved and will forever be remembered”. He was born in June of 1926 and died November 9, 2005 at the age of 79. You can see his old Pickett house in the background.
In 2022, a portion of the property was sold to a land developer who is currently clearning the area, cutting the majestic trees and making way for a full neighbourhood of homes. The Picketville and Nanville area is certain to change as Jacks Road and Old Kings are making way to the loss of the old way of life which included barns, cows, livestock, farms and wagons, to the hustle and bustle of this new century with automobiles including the new electric ones, cell phones and security cameras. I do hope those people plant trees, flora and fauna and keep their dogs and cats. We need something of the old way of life. Oh, and I hope they trust God too. He will be needed going forward.
I still own parcels of the Sibbald land grant but none as beautiful as the land Gator Pickett and I managed on Jacks Road. Notice the tree tags which will bring a pretty penny to the buyer. The tag says, “Specialty”. Indeed.
The last time I did not put money in the meter, I was parked in front of my church and just knew no one would be checking “in front of a church” for goodness sake. But, low and behold, I got a $15 ticket of which I paid right away.
Today, I used my Visa card and plunked down $1.00 for 30 minutes. I knew my meeting would be longer but the meter would not allow me to add more minutes. Yes, I went forward with only 30 min. on the meter. I returned to NO TICKET, so yay.
During my young years, we spent a lot of time with my grandparents, Lula and Clifford Long, who lived on Fitzgerald Street between what is now Interstate 10 and Beaver Street. My grandfather, Clifford Long came to Jacksonville to get a job which prompted the entire family to come here and make Duval County home. We all have loved Jacksonville and do to this day.
Papa worked on the Liberty ships which were located on the St. Johns River. My grandmother was a stay-at-home Mom. They lived on Aberdeen Street in the Riverside area most of their early time here in Jacksonville later moving to the Lackawanna area sometime in the late 1940’s.
Both Clifford and Lula were members of the First Baptist Church, a life-changing experience for both of them but mostly for my grandfather according to his own testimony. They could be found in the Hobson Auditorium on Sunday morning, nights and Wednesday, also attending other events which strengthened their faith in Christ.
I am a member of First Baptist because my grandparents were once there. When I returned from college, I went to First and over time, joined.
Grandparents have great influence on their family members. I’m thankful for mine. You?
( I had to just smile when I loaded the photo of my grandparents. Such love is there…)
