Jacksonville: Good to the Last Drop

I have some history with Jacksonville, not that I can remember it. When I was a little over two years old my father’s first congregation after graduating from the seminary was to an all black church in Jacksonville. The story goes that the elders of the church took my father on a neighborhood tour of all the bars, dives and pool halls so that the “brothers” would know that the Honky Father was A-OK and not to be messed with. Another family story is that I swapped a white baby doll for a black baby doll with a little girl in the congregation but I don’t remember that at all and we were only in Jacksonville for about a year or two at most.

The city is huge. At about 850 square miles (plus or minus, depending on your source), it’s the largest city by area in the lower 48 states and the 11^th largest in population. There is a lot of diverse industry and businesses so I would give this city an A for potential job opportunities. Maxwell House Coffee is headquartered here, along with CSX, Winn-Dixie Stores, Stein Mart, Huckins Yacht Corporation, the Jacksonville Jaguars, many banks and hospitals, along with the military.

Speaking of the Jaguars, the owners of the team personally bankrolled the renovation of The John Gorrie, a 1930s school building, into a delightful condominium complex and they had just opened it to the market in late June. No two of the 68 units are alike in layout, but all were decorated with the same color palette, cabinetry and appliances. The ceilings had to be 20 feet high and the windows were almost floor to ceiling. All Bill could think about was the cost of draperies! I was most impressed with The John Gorrie, which was situated in the historic Riverside district, along the Ortega River. Since we started with the best, the housing seemed to go down a bit in quality from The John Gorrie, although I would give area housing in general a B+ at this point.

We visited six marinas, some for just a few minutes as it was obvious they did not have the amenities we’re so spoiled with at the Fox Chapel Yacht Club, but there were three we spent a fair amount of time at and feel that the Marina at Ortega Landing is pretty classy. It includes a nearly empty condominium on the property but they ran in excess of $1 million prior to going into bankruptcy! The marina has nice concrete floating docks with built-in waste pump-out (yes, that’s important!), a beautiful small pool and a beautiful clubhouse, including a small laundry facility.

The Ortega River feeds into the St. John’s River which runs through downtown Jacksonville. It’s not terribly affected by the tides, perhaps moving about 18 inches at low tide. Two of the other nearby marinas offer full-service maintenance and fuel so we’ll be able to have the flybridge reassembled and the boat launched should we choose Jacksonville as our final destination. There are no locks and dams on the rivers here, but they do have draw bridges! I guess it doesn't matter whether you're waiting 15 minutes to lock down or pass through, it's all very interesting!

After this whirlwind trip, where we saw more housing than I can keep track of, we are still not decided. There may be another trip in the near future if we can figure out where to find 5-star marinas, affordable quality housing, and a good job market on a river!