Jacksonville, Florida
(modified 7/31/02)
This is much more personal than my other travel web pages, since it is about my life in the town where I was born and raised. These pictures, and my thoughts about them, are mostly from trips that I've made to Jacksonville in the past few years -- those trips are usually about equal parts visiting with family and wandering through old neighborhoods.
First, a little bit about the city itself. Jacksonville is in northeast Florida, about 30 miles south of the Georgia border. Though people frequently say that Florida isn't really Southern, that's not true for north Florida. Generally, north Florida has more in common with neighboring parts of Georgia and Alabama than with south Florida. The TV newscasters have Southern drawls; corn bread, grits, collard greens, and fried chicken are easily available; and the racial divides are immediately visible.
Jacksonville is 18 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, straddles the St. John's River, has many lakes and creeks, and is basically flat -- factors which define the city in many ways. It is uncomfortably hot and humid in the summer -- the average high for July 8, 2001 (the day this was posted) was 91 degrees with 86% humidity. It's so humid that the trees are draped in moss and any untended land becomes quickly overgrown. When it rains, there's nowhere for water to go and the streets flood easily. Go for a walk at midnight, and you'll be soaked in sweat.
Jacksonville has a couple of traits common with San Diego -- a Navy town that grew very rapidly in the past 20-30 years. A downtown that died in the 60's, but is now being revitalized. Neighborhoods that were considered suburban in the 50's and 60's, but are now considered inner city (complete with run-down housing and abandoned strip malls.) And, both sprawl and congestion -- they seem intent on covering every piece of suburban land with either a house, shopping mall, office park, or road.
So, given that, how did Jacksonville affect my life? This is based first on the areas around where I was raised, and then on further out areas that also influenced my life.