Advertisement
Published: January 17th 2020
Edit Blog Post
We spent Thursday doing a grand tour. We left the cg around 11 and caught the local ferry that crosses the St John’s River almost at its mouth. The $7 for one way ticket saves about 30 miles. Beautiful views from the ferry and even more beautiful views from the tall overpasses crossing the marshes on the opposite shore. I have been this way before, but coming from north to south, many years ago when I had my small Class B. The inlet is wide and looks very shallow. It looks like it could be a dangerous surfers paradise, We saw fishermen and horse back riders along the beach. There are 2 large state parks here, Big and Little Talbot, and I know I have camped at least at one.
We stopped along the way at Kingsley Plantation, another National Park and got my stamp!! The plantation at its peak was 1000 acres, between 80-100 slaves. The park now has 60 acres. Major crop was Sea Island cotton, a fiber with long silky strands that is still treasured. They had crops and animals to totally support needs of the residents and slaves. The grounds are meticulous with beautiful views of
the marshes. The original 1000 acres is now all overgrown with the usual pines, oak, palms, sweetgum, magnolias. I found it incredible how dense it was in just a little over 100 years. Continuing on, the road hugs the coast thru the state park forests of pine, oak, and various palms. Civilization returns when we enter Amelia Island, a fancy resort area reminiscent of Hilton Head with large mansions along the ocean and ultra large high-end hotels and golf courses. We passed the entrance to Fort Clinch, which I mistakenly thought was a National Park. I did get a stamp, but it was a State Park stamp.
We took a quick drive thru the historic downtown area of Fernandina Beach and selected a restaurant along the water and sat outside enjoying the boats and pelicans and hungry grackles. We visited some shops and made a few purchases, my most notable was a pair of bifocal sunglasses. The bifocals are 1.75 magnification, the sunglasses are polarized brown tint. They are made by an environmentally friendly company that donates part of the sale to planet environmental issues. See picture. We took the long way home. It truly was a beautiful day
with lots of good sights, and I managed to stay on my diet all day!
The 16
th I spent putzing around. My cell phone data plan ran out of data, so for the last 2 days I have been limping along on slow speed waiting for the new plan month to start on the 16
th. I read all the plans many times and opted for a high usage plan that will cost me $30 more a month. Considering I am saving $120/month on my vacation mode home Cable/internet, I figured I would splurge. In addition to unlimited data, well kind of, it offers high hotspot usage. Before I left home, I downloaded some PRIME movies and TV series, and am now watching The Kettering Incident. An Australian offering, very strange, very weird.
Here’s the history lesson, mostly from Wikipedia but other sources thrown in. About 9 paragraphs.
We are very close to Mayport, a large Naval installation. We constantly are being buzzed by helicopters and low flying jets. It also is a cruise ship port and ship building yard. Mayport's history began with the Timucuan Indians, who lived in what is now the southeastern United States for
more than 5,000 years. These Indians developed a high level of technological achievement compared to other North American Indian cultures. Their lifestyles were recorded by Jacques Le Moyne, an artist who accompanied French explorer Jean Ribault.
When Ribault arrived to explore the area of Mayport and the St. Johns River of Northeast Florida, his landing site was Batten Island, across from present day Mayport Village. Ribault entered the river on the first day of May in 1562 with three ships. Upon Ribault's arrival he was met by the Timucuans, led by Chief Satouriba. After a short settlement, the French were expelled by a Spanish force from St. Augustine. Spain then ruled Florida until 1821 when it was ceded to the United States. Remember that part from the other day when we visited Fort Caroline and the Timucua historic site? Historians have no recorded date for the original settlement of Mayport Village. The suggested dates range from 1562 when the French first settled to 1828 when the area really began to grow. Early settlers of Mayport came from France, Portugal and the island of Minorca. These people were fishermen and they thrived due to the close proximity of the continental
shelf and large quantities of fish.
Fishing has been the major economic base for the Village, but in the early days Mayport also supported itself through the lumber industry. Mayport Mills was the name of the fishing village until the end of the Civil War. Mayport was also a well known resort town during the 1800s, gaining a bold reputation with its hotels, prize fighters and taverns. Tourists from Jacksonville would cruise down the St. Johns River for a scenic ride along the Mayport coast. Boats would then dock and the passengers would dine or stay overnight.
Until 1899, boat transportation was the major access into and out of Mayport. Since Mayport was important for incoming and outgoing cargo, the Jacksonville and Atlantic Railroad was built to connect Mayport with Jacksonville. A railroad dock was then built where cargo would be transshipped inland. The fishing village became semi-isolated until World War II with the construction of the U.S. Naval Air Station.
The station was commissioned in December 1942. It was reclassified as a
Naval Sea Frontier base in 1943. Both were closed after the war. In June 1948, Mayport was reestablished as a naval outlying landing field. The base
area was increased to 1,680 acres and the runway was extended in the mid 1950s.
USS Tarawa became the first
capital ship to use the new
aircraft carrier basin in October 1952. The base was renamed back to a Naval Auxiliary Air Station in July 1955. The naval station was extended to accommodate more ships, sailors and their families and redesignated as a
naval air station in 1988.
NS Mayport has grown to become the third-largest naval surface fleet concentration area in the United States. The station has a busy harbor capable of accommodating 34 ships and an 8,001-foot runway capable of handling most aircraft in the Department of Defense inventory.
Naval Station Mayport is also home to the Navy's
United States Fourth Fleet, reactivated in 2008 after being deactivated in 1950.
The base has historically served as the homeport to various conventionally powered aircraft carriers of the United States Atlantic Fleet. With the decommissioning of all conventionally-powered aircraft carriers by the U.S. Navy, no carriers are presently assigned to Mayport. However, both houses of
Congress have passed legislation authorizing about $75 million for dredging and upgrades at NAVSTA Mayport to accommodate a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.
Tomorrow I will spend cleaning and breaking camp and getting ready for the move to Thousand Trails Orlando/Clermont.
Kat out.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.087s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 14; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0356s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb