Florida Exit 373 - Exploring the Past and Present of North East Florida

In the late 1800’s Northeast Florida was the place to be.  Henry Flagler had completed his Florida East Coast Railway to St. Augustine where he built grand hotels.  Tourists streamed in from the north lured by the pleasant whether and, of course, the beaches.  The City of Jacksonville benefited from the boom as well and by the turn of the century it was a busy metropolis and the largest city in Florida by population and had some twenty-nine thousand residents.  Downtown Jacksonville was alive with commerce and entertainment.  Construction of the largest railroad station south of Washington DC was well underway.  The city also ran one of the first electric streetcar systems in the south. Then, on May 3, 1901 tragedy struck.  The Cleveland Fiber Factory was in the business of supplying Spanish moss to be used as a filling for cushions and mattresses.  Part of the process involved laying out the moss to dry.  Because moss is highly flammable, small fires were not uncommon and

Nearly everyone in North East Florida is familiar with David Levy Yulee.  At least they think they are.  He is well known as the father of the first cross-Florida railroad connecting Fernandina Beach to Cedar Key.  There is a statue of Yulee in front of the historic Fernandina Beach railroad station.  Just across the bridge, on the mainland, there is even a town, Yulee, named after him. So who was David Levy Yulee?  Was he the enterprising visionary who built the Florida Railroad, connecting the Atlantic Ocean with the Gulf of Mexico ?  Was he the savvy political leader who became the first Jewish person elected as a United States Senator?  Or, was Yulee a scoundrel and slave owner who used his political ties to gain personal wealth?  Was he a forceful voice for the secession of the Southern States who did not take up arms himself in the Civil War?  Was David Yulee a traitor? David Levy Yulee may have been all of these things and more. Read More About David Yulee and Other Cha

  North East Florida today is a beautiful place to live or visit.   Its picturesque beaches, extensive system of natural waterways, along with sprawling wetlands and pine forests, make North East Florida a top destination for nature lovers.   With a temperate climate (by Florida standards anyway) and a unique coastline indentation that has protected it from most major hurricanes, North East Florida is blessed with natural features that draw vacationers and full time transplants alike.   It took many millions of years to get that way. Approximately 300 to 500 million years ago what is now the  Florida   Peninsula  was part of a vast super-continent known as Pangea. At that time, the region that is now  Florida  was positioned much closer to the equator, situated near the southern edge of Pangea. The landmass faced numerous geological events, including volcanic activity, mountain building, and shifting of tectonic plates. One of the defining characteristics of what would become Nor

Today, North East Florida and South Georgia are closely linked by economy and culture.  Some even call Jacksonville “the capital of South Georgia .” Residents of both states travel frequently across the St. Marys River that defines the border.  Both have cultures that are more similar to each other than they are to other regions of their respective states.  There is an old saying, “The further North you go in Florida , the more Southern it becomes.”  This was not always the case. When we think of the Revolutionary War, our minds often turn to key battlegrounds such as Lexington and Concord , Saratoga , or Yorktown . The heroes of these conflicts, their stories and exploits have been etched into our history books.  However, North East Florida also was the site of key battles that had an important impact on the outcome of the war.   While East and West Florida were both British colonies neither was one of the thirteen that seceded in 1776.  Florida ’s neighbor to the north, Geo

Catty Shack is a non-profit wildlife sanctuary located in Jacksonville .  The sanctuary is known for it’s of providing a safe and nurturing environment for big cats and other exotic animals that have been rescued from bad situations.  Since 1994 Catty Shack has been rescuing a wide variety of animals including  tigers, lions, leopards, cougars, bobcats, coatimundis, servals, horses, and foxes. The sanctuary is home to over 40 big cats, many of which were surrendered by private owners or confiscated by authorities due to neglect or abuse. At Catty Shack Ranch, these majestic animals are provided with a loving environment where they can live out the rest of their days in comfort and dignity. The mission of Catty Shack Ranch is (as stated on their website) to provide a safe, loving and forever home to endangered big cats and to educate the public about their plight in the wild and in captivity. Our primary focus is in the rescue of exotic animals from serious situations. Once an animal ar