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I've spent a lot of time reading thru the city data forum to get as much info as possible for our recent scouting trip to the Jacksonville area. Many thanks to all of the frequent contributors here. Although I don't think I'm gonna shed any new light on how the area is perceived in any way, I do enjoy reading peoples first impressions on an area and their opinions. So I'll give you mine.
First of all, I am looking at a move in about 2 years so I'll make another trip or 2 in the mean time to become more familiar with the area. We are a family of 4 with 2 little ones (3 and >1). That being said our top priority is putting them in a family oriented area with good schools. Next I will be working north of Jacksonville so commute time is a factor. Next priority would be proximity to the beach. I mean really this is and the weather are why my wife and I want to move back to FL (used to live in South FL, would never raise kids there). We narrowed our search on this trip to the St. Johns county area (Julington Creek area), The Beaches and Fernandina Beach.
So it was pretty tough to navigate anywhere around the Julington Creek and Durbin Crossing areas without running into kids of all ages. They were everywhere, and not all too surprising to me based on the ratings of the schools in St Johns co. We went to the rec area??? (place with the giant pool, basketball, skate park, gym, etc..) at Julington. That was pretty cool. Literally hundreds of kids having a blast, and very well kept. The homes were cookie cutter I'd say for the most part. If we were trying to actually find a certain place within the community I could see getting lost pretty easily. We didn't go to the shopping area but from what I've read here, they pretty much have all of the basics right there. I didn't really get to check out the golf course but having it there is a definite plus for me. It looks like they are in the process of building a hospital right there on Racetrack so that's a plus. Cons for us were drive time, for me about an hour. Plus we left there thinking it was very typical suburbia. Not that that is the worst thing in the world but I think we are looking for different. To the beach it was also around 30 minutes or so.
Next we checked out the beaches. Here's where we spent the least amount of time so forgive me if these are short sided views. I was reminded of areas in Clearwater Beach. Maybe not as touristy as Clearwater but certainly it seemed like a tourist trap/snowbird area, specifically Jax beach. Don't get me wrong the touristy areas were very nice. The parts that weren't so touristy just made me think "busy big city." It is a busy big city so that was nothing too unexpected. We didn't get to spend too much time at the beach either because Hurricane Sandy was coming through and it was quite windy. We will certainly go back and give this area another look on the next trip.
We spent the most time in Fernandina Beach, as it appealed to me the most doing the research on this forum and other places. I'm personally biased to small town over city living. Going in I was nervous about Fernandina either being a tourist trap and snowbird haven, or a hillbilly hell. Quite pleasingly I found the island to be one of those places that reminded me a little bit of what it may have been like to live in the distant past. I found people who wave and say hi to you as you walk by. Not just some of the people, as I have where I live now, but pretty much all of them. I spoke with many of the locals, some just walking by while they were doing yard work, and one man working on his car in his garage. I was given a pretty good idea of life on Fernandina Beach. I came away with a good sense of community, a good mix of age group and what seemed like a place where the locals take care of each other. We toured the island basically in it's entirety. The south end is absolutely gorgeous. I observed and was told many times, this is where the majority of the snowbirds and tourists linger. The north end of the island I thought was beautiful as well. Small but great downtown area with some pretty cool historical traits a nice marina The diversity to the island is on the north. All ages, races, richer and poorer. Many families and adequate facilities and services. Based on the Romney/Ryan signs, basically entirely conservative. At one point my wife and I counted and came up with 2 Obama supporters vs. 20something Romney's. That to me is a con. I consider myself very moderate. I live in an area that is the exact opposite and don't care for that either. It is what it is though and to me comes down to the people and our first visit was very impressive! There are tourists everywhere, no escaping that. I was told the island gets flooded with them a few times per year but for the most part it didn't get any worse than what I saw while I was there. What I didn't walk away feeling was that this was a Sanibel/Captiva, Siesta key type tourist driven island without a real soul to it. Other cons: The paper mills and logging trucks. Paper mills are barely noticeable unless you're at the marina, the logging trucks were all over. Other than that I couldn't find too much that I would consider unappealing.
So there ya go. I'm sure I missed a lot but that's why it's called a first impression. I think next time we'll check out the beaches some more and get to a few more areas in the city.
I've spent a lot of time reading thru the city data forum to get as much info as possible for our recent scouting trip to the Jacksonville area. Many thanks to all of the frequent contributors here. Although I don't think I'm gonna shed any new light on how the area is perceived in any way, I do enjoy reading peoples first impressions on an area and their opinions. So I'll give you mine.
First of all, I am looking at a move in about 2 years so I'll make another trip or 2 in the mean time to become more familiar with the area. We are a family of 4 with 2 little ones (3 and >1). That being said our top priority is putting them in a family oriented area with good schools. Next I will be working north of Jacksonville so commute time is a factor. Next priority would be proximity to the beach. I mean really this is and the weather are why my wife and I want to move back to FL (used to live in South FL, would never raise kids there). We narrowed our search on this trip to the St. Johns county area (Julington Creek area), The Beaches and Fernandina Beach.
So it was pretty tough to navigate anywhere around the Julington Creek and Durbin Crossing areas without running into kids of all ages. They were everywhere, and not all too surprising to me based on the ratings of the schools in St Johns co. We went to the rec area??? (place with the giant pool, basketball, skate park, gym, etc..) at Julington. That was pretty cool. Literally hundreds of kids having a blast, and very well kept. The homes were cookie cutter I'd say for the most part. If we were trying to actually find a certain place within the community I could see getting lost pretty easily. We didn't go to the shopping area but from what I've read here, they pretty much have all of the basics right there. I didn't really get to check out the golf course but having it there is a definite plus for me. It looks like they are in the process of building a hospital right there on Racetrack so that's a plus. Cons for us were drive time, for me about an hour. Plus we left there thinking it was very typical suburbia. Not that that is the worst thing in the world but I think we are looking for different. To the beach it was also around 30 minutes or so.
Next we checked out the beaches. Here's where we spent the least amount of time so forgive me if these are short sided views. I was reminded of areas in Clearwater Beach. Maybe not as touristy as Clearwater but certainly it seemed like a tourist trap/snowbird area, specifically Jax beach. Don't get me wrong the touristy areas were very nice. The parts that weren't so touristy just made me think "busy big city." It is a busy big city so that was nothing too unexpected. We didn't get to spend too much time at the beach either because Hurricane Sandy was coming through and it was quite windy. We will certainly go back and give this area another look on the next trip.
We spent the most time in Fernandina Beach, as it appealed to me the most doing the research on this forum and other places. I'm personally biased to small town over city living. Going in I was nervous about Fernandina either being a tourist trap and snowbird haven, or a hillbilly hell. Quite pleasingly I found the island to be one of those places that reminded me a little bit of what it may have been like to live in the distant past. I found people who wave and say hi to you as you walk by. Not just some of the people, as I have where I live now, but pretty much all of them. I spoke with many of the locals, some just walking by while they were doing yard work, and one man working on his car in his garage. I was given a pretty good idea of life on Fernandina Beach. I came away with a good sense of community, a good mix of age group and what seemed like a place where the locals take care of each other. We toured the island basically in it's entirety. The south end is absolutely gorgeous. I observed and was told many times, this is where the majority of the snowbirds and tourists linger. The north end of the island I thought was beautiful as well. Small but great downtown area with some pretty cool historical traits a nice marina The diversity to the island is on the north. All ages, races, richer and poorer. Many families and adequate facilities and services. Based on the Romney/Ryan signs, basically entirely conservative. At one point my wife and I counted and came up with 2 Obama supporters vs. 20something Romney's. That to me is a con. I consider myself very moderate. I live in an area that is the exact opposite and don't care for that either. It is what it is though and to me comes down to the people and our first visit was very impressive! There are tourists everywhere, no escaping that. I was told the island gets flooded with them a few times per year but for the most part it didn't get any worse than what I saw while I was there. What I didn't walk away feeling was that this was a Sanibel/Captiva, Siesta key type tourist driven island without a real soul to it. Other cons: The paper mills and logging trucks. Paper mills are barely noticeable unless you're at the marina, the logging trucks were all over. Other than that I couldn't find too much that I would consider unappealing.
So there ya go. I'm sure I missed a lot but that's why it's called a first impression. I think next time we'll check out the beaches some more and get to a few more areas in the city.
Glad you enjoyed Fernandina Beach, for us it is home. I think if we were living back in Saint Mary's we would have transferred home by now. It really reminds of of a quieter Newport, RI or Cape Cod. We definetely see a comparison to Westerly, RI or Mystic, Ct which we love.
Politics......................never really involve myself with the aspects of living in locations based on the political climate of the town, but thats me. There are too many other qualities on Amelia Island for me to focus on political beliefs of it's residents. We take our downtown here seriously, along with the natural beauty of the island. There are budget problems here like any town but unless my head is really stuck in the sand I really do not see big political rifts or people really trying for you to jump aboard their political bandwagon be it either party.
Growing up Catholic we really did not have any choice of where to go to church, for better or worse your parish was it unless you went across town. Here in the south I think the church (which ever denomination) plays a bigger part in the social aspect of familys and the communitys they lay in. It seems that it is a much bigger social entity here and you definitely network through them (hope I have not offended anyone...my opinion only)
Our schools are not at the same level as Saint Johns County but I feel they are not too far behind (and Saint Johns County schools seem to have set the bar pretty high).
Glad you enjoyed your time here, sounds like your first impression was a home run! Good luck.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on the area. My husband is interviewing with a company in Jax next week and we do not know much about the area. I appreciated your input especially your perspective on young kids and the area.
I didn't mean to slight republicans. I should know better than to bring up politics . It was simply an observation that I doubt I would've noticed if it weren't right before an election. That certainly has no bearing on whether we move there or not.
...We spent the most time in Fernandina Beach, as it appealed to me the most doing the research on this forum and other places. I'm personally biased to small town over city living. Going in I was nervous about Fernandina either being a tourist trap and snowbird haven, or a hillbilly hell. Quite pleasingly I found the island to be one of those places that reminded me a little bit of what it may have been like to live in the distant past. I found people who wave and say hi to you as you walk by. Not just some of the people, as I have where I live now, but pretty much all of them. I spoke with many of the locals, some just walking by while they were doing yard work, and one man working on his car in his garage. I was given a pretty good idea of life on Fernandina Beach. I came away with a good sense of community, a good mix of age group and what seemed like a place where the locals take care of each other. We toured the island basically in it's entirety. The south end is absolutely gorgeous. I observed and was told many times, this is where the majority of the snowbirds and tourists linger. The north end of the island I thought was beautiful as well. Small but great downtown area with some pretty cool historical traits a nice marina The diversity to the island is on the north. All ages, races, richer and poorer. Many families and adequate facilities and services. Based on the Romney/Ryan signs, basically entirely conservative. At one point my wife and I counted and came up with 2 Obama supporters vs. 20something Romney's. That to me is a con. I consider myself very moderate. I live in an area that is the exact opposite and don't care for that either. It is what it is though and to me comes down to the people and our first visit was very impressive! There are tourists everywhere, no escaping that. I was told the island gets flooded with them a few times per year but for the most part it didn't get any worse than what I saw while I was there. What I didn't walk away feeling was that this was a Sanibel/Captiva, Siesta key type tourist driven island without a real soul to it. Other cons: The paper mills and logging trucks. Paper mills are barely noticeable unless you're at the marina, the logging trucks were all over. Other than that I couldn't find too much that I would consider unappealing.
So there ya go. I'm sure I missed a lot but that's why it's called a first impression. I think next time we'll check out the beaches some more and get to a few more areas in the city.
Nassau County/Fernandina Beach do not have a lot of services unless you're accustomed to next to nothing. There are lots of snowbirds or people with vacation homes there because it's pretty close to JAX. It went 73% for Romney this election (not sure why that would matter to anyone - but - if it matters to you - be aware that just about all of NE Florida is extremely blue). Note that in most areas of NE Florida (or the whole state of Florida for that matter) - when you talk about "diversity" - you're talking about places where you would most likely not want to have your kids in public schools. Here are the Florida school ratings:
The area does have tourists - but certainly not as many as Sanibel/Captiva or similar places during high season (note that high season in south Florida is the winter - up here in NE Florida - it's the spring and fall).
As for paper mills - they don't stink as much as they used to. But - in the winter - the stench can even make it down here to St. Johns County on very cold days. Don't know what it's like up there.
Finally - just about all of us here in NE Florida are hurricane exposed (those of us in places like Ponte Vedra Beach and Fernandina Beach are more exposed than people inland). If you're not used to the costs of coastal living in "hurricane country" - it's something you should look into IMO. Robyn
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The diversity to the island is on the north. All ages, races, richer and poorer. Many families and adequate facilities and services. Based on the Romney/Ryan signs, basically entirely conservative. At one point my wife and I counted and came up with 2 Obama supporters vs. 20something Romney's. That to me is a con. I consider myself very moderate. I live in an area that is the exact opposite and don't care for that either. It is what it is though and to me comes down to the people and our first visit was very impressive! There are tourists everywhere, no escaping that. I was told the island gets flooded with them a few times per year but for the most part it didn't get any worse than what I saw while I was there. What I didn't walk away feeling was that this was a Sanibel/Captiva, Siesta key type tourist driven island without a real soul to it. Other cons: The paper mills and logging trucks. Paper mills are barely noticeable unless you're at the marina, the logging trucks were all over. Other than that I couldn't find too much that I would consider unappealing. 
. It was simply an observation that I doubt I would've noticed if it weren't right before an election. That certainly has no bearing on whether we move there or not.
