Jacksonville on the Rise

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Jacksonville sits on the banks of the beautiful St. Johns River.

Photo Credit: Contributed Photo

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Spend the day sunbathing on Jacksonville Beach

Photo Credit: Jacksonville Beach CVB

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Jacksonville Landing is full of bars, clubs, shops and restaurants.

Photo Credit: Bill Sumner

Modern-day Jacksonville is a hub of business, arts, nature and entertainment. Read about the highlights of the Florida metropolis.

What did I know about Jacksonville? On the surface, I knew of Jacksonville as a center for business, medicine, professional sports and perhaps the Navy. On a journey to dig deeper and discover what gives the city its flavor, I packed a bag and headed there for the weekend. And what did I find? Jacksonville, a hard-working hub of the Southeast, has a casual side that lives just beneath the mirrored shells of its office towers.

If a city is about business, then downtown Jacksonville is the place to start. This city is known for being a business hub, home of the headquarters of Fortune 500 companies including the railroad CSX and the computer firm Modis, which occupies the odd mirrored office tower with a pyramid-shaped base that dominates the skyline.

In recent decades, there has been a push to make the city and its St. Johns riverfront as attractive to visitors as it is to business. It’s working.

It’s a downtown worth seeing. Lucky for me, the city undertook a massive project to build boardwalks on both sides of the river. My first stop? The Northbank Riverwalk, where I spot manatees in the river. I also cannot miss the Jacksonville Transportation Authority’s Skyway, a theme-park worthy eight-station people mover and monorail that offers a dramatic trip across the river. Take the Skyway (a deal at 50 cents) over, and the $3 S.S. Marine Taxi back.

On the Southbank Riverwalk along St. Johns River, I stop in at “MOSH,” the Museum of Science and History (San Marco Station), which overlooks the St. Johns River and boasts a planetarium and ultra-cool marine life exhibits.

In downtown about four blocks from the Riverwalk, Jacksonville’s Museum of Contemporary Art is housed in a renovated six-floor Western Union Telegraph building. MOCA has four rotating exhibition galleries as well as permanent (and eccentric) collections by regional, national and international artists. Eccentric means temporary art shows like “Ramen Noodles,” a yarn sculpture made to look like those 10-for-$1 freeze-dried Asian soups. Thankfully, I find real food at the trendy lunch spot, Café Nola @ MOCA.

Situated across the street from the the Modis tower, The Jacksonville Landing is a “festival marketplace” on the north bank of the St. Johns River. While these marketplaces have not worked in other cities, U-shaped Jacksonville Landing is still home to 30 shops and art galleries, nine restaurants, a two-story nightclub and a large indoor Food Court.

Developed by the late James Rouse (developer of Boston’s Faneuil Hall and considered by many to be the savior of the American downtown), the Landing regularly hosts art festivals, outdoor concerts and special events during holidays and big football games and sporting events. It’s also the spot for civic events including car shows and an annual tree-lighting ceremony.

You’ll want a car to see The Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, which has refined collections of European and American paintings (including a real Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington) and a world-renowned collection of early Meissen porcelain.

Nestled on the river’s banks, the Cummer takes visitors back to Jacksonville’s gilded era. Here, the palatial residences of Jacksonville’s highbrow residents (including that of Ninah and Arthur Cummer) lined the river, once Florida’s main north-south traffic artery. The Cummer is graced by three perfectly manicured formal gardens; the Italian was designed by Ellen Biddle Shipman, an early-20thcentury landscape architect known for her society clients.

A short drive north is the 120-acre Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. The zoo has undergone a complete renovation that includes natural habitats for its 1,500-plus rare Florida, African, Australian, Asian and South American residents. The attraction (really a botanical garden with a zoo inside) offers scheduled keepers talks, an excursion train, horticulture tours, Wildlife Carousel and a very popular children’s Play Park area, where you’ll find the zoo’s newest resident, the Magellanic penguins at their Tuxedo Coast exhibit.

Of course, the main appeal is the exotic animal life, including eight jaguars, the largest collection in the U.S. inside the national award winning Range of the Jaguar South American exhibit.

Jaguars are, of course, a bit of a theme in Jacksonville, as the NFL team is the Jacksonville Jaguars. The zoo’s jaguars have been famous since the late Zorro, a beloved (and quite prodigious) black panther that fathered most of the black jaguars in captivity in the United States. (A note: jaguars do not roar like lions. If you are patient enough, you may hear a heavy, screeching sound.)

Seeking out earthier surroundings also by car, I head to the Jacksonville Farmer’s Market, where I sample local produce at the state’s oldest market (established in 1938). Nothing cutesy here; it’s serious about produce, with more than 200 vendors.

Afterward, I go over to the new St. Johns Town Center, off Route 9-A south of town, for shopping outdoors. (For those in search of urban boutiques, try the San Marco neighborhood just off I-95 near the Baptist Medical Center.)

Later in the day, I finally get to the beach. Following locals’ advice, I stop for libation at Mango’s, a Jacksonville Beach watering hole that prides itself (yes, really) the coldest drinks on the beach.