Little Talbot Island State Park
Little Talbot Island State Park area is located on Jacksonville, Florida’s Northside area. It is a great park to visit for the day or even camp for a weekend or a week. The beachside of the park offers visitors picniking, shelling, hiking, biking, surfing and swimming. The south part of the park on the beach side discourages swimming due to the sudden drop offs and rip-tides. This is the area where the ocean meets the river and can cause some problems for swimmers. Walking along the beach at any time of the year is a great way to get some exercise, find some interesting shells and enjoy the peace that the crashing waves can give you.
There is camping across A1A under the canopy of oak trees and some of the sites are along the creek. You can put in a canoe, kayak or small boat, fish from the little dock or just watch the sunset. The campground sites each have water, electricity, a picnic table and a clothesline. There is also a bathhouse with bathrooms, showers, changing rooms and sinks. There is also a nice little playground for the kids.
In the surrounding area you can visit the Kingsley Plantation and Ribault Historic Club on Ft George Island. Down the road north of Little Talbot is Big Talbot Island with the Grady Fishing Bridge, Kayak Rentals and a picnic area above the bluffs on Nassau Sound. For a full review of the area check out our new website: http://our-great-adventure.whatthehellblog.com/florida-state-parks/little-talbot-island-state-park/ with a movie of the park.
Pictures From Big Talbot, Kingsley Plantation and Ribault Club below:
Bethesda Park
We took a little day trip over the the Bethesda Park and Lodge. This is the only park in Jacksonville that has actual cabins you can rent and at a very reasonable rate. The Lodge part of the name is not what you think it means. They have about 3 double cabins with screened porches and air conditioning. The “Lodge” part is this large building you can rent out that has kitchen and bathroom facilities as well as air conditioning and heat. There are picnic tables outside of the lodge and a barbeque grill. The park is a sanctioned fish management area that allows fishing as well as small boats and canoes on the pond. They have wooden walks and 3 or 4 covered decks that you can fish from. There are limits to what you can fish and there is sign before the walkway area that tells you what they are. Remember this is a fresh spring pond and has catfish, trout and pan fish in stock. Florida requires anyone over 16 to have a fishing license. To find out what the costs are you can go to the Florida State Fish and Wildlife Commissions website.
Sadly, we didn’t catch anything last week. I guess we got a late start. We did enjoy some peace and quiet for a couple of hours. You can still hear the cars rushing by on I-295 though. If you have the time check out this park with you kids.
We took some pictures while we were there. Hope you enjoy them!
Pope Duval Fish Management
I know that I keep posting about parks in the Jacksonville Area but that is probably the only FREE thing still available to the general public. And these parks are a resource for us to use to spend time with our family and friends located close to home. The State of Florida has another park on the Northside called the Pope Duval Fish Management Area located at 13500 Beaver Street Jacksonville FL
My family and I ran across this park while we were cruising around on the Northside looking for new places to picnic and go fishing. This 400 acre park is well worth the drive for those who like to do a quiet spot of fishing or just relaxing in the woods. As with any park the best times to go is during the week if you want to stay out of the crowd. There are several little ponds to fish in with picnic tables, Bar B Q grills, and hiking trails with elevated wooden walkways. We didn’t get a chance to explore the whole area as they haven’t grated most of the dirt roads yet and it started to rain while we were there. We have included some pictures below for you to see what the park looks like and some of the things available for you and your family to enjoy.
Cary State Forest
If you would like to get away from it all to a nice little place that is not frequented by a lot of people you should take a little ride out to Bryceville on the Northwest side of North Jacksonville. The Cary State Forest has primitive Campsites, a shower room and restroom facilities for campers. There is also a Nature Teaching House if you Boy or Girl Scout Troop want to have a learning session. There are trails throughout the park as well as horseback riding trails. You can see what is available on the State of Florida website here: http://www.fl-dof.com/state_Forests/cary.html#rec We enjoyed our time there and look forward to going once again. There wasn’t anyone else there on the day that we went. It was very quiet. The campsites looked to be well maintained but the Shower Room was in the process of being renovated. Hopefully by now they will have finished fixing them. You can contact them to find out the current prices and status of the park at:
Primary Contact
* Devon McFall, Forester
Cary State Forest
Florida Division of Forestry
7465 Pavilion Drive
Bryceville, Florida 32009
Telephone: 904/ 266-5021 (weekends: 904/ 266-5020)
Email Cary State Forest
Secondary Contact
* Todd Knapp, Resource Administrator
Division of Forestry
7247 Big Oaks Road
Bryceville, Florida 32009
Telephone: 904/ 266-5011
Our family took a ride out there a couple of months ago and took some pictures of the area to share with our readers. Check out our photo gallery below:
Police Athletic League
The Jacksonville Northside Area Police Athletic League is co-sponsoring a event tomorrow. There is to be a motorcycle ride for the Fraternal Order of Police and the Police Athletic League. To participate or sponsor a rider go to the website link below and purchase tickets. The event goes rain or shine. So if you want to sponsor a rider or have sponsors to ride you can drop in at one the locations below or go online and purchase them.
Light The City Charity Motorcycle Ride
When: Friday, October 2, 2009
Check In: 4:30 – 6:30 p.m.
Begins: Ride Starts at 7:00 p.m.
Where: Adamec of Jacksonville
Ride Starts at Adamec of Jacksonville
8909 Baymeadows Road
Check in between 4:30 and 6:30.
Ride leaves at 7:00pm
Tickets are required for admittance.
Helmets are required / no Flashers.
Event is rain or shine & non refundable.
For more information please contact:
Robbie Freitas at 904-251-5934.
Tickets Available at:
FOP 5530 Beach Blvd Jacksonville, FL (904)398-7010
Also at the following Adamec locations:
8909 Baymeadows Road – (904)493-1931
1520 Wells Road – (904)215-1931
10399 Atlantic Blvd – (904)641-3735
The Jacksonville Police Athletic League mission states: In an effort to reduce juvenile crime and instill positive values, character and leadership skills, PAL provides safe activities for the youth of Jacksonville. Our athletic and educational programs emphasize positive interaction with law enforcement officers and other adult role models.
Their motto is: filling playgrounds. not prisons…for more than 35 years.
Check out their websites and their programs online at: www.jaxpal.com
What I Love About the Northside
The Northside of Jacksonville, Florida is a large and varied area. There are some things to love, some things to hate and quite a few things we just lived with. Whenever I get fed up with things in my life I take a ride to the Northside. Mainly, I ride down Hecksher Drive. That road generally has less traffic, depending on the day and time I go down it, there is always something new to see and the old and familiar stuff is there as well. Riding along the St. Johns River and it’s tributaries and then finally the ocean. There has been a lot of new houses being built along a road that really can’t support new housing. There is a lot of wildlife there and marshlands that need to be protected. And there are lots of places to pull over and look out on the water and try to center yourself or just to chill. Many of my family go to the parks in this area for fishing, some to catch shrimp, ride their boats, camping, have a picnic, swim in the river and/or ocean, and get boiled peanuts. Just remember that boiled peanuts are almost always better at the beach.
My daughter has a season pass to the Jacksonville Zoo. My grand daughter loves the animals and the zoo has become a really nice place to spend a morning or a day. They look at the animals, ride the little train, play in the water area and pet the animals in the petting zoo part. We have posted quite a few pictures of the zoo on the Parks & recreation Page. Check it out. The price is not bad and they do have educational programs for kids and adults.
There are other parts to the Northside such as Downtown, Springfield, Riverside, Oceanway and other neighborhoods that we will get to in time. Downtown and Riverside has quite a few blogs about them already and Springfield is enjoying a revitalization right now with quite a few of the old 2 and 3 story homes being renovated. Oceanway is way on the Northside of Jacksonville and has always been a very rural area until recently. That area is being turned into suburbia with a lot of new neighborhoods being built on the farm land when the the old farmers retire or dying off.
Photos From Driving Around the Northside:
Updates to the websites
We have completed updating all the pages on the blog. We have added more acrobat reader files for you to use a listing of public schools, public parks and day care facilities. The files have information on the names, addresses, phone numbers and other interesting information for our subscribers to use. You can save them to your computer and/or just print them off as needed.
Day Care Facility Listings by Zip Code
Public Parks Listing by Zip Code
Public Schools Listing by Zip Code
Please check out all of the pages and if you would like to contribute to the blog sign up as a subscriber and them email me at: becomeacontributor@jacksonvillesnorthside.info with your user id and I will upgrade your status to become an author. That allows you to create a blog posting and upload pictures. We are always looking for volunteers to post reviews, informational tidbits and historical stories about Jacksonville, Florida’s Northside.
We care constantly gathering pictures from around Jacksonville and have added them to the pages that they pertain to. Below is a slideshow of street scenes from around the Northside Area.
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- Clara White Mission to host celebrity chef event for the homeless Friday in Jacksonville May 16, 2012The Clara White Mission 18th Annual Miracle on Ashley Street celebrity chef and servers event is set for Friday. Celebrities from around the Jacksonville area will take part in the fundraising event designed to raise money for the homeless mission. Tickets cost $20 and the mission this year is celebrating the success of their culinary arts and janitorial env […]Drew Dixon
- Japanese motorcycles featured at Saturday's 13th annual Riding Into History motorcycle concours May 15, 2012The 13th annual Riding Into History motorcycle concours rumbles into St. Augustine Friday and Saturday with two benefit rides, a gala dinner and a day-long motorcycle show around the lake at World Golf Village, South Legacy Trail off International Golf Parkway. The weekend's events begin with a 9:30 a.m. Friday Lunch Ride with grand marshall Mitch Boehm […]Dan Scanlan
- 'Cash Mob' set for Avondale Saturday May 15, 2012A so-called Jax Cash Mob is set for Avondale this Saturday to help boost sales for local merchants. Similar to “flash mobs” – where people gather and spontaneously break out and dance – cash mobs seek to get people together and spontaneously shop in support of local business. The Cash Mob will gather at 1 p.m. Saturday at Mojo No. 4, 3572 St. Johns Ave. and […]Drew Dixon