Doctors Lake is a body of water located off the

St. Johns River The St. Johns River ( es, Río San Juan) is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and its most significant one for commercial and recreational use. At long, it flows north and winds through or borders twelve counties. The drop in eleva ...

Clay County, Florida Clay County is located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2020, the population was 218,245. Its county seat is Green Cove Springs. It is included in the Jacksonville metropolitan statistical area. It is named in honor o ...

. Despite its name, it is not a true

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

, as it is actually an inlet, openly connected to the St. Johns. Because of the

estuarine An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

nature of the St. Johns, Doctors Lake is itself somewhat

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

. Many docks border the lake for recreational activity such as boating, fishing and waterskiing. To the south, the lake splits in half into two small creeks that flow from swampland.

History

Zephaniah Kingsley Zephaniah Kingsley Jr. (December 4, 1765 – September 14, 1843) was a Quaker, born in England, who moved as a child with his family to South Carolina, and became a planter, slave trader, and merchant. He built four plantations in the Spanish co ...

originally owned much of the land around Doctors Lake, and established the Laurel Grove Plantation there in the early 1800s. Kingsley captained a ship in the West Indies and was absent from the plantation much of the time. An overseer was left in charge of his 100 or so slaves, while the plantation's house was looked after by a 13-year-old slave girl, Anta Madjiguene Ndiaye, who Kingsley had purchased in Havana in 1806. Kingsley later married the girl and had four children. The community at the north end of the inlet to Doctors Lake is today named "Laurel Grove", while "Kingsley" is a major street in nearby Orange Park.

Geography

Doctors Lake has an area of 13 mi² (34 km²). It is linked to the St. Johns River by Doctors Inlet.

U.S. Route 17 U.S. Route 17 or U.S. Highway 17 (US 17), also known as the Coastal Highway, is a north–south United States Highway that spans in the southeastern United States. It runs close to the Atlantic Coast for much of its length, wit ...

crosses the inlet between Orange Park and rural Clay County. To the north is Orange Park, bordering to the west is

Lakeside Lakeside or Lake Side may refer to: Places Australia * Lakeside College, Pakenham, Victoria * Lakeside Joondalup Shopping City, Joondalup, Western Australia * Lakeside, near Reservoir, Victoria * Lakeside International Raceway, Pine Rivers, Quee ...

, and to the east is

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

References

External links

* {{authority control Lakes of Florida Lakes of Clay County, Florida Geography of Jacksonville, Florida Tributaries of the St. Johns River Zephaniah Kingsley

History

Geography

See also

References

External links