The Jacksonville Beaches, or Jax Beaches known locally as "The Beaches", are a group of towns and communities on the northern half of an unnamed

barrier island Barrier islands are coastal landforms and a type of dune system that are exceptionally flat or lumpy areas of sand that form by wave and tidal action parallel to the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of anything from a fe ...

on the US state of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

's First Coast, all of which are excluded cities or parts of the city of

Jacksonville 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 c ...

itself. These communities are separated from the main body of the city of Jacksonville by the

Intracoastal Waterway The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is a inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, running from Massachusetts southward along the Atlantic Seaboard and around the southern tip of Florida, then following t ...

. The Jacksonville Beaches are located in Duval and northern

St. Johns County St. Johns County is a county in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 273,425. The county seat and largest incorporated city is St. Augustine. St. Johns County is part of the ...

counties, and make up part of the

Jacksonville metropolitan area The Jacksonville Metropolitan Area, also called the First Coast, Metro Jacksonville, or Northeast Florida, is the metropolitan area centered on the principal city of Jacksonville, Florida and including the First Coast of North Florida. Accordin ...

. The main communities generally identified as part of the Beaches are Mayport,

Atlantic Beach Atlantic Beach is the name of some places in the United States: *Atlantic Beach, Florida, a city *Atlantic Beach, New York, a village *Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, a town *Atlantic Beach, South Carolina Atlantic Beach is a town in Horry County, ...

Neptune Beach Neptune Beach is a beachfront city east of Jacksonville in Duval County, Florida, United States. When the majority of Duval County communities consolidated with Jacksonville in 1968, Neptune Beach, along with Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beac ...

Jacksonville Beach Jacksonville Beach is a coastal resort city in Duval County, Florida, United States. It was incorporated on May 22, 1907, as Pablo Beach, and would later change its name to Jacksonville Beach in 1925. The city is part of group of communities col ...

, and

Ponte Vedra Beach Ponte Vedra Beach is a wealthy unincorporated seaside community and suburb of Jacksonville, Florida in St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Located southeast of downtown Jacksonville and north of St. Augustine, it is part of the Jackson ...

Area

The Jacksonville Beaches communities are all located on an unnamed

defined by the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...

to the east, the St. Johns River to the north, and the

to the west. The island was actually originally a

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on al ...

until 1912, when a 10-mile channel was dug connecting the San Pablo and Tolomato Rivers, facilitating the Intracoastal Waterway and separating the land from the mainland. The island has no official name; beginning in the 21st century there has been a push to name it San Pablo Island. The northernmost of the beach communities is Mayport, in Duval County. Since the

consolidation Consolidation may refer to: In science and technology * Consolidation (computing), the act of linkage editing in computing * Memory consolidation, the process in the brain by which recent memories are crystallised into long-term memory * Pulmon ...

of the Jacksonville and Duval County governments in 1968, Mayport has been within the city limits of Jacksonville. Most of Mayport is currently occupied by

Naval Station Mayport Naval Station Mayport is a major United States Navy base in Jacksonville, Florida. It contains a protected harbor that can accommodate aircraft carrier-size vessels, ship's intermediate maintenance activity (SIMA) and a military airfield (Admi ...

, a major U.S. Navy base, itself also entirely located within the city of Jacksonville. Moving south along the coastline are three incorporated towns, also within Duval County:

, and

. All three maintain their own municipal governments, however, residents receive county-level services from Jacksonville and vote for Jacksonville's mayor and

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

. Continuing south into St. Johns County is

. Typically, only the communities on the northern part of the island are considered the Beaches; areas to the south such as Vilano Beach are usually not included. The Palm Valley area of St. Johns County, much of which is also located on the island, is sometimes considered part of the Beaches. The parts of Duval County on the other side of the Intracoastal are sometimes known as the West Beaches. Further inland are Jacksonville's Arlington and Southside areas.

History

The first inhabitants of the Jacksonville Beaches area were Native Americans. Like most of the Jacksonville area, the region was inhabited by the

Timucua The Timucua were a Native American people who lived in Northeast and North Central Florida and southeast Georgia. They were the largest indigenous group in that area and consisted of about 35 chiefdoms, many leading thousands of people. The va ...

people at the time of European contact. Mayport was the first part of the beaches to see any concentrated population growth, when a small community of fishermen and river pilots grew up there, especially following the U.S. purchase of Florida in 1821. However, the entire Beaches area remained very sparsely populated until the end of the 19th century, when they were developed as resorts. Jacksonville Beach, originally known as Ruby and then as Pablo Beach, grew around the series of luxury

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

s built in the area. Further growth was facilitated by a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

connecting the town to Jacksonville. Atlantic Beach also grew as a resort community around a large hotel, and smaller hotels were built at Mayport. Neptune Beach seceded from Jacksonville Beach in 1931 and incorporated as its own town. Ponte Vedra Beach and Palm Valley remained much more rustic into the 20th century. Palm Valley, especially, mostly consisted of farmland. In 1914 mineral deposits were discovered at Ponte Vedra, after which point it grew as the town of Mineral City. Following

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

real estate development began in the area and the name was changed to Ponte Vedra Beach.

Governance

Relations between the Beaches and the Jacksonville city government have at times been tense. The three incorporated towns in Duval County have fought with the city over the ways taxes and government services are shared; this led to a lawsuit in 1979, which established an interlocal agreement.Burmeister, Caren (February 1, 2006)
"Mayors oppose any interlocal review"
''

The Florida Times-Union ''The Florida Times-Union'' is a daily newspaper in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. Widely known as the oldest newspaper in the state, it began publication as the ''Florida Union'' in 1864. Its current incarnation started in 1883, when th ...

Shorelines''. Retrieved October 3, 2008. The Beaches governments took up a second lawsuit in 1993 alleging a breach of the agreement, and members of the

Jacksonville City Council The Jacksonville City Council is the legislative governing body of the city of Jacksonville, Florida. The council meets in its chambers at Jacksonville City Hall, 117 W. Duval St. Under Florida’s government transparency laws, all official c ...

sought to review the charter in 2006, angering locals. During much of this time the Beaches threatened forming their own county, "Ocean County", though this was resolved following the election of

resident John Delaney as Mayor of Jacksonville in 1995.Littlepage, Ron (May 9, 1999)
"Everybody wins when local governments work together"
''The Florida Times-Union''. Retrieved October 3, 2008.

References

{{Neighborhoods of Jacksonville Beaches of Duval County, Florida Beaches of the Jacksonville metropolitan area Neighborhoods in Jacksonville, Florida Beaches of Florida