Summer Haven is an unincorporated community in southeast

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 ...

, Florida, United States, located just south of the

Matanzas Inlet Matanzas Inlet is a channel in Florida between two barrier islands and the mainland, connecting the Atlantic Ocean and the south end of the Matanzas River. It is south of St. Augustine, in the southern part of St. Johns County. The inlet is no ...

, on a narrow strip of land between a shallow marsh and the Atlantic Ocean. Summer Haven is a small beach

resort A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that tries to provide most of a vacationer's wants, such as food, drink, swimming, lodging, sports, entertainment, and shopping, on the premises. The term ''resort ...

which began with

cottage A cottage, during Feudalism in England, England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager (known as a Cotter (farmer), cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager ...

s used by farmers. It consists of approximately 60 structures, mostly single family homes. Around 1890, Thomas A. Mellon started vacationing in Summer Haven. Eventually the community attracted other well known people, including Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney,

Owen D. Young Owen D. Young (October 27, 1874July 11, 1962) was an American industrialist, businessman, lawyer and diplomat at the Second Reparations Conference (SRC) in 1929, as a member of the German Reparations International Commission. He is known for t ...

, and author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. After severe nor’easters in 1962, Summer Haven was declared a disaster area, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed an 1,800-foot granite

revetment A revetment in stream restoration, river engineering or coastal engineering is a facing of impact-resistant material (such as stone, concrete, sandbags, or wooden piles) applied to a bank or wall in order to absorb the energy of incoming water ...

along the northern portion. After

Hurricane Dora Hurricane Dora was the first tropical cyclone on record to make landfall over the Atlantic coast of North Florida at hurricane intensity. The sixth tropical storm and second hurricane of the 1964 season, Dora developed from a tropical wave nea ...

in 1964, the existing revetment, which fronts the majority of the upland development in the reach, was extended by an additional 1,070 linear feet. South of the revetment, development is limited to one row of single-family residences. When possible, St. Johns County has been purchasing structures and lands in this southern area and not allowing further development.U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District. St. Johns County, Florida, South Ponte Vedra Beach, Vilano Beach, and Summer Haven Reaches. Coastal Storm Risk Management Project Final Integrated Feasibility Study and Environmental Assessment. March 2017.

Road access

Until the construction of the Old A1A road in the 1920s, Summer Haven was only accessible by boat, or by driving along the beach. Because this section of

Florida State Road A1A State Road A1A (SR A1A) is a major north–south Florida State Road that runs along the Atlantic Ocean, from Key West, Florida, Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, Florida, Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia ( ...

washed out frequently during storms, it was moved inland in the 1970s after Hurricane Dora, and the Old A1A became a county road. The road was rebuilt after washouts caused by Hurricane Jeanne in 2004, and Tropical Storm Fay in 2008. Local residents filed suit to ensure ongoing maintenance of the road by the county, and a decision was issued on May 20, 2011. Attorney Thomas Ruppert of the

Florida Sea Grant The mission of Florida Sea Grant, which is headquartered at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, wi ...

and Peter Byrne of Georgetown University have expressed concerns about the broader consequences of the precedents set by this case, which may enable more affluent property owners to sue in order to fund rebuilding on the grounds that engineers have failed to anticipate sea level rise. The precedents set have the potential to direct public funding towards expensive, unrealistic projects, and away from coastal mitigation measures for less affluent communities.

References

External links

* U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District
St. Johns County, Florida, South Ponte Vedra Beach, Vilano Beach, and Summer Haven Reaches. Coastal Storm Risk Management Project Final Integrated Feasibility Study and Environmental Assessment
March 2017. {{authority control Unincorporated communities in St. Johns County, Florida Unincorporated communities in the Jacksonville metropolitan area Unincorporated communities in Florida Beaches of Florida Seaside resorts in Florida Seaside resorts in the United States Populated coastal places in Florida on the Atlantic Ocean Coastal engineering Sea level