Little Jetties

Little Jetties

- “A Great Place to Spend the Day… Just Not the Night”

Little Jetties - “A Great Place to Spend the Day… Just Not the Night”

Helen Cooper Floyd Park is located on a peninsula southwest of Mayport, at the convergence of the Intracoastal Waterway and the St. Johns River. In 1830, bar pilots and fishermen established the village that eventually became Mayport. The park property was known for decades as the Little Jetties. In 1985, the City and officials of the Greater Jacksonville Kingfish Tournament began efforts to co-develop the site as a home for the event. After the City leased the property from the Navy and made improvements, Little Jetties Park was dedicated in November 1992, but the tournament never moved there. Around the first part of 1999, the park was renamed. A Mayport native, Helen Cooper Floyd (1922-1998) was a schoolteacher, journalist, and historical researcher and writer. After moving with her family to Pascagoula, Mississippi around 1963, she eventually compiled and wrote two booklets and a book about the folk history of Mayport.

“Y’all headed to Jacksonville; I know a great spot for y’all to spend the night in your R.V.” This was what the B.O.W. Crew was told by a family member who spent years working at Mayport. While he was absolutely correct about being a great R.V. spot, to spend the night, the Naval Police didn’t think the same way. The B.O.W. Crew were headed up to Charleston and decided, as usual, to take it slow and check out some new “watery” areas, we hadn’t seen before. So, when we were told you could camp at “this little beach”, by the base, we thought perfect, it doesn’t’ get much better than camping on a beach, watching the sunrise and doing a little fishing, to boot. We had been fishing near Bayport, with Captain Buddy Price, earlier in the year and knew

exactly where the perfect spot the family member told us about was located. From the boat earlier in the year, we saw a good many people park on the beach that is Little Jetties; fishing, partying, picnicking, building fires, and generally having a blast. So, that’s where we pointed our R.V. for a night’s stay on our trip north, to South Carolina.

We arrived at Little Jetties just before sundown on a Wednesday evening. There were many folks there already, campfires blazing, music playing, rods in the hands of anglers looking for a fish they could fight, and just those looking for a sweet sunset picture. No one seemed to pay us or our R.V. any mind, upon arrival and we seemingly just fit right in. There were no other R.V.s present but there were

campfires and presumably “campers”. After a little exploration and walking the dogs, we decided to head up the road a short piece to get some fresh blue crabs and fill our bellies. Once we returned from dinner, it hadn’t seemed if anyone had left from the time we were gone and it was well dark by then. We stayed outside and walked off dinner, watching folks catch fish, and watched numerous vessels pass by. Being full and tired, we turned on the heat, turned out the lights, and laid down to get some rest.

Sirens and strobe lights…that’s what we heard and saw next… Then there was the distinctive tap, tap, prolonged silence and tap of an official knock at the door. Upon opening the door we were greeted by a Navy policeman, who informed us we were onsite after hours and would need to leave. After telling him we hadn’t seen any signs stating the hours, he simply said “we were on U.S. Government property and it passed time to leave”. So, we did what anyone with any sense would do…we left. After boon docking in the local Wal-Mart parking lot, near Little Jetties, we returned early the next morning before sunrise, back to Little Jetties, for breakfast, a beautiful sunrise, and a little fishing. We were joined by many others just after daybreak. We ended up with a funny story and great time. We would say lesson learned, in this situation, that you should always do your research before pulling up and setting up camp. But, as we are writing this, I still cannot find anything that says no camping and the family member swears he has seen many campers there before. If, you are in Jacksonville area, this is a great little spot to stop and enjoy the day…just don’t overstay your welcome.

Location: 3600 Florida A1A, Jacksonville, FL 32233

Some information for this text from: https://www.coj.net/ (City of Jacksonville)