Byways, See

and better roads. Within twenty years, the few narrow and serpentine paths of the late nineteenth century that existed were widen and improved upon and became the forerunners of today’s highways of Nassau County.

HART’S ROAD: Before there were US 17 and I-95, there was Hart’s Road, a narrow north-south pathway that crossed Nassau County at its narrowest point. Built in the late 1830s by Isaiah D. Hart, the road connected the wellto-do planter’s former home of St. Mary’s, Georgia to the fledging town of Jacksonville via Nassau County’s inland courthouse at Evergreen. Hart partitioned the US government for the funds to build the road so it could become the area’s official overland post road. Shortly after the route opened, the courthouse in Evergreen was moved further west to Dyal, making that portion of the road obsolete. This left only the section that ran between Jacksonville and St. Marys, GA. The byway crossed the St. Mary’s River at Rose’s Bluff via the river’s first ferry crossing. By the mid-1920s, Hart’s Road became redundant when US 17 opened to traffic.

Today, one can start at the Old Flood Store on SR 200 and travel south on Hart’s Road for about four miles before it abruptly ends at the now-closed grade crossing. It picks back up east of the CSX tracks and continues southeast past US 17 in Hedges for about a mile. It then curves sharply southwest as Hart’s Lane and ends suddenly at Gardner Creek. The bridge here has long been dismantled, but the 2-mile-long causeway crossing the wetlands between Gardner and the Nassau River remains as a right-of-way for highvoltage power lines. Hart’s Road crossed the Nassau River and into Duval County adjacent to today’s US 17 bridge. The opposite is true for Hart’s Road north of Yulee. Only 1500 feet of Isaiah’s highway survives north of SR 200 as Koen Lane. Thanks to US 17, the remaining six miles of the road from Koen Lane to Rose’s Bluff has faded into the past. Portions were briefly revived in the 1880s when a short-lived railroad company graded the route for their tracks. SHELL (JACKSONVILLE) ROAD: Those traveling a century ago by automobile east to Fernandina had no choice but to use the Shell (Jacksonville) Road from Hart’s Road in Yulee to Amelia Island. The original route was Nassau County’s first paved road. It followed today’s Pages Dairy Road from SR 200 in Yulee to Chester Road where it turned south at Lofton Station and crossed the Florida Railroad. The road turned abruptly east and through a series of curves reached Elwood Branch. Only a small part of this section exists today as Pine Grove Road. The Shell Road crossed Elwood Branch via a narrow causeway and small bridge, then curved sharply northeast onto Big Piney Island. It crossed the Florida Railroad for a third time, then veered east and traversed the Amelia River via a milelong causeway and narrow drawbridge just north of today’s Shave Bridge. Motorists enduring the trip reached Amelia Island at Five Points via today’s Bonnieview Road. Most of the original causeway across the Amelia River can still be seen today in aerial views of the area. This main route remained until the 1930s when SR 200 (signed as SR 13 until 1946) was built on the south side of the Florida Railroad. This new route eliminated the sharp curves and all three dangerous railroad crossings of the original Shell Road.

FERNANDINA ROAD: Unlike Hart’s Road north of Yulee, the Fernandina Road between Yulee and Callahan remains mostly intact today. Our grandparents would have travelled west from Yulee, paralleling the Florida Railroad. After a mile, the road veered northwest on today’s Still Quarters Road and crossed over the

1918 USGS survey map showing the original path of Hart’s Road through Hedges and across the wetlands of the Nassau River. The opening of US 17 straightened out several dangerous curves, plus eliminated the Gardner Creek bridge and the railroad crossing at Hedges.

Coloring Contest Winner

Art contest winner: Addison Bell

Ms. Bell will be attending Yulee Elementary School, third grade, this upcoming year! Her favorite color is Pink. Her favorite food is Chicken Nuggets. When she is grown up, she aspires to be a Hairdresser. Congratulations Addison! Enjoy your Chick-fil-a gift card. 1918 USGS survey map showing the Jacksonville Road from Yulee to Amelia Island. Note the many curves and sudden railroad grade crossings, making for a treacherous journey for such a short distance.

Florida Railroad. The westwardly dirt road remained well north of the tracks to avoid Plummer and Boggy Swamps. It joined the Kings Road where today’s Northeast Florida Fairgrounds is located, then both routes traveled southward concurrently for the last three miles into Callahan. Fernandina Road was the main east-west vehicular route in western Nassau County until the 1930s when SR 200 as SR 13 was built from Yulee to Callahan. In the 1970s, I-95 cut the route in half and the road east of the interstate became a privately-owned forestry road. However, the Fernandina Road survived west of I-95 as county-maintained Griffin and Musselwhite Roads.

Today, most of us live our lives in the fast lane, taking for granted the independence that the automobile has given us. Hopefully this holiday weekend, we will slow down and take a brief side trip down one of these byways mentioned above and travel in the tire tracks of our grandparents’ jalopies.

John Hendricks is a local historian, author, and director of the West Nassau Historical Society. You can join him on the 4th Thursdays of each month at 6:30 PM at their meeting inside the historic Callahan Train Depot.