Discover Jacksonville 2017

COMMUNITIES
Magnolia Point, a gated golf, tennis
and country club off U.S. Highway 17,
is zoned for about 975 homes, with 800
already built and inhabited. Current
prices range from about $208,000 to
$382,000. Bay Street Condominiums offer
two- or three-bedroom condos with a
boat slip for about $300,000.
Keystone Heights
To the moon and back
Keystone Heights is a community
found at the southern tip of Clay County
amid numerous sand-bottomed lakes.
Keystone was settled by
Pennsylvanians drawn to the numerous
lakes in the early 1920s. The town’s
name was derived from Pennsylvania’s
nickname — the Keystone State — and
for the area’s unusual hilly terrain.
Keystone Heights is also home to
one of the country’s moon trees. When
Apollo 14 launched in 1971, it carried
with it hundreds of tree seeds, part of a
joint NASA/USFS project. Upon return
to Earth, the seeds that survived reentry
were germinated by the U.S. Forest
Service. Known as the “moon trees,”
the resulting seedlings were planted
throughout the U.S and around the
world. Unfortunately no systematic effort
was made to track the trees, but one of
the rare trees stands beside the library
at the corner of Lawrence Boulevard and
Orchid Avenue in Keystone Heights.
Today, Keystone Heights is a small,
peaceful, family-oriented town, with
many family-owned businesses. The
average home price is $133,100.
There are numerous recreational
opportunities, including a beach with
bathhouses and shaded picnic tables,
public boat ramps, lighted tennis courts,
nature trails and the former Keystone
Heights golf course, renamed Lakeside
Links Golf Club in 2015.
Keystone Heights Airpark,
constructed in 1942 as Crystal Lake
Airfield, also calls the area home. The
2,500-acre park has one of the few
aviation sports facilities in Florida and
also offers flight training. The Airpark
Authority also leases wildlife area to
a sportsman’s club, with designated
areas for corporate leasing and access
to the taxiways, and a large area for an
industrial park.
Middleburg
A simpler way of life
Middleburg started in the early 1800s
as Clark’s Ferry. Nearby Fort Heilman
protected settlers at Clark's Ferry where it
was a major depot for Florida’s east coast.
From 1833 to 1850, the area was then
known as Gary's Ferry, and in 1853 the
area was finally called Middleburg. The
town traded in timber, citrus fruits and
crops from farmland. When Clay County
was created in 1858, Middleburg became
the temporary county seat until 1874.
Decades ago, dirt roads were
common. Visitors rarely saw a street sign,
and most residents came to Middleburg,
St. Vincent’s
Medical Center
Clay County
St. Johns
River State
College
Orange Park
Medical Center
southwest of Orange Park, looking for a
way to escape the hustle and bustle of
city life. Now, most — if not all — of that
has changed.
Middleburg covers a nearly 20 squaremile
area in Clay County and had a little
more than 13,000 residents in 2016.
Spurred by infrastructure
improvements a few years ago, with
water and septic lines coming into the
community, a great deal of commercial
building has occurred, including new
fast-food restaurants and retail outlets.
This has led to increased property
values and has made Middleburg more
appealing to commuters.
Kindred
Hospital
North
Florida
Baptist & Wolfson
Children’s
Emergency Center
Clay County Neighborhoods
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