Nicest Small Towns To Visit Near Jacksonville
The stretch of Northeast Florida outside Jacksonville runs differently from the rest of the state. The Atlantic coast holds a Spanish colonial city older than every other European-founded settlement in the continental US. The Georgia Lowcountry begins less than 40 miles north, with barrier islands shaped by Gilded Age industrialists. Inland, two centuries of Florida history are still readable on Micanopy's Cholokka Boulevard and Palatka's St. Johns waterfront. These six towns each carry a distinct piece of that geography, all within easy reach of Jacksonville for a day trip or a weekend.
St. Augustine, FL
About 50 miles southeast of Jacksonville, St. Augustine has been continuously inhabited longer than any other European-founded settlement in the continental US. Spanish admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded the city on September 8, 1565, 42 years before Jamestown and 55 years before the Plymouth landing. The Castillo de San Marcos, completed by the Spanish in 1695 from local coquina limestone, has guarded the harbour entrance for more than three centuries and survives intact today as a National Monument. Walking tours of the Castillo cover the drawbridge entry and climb up to the gun deck above Matanzas Bay. The Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park, on the site of Menéndez's original 1565 landing, holds an active archaeological dig that has yielded artifacts from both the Spanish settlement and the earlier Timucua village that occupied the same site.
Outside the Spanish colonial core, the city anchors several other historic firsts. Fort Mose Historic State Park, two miles north of downtown, marks the first legally sanctioned free African settlement in what is now the United States. Spanish Governor Manuel Montiano established Fort Mose in 1738 as a sanctuary for Africans who had escaped enslavement in the Carolinas. The site now holds two interpretive trails and a reconstructed fort. On Anastasia Island, the black-and-white striped St. Augustine Lighthouse stands 165 feet tall and has guided ships into the harbour since 1874. The lighthouse keeper's house operates as a maritime museum, and the climb to the lantern room runs 219 steps for a working harbour view.
Fernandina Beach, FL
About 35 miles north of Jacksonville, Fernandina Beach occupies the northern end of Amelia Island and carries one of the more unusual historical claims on the Atlantic coast. Eight different national flags have officially flown over the island since the 16th century (French, Spanish, British, Patriot, Green Cross, Mexican, Confederate, and United States), more than any other location in North America. The Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival each May celebrates that history and the local shrimping industry, which still supplies much of the wild-caught Atlantic shrimp sold across the Southeast.
The town's historic district holds more than 50 blocks of preserved 19th-century architecture, including the 1899 train depot at the eastern terminus of Florida's first cross-state railroad and the 1911 Renaissance Revival post office. Fort Clinch State Park, on the island's northern tip, preserves a pre-Civil War brick fortification with regular living history programs and access to Cumberland Sound. The Palace Saloon, Florida's oldest continuously operating bar (occupying its current location since 1903), still serves drinks beneath a 40-foot mahogany bar carved by Italian craftsmen. The Amelia Island Lighthouse, built in 1838, is the oldest standing lighthouse in Florida.
Jekyll Island, GA
Less than an hour north of Fernandina Beach across the Georgia state line, Jekyll Island runs about 7 miles long and is one of Georgia's four state-owned barrier islands. The Jekyll Island Club, organized in 1886, served as the private winter retreat for some of the wealthiest families in Gilded Age America. The Rockefellers, J.P. Morgans, Pulitzers, and Vanderbilts all maintained "cottages" here, with the club hosting roughly one-sixth of the world's wealth under one roof at its peak. The Federal Reserve System was drafted in secret at the club in November 1910 by Senator Nelson Aldrich and a small group of bankers, and the first transcontinental phone call was made from the club in January 1915.
The 240-acre Jekyll Island Club Historic District is now a National Historic Landmark, and the original clubhouse operates as a hotel. Driftwood Beach on the island's northern shore is the visual signature of Jekyll, with bleached live oaks and pines knocked over by decades of erosion now lying across the sand. The Georgia Sea Turtle Center, the only sea turtle rehabilitation facility in Georgia, has treated more than 700 sea turtles since opening in 2007 and runs daily public tours. Sea turtle nesting season runs May through August, with loggerheads making up the bulk of the nests laid on the island each year.
Micanopy, FL
About 90 minutes south of Jacksonville, Micanopy is the oldest inland town in Florida, founded by Anglo-American settlers in 1821 on the site of a Seminole village led by Chief Micanope. The town runs about 600 residents today and looks largely unchanged since the late 19th century, which is why directors have repeatedly chosen it as a filming location. The 1991 film Doc Hollywood with Michael J. Fox was shot almost entirely on Cholokka Boulevard, and the town stands in for fictional small-town Florida in several other productions.
Cholokka Boulevard concentrates most of the town's antique trade into a single walkable strip. The Herlong Mansion, an 1845 Greek Revival home expanded with Corinthian columns in 1909, now operates as a bed and breakfast. Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, just outside town, covers 21,000 acres of basin marsh and supports one of only two free-ranging bison herds in Florida (the other is at Kissimmee Prairie Preserve). The Cracker horses on the prairie descend from animals brought by Spanish explorers in the 1500s and are now recognized as Florida's official state horse.
Palatka, FL
An hour south of Jacksonville on the western bank of the St. Johns River, Palatka was a Gilded Age riverboat resort that drew Northern visitors before the railroads opened up the southern part of the state. The town's downtown holds more than 20 large heritage murals depicting local history, the steamboat era, and the regional environment. Angel's Dining Car, Florida's oldest diner, has served the same chili-dog menu since 1932 in a Worcester Lunch Car Company building that arrived by rail and was set on a permanent foundation along Reid Street.
The Palatka-to-St. Augustine State Trail covers 19 paved miles between the two towns along the route of the former Florida East Coast Railway. Ravine Gardens State Park, a 1930s Works Progress Administration project, runs three formal garden trails through 120-foot-deep natural ravines that drop down toward the river. The park's azaleas, planted in the 1930s, bloom between late December and early March, and the Florida Azalea Festival each March takes over downtown for a weekend.
Green Cove Springs, FL
About 30 miles south of Jacksonville on the western bank of the St. Johns River, Green Cove Springs is built around its namesake sulphur spring. The spring discharges approximately 3,000 gallons per minute at a constant 72°F into a public swimming pool inside Spring Park, where the spring water then flows about 500 feet to the river. The pool dates to the early 20th century and operates seasonally, with the surrounding park hosting weekly food truck nights in summer.
Green Cove Springs had its Gilded Age moment as a winter spa destination in the 1880s, with hotels like the Clarendon and the Magnolia drawing northern visitors who came for the spring waters. Most of those hotels are gone, but the riverfront district has been preserved as the Clay County Riverfront Historic District. Camp Chowenwaq Park, just north of town, holds original 1933 Civilian Conservation Corps log cabins along with treehouses, dog-friendly trails, and access to Black Creek. The Green Cove Springs Riverfest on Memorial Day weekend draws over 100 vendors plus live music and a fireworks show along the river.
The Northeast Florida Loop
St. Augustine and Fernandina Beach handle the Spanish colonial and Atlantic coast side of Northeast Florida. Jekyll Island hands the conversation off to Georgia's Gilded Age industrial dynasties. Micanopy, Palatka, and Green Cove Springs each preserve a different layer of inland Florida history along the St. Johns River corridor and the inland prairies. Together, the six towns cover roughly 350 years of continuous European settlement, all reachable within a 90-minute drive of Jacksonville.
