The Riverside Avondale Community Garden is one of our favorite spots in the neighborhood to visit! There's always something new to see! And there's nothing like grabbing some herbs for seasoning dinner from the community herb garden, sponsored by The Shoppes of Avondale.

Have you visited the community garden?

The Walter Jones Historical Park and the Mandarin Museum & Historical Society are tucked away in a quiet area of Mandarin. Within the park, you'll find 10 acres of entertainment for the whole family. 

Image courtesy of Mandarin Museum & Historical Society

If you are visiting on a Saturday, be sure to go inside the Mandarin Museum & Historical Society, which is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The museum features three permanent exhibits: 'Always on the River..." which depicts Mandarin's history along the St. Johns River, The Maple Leaf which explains the wreck as well as the excavation of the Civil War Union steamboat the Maple Leaf, and the third exhibit is on the famous author Harriet Beecher Stowe who spent her winters in Mandarin from 1867

Tucked away on Park Street is one of our favorite neighborhood parks, Native Park. Formally dedicated in 1932, this Riverside Avondale pocket park has been maintained by the Ixia Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society since 2010, and is filled with plants that are indigenous to north Florida.

One of the roles that the park serves is for the “study of Florida Plant Life”. You’ll often see volunteers at Native Park, maintaining the many species of plant life.

This park is a perfect setting to educate children on the plethora of native Florida plants; make a game of it and see how many different varieties they can find. Native Park is also fantastic for artists, providing an ever changing array of sketching options.

The Florida