Whether you're thinking about a move to Jacksonville or have lived here your whole life, you'll want to understand the intricacies of our historic neighborhoods. Jacksonville's urban core neighborhoods can be locally designated historic districts, districts on the National Register of Historic Places, both, or neither. Sound confusing? Keep reading to understand what each category means. 

Locally Designated Historic Districts: Riverside, Avondale, Springfield, and the St. Johns Quarter are all locally designated historic districts. Any exterior work requires an approved Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) application through the City of Jacksonville. (The neighborhood organizations RAP and SPAR do not process COA applications.) Learn

By: Alan Aptheker

The history of the Ortega includes a number of interesting characters, some more dubious than others: Famed botanist William Bartram; highwayman and cattle rustler Daniel McGirtt; and Don Juan McQueen, who attempted to establish a plantation on his 1791 Ortega land grant, but was forced to leave due to attacks by Georgians from the north and French armies to the south.  Gangster George "Machine Gun" Kelly and his wife were rumored to be the mysterious couple who abruptly left their rented Ortega Grand Avenue home hours before a midnight police raid in 1933.