Jacksonville, FL - It's a Clinch

There are two old forts in the Jacksonville area and today we are visiting Fort Clinch which is out on a point of land which overlooks the mouth of the St. Mary’s River between Florida and Georgia. It was built to protect the river’s shipping in the late 1840’s but was still incomplete when the Civil War started. The Confederates took it easily in 1861 but abandoned it in 1862 when the Union forces took other points of land around them. It lost its usefulness during the war when rifled shot which could demolish thick fort walls replaced cannon balls during the war. Now, it’s a beautifully restored fort in a very nice State Park. We checked out the small museum next to the fort and then headed on over the moat and into the fort itself.

Here we found Tom Gibbons burning old brush in the fort's center. He and his son had a glass and window business in upstate New York and had more business than they could fill but, when the Civil War started he volunteered for the Union. He wanted to ‘stop the secesh from destroying the Union.’ He was assigned to this fort but actually didn’t do any fighting since he was a valued craftsman and not only put the windows in this fort but in several other also. Seeing Gary and other men in shorts, he asked why they were wearing little boy pantaloons and not man pants like he was. He also asked if I’d like a job as a washerwoman - the pay was $26 a month, twice the $13 that the soldiers got. ‘Not fair,’ he said.

Wait a minute, he’s a Northerner, how did he get into a Southern fort? Easily, he and his regiment walked in when General Robert E. Lee ordered the fort abandoned as the Union forces took other forts along the South Carolina and Georgia coast.

Here are wooden things that are put out when a cavalry might attack - to stop the horses.

Great re-enactor - he knew the times, he could answer any question and had a great time with the kids visiting the fort.

We then toured the rest of the fort and especially the upper walls to see the importance of the fort’s location on the river.

There was the quartermaster’s stores - plenty full. Tom told us that there were two sizes: too large and too small.

We then drove down the beaches of northern Florida, found this neat pier to walk out. Long pier. They were dredging the area and moving the sand back where they want it. Note the lo-o-ong tube going into the town’s beach. Must be almost a mile or two. Huge pumps on the dredger to get all that sand so far - and it goes uphill. Darn Mother Nature - just moves the sand around willy nilly and puts it where she wants it and not where we want it.

The dredge (above) pumps the sand through the tubing about 2 miles or more along the shore to the beach at the town.

As we headed down the road we passed by a Country Club where they had had a car show over the preceding weekend. Not just any car show but one with pretty fancy cars. Since the club parking lot is smaller, they had the staging area outside along the road. And, here is where we saw these fancy cars.

But, if you have fancy cars, you’ve got to have fancy trucks to haul them around.

Inside this truck are two layers so that you can get quite a few cars in it.