[0:01] [Music]
welcome to Green Cove Springs where
[0:08] history meets the present and looks
forward to the
[0:11] [Music]
future the area that would become Green
[0:16] Cove Springs has a unique
history no other place in Florida has
[0:21] had an uninterrupted run of 250 years
surviving the civil war three seminal
[0:27] Wars and under the rules of both Charles
II of Spain and King George III of
[0:33] Britain beginning as a Lumber Town of
White Sulfur Springs the town was
[0:37] renamed Green Cove Springs in
1866 in 1871 Green Cove Springs was
[0:44] selected as the new county seat and on
November 2nd 1874 it officially became
[0:50] an incorporated
city the city's name originates from
[0:55] three physical characteristics green
refers to Perennial green vegetation
[1:00] characterized by its treescape and
foilage Cove refers to Abend in the St
[1:05] John's river creating a safe area for
moing of boats during inclement weather
[1:10] periods Springs refers to the natural
spring one of 600 in Florida originating
[1:16] from the Floridan aquafer Green Cove uh
was sort of out in the middle of nowhere
[1:22] um when Florida uh I should say when uh
the Spanish territory known as East
[1:27] Florida was purchased by the United
States
[1:30] 1821 uh this place really had a had
several names one of which was white
[1:36] White Sulfur Springs uh etc etc but
anyway the the town got its uh
[1:42] Beginnings when Timber Cutters from the
New England area we're down here looking
[1:47] for uh live oak trees to send back to
New New England as part of the ship
[1:52] building process and then down through
the years uh you know the spring was
[1:56] always sort of the the common uh
of this place called White sulfer
[2:02] Springs and then about uh I don't know
it was shortly after the Civil War that
[2:07] the name the place name changed from
White Sulfur Springs to Green Cove
[2:11] Springs and a lot of people don't
realize it but that name was actually
[2:14] given by two people u a brother and a
sister Sarah Palmer and uh Darius Ferris
[2:24] you've probably heard of Ferris Street
and Palmer Street here in Green Cove uh
[2:28] they were they were entrepreneurs they
uh they were developing u a little
[2:33] village called mport in those days and
they came down here and bought 840 acres
[2:38] and they started uh selling property
here and that's how Green Cove sort of
[2:42] got it
[2:45] start nestled along the St John's river
the city quickly became a popular
[2:50] destination for those seeking the
healing powers of its natural
[2:55] spring early settlers were drawn to the
area by the promise of health and
[2:59] Prosperity the spring known for its
mineral Rich Waters became a central hub
[3:04] for the community giving the city its
name and fostering growth we have to
[3:09] recognize that we are right here one of
the higher points in Clay County and in
[3:16] some respects we're EXT rather High when
it comes to
[3:22] Florida so first of all it's High
Ground fresh water mild climate hunt
[3:29] fish forage so if we go back 10,000
years to the T ukan
[3:35] people and we look at who came here in
that day and time to hunt to fish to
[3:41] forage that fresh water mild climate you
can build your shelter you can take care
[3:48] of
yourself you can survive quite
[3:53] well during the late 1800s the city
experienced great Prosperity as
[3:58] evidenced by the large number and
quality of hotels constructed near the
[4:03] spring and surrounding
area after uh Palmer and Ferris started
[4:09] selling property here and you had
businesses started being built homes
[4:13] built and so forth uh you had people
moving into the area and as a result of
[4:18] that it was just the normal uh
development of of business activities
[4:23] and anywhere there's money to be made
you're going to have people that will
[4:26] invest and after the Civil War a number
of uh investors from the north uh came
[4:33] here bought property and started to
either selling property or in this case
[4:38] building hotels and so forth and of
course with uh the St John's river right
[4:43] here at our doorstep you had a lot of
Steamboat traffic Up and Down the River
[4:48] so it was very uh it was very easy to
get to Green Cove Springs uh on one of
[4:53] the many uh River or Oceano vessels that
plowed up and down the St John's river
[4:59] every day and as a result of that uh
these investors saw the opportunity
[5:03] maybe to come in here and uh build some
hotels and they
[5:07] did during the I want to say at the turn
of the century of 1900 uh we have
[5:13] cataloged 17 different hotels uh
Cottages or boarding houses that were
[5:19] here in Green Cove Springs uh the
largest of which was the claron hotel
[5:24] that was built 1870 1871 right AC well
where the city hall is out and uh it it
[5:32] uh it featured 200 rooms with hot and
cold running water and they had a Dynamo
[5:38] to generate direct electric current and
they had uh they had electric lights if
[5:45] you will in that hotel uh starting in
about 1874 and of course it was in
[5:50] business for about 30 years as I recall
it burned in
[5:55] 1900 Hotel eror was probably has been
mislabeled because it's I think it
[6:00] should have been called the destination
era it was a hotel area and there was
[6:04] the Clariton Hotel was the one that was
where City Hall is today now there St
[6:11] Elmo was walking distance to this to the
spring uh the river side the Union uh
[6:17] the Mohawk and so on the most notable
one was the actual destination of
[6:22] Magnolia or sometimes referred to as
Magnolia Springs it was a destination
[6:27] place it was the
absolute First Resort in the State of
[6:32] Florida and it was modeled after stuff
that was built up in New England area by
[6:37] very high Finance folks so we were a
destination Magnolia Hotel actually had
[6:44] a nine course golf course
there because of the city's prominence
[6:50] it earned recognition as the Saratoga of
the South the parler city and watering
[6:55] hole for the rich Saratoga of the South
is probably one of our no notable
[7:00] marketing things in marketing people
want to relate with something and people
[7:05] up north had a hard time relating with
Florida they just didn't get it they
[7:12] couldn't get their head around it but
people in New York City knew that they
[7:16] could get on a vessel on a Friday
afternoon and they could go up the
[7:22] Hudson they could get in a hotel they
could put their hair down they can bet
[7:28] on the ponies and they could spend the
weekend and Sunday evening they can get
[7:32] on a vessel and come back to New York
City and they can go down to a place
[7:37] called Wall Street and make some money
and then Friday afternoon they could get
[7:41] on a boat and they could go up River to
Saratoga
[7:46] Springs and they could bet on the ponies
and they could put their hair down and
[7:50] they could do what they want and then
they could come back to New York City
[7:54] and they could repeat it so as people
realized what they could do off the
[7:58] Hudson all we had to do is say Green
Cove Springs is
[8:03] Saratoga of the
South tourists and visitors journeyed
[8:08] along the St John's river from
Jacksonville by Riverbats bearing names
[8:12] like the Florence the magnolia the
manatee and the May Garner the absolute
[8:18] most noted of all would have been the
May Garner and the May Garner was was
[8:23] christened by the the the captain's uh
daughter and they had to place right
[8:29] there off of U uh right off the river
and the most noted one that came and all
[8:34] the way into the end of The Next Century
the May Garner kept on kept on coming
[8:40] here it was quote the Green Cove
boat in 1883 the ladies Village
[8:47] Improvement Association of Green Cove
Springs Incorporated to promote
[8:51] beautification efforts within the city
and it later evolved into becoming the
[8:55] first Federated Women's Club of Florida
The Village Improvement Association
[9:01] still exists and operates from the
building dedicated in
[9:05] 1915 I'm laran studs and I've lived in
green cup springs for about 35 years um
[9:11] and I am currently the president of of
the viia um it's actually the village
[9:15] Improvement Association um it's the
oldest Women's Club in Florida and we're
[9:19] very proud of that well the oldest
minutes we have for meetings of the viia
[9:24] um would have been in April of 1888 well
the mission was always just to clean
[9:30] started off just to make the town better
just to make the town prettier and to
[9:34] then get more involved they gradually
went we were responsible for starting
[9:38] the first kindergarten in this area and
then also the first Library even in Clay
[9:43] County started right here and that was
from the women in the village
[9:46] Improvement Association because that's
after they got everything cleaned up and
[9:50] pretty like they wanted it then they
moved on to more service projects and
[9:53] they actually funded a lot of it back
then by having tea parties um they would
[9:58] have big Gallas and stuff with the with
tees and serving tea parties and I just
[10:02] think it's neat that we still do a lot
of that today um not they're fundraisers
[10:06] for us but we do them because it's a
historical thing to do back then that
[10:11] was what you did in order to raise
money the hotel era rapidly declined as
[10:17] railroads took tourists to Beyond Green
Cove Springs to flagler's jewels in St
[10:22] Augustine Miami and
Tampa the hotels mostly wooden
[10:27] structures were no longer so attract
active as they deteriorated or
[10:32] burned a series of cold Winters
particularly 1895 didn't help and if
[10:38] there was any hope in a Revival World
War I put an end to any future
[10:43] festivities by 196 there were a few
hotels left in the whole country by the
[10:49] Great Depression even these
struggled all these were wooden hotels
[10:55] and uh the claron is a good example of
what happens when you have a fire is
[10:59] completely destroyed and uh down through
the years with uh the reduced uh need
[11:05] for hotels uh they became dilapidated
needing repair and so forth and they
[11:11] they almost Disappear by 1930 1940 if
you will and once again that that hotel
[11:18] era came and went not only here but you
know in other places as well now
[11:23] remember also our chief competitor over
on the east coast here is St Augustine
[11:28] and you had a guy named
comes through and he's going to build
[11:31] another railroad uh down the east coast
along the beach area and he does push it
[11:36] all the way out to Key West the decline
was mainly because people wanted
[11:40] something
more we were a
[11:43] destination but there was something more
upu River down south today the River
[11:49] Park in bed and breakfast is the last
remaining connection to the hotel
[11:55] era the late 1800s also saw the birth of
Augusta pH
[11:59] Savage austo was an American sculptor
associated with the Harlem Renaissance a
[12:05] pivotal cultural movement that
celebrated African-American art and
[12:09] literature despite facing racism Savage
fought to secure a place for
[12:14] African-American women in the art
World in honor of Augusta Savage's
[12:19] Legacy the City established the Augusta
Savage Museum and mentoring Center on
[12:24] the site of the Old Dunbar High School
library in 2021
[12:29] it is now the creative heart of Green
Cove Springs with classes ranging from
[12:33] art and dance to reading and math
tutoring we have uh several different
[12:38] ways that we try to enhance and support
uh Arts uh green Co Springs thanks to
[12:43] you know uh the Augusta Savage and her
um uh accomplishments as a world famous
[12:50] sculpture artist uh has kind of really
been the torch that has inspired so much
[12:58] uh training in the Arts and and our
mentoring centers that we already
[13:02] discussed that was a a challenging thing
for us to find the money to do to to
[13:07] rehabilitate and build that place and
find the purpose for what it was going
[13:12] to be and there was a lot of things the
community wanted it to be from like you
[13:15] know whether it's the dance instruction
the museum the mentoring and and it's
[13:21] exceeded my expectations so I'm really
glad that we invested in that a lot of
[13:26] young kids go through and they get to
appreciate and get quality instruction
[13:30] whether it's in the art the the dancing
the history Finance like they can learn
[13:35] a lot of different uh a lot of different
[13:40] things as the years passed Green Cove
Springs evolved embracing new Industries
[13:45] and
Technologies the arrival of the railroad
[13:50] and the growth of local businesses
transformed our small City into a
[13:54] thriving
Community well people had already
[13:58] realized they wanted they can move
farther they could get into the interior
[14:03] now the thing is they want to do it
faster Henry Flagler came here in
[14:07] honeymoon with one of his wives but what
he had left St James Hotel earlier he
[14:13] came to Green
Cove now this is standard oil Henry
[14:18] Flagler a board member that's taking a
leave of absence to go look at this new
[14:24] found territory a new
area and he just simply says
[14:29] it moves too slow he got on a vessel
went right across to Hallow's Cove or
[14:34] down to K's Cove or maybe down in P
colada where he went I don't really
[14:40] specifically recall but he got on a
Narrow Gauge Rail and he went over to St
[14:44] Augustine and as Florida history tells
us from that point Florida history
[14:51] changed Green Cove Springs played its
part in significant historical events
[14:58] our city had the first first Trolley
system in the state providing
[15:01] transportation for Commodities and also
residents and visitors with their
[15:05] luggage from the riverbank Piers to the
various lodging accommodations in the
[15:09] city it wasn't really a trolley system
uh to speak of only half of it was
[15:14] because there was a they had laid rails
from the pier at the foot of walut
[15:20] street at the River's Edge and they came
all the way up to the central business
[15:25] district just a block from here and
that's where it terminated but remember
[15:28] you had people that were coming to Green
Cove and they would get off at the train
[15:32] and then they they were expected to walk
or carry their bags this far no so what
[15:37] happens is you had several entrepreneurs
that would uh that established a uh a
[15:43] wagon and pickup system to where they
would take you from the railroad on on a
[15:48] wagon and it was a they had it rigged up
with a su and a top and all that and
[15:53] take you right down to the
hotel The Trolley system was probably
[15:57] the greatest hosting thing
perhaps many of us my wife and I being
[16:03] amongst the group do not need a coner at
a
[16:07] hotel but I know the few times that
we've traveled to upscale places a coner
[16:12] is very nice to have and you want to
have your things taken care of at your
[16:18] wishes so when BT Barnum came through
here of Barnum Bailey Circus when BT
[16:24] Barman came through here and saw just
how things were handled from the time
[16:29] you got off the vessel somebody was
there to accommodate you if you wanted
[16:33] to go from one place to another and it
was was more than the short walk there
[16:37] were
accommodations that also provided
[16:40] opportunity for local folks to be to set
a good Benchmark for the service
[16:46] industry
so uh that put us that put us in the
[16:51] category of being a parlor city of the
South um or as BT Barnum would say
[16:59] sometimes as I understand it came from
BT barning the watering hole for the
[17:06] wealthy during World War II the city
became home to a naval air station which
[17:11] brought New Opportunities and
challenges Benjamin Lee field was a
[17:17] naval air training field designed to
train Pilots for landing operations on
[17:21] aircraft carriers during World War II
the facility was later renamed Naval Air
[17:27] Station Green Cove Springs and later
redesignated as a naval auxiliary
[17:32] station associated with the Naval Air
Station Jacksonville complex during this
[17:37] period the government expanded the
complex with construction of 13 concrete
[17:42] peers serving as the birthing place for
over 600 ships placed in reserve status
[17:48] and referred to as the world's largest
mothball fleet mball Fleet was the
[17:54] largest fleet mball Fleet in the country
the Navy brought 734 ships into Green
[18:02] Cove Springs some said it was a
Scourge because the city did not have
[18:09] any
idea the Navy was going to come here
[18:14] from
September of 1945 and December of
[18:20] 1945 the Navy brought in
300 plus
[18:25] warships still pulling man and most of
the Destroyer
[18:30] escorts all carried at least 250 men so
you can do the
[18:37] math by the end of December of 1945
Green coold Springs became one of the
[18:44] most
populated cities in the state of Florida
[18:48] when no shift by the end of December
they had another 60,000 Sailors living
[18:54] in Greeno the USS Harmon
was the first ship in the United States
[19:01] to be named after an
africanamerican as far as the Destroyer
[19:05] escorts now there's only two left in the
left now one is the USS
[19:12] Slater that's in no New
York and the other is the USS Stewart
[19:19] it's in Seawolf Park
Texas that was the last of De LST
[19:27] 325 it is still operational and it's in
Jefferson bille
[19:33] Indiana it runs cruises up the Ohio to
New York or down to Mississippi to New
[19:39] Orleans they do this several times a
year but it's still an active ship and
[19:44] it's also a museum cuz that's where the
ship was built the city purchased the
[19:50] facility from the federal government
then later sold it to the J Lewis
[19:53] Reynolds Corporation now known as
Reynolds Park
[19:58] they came to the city in 1961 said they
were going to close it they said it
[20:04] would take one to three years to
[20:08] close by June of
1962 the base was completely
[20:14] closed and the last thing they closed
was a golf course that was the last
[20:21] thing Green Cove Springs was also home
to Gustafson Farm owned and operated by
[20:27] Frank and Agnes Casta
son their family Dairy operation began
[20:32] in 1908 within the city and earned
recognition as mama and papa Gus they
[20:38] started delivery of milk products to the
local hotels supplied from one cow named
[20:44] Buttercup after we got the roads all
cleaned up then um the gustavson then
[20:49] when they started their dairies you know
that right back here um they also had
[20:54] the cows Buttercup was their first cow
and so even though the the viia and the
[20:59] gustavson had a good
relationship along with the cows came
[21:03] the Cow Patties and so they wanted that
cleaned up too so that was another
[21:08] project that we had and then the gapsin
moved their their cows out to another
[21:12] location but they still live there and
still had a good
[21:16] relationship during the 1960s and 1970s
green Co Springs earned the nickname
[21:21] little Detroit because of the cluster of
automobile dealerships along
[21:26] us7 these dealers ships were largely
established by Justin Pierce reels who
[21:32] opened the first Ford dealership in the
State of Florida this Automotive
[21:36] presence provided an economic identity
for Green Cove Springs during that time
[21:41] little Detroit was a uh a moniker if you
will that the car dealers got together
[21:47] in the 60s and basically uh banded
together and they decided they would
[21:51] call themselves little Detroit uh and
increase automobile sales here in Green
[21:57] Cove as to going into Jacksonville and
buying a car St Augustine poac car or
[22:02] Lake City and that effort was very
successful up down through the uh the
[22:06] 70s if you will and I want to say there
was probably six or eight car
[22:10] dealerships all the majors Ford Buick
Cadillac uh Chevrolet Ford and so forth
[22:17] and they were they were known if you
want to buy an automobile at a
[22:20] reasonable price come to Little Detroit
so once again they did well to back up a
[22:25] second one of the first motorc car
dealerships in the State of Florida was
[22:31] just a block from here over the because
stavon house is over the next block and
[22:36] uh there's a vacant lot there now and
that was gustavis and Motor Company I
[22:40] can remember that while the city has
grown and thrived over the years its
[22:44] true heart lies in the memories of those
who have lived and worked here well I
[22:48] grew up here in greenco Springs my
mother originated from uh Georgia my dad
[22:54] lived here um my great grandmother my
great great grandmother and my great
[22:59] great
grandmother all from um greenco Springs
[23:05] I remember as a little girl walking the
streets of Green Cove and a lot of the
[23:09] streets was not paved there was very few
streets that were paved I remember
[23:14] walking in the hot sand like if though
you were walking on the beach I used to
[23:18] love to be barefooted and I would walk
in the sand um going to other relatives
[23:24] home and uh friends home lot of fun
remember
[23:29] about of fun my family's been here since
the the ' 50s and so just going to
[23:35] school and living around here for all
these years um I came back from college
[23:40] to start opening businesses in Green
Cove and we just grew to love the
[23:45] community and then the history and the
more families that we met here that have
[23:49] been here for Generations the more our
passion grew for the area and and we
[23:56] just became so incredibly invested I
came to Green Coast Springs to pursue my
[24:02] uh my personal U and professional uh
life and education by coaching and
[24:08] teaching well the Bible says in
Psalms it says that if you delight
[24:13] yourself in the Lord he give you secret
desires of your heart so my secret
[24:17] desire was to play pro football I wasn't
go to go to teach and coach and uh I got
[24:23] hurt so I wasn't going to take their
operation so I tell them I said look I'm
[24:27] I'm through I'm going home
so when I came
[24:30] home I got this phone call from Green Co
Springs and they said we'd like for you
[24:36] to come down to interview for a teaching
job I was the first African-American in
[24:40] a in a white school in the state of
Florida I was the first African-American
[24:45] Recreation director and over the times I
had lots and lots I taught generations
[24:51] of kids the mama the daddy the grandom
and everybody else and uh you know I
[24:57] don't think I ever had a a a a somebody
that didn't like you and when I first
[25:02] come your kids didn't have a way home
and I and for them to play sports I took
[25:07] them home I took everybody home every
day so I'd like to leave that that
[25:12] school with 35 or 40 kids on the back of
my truck I wore out three trucks then
[25:18] you know we went on to start coaching
well that year we didn't have a great
[25:21] football
team we had a lot of young kids and it
[25:25] was like we one and one one and one and
seven we lost
[25:31] seven but then when we got ready to go
pay Lake
[25:34] Butler uh we uh we went on over there
and when I got to leg Butler they said
[25:40] uh where's the coach I said I'm back
here he said let the boys come on in so
[25:46] the boys walked on in and I got ready to
walk in he said I'm going to use another
[25:51] word he said where you
going I said I'm I'm the coach he said
[25:57] boy you must be crazy they ain't got no
black people coaching no no white school
[26:01] in Florida and so the parents heard him
and the boys are standing right there
[26:06] and they got mad so the parents said
something to him and then he said ma'am
[26:11] I hadn't heard of that said I'm sorry
mister I said okay and I went on the
[26:15] locker room so I got the locker room the
guys told me say look you don't need to
[26:19] come in here so we got something to talk
about I said okay so I just went on back
[26:24] outside and sat down and when you saw
those boys when they come out look like
[26:29] it had fire in their
eyes and U you know if Lake Butler they
[26:34] were eight and three if they beat us
they were in the state playoffs but when
[26:39] them boys come out we beat them 33 to
nothing we beat everybody else and they
[26:45] had a custom here in
greenco if um you know we went off to
[26:49] play a game cuz we were winning all the
time they would stay up and when when we
[26:54] come through green cold everybody would
blow the horn and when you blowed the
[26:58] horn you can see lights turning off all
over green Co so we getting ready to go
[27:02] to state championship we went down to
graville that's down near
[27:07] Alabama with next door really and so the
boys got out we got out there and warmed
[27:12] up and the boys was out there talking
and they was you know this they they
[27:16] were giving us a hard time so y'all I
know y'all sorry cuz y'all a got about
[27:20] four or five students and and people in
the stands and I told the boys I said
[27:25] y'all just keep practicing don't worry
about them so the game starts at 8:00
[27:30] about 10 minutes before the game
started they had a gate down it started
[27:34] rumbling and when that gate come on
there were 11 bus
[27:38] loads from
greenco and I I don't know how many
[27:43] people drove but when when the game
started we had people line up from the
[27:48] front of the sideline all the way down
to the end and it you know we beat them
[27:54] 33 to nothing it was a great thing you
know every everybody was together and
[27:59] that we didn't have no fights we didn't
have no problems the school went fine
[28:03] and everywhere else they were having
problems in Jacksonville they were
[28:05] talking they were beating people up with
ax handles and all kind of stuff you
[28:10] couldn't do nothing but we didn't have
that kind of stuff in green Co and like
[28:14] I said God always had prepared this
everything I touched was like touching
[28:22] gold today Green Cove Springs is a
harmonious blend of the past and present
[28:28] historic landmarks stand proudly
alongside modern amenities reflecting
[28:32] our Rich Heritage and Progressive
spirit in April of 2004 the city
[28:39] relocated its operations adjacent to the
municipal swimming pool and moved into a
[28:44] new two-story stucco structure situated
on the side of the former Clarendon and
[28:50] the kisana
hotels the present day City Hall complex
[28:54] emulates the Mediterranean architectural
style of the for former KY Sana hotel to
[29:00] preserve a historical Link to the
community's Past Heritage and
[29:04] history our community thrives on Unity
Innovation and the spirit of
[29:09] togetherness from farmers markets to
festivals Green Cove Springs is a place
[29:14] where tradition and modern coexist
beautifully whenever developers come and
[29:20] they want to be in Green Cove Springs
and and you see new businesses pop up
[29:24] they pop up in areas where it makes
sense where it enhances
[29:28] um the walkability enhances the quality
of life it showcases our uh culture and
[29:34] history um these have been some of the
uh the one would say boring and tedious
[29:42] groundwork that we have been laying that
now we're starting to see these pieces
[29:46] go into place that's going to create
this wonderful puzzle uh that is going
[29:52] to be the vision of GRE Co Springs going
forward we have these Grand events
[29:57] whether it's the Riverfest or our
Memorial Day presentation our veterans
[30:02] uh tributes that we do our uh whether
it's the food truck Fridays they have a
[30:08] a really great polish and and they're
Grand and they can attract 8,000 people
[30:14] but it still just feels like you're just
around neighbors and friends we have the
[30:20] Cavita which is a great um a great event
that is ran by more local volunteers and
[30:27] that highlights our from all over and
brings it down here to our beautiful
[30:30] Park and makes it
interactive uh and so that these people
[30:35] can put their work on display and then
we can also teach youngsters and all of
[30:39] our other community members uh all of
these different creative acts we also
[30:45] one of the first projects of our new
newly established
[30:49] CRA the that thanks to our partnership
with the county we just got that
[30:53] established this year so that we can
invest in our City's core one of the
[30:57] first projects that under taking is
public art exhibits or displays uh in
[31:01] some of our public spaces and and some
of them we're going to highlight history
[31:06] some of I'm going to highlight local art
and beauty of gr Cove Springs the
[31:09] natural beauty and it's it's another one
of those things it's it sets the tone so
[31:14] it being the first project the CRA is
going to tackle shows exactly where art
[31:19] and culture stands as far as importance
for green Co Springs with the different
[31:24] activities and events that brings the
community
[31:28] together so as you know we have the Soul
Food Festival that's in October we have
[31:35] uh who can't forget about the Food Truck
Friday that we have once a month we have
[31:40] our Police Department that have put us
on events we have the friends of Augusta
[31:45] Savage that puts on events and our park
is filled with a lot of events now since
[31:51] it's been renovated um we have people
come from near and far just to be in the
[31:56] city of of greenco Springs dynamics of
greenco Springs have kind of shifted and
[32:02] changed some and uh I believe we're it's
a setup for a great great City in the
[32:11] future the future of Green Cove Springs
is bright with plans for sustainable
[32:17] development enhanced infrastructure and
community-driven projects we are Poise
[32:22] for continued growth and
success one of the first decisions we
[32:27] made made when I came on Council was
huge infrastructure Investments like
[32:32] we've never done and uh that was
shocking as a new council member coming
[32:37] in before IID really learned anything so
these are the the the steps that are
[32:43] taken that are kind of The Not So
Exciting steps but so necessary to set
[32:47] us up so that we're really headed in the
the right direction um making sure that
[32:52] we enhance and protect the the things
that all of our residents hold dear
[32:57] which is like like our our natural
beauty our natural resources which all
[33:00] of our infrastructure and our utilities
they all have that in mind they know we
[33:05] have a responsibility to protect our
waterways to protect our residents to
[33:09] keep our trees uh tree canopies
beautiful and healthy to maintain that
[33:15] cultural feel that we have that is going
to be the balance going forward I think
[33:19] we've really laid down the groundwork
whether it's through our ordinances and
[33:24] form-based codes and laying out the city
in an intentional way even in the next
[33:29] 50 years and I know that my
grandchildren and family will be able to
[33:35] um you know see the results of what
we're doing today and um that'll be
[33:41] something special for them so right
now we are celebrating history but I'm
[33:48] making history one of my favorite
phrases is honoring Our Heritage and
[33:53] forging our future uh part of that uh
process
[33:58] is knowing what has occurred in the past
and then trying to build off of that in
[34:04] a way that makes the community better uh
as we've gone through the the history of
[34:10] green Co Springs we've had several eras
that we have gone through since the
[34:17] 1874 uh
incorporation uh we've had the the
[34:22] tourism draw the uh military era we had
had the little Detroit era uh and now
[34:31] we're having the heavy growth era U that
growth is coming and we can't do a whole
[34:37] lot about it other than manage it and
managing it involves a lot of different
[34:43] areas of City operation which include
the uh Planning and Zoning the land use
[34:52] uh making sure we have
sufficient um people in departments such
[34:57] as Public Safety um Public Works um to
make sure that the quality of life that
[35:05] existed back 150 years ago continues to
exist today as well as as we move
[35:12] forward into the future into our next
150
[35:17] years from our storied past to our
promising future Green Cove Springs
[35:22] stands as a testament to resilience
community and vision I think the The
[35:28] Pride that I have in the city now is not
only the mayor and Council but our team
[35:34] which uh I think I would put up against
any team that uh you know we would be
[35:40] compared to and I think the members of
that team will do their part to move us
[35:45] into the next 150 years we want to be
the place that people can work and play
[35:50] and there's just something about living
here going to whether it's going to the
[35:53] food truck Fridays or just going up to
the the GR grocery store or walking down
[35:59] the street
there's a
[36:02] familiarity and a
neighborliness that uh I just did not
[36:07] experience until I came back and and we
put down Roots here in Green Cove and
[36:13] there's definitely something that sets
us apart join us in celebrating 150
[36:18] years and writing the next chapter of
our City's remarkable history happy
[36:23] anniversary Green Coast Springs happy
anniversary
[36:28] 150th Green Cove Springs happy
anniversary Green Cove Springs happy
[36:34] anniversary greenco
Springs happy 150th anniversary greenco
[36:42] Springs I love living here happy 150 of
green Co Springs happy 150 year
[36:49] anniversary green Co Springs thank you
for being the best part of our Cove life
[36:54] happy anniversary green
happy 150th anniversary we
[37:03] [Applause]
[Music]