Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

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Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
—  CDP  —
Location in St. Johns County and the state of Florida
Country  United States
State  Florida
County  St. Johns
Area
 • Total 33.8 sq mi (88 km2)
Population (2007)
 • Total 37,924
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2010)
This article is about the beach community in Florida. For other uses, see Pontevedra (disambiguation).

Ponte Vedra Beach is an unincorporated seaside community in St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Located eighteen miles (29 km) southeast of downtown Jacksonville and 26 miles (42 km) north of St. Augustine, it is part of the Jacksonville Beaches area. It is an upmarket tourist resort area best known for its association with golf. The Sawgrass development is the home of the ATP Tour, the PGA Tour, and The Players Championship, played at the TPC at Sawgrass.

Contents

[edit] Characteristics

The area is known for its resorts including the Ponte Vedra Inn and Club (a AAA five diamond resort), the Lodge and Club (four diamonds), and the Marriott at Sawgrass (three diamonds). It also lies in the third wealthiest county in Florida, ranking just behind the Palm Beach and Naples areas. [1]

There are multiple beach clubs from the Lodge and Club to the Cabana Club and the Plantation Club. Between the residential neighborhoods lining Ponte Vedra Boulevard there are many public accessies between. Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve. Golf, tennis, and boating are other popular activities. Wakeboarding, skurfing, and waterskiing are a few activities that families and sports enthusiasts practice on the St.Johns River.

Ponte Vedra Beach on a December afternoon. During the summer months, the beach is often filled with local families as well as tourists.

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2009/snapshots/CS1292795.html

Population: 27,600 Ponte Vedra stats

   City stats

Median family income (per year) $116,399 Job growth % (2000-2008)* 5.27% See jobs near Ponte Vedra Median home price $405,082 Test scores reading (% above/below state average) 41.7% Test scores math (% above/below average) 33.8% Personal crime incidents (per 1,000) 33 Property crime incidents (per 1,000) 253 Restaurants (within 15 miles) 1,373 High temp in July ° F* 89.7° Low temp in Jan ° F* 45.1° Median age 43.1

[edit] History

What is now North Florida was visited several times by European explorers in the 16th century, but there is little evidence for them coming to Ponte Vedra Beach specifically. It may have been sighted by Juan Ponce de Leon during his voyage to Florida in 1513, but as his precise landfall is unknown, this claim may be made by many communities on the east coast of Florida.

The area remained sparsely populated through the late 19th century, even as other seaside communities began to develop to the north. In 1914 minerals were discovered, and a community known as Mineral City grew up around the mining operations there. Titanium (ilmenite) extraction was significant, as well as that of zircon and rutile.[2] These minerals were recovered from beach sands by a private commercial firm called National Lead Company, directed by Henry Holland Buckman and George A. Pritchard. During World War I titanium was a component of poison gas, and therefore a strategic mineral.

After the war, mineral demand dropped, so the National Lead Company changed its focus to building a resort community. The name of the community was changed to Ponte Vedra, apparently after the city of Pontevedra, Galicia, (Spain). The actual reason is unknown, but there was a rumor that one of the developers read a newspaper article that erroneously claimed Christopher Columbus was born there.[3]

A stream running through Ponte Vedra and into the St.Johns

[edit] Ponte Vedra Club

Main article: Ponte Vedra Inn and Club

In the early 1920s, the National Lead Company had built a 9-hole golf course and 12-room clubhouse constructed of logs for the use of their employees.[4] After the company left Ponte Vedra, that real estate became the foundation of the Ponte Vedra Club. Stockton, Whatley, Davin & Co. was a developer of Ponte Vedra Beach in the early 1930s and owned the Ponte Vedra Club.[5]

[edit] World War II

Main article: Operation Pastorius

During World War II the German submarine U-584 debarked four saboteurs at Ponte Vedra as part of the failed Operation Pastorius.[6] The four German spies, all of whom had previously lived in the United States, came ashore on the night of June 16, 1942 carrying explosives and American money.[7][8] After landing they strolled up the beach to Jacksonville Beach, where they caught a city bus to Jacksonville and departed by train for Cincinnati and Chicago. The invaders were captured before they could do any damage. They were tried by a military tribunal and executed.[9]

[edit] Tournament Players Club [at] Sawgrass

Main article: TPC at Sawgrass

In 1972 developers broke ground on the 1,100-acre (4.5 km2) Sawgrass development. Around the same time, Deane Beman, the Commissioner of the PGA Tour, was looking for a permanent home for the Tournament Players Championship. Many areas around North Florida were considered. In an attempt to bring positive attention to the area the Sawgrass developers offered a 400-acre (1.6 km2) tract of land to Deane for only $1. He couldn't refuse this One Dollar Deal and so Sawgrass became the home of the Tournament Players Championship and the headquarters for the PGA Tour.

Sawgrass has been the home of The PLAYERS Championship since 1982. The Stadium Course is the permanent Home of THE PLAYERS Championship, owned by the PGA TOUR. A true “Stadium Course,” the golf course was designed to improve the overall on-site fan experience.

2012's The PLAYERS Championship (TPC) will be held May 10th through May 13th.

[edit] Demographics

Median household income in Ponte Vedra Beach is $82,688,[10] and median family income is $109,181.[11] The population (including surrounding areas) in 2005 was given as 35,400. The Ponte vedra area is known for being a very influential area of North Florida, and boasts one of the best school districts in Florida.[11] Ponte Vedra Beach was 50th on the list of 100 finalists for CNN and Money Magazine's 2005 List of the Best Places to Live. It was the first place in Florida to be named in that year and one of only four areas in the state to make the cut.[11]

The average house costs around the mid-500,000 dollars.[12]

[edit] Notable Ponte Vedrans

Famous past and present residents of Ponte Vedra:

[edit] Communications designators

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Florida Spas: Ponte Vedra Inn & Club, Jacksonville" Travel to Wellness, April 21, 2010
  2. ^ Florida's Minerals
  3. ^ "History of Ponte Vedra Beach". http://www.pontevedrachamber.org/visitorinfo/history.cfm. 
  4. ^ "Ponte Vedra Inn & Club" Tennis Resorts Online
  5. ^ Fitzroy, Maggie: "When Ponte Vedra was just a rural beach" Florida Times-Union, May 31, 2007
  6. ^ U-584 The Type VIIC boat U-584 - German U-boats of WWII - uboat.net
  7. ^ Operation Pastorius
  8. ^ Ex parte Quirin
  9. ^ FBI History, Famous Cases: George John Dasch and the Nazi Saboteurs
  10. ^ [1]
  11. ^ a b c Money Magazine's Best Places to Live 2005
  12. ^ [2]

Coordinates: 30°14′N 81°23′W / 30.233°N 81.383°W / 30.233; -81.383

Municipalities and communities of St. Johns County, Florida, United States
Cities
Towns
CDPs
Unincorporated
communities
Footnotes

‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties
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