Straddling the beautiful St. Johns River in the northeast corner of Florida is the metropolis of Jacksonville. Known for its deep natural harbor, miles of rivers, estuaries, bays, and rich fertile soil, the surrounding region was home to native civilizations from prehistoric times to the mid-nineteenth century.

In 1564 Jean Ribault erected a French Protestant, or Huguenot, trading post named Fort Caroline near Jacksonville. However, a year later, troops under Pedro Menendez de Aviles, the founder of Spanish St. Augustine, annihilated Ribault and his men.

Virtually ignored by the Spanish for the next two hundred years, the region was the site of British plantations after 1763. Meanwhile, Seminole chief Cow Keeper utilized the area to conduct important summits with chiefs of his nation and British officials. In the early nineteenth century, U.S. troops, under the command of Andrew Jackson, invaded the region as Seminole warriors and American settlers clashed on the frontier. These invasions culminated in the First Seminole War in 1817.

Jackson, who was said to be as tough as hickory wood, became Florida's first territorial governor in 1821, opening the floodgates for white settlers, who founded a community in his name one year later.

During the Civil War, Jacksonville was home to both Confederate and Union troops.

Shipbuilding supplies, lumber, paper mills, and shipping became the economic engines that drove the city's growth in the post-war years. The expansion of the railroads added tourism to the city's economic pulse, but travelers soon bypassed Jacksonville for St. Augustine when Henry Flagler bought the railroad and steered wealthy northern vacationers to his opulent hotel there.

In 1901, Jacksonville was forced to reinvent itself, as the third largest urban fire in American history claimed most of the city. The continued presence of a U.S. military base, however, bolstered economic hopes and fostered emotional healing. In the silent movie era, the city was the winter production center for New York-based films.

Today, after one hundred years of steady growth, Jacksonville boasts a professional football team, the national headquarters for CSX Railroads, one of America's most majestic river-walk's, and countless recreation and cultural opportunities. Whether you call her "River City"; "Old Hickory's Town"; or simply "Jax"; Jacksonville is "Where Florida and your vacation starts."

This podcast made possible through a grant from the Florida Humanities Council.

Script written by Roger Smith. Narrated by Jonathon Heide.