Jeannie Greenwald is a freelance photographer, neighborhoods evangelist, and editor-in-chief of The Beaches Online. She is also a degreed psychologist and occasionally works as an adoption social worker for Jacksonville area families. She founded The Beaches Online, LLC, in 2011 to write about the happenings in 'the beaches' - the island-without-a-name, in Duval and St. Johns Counties, Florida. Always equipped with cameras, she roams the beaches, the string of barrier islands from Amelia to Anastasia, and also journeys inland, to the rural banks of Florida's blackwater rivers, and the pristine, freshwater springs. Jeannie's lived at the beaches for twelve years, and considers herself a common-law native. She celebrates the joy of living in a coastal community that prides itself on its beautiful beaches and strong, independent local business community.
The third night of Christmas lights we’re taking you for a ride down Seagate Avenue for a short look at this Jacksonville Beach block that was simply ablaze. The display is quite spectacular. If you’re driving on Penman Road at night, it will catch your eye as it did ours; we gasped as we […]
Our next visit to a beaches Christmas tree lot was Big D and Buddy’s in Jacksonville Beach. For the fifth consecutive year, Big D (David, really!) and Buddy have sold Fraser Furs and firewood in the lot next to Terry’s Country Store on the west side of Penman Road, between Beach Blvd. and Atlantic Blvd. […]
Over in Neptune Beach, we met Rick Sauls, who runs R and R Christmas Trees on the corner of Atlantic Boulevard and Penman Road, at the edge of the Winn-Dixie parking lot. Rick and his partner from Michigan have been selling Christmas trees, from Michigan, for twenty years here. They’ve employed lots of beaches youth […]
On the second night of Christmas lights, we found another Ponte Vedra Beach home with a similarly decorated scene. Lights galore, and many vignettes arranged across the lawn. Again, we got out of the car and wandered slowly back and forth in front of the house, snapping photos. The family, understandably curious about the attention […]
The first night of Christmas lights features a traditional home in a Ponte Vedra Beach neighborhood. This house was decked out with so many lights, and different vignettes that we knew it just wouldn’t convey on camera as it does in person. To really appreciate this display, we exited our car and walked around the […]
We thought it would be fun to tour some of the many Christmas tree lots at the beach and talk with the tree sellers about the variety of trees they carry, check out the service, and learn to haggle for a good price! The Beaches Online is visiting at least one tree lot for each […]
…and cheering groups of friends, parents, and people who love Fletcher football lined 3rd St. with handmade signs, to cheer them on as the bus carrying the team to tonight’s big game finally passed by. For the first time, the Fletcher High School Senators Football team was advancing to the state quarter finals, held in […]
When the City of Neptune Beach lights its Christmas tree on Friday December 2, they will also be working with some students from Fletcher High School’s AICE Program (Advanced International Certificate of Education) to light Penman Road and the neighboring area of Jarboe Park with holiday luminaries. Luminaria are a beautiful holiday decoration, lighting the night […]
Finally, a local beaches establishment has grabbed the idea of creating a winter wonderland, complete with outdoor ice skating, and ran with it. I have personally been hoping that this would happen here at the beach for several years. I thought that the area in front of the SeaWalk Pavilion would make a great place […]
First Street in front of Pete’s has been swept clean, and now all the shops at the beaches are in full-on holiday mode. Thanksgiving 2011 is history, but memories of the cocktail party at Pete’s Bar in Neptune Beach will carry us through until next year. These guys skated over for some libations […]
Thanksgiving at the beach would not be complete without dropping in at Pete’s Bar in Neptune Beach. Despite the many years of these Thanksgiving ‘pre-family dinner gathering-for-cocktails‘ get togethers, many beaches residents (or townies) have yet to experience a Thanksgiving at Pete’s. If you haven’t, you should. It’s tradition, y’all. This tradition has morphed over the […]
If you love books then get yourselves over to St. Paul’s Catholic School‘s annual used book sale Saturday and Sunday. The merry team of volunteers have done it again – they organized by category and alphabetized by author – roughly ten thousand books, and the sale is in progress now. You can find this fantastic selection […]
The First Coast Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation is organizing a beach cleanup this weekend. They are meeting at 16th Avenue South in Jax Beach beginning at 9:00am. According to their Facebook Page, the beach is sorely in need of some helping hands to clean up debris from recents storms and such. They’ll provide […]
We’ve been eagerly watching the build-out of the space formerly occupied by The BookMark in Atlantic Beach, as it’s transformed into the new, laid back restaurant M Shack. M Shack will bring an upscale, and affordable menu featuring burgers, fries, hotdogs, shakes…casual food served quickly; but quality fare, as it’s coming from the Medure family of […]
….may be over for the 2011 season, but we’ll be featuring some acoustic performances from The Beaches Online musical archives from time to time, to tide us over until next Spring when it begins again. Here’s a performance by Danny Dornan. A lovely performance; the videographer ought to have stood still rather than roaming the […]
