San Marco is a lovely neighborhood in Jacksonville, not coastal. Its claim is the magnificent St. John’s River and old neighborhoods with traditional homes, large lawns and splendid trees. If you’re from Michigan, like me, think of it as Birmingham meets the Grosse Pointes. What gives San Marco its community vibe is the Square…the in town pedestrian shopping area filled with entrepreneurial spirit and unique offerings from boutiques to the all-important bookstore to several renown restaurants and a cadre of merchants and residents who care about keeping this neighborhood thriving and lovely. And that it is.
I enjoy driving from the beach to San Marco. I plug in to the iPod (well, the iPhone, but you know…) and listen to my curated content and when I arrive, and debark, camera and tripod in hand, I enjoy wandering their streets, feeling as though I’m in a different world than the beach. Which it is. The vibes are totally different but their similarity is an important one: they are invested in the local community just as the beach is invested in its. When we support the local it enhances our lifestyle, frees us from the “mall-if-i-cation” of America, and lets the free spirit reign where it’s planted. You might not find a San Marco style shop at the beach (but why not?) and you’d more likely not find certain beach style shops in San Marco … but it’s totally cool to hopscotch about the neighborhoods of the greater Jacksonville area because these communities are diverse and have a flavor all their own.
Today, here’s a slideshow of the Holidays in San Marco:
Holidays in San Marco from Jeannie Greenwald on Vimeo.
(The audio accompanying the video is Carol of the Bells, purchased by me via iTunes. If you like it, it’s a great addition to your holiday music library and I’d encourage you to get it too. It’s from the Barenaked Ladies’ Barenaked for the Holidays CD which our whole family loves, year after year.)
I have a favorite park in San Marco already, too, but that will be an ‘Off the Island’ post for another day.
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