Walking With the Club - Fleming Island

A cool Saturday morning walking along quite, shady streets lined with big oak trees, beautiful houses and well tended yards with an occasional glimpse of the river.

Doesn't that sound like a lovely place to walk?

And to top it off an old Gothic Carpenter church with an equally old cemetery.

Yes, that's my idea of a nice place to walk.

We found such a place Saturday when we walked with the First Coast Trail Forgers walking club. The walk was set in Hibernia in Fleming Island just south of Orange Park and Jacksonville.

The walk started at the Publix shopping center in Hibernia Plaza. After crossing a semi-busy road and walking along a side walk for a couple of blocks we turned off on Augusta Drive and that's where the shady goodness began.

No sidewalk but there was no need for one. I think only two cars passed us on the whole walk. And they were actually going slow!

The walk started on a sidewalk through an area of newer homes.

Once we turned on Augusta Drive there weren't any sidewalks and the road was mostly shaded.

The dirt road to St Margaret Episcopal church.

As you can see from the pictures the group started out walking together and as the walk progressed we were spread apart. Some like to power walk to see how fast they can finish and others (like us) like to enjoy the walk and see the sights. 

To each his own...

St Margaret Episcopal Church. was built in 1878 and moved to its present location in 1880. The church is an example of Gothic Carpenter architecture and is one of the five oldest wooden churches still in use in Florida.

A cemetery is among one of my favorite places to walk. The oldest recorded grave in St Margaret cemetery (also known as Hibernia cemetery) belongs to George Fleming who died in 1821. 

In 1973 the church and cemetery were placed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

This was a 5K walk (a little on 3 miles) and we completed it in about an hour. All in all a nice Saturday morning walk.


A few reminders...

• There's no stops along the way so be sure to make a pit stop at Publix before you start the walk.
• Carry a bottle of water
• A cell phone might come in handy
• Very nice neighborhood but very few people out and about so safety sake you may want to walk with a friend.
• A couple of dogs weren't in a fenced yard one barked at us but neither one left the yard. '
• Don't forget a camera.
• This walk was set up by our walking club which is part of the AVA. The directions belong to the club so I can't post them here. Hopefully the map and directions for this walk will be placed in a walk box soon. Until then if you'd like more info on this walk you can contact First Coast Trail Forgers walking club.
• Of course you can always just wander about without a map. It's a beautiful area...
• 
  
• "not all those who wander are lost" 
• J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Fellowship of the Ring

Lace up your shoes and start walking!