Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
Encyclopedia
Ponte Vedra Beach is an unincorporated
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 seaside community in St. Johns County
St. Johns County, Florida
St. Johns County is a county located in northeastern Florida. As of the 2010 census, the population was 190,039. The county seat is St. Augustine. Due to the inclusion of Ponte Vedra Beach, it is one of the highest-income counties in the United States....

, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Located eighteen miles (29 km) southeast of downtown Jacksonville
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...

 and 26 miles (41.8 km) north of St. Augustine
St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine is a city in the northeast section of Florida and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United...

, it is part of the Jacksonville Beaches
Jacksonville Beaches
The Jacksonville Beaches, known locally as the "Beaches" or simply the "Beach", is the collective name for the towns and communities on the northern half of an unnamed barrier island on Florida's First Coast, all of which are suburbs or parts of the city of Jacksonville. These communities are...

 area. It is an upmarket tourist resort area best known for its association with golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

. The Sawgrass
Sawgrass, Florida
Sawgrass is a census-designated place in St. Johns County, Florida, United States. The population was 4,942 at the 2000 census. The aura is located in one of the most prestigious region of Florida, Ponte Vedra Beach.-Geography:...

 development is the home of the ATP Tour, the PGA Tour
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...

, and The Players Championship
The Players Championship
The Players Championship is an annual golf tournament on the PGA Tour.Originally known as the Tournament Players Championship, the inaugural event in 1974 was played at Atlanta Country Club in Marietta, Georgia before moving to the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas in 1975 and Inverrary...

, played at the TPC at Sawgrass
TPC at Sawgrass
The Tournament Players Club at Sawgrass, colloquially known as TPC at Sawgrass, is a well-known golf course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, a suburb of Jacksonville. Opened in 1980, it was the first of several Tournament Players Clubs to be built...

.

Characteristics

The area is known for its resorts including the Ponte Vedra Inn and Club
Ponte Vedra Inn and Club
The Ponte Vedra Inn & Club, located at Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, is a AAA Five Diamond Award resort and the first country club at Ponte Vedra. The 9th hole on the Ocean course has the distinction of having the first island green ever built.-History:...

 (a AAA
American Automobile Association
AAA , formerly known as the American Automobile Association, is a federation of 51 independently operated motor clubs throughout North America. AAA is a not-for-profit member service organization with more than 51 million members. AAA provides services to its members such as travel, automotive,...

 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
Palm Beach, Florida
The Town of Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The Intracoastal Waterway separates it from the neighboring cities of West Palm Beach and Lake Worth...

 and Naples
Naples, Florida
Naples is a city in Collier County, Florida, United States. As of July 1, 2007, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's population at 21,653. Naples is a principal city of the Naples–Marco Island Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated total population of 315,839 on July 1, 2007...

 areas. Ponte Vedra Beach is affectionately known as the Palm Beach of North Florida.

Most of the beaches have limited public access, with the exception of Mickler's Landing and Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve
Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve
Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve on Florida's First Coast is part of a network of 26 protected coastal areas along the United States coast from Alaska to Puerto Rico, The National Estuarine Research Reserve System...

. Golf, tennis and boating are other popular activities.

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
Juan Ponce de León
Juan Ponce de León was a Spanish explorer. He became the first Governor of Puerto Rico by appointment of the Spanish crown. He led the first European expedition to Florida, which he named...

 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
Ilmenite
Ilmenite is a weakly magnetic titanium-iron oxide mineral which is iron-black or steel-gray. It is a crystalline iron titanium oxide . It crystallizes in the trigonal system, and it has the same crystal structure as corundum and hematite....

) extraction was significant, as well as that of zircon
Zircon
Zircon is a mineral belonging to the group of nesosilicates. Its chemical name is zirconium silicate and its corresponding chemical formula is ZrSiO4. A common empirical formula showing some of the range of substitution in zircon is 1–x4x–y...

 and rutile
Rutile
Rutile is a mineral composed primarily of titanium dioxide, TiO2.Rutile is the most common natural form of TiO2. Two rarer polymorphs of TiO2 are known:...

. These minerals were recovered from beach sands by a private commercial firm called National Lead Company, directed by Henry Holland Buckman
Henry Holland Buckman
Henry Holland Buckman was an attorney from Duval County, Florida, who became a legislator in the Florida Legislature and served on the Judiciary Committee...

 and George A. Pritchard. During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 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
Pontevedra
Pontevedra is a city in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. It is the capital of both the comarca and province of Pontevedra, in Galicia . It is also the capital of its own municipality which is, in fact, often considered as an extension of the actual city...

, Galicia, (Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

). The actual reason is unknown, but there was a rumor that one of the developers read a newspaper article that erroneously claimed Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...

 was born there.

Ponte Vedra 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. After the company left Ponte Vedra, that real estate became the foundation of the Ponte Vedra Club.
Stockton, Whatley, Davin & Co.
Stockton, Whatley, Davin & Co.
Stockton, Whatley, Davin & Co. was one of the largest mortgage banking, real estate and insurance firms in the Southeast. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, they were founded as Stockton, Whatley in the late 19th century...

 was a developer of Ponte Vedra Beach in the early 1930s and owned the Ponte Vedra Club.

World War II

During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 the German submarine U-584 debarked four saboteurs at Ponte Vedra as part of the failed Operation Pastorius
Operation Pastorius
Operation Pastorius was a failed plan for sabotage via a series of attacks by Nazi German agents inside the United States. The operation was staged in June 1942 and was to be directed against strategic U.S. economic targets...

. 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. 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
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

. The invaders were captured before they could do any damage. They were tried by a military tribunal and executed.

Tournament Players Club [at] Sawgrass

In 1972 developers broke ground on the 1100 acres (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 acres (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.

Demographics

Median household income in Ponte Vedra Beach is $82,688, and median family income is $109,181. The population (including surrounding areas) in 2005 was given as 35,400. The Ponte vedra area in known for being a very influential area of North Florida, and boasts one of the best school districts in Florida. 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.

The average house costs around mid-500,000 dollars.

Notable Ponte Vedrans

Famous past and present residents of Ponte Vedra:
  • Kim Alexis
    Kim Alexis
    Kim Alexis is an American model and actress.- Career :Alexis was one of the top models of the 1980s, identified along with Gia Carangi, Carol Alt, Christie Brinkley, Kelly Emberg, Iman, and Paulina Porizkova...

    , actress and model
  • Tony Boselli
    Tony Boselli
    Don Anthony "Tony" Boselli, Jr. is a former American football offensive tackle. He spent nearly all of his professional career playing for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League ....

    , former professional football player
  • Caitlin Brunell
    Caitlin Brunell
    Caitlin Brunell from Great Falls, Virginia is a contestant who won the Miss America's Outstanding Teen 2008 title in August 2007....

    , Miss America's Outstanding Teen 2008 (daughter of Mark Brunell)
  • Mark Brunell
    Mark Brunell
    Mark Allen Brunell is an American football quarterback who currently plays for the New York Jets. He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the fifth round of the 1993 NFL Draft. He played college football at Washington....

    , football player
  • Shelby Cannon
    Shelby Cannon
    Shelby Cannon , is a former professional tennis player from the United States.Cannon enjoyed most of his tennis success while playing doubles. During his career he won 3 doubles titles and finished runner-up an additional 6 times. He achieved a career-high doubles ranking of World No...

    , former professional tour tennis player
  • Victoria Crawford
    Victoria Crawford
    Victoria Elizabeth Crawford is an American model and professional wrestler best known by her ring name Alicia Fox. She is signed to WWE where she performs on the SmackDown brand....

    , American model and professional wrestler
  • Ron Duguay
    Ron Duguay
    Ronald Duguay is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player and coach who played 12 seasons in the NHL from 1977 through 1989, and served four seasons as a minor league coach...

    , former hockey player and coach
  • Bob Duval
    Bob Duval
    Robert Duval is an American professional golfer and is best known for being the father of David Duval, formerly the top-ranked player in the world.-Early years:...

    , golf professional
  • David Duval
    David Duval
    David Robert Duval is an American professional golfer and former World No. 1 who competes on the PGA Tour.-Early years:...

    , professional golfer
  • Tim Finchem
    Tim Finchem
    Timothy W. Finchem is the current Commissioner of golf's PGA Tour.Finchem was born in Ottawa, Illinois. He took the position on June 1, 1994 succeeding Deane Beman, who retired after nearly 20 years in the post...

    , commissioner, PGA Tour
    PGA Tour
    The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...

  • Connie Fletcher
    Connie Fletcher
    Connie Fletcher is an American actress. She is known for her short role as Erin Lavery on All My Children .-Personal life:In December 2006 she married actor Aaron Staton....

    , actress
  • Fred Funk
    Fred Funk
    Frederick Funk is an American professional golfer.Funk was born in Takoma Park, Maryland. He graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1980 with a degree in law enforcement. He turned professional in 1981, but worked as a golf coach at his alma mater from 1982 to 1988; he did not...

    , professional golfer
  • Jim Furyk
    Jim Furyk
    James Michael Furyk is an American professional golfer, 2010 FedEx Cup champion, and 2010 PGA Tour Player of the Year. He has won one major championship, the 2003 U.S. Open. Furyk is known for consistently playing at the top level and for a visibly unconventional, looping golf swing...

    , professional golfer
  • Brian Gottfried
    Brian Gottfried
    Brian Edward Gottfried is a retired tennis player from the United States who won 25 singles titles and 54 doubles titles during his professional career. The right-hander reached his highest ranking on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour on June 19, 1977, when he became World No....

    , former professional tennis player
  • Michael Huyghue
    Michael Huyghue
    Michael L. Huyghue is a sports lawyer and businessman who is the current commissioner of the new United Football League, having served in that capacity since the league's founding in 2007. He was previously a member of the legal department of the NFL Players Association before joining the NFL...

    , commissioner of the United Football League
  • Dan Jenkins
    Dan Jenkins
    Dan Jenkins is an American author and sportswriter, most notably for Sports Illustrated.Jenkins was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, where he attended R .L. Paschal High School and Texas Christian University , where he played on the varsity golf team...

    , author and sports writer
  • Hamilton Jordan
    Hamilton Jordan
    William Hamilton McWhorter Jordan was Chief of Staff to President of the United States Jimmy Carter.-Early life:...

    , White House Chief of Staff for President Carter
  • Jeff Klauk
    Jeff Klauk
    Jeffrey Michael Klauk is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour.-Amateur career:Klauk was born in Boynton Beach, Florida. He played golf at Nease High School. He played collegiately at Florida Southern College where his team won the NCAA Division II Championship three...

    , professional golfer
  • E. L. Konigsburg
    E. L. Konigsburg
    Elaine Lobl Konigsburg is an American author and illustrator of children's books and young adult fiction. She is one of five authors to win two Newbery Medals, awarded annually for one contribution to American children's literature.Her first two manuscripts were submitted to editor Jean E...

    , author
  • Billy Kratzert
    Billy Kratzert
    William August Kratzert is an American professional golfer and sportscaster, who has played on both the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour....

    , former professional golfer and commentator
  • Matt Kuchar
    Matt Kuchar
    Matthew Gregory Kuchar is an American professional golfer who has played on both the PGA Tour and the Nationwide Tour. He has ranked as high as number six in the Official World Golf Rankings.-Early career:...

    , professional golfer
  • Bowie Kuhn
    Bowie Kuhn
    Bowie Kent Kuhn was an American lawyer and sports administrator who served as the fifth Commissioner of Major League Baseball from February 4, , to September 30,...

    , lawyer and former MLB Commissioner
  • Christian Laettner
    Christian Laettner
    Christian Donald Laettner is a retired American professional basketball player and entrepreneur. He had a distinguished college and national career, and played in the National Basketball Association for thirteen seasons, from 1992–2005. He is presently a minority holder for the Major League...

    , former professional basketball player
  • Frank Lickliter
    Frank Lickliter
    Franklin Ray Lickliter II is an American professional golfer. He has featured in the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings....

    , professional golfer
  • Todd Martin
    Todd Martin
    ----Todd Christopher Martin is a former professional tennis player from the United States.-Playing career:...

    , professional tennis player
  • Len Mattiace
    Len Mattiace
    Leonard Earl "Len" Mattiace is an American professional golfer on the PGA Tour.Mattiace was born in Mineola, New York. He attended Nease High School in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. He graduated from Wake Forest University in 1990 with a degree in Sociology. While at Wake Forest, he played on the...

    , professional golfer
  • Mark McCumber
    Mark McCumber
    Mark Randall McCumber is an American golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and Champions Tour.McCumber was born in Jacksonville, Florida. He turned professional in 1974 and joined the PGA Tour in 1978. McCumber won ten times on the PGA Tour between 1979 and 1994 including the prestigious Players...

    , professional golfer
  • Admiral Thomas Moorer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
  • Ben Nowland
    Ben Nowland
    Ben Nowland,born May 27, 1980 in Jacksonville, Florida is an American football offensive lineman with the Georgia Force of the Arena Football League.-High school years:...

    , professional football player
  • Donna Orender
    Donna Orender
    Donna Orender is a sports executive and a former collegiate and professional basketball player. She was recently president of the WNBA. She grew up on Long Island, New York and was a five-sport athlete in high school, lettering in basketball, field hockey, volleyball, softball, and tennis. She is...

    , professional athlete and sports executive
  • Calvin Peete
    Calvin Peete
    Calvin Peete is an American professional golfer. He was the most successful African-American on the PGA Tour, with 12 wins, before the emergence of Tiger Woods....

    , pioneer black golfer
  • Rick Rhoden
    Rick Rhoden
    Richard Alan Rhoden is a professional golfer and was a Major League Baseball pitcher. During his 16 year baseball career, he played for the Los Angeles Dodgers , Pittsburgh Pirates and Houston Astros of the National League; and the New York Yankees of the American League.-Early years:Rhoden was...

    , professional athlete
  • Fred Rogers, television personality, Mr. Roger's Neighborhood
  • Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.
    Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.
    Theodore D. Roosevelt, Jr. , was an American political and business leader, a Medal of Honor recipient who fought in both of the 20th century's world wars. He was the eldest son of President Theodore Roosevelt from his second wife Edith Roosevelt...

    , general and winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor
  • Vijay Singh
    Vijay Singh
    Vijay Singh, CF , nicknamed "The Big Fijian", is a Fijian professional golfer who was Number 1 in the Official World Golf Rankings for 32 weeks in 2004 and 2005. He has won three major championships and was the leading PGA Tour money winner in 2003, 2004 and 2008...

    , professional golfer
  • Nancy Soderberg
    Nancy Soderberg
    Nancy Soderberg is an American foreign policy strategist who held several senior level positions in the Clinton administration. She currently is President of the Connect US Fund in Washington DC and resides in Jacksonville, Florida where she is a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the University...

    , foreign policy strategist
  • Tim Tebow
    Tim Tebow
    Timothy Richard "Tim" Tebow is an American football player who is currently the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League . He was drafted by the Broncos as the 25th overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft...

    , professional football player
  • Bill Terry
    Bill Terry
    William Harold Terry was a Major League Baseball first baseman and manager. Considered one of the greatest players of all time, Terry was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1954. In 1999, he ranked number 59 on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was a nominee...

    , Baseball Hall of Famer
  • G. Kennedy Thompson
    G. Kennedy Thompson
    G. Kennedy "Ken" Thompson is an American businessman who was previously chairman, president, and CEO of Wachovia Corporation, formerly First Union Corporation, from 2000 through 2008...

    , former CEO of Wachovia
  • Bobby Thomson
    Bobby Thomson
    Robert Brown "Bobby" Thomson was a Scottish-born American professional baseball player. Nicknamed "The Staten Island Scot", he was an outfielder and right-handed batter for the New York Giants , Milwaukee Braves , Chicago Cubs , Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles .His season-ending three-run...

    , Baseball star of "The Shot Heard 'Round the World"
  • MaliVai Washington
    MaliVai Washington
    MaliVai "Mal" Washington is a former professional tennis player from the United States. He is best remembered for reaching the men's singles final at Wimbledon in 1996.-Family:...

    , tennis star
  • Bobby Weed
    Bobby Weed
    Robert C. Weed, Jr., ASGCA is a golf course designer, builder, and protégé of Pete Dye. Weed's work includes Tournament Players Club courses, the Slammer and Squire at World Golf Village, and the redesign of the Mark Bostick Golf Course at the University of Florida...

    , noted golf course designer
  • Rick Wilkins, former professional baseball player
  • Betty Williams, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize

Communications designators

  • Area Code: 904
  • Zip Code: 32082
  • In June 2006 the United States Postal Service
    United States Postal Service
    The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...

     designated an area to the south and southwest of the 32082 area as Ponte Vedra (distinct from "Ponte Vedra Beach") and assigned it Zip Code 32081.
  • Ponte Vedra Beach is wholly located east of the Intracoastal Waterway, south of the Duval County line, and north of Vilano Beach. The South Ponte Vedra community is commonly considered to be a part of Ponte Vedra Beach. The Ponte Vedra area includes Ponte Vedra, Ponte Vedra Beach, South Ponte Vedra (an area between the Atlantic and Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve
    Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve
    Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve on Florida's First Coast is part of a network of 26 protected coastal areas along the United States coast from Alaska to Puerto Rico, The National Estuarine Research Reserve System...

    ), Sawgrass
    Sawgrass, Florida
    Sawgrass is a census-designated place in St. Johns County, Florida, United States. The population was 4,942 at the 2000 census. The aura is located in one of the most prestigious region of Florida, Ponte Vedra Beach.-Geography:...

    , Palm Valley
    Palm Valley, Florida
    Palm Valley is a census-designated place in St. Johns County, Florida, United States. The population was 19,860 at the 2000 census.-History:...

     and Nocatee
    Nocatee, St. Johns County, Florida
    Nocatee, Florida is an unincorporated master-planned community on , primarily in northern St. Johns County, Florida. The aura is located in one of the most prestigious regions of Florida, Ponte Vedra Beach...

    .
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK