Magnolia Point, Edgewater Landing, Cross Creek
Green Cove Springs was a booming town on a bend of the St. Johns River early in the 1900s. River steamers brought visitors to the “Saratoga of the South,” noted for the health-giving qualities of its spring. Its hotels and boarding houses rivaled the best northern resorts.
As an expanding railroad system carried tourists south, Green Cove Springs saw its first decline. Grand hotels, most made of wood, were left to disrepair or burned down.
The city experienced renewed development in the 1940s with the war-time construction of Benjamin Lee Field, a 1,500-acre air auxiliary complex, by the U.S. Navy. After the war, the base became home port to a fleet of 600 ships.
Green Cove Springs experienced yet another decline when the Navy decommissioned its base in 1961.
But Green Cove (many residents shorten the name) may be on the brink of another period of growth. Its population is 5,300, according to the 2000 Census, up from 4,700 in 1990.
There are many older homes in Green Cove, which is the county seat, but new development is also springing up. Magnolia Point, a golf and country club off of U.S. Highway 17, is home to 450 families and is zoned for about 1,000.
Recreational opportunities also abound. Spring Park, a beautiful layout along the St. Johns River next to City Hall and a new City Hall under construction, features playground equipment, picnic facilities, gazebo, spring-fed pool and a 500-foot city pier with 12 boat slips. There are also many community-wide events.