The River

At once mystifying and accessible, the bounty of the St. Johns can be measured in many ways- by billions of dollars realized in commerce, tourism and industry, or by the untold treasures hidden in the nuances of the river’s rich and complex history.

To French explorer, Jean Ribault who landed here in 1562, the water shed was the “fairest, frutefullest, and pleasantest of all the world.” Two centuries later, naturalist William Bartram reveled in the sublime glories of the “grand and noble San Juan.” Poet Sidney Lanier lyricized about its natural wonders. So did Harriett Beecher Stowe, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, and more recently, Archie Carr. Frederick Delius composed music to match the rhythms of the river night.

Audubon added birds to his portfolio, while Winslow Homer and William Morris Hunt captured the strikingly exotic beauty of its liquid landscape in their art.

Perhaps the river’s greatest legacy is to still flow from rain and marsh and springs, and—when we allow it—to enchant, to inspire, and to inform our senses with its presence. It is a river worth sustaining; a grand and noble blue highway that remains a vital weave in the fabric of our modern lives. Can you imagine a Florida without it? I can’t, and perhaps that is its greatest value of all.