Tag Archives: Tim Gilmore Florida

Revisiting Jacksonville’s Trisect, Public Art Milestone

Click below for this week’s story, or navigate the city through the search bar or the direction buttons at the top of the page:

It was the first piece of public art in Jacksonville in 50 years. The city seemed hostile. It stood before public housing, not in a public park in a tony neighborhood. Jax roasted it, but the elderly residents in architect Ted Pappas’s new tower behind it loved it. Almost 50 years later, sculptor Carl Andree Davidt’s Trisect sculpture still interrogates the city.

St. Johns River Monster: 170 Years of Sightings

Click below for this week’s story, or navigate the city through the search bar or the direction buttons at the top of the page:

Supposed sightings of the St. Johns River Monster go back 170 years. It’s been called “Johnnie,” for the river, and the inexplicable “Borinkus.” Bounties have been offered, but the beast has never been shot, by gun or by camera. Sea monster legends do, however, connect to real world monstrosities, headlines of lynchings and the Klan. And no explanations satisfy those who say they’ve seen it. 

Story #509: Riverdale Inn / Brazile House / Kelly House

Click below for this week’s story, or navigate the city through the direction buttons at the top of the page:

Walter Brazile founded B & B Exterminating Co. in his rambling old boarding house. He nurtured the business and nurtured people, including Rufus King, Jr., brother of Virginia, author of that 8,448-page book about Jax. William Kelly, turpentine magnate, built the house 115 years ago. Albert O’Neall, though a Quaker, took a job here building bombing ranges. Now the former HQ of B & B has been restored as a bed-and-breakfast. One of my favorite writers stayed here just last week.