Jacksonville Landmarks Guide: Bridges, Plantation, Theatre and Zoo

Kingsley Plantation on Fort George Island charges no admission, and the JTA Skyway across downtown Jacksonville is a complimentary service with no fare (National Park Service; JTA).

The Kingsley Plantation visitor contact station is open Wednesday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and the Kingsley and Fort Caroline grounds are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the same days (NPS hours). All National Park Service areas of the Timucuan Preserve close on Thanksgiving, which falls on November 26, 2026, on Christmas Day and on New Year's Day. The preserve's mailing address is 12713 Fort Caroline Road, phone 904-641-7155, and its headquarters office is open 7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Anna and Zephaniah Kingsley lived on the Fort George Island plantation from 1814 to 1837, within a plantation period the NPS dates from 1763 to 1865 (NPS Kingsley history). The Kingsley Plantation visitor guide covers the tabby cabins, the main house and how to reach the island.

One caution: the Jacksonville preserve's NPS hours page shows a last updated date of January 18, 2024, even though it lists holidays through 2027 (NPS), so call the Jacksonville preserve line before a long drive. Downtown Jacksonville's public park landmarks have their own guides: the Treaty Oak Park guide, the Friendship Fountain guide and the Jacksonville Riverwalk guide.

The Jacksonville Skyway runs Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., opens on weekends only for special events, and costs nothing to ride (JTA).

Trains come every 4 minutes in the peak hours of 7 to 9 a.m. and 4 to 7 p.m. and every 8 minutes off peak (JTA Skyway). Stations include Rosa Parks Transit Station on Hogan Street, James Weldon Johnson Park, and San Marco, Riverplace and Kings Avenue on the Southbank. The Kings Avenue station has inexpensive park-n-ride parking, and bikes ride free as space permits.

The Skyway starter line, seven tenths of a mile long, opened in 1989, and service across the Acosta Bridge to San Marco opened in 1998 (JTA history). The JTA Skyway guide covers the stations and the line's future, and the St. Johns River Ferry guide covers the other JTA river crossing in Jacksonville: JTA took over ownership and operation of the St. Johns River Ferry in 2016.

The Hart Bridge opened in 1969 and the Dames Point Bridge, officially the Napoleon Bonaparte Broward Bridge, opened in 1989, both milestones on the timeline of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, which the Legislature made the successor to the Jacksonville Expressway Authority in 1971 (JTA history).

The Florida Legislature formed the Jacksonville Expressway Authority in 1955, and its Riverside interchange opened in 1956 to connect the Fuller Warren Bridge (JTA). Construction of the Commodores Point Bridge, later named the Isaiah David Hart Bridge, began in 1963. In 1988 tolls were removed from the Mathews Bridge, the Fuller Warren Bridge, the Hart Bridge, the Trout River Bridge and J. Turner Butler Boulevard, ending tolls on those Jacksonville crossings.

The Acosta Bridge guide, the Main Street Bridge guide, the Hart Bridge guide, the Mathews Bridge guide and the Dames Point Bridge guide each cover one Jacksonville crossing in detail.

The St. Johns River carried five names before the English one stuck, Welaka, Rio de Corrientes, River of May, San Mateo and Rio de San Juan, and by the 1860s steamers ran weekly from Charleston and Savannah to Jacksonville (St. Johns River Water Management District).

At the river mouth in Mayport, the St. Johns River light station was established in 1830 and its present brick tower was first lit in 1859 (U.S. Coast Guard History). The tower went dark in the Civil War and was relit on July 4, 1867, raised to its present height in 1887, replaced by a lightship in 1929 and by a beacon on the naval station in 1954. The Coast Guard turned the lighthouse over to the Navy in 1969, and it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Because the Navy has held the old Mayport tower since 1969, check access before planning a visit; the St. Johns River lighthouses guide covers its status and the other river lights, and the St. Johns River guide covers the waterway through Jacksonville.

Downtown Jacksonville was rebuilt in the decade after the Great Fire of 1901, and the St. James building that rose from the ashes in 1911 now houses City Hall (State Archives of Florida).

Architect Henry John Klutho was brought in to design many of the city's new buildings. The St. James Hotel, later the Cohen Brothers department store, was one of the largest buildings in the nation when it opened (Florida Memory). The St. James Building guide covers City Hall, and the Laura Street Trio guide covers a cluster of early downtown Jacksonville office towers.

The Florida Theatre in downtown Jacksonville opened on April 8, 1927 as the largest theatre in the State of Florida, built in the Spanish Eclectic style better known as Mediterranean Revival (Florida Theatre). The Jacksonville theatre closed on May 8, 1980, when only 803 of its more than 1,900 seats still worked, and reopened in 1983 as a nonprofit performing arts center; the Jacksonville box office number is still 904-355-ARTS. The Florida Theatre guide covers shows and tours.

Downtown and nearby church and civic landmarks have their own guides: the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception guide, the Bethel Baptist Institutional Church guide, the Prime Osborn Convention Center guide and the Riverside Historic District guide.

The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens on the Trout River covers 122 acres, with more than 2,000 animals and over 1,000 plant specimens, and has operated since 1914 (Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens).

The Museum of Science and History is in transition. Its website now presents a new Jacksonville museum on the St. Johns River, planned as a 7.2 acre indoor and outdoor site with 110,000 square feet and 500,000 projected visitors a year, and lists a new mailing address on Beach Boulevard (MOSH). The Museum of Science and History guide tracks the move to the new Jacksonville building and when exhibits return.

Two art museums round out the Jacksonville list: the Cummer Museum guide and the MOCA Jacksonville guide cover hours, admission and collections. The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens guide covers tickets and the newest habitats.

Twenty four Jacksonville landmark guides sit under this hub, and the table below sends each common question to the guide that answers it.

The full Jacksonville list: the Acosta Bridge, Main Street Bridge, Hart Bridge, Mathews Bridge and Dames Point Bridge guides; the St. Johns River, St. Johns River Ferry and St. Johns River lighthouses guides; the JTA Skyway guide; the Jacksonville Riverwalk, Friendship Fountain and Treaty Oak Park guides; the St. James Building, Laura Street Trio, Florida Theatre, Prime Osborn Convention Center and Riverside Historic District guides; the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception and Bethel Baptist Institutional Church guides; the Cummer Museum, MOCA Jacksonville, Museum of Science and History and Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens guides; and the Kingsley Plantation visitor guide.