Do you take the St. Johns River for granted? After writing a book on it, he no longer does

Matt Soergel, Florida Times-Union
·2 min read
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Women in a canoe travel on Fishweir Creek, a tributary of the St. Johns River, in this photo taken in about 1920. It's from Andrew Nicholas' book "Exploring the St. Johns River."
Women in a canoe travel on Fishweir Creek, a tributary of the St. Johns River, in this photo taken in about 1920. It's from Andrew Nicholas' book "Exploring the St. Johns River."
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For his new book, Jacksonville author Andrew Nicholas took inspiration from the river he regularly drives over and decided to look deeper and farther afield.

The result is "Exploring the St. Johns River," a photo-heavy history of Florida's mightiest river, all 310 miles of it.

"I tried to cover essentially the human history," he said. "From the Timucuans and the 1500s when the French came here, and the Spanish, all the way up to today. The book is a human history slash flora and fauna."

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An 1875 view of the Arlington River. “I’m not sure where it is on the river, but it's still an interesting photo," said author Andrew Nicholas, who included the image in his book "Exploring the St. Johns River."
An 1875 view of the Arlington River. “I’m not sure where it is on the river, but it's still an interesting photo," said author Andrew Nicholas, who included the image in his book "Exploring the St. Johns River."

In 2021 Nicholas published a book called "Jacksonville in the 1920s," capturing the feel of a booming city and its nattily dressed residents. Before that, he wrote one called "Lake City and Columbia County."

Nicholas has a history degree from the University of North Florida and a family history in Jacksonville that goes back several generations.

To find photos for this book, he plumbed places such as the Jacksonville Historical Society, the State Archives of Florida, the Library of Congress, Stetson University, the University of North Florida and the New York Public Library, which has a perhaps surprising number of photos of old Jacksonville and Florida.

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This 1951 photo shows the jetties at the mouth of the St. Johns River. Before their construction, massive sandbars were an ever-present threat to the ships trying to make their way into Jacksonville.
This 1951 photo shows the jetties at the mouth of the St. Johns River. Before their construction, massive sandbars were an ever-present threat to the ships trying to make their way into Jacksonville.

He begins his book at the ocean jetties at Mayport, moving south down the north-flowing river to its beginning in Brevard County. He traveled much of its length, taking photos and getting contributions from locals along the way.

Nicholas came away from that with a theme common to those who've spent extended periods on the St. Johns.

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In 1913 an angler holds his catch at Sisters Creek as seen in Andrew Nicholas' book "Exploring the St. Johns River."
In 1913 an angler holds his catch at Sisters Creek as seen in Andrew Nicholas' book "Exploring the St. Johns River."

"We should show respect to the river, to the ecosystem," he said. "It wouldn't be Jacksonville without the river. Every day I drive over the Fuller Warren and sometimes I forget the river's there. It's just, we go about our daily lives and we take for granted such a river, such a resource that we have."

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville author gathers historical photographs of St. Johns River