So what if we used to be Cowford? New downtown mural celebrates the old name, cows and all

Matt Soergel, Florida Times-Union
·4 min read

In the perpetual shadows under the Acosta Bridge, the newest public art in this mural-happy city is now finished — a vivid portrayal of three cows making their way across the St. Johns River.

It's a knowing nod, of course, to a period in Jacksonville's history before its founding in 1822 when the area was known vaguely as the Cowford. The name represented the narrow spot on the St. Johns River where it was possible for ranchers to get their cows across the water.

Wednesday, in the first month of the city's bicentennial, artist David Nackashi watched in satisfaction as workers removed the last of the scaffolding he had used to reach high up two of the bridge's piers, just a few feet from the Northbank Riverwalk.

"Let's get a picture," he said, raising up his cellphone to do just that.

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Workers on Wednesday remove the scaffolding from in front of a mural painted by David Nackashi on two piers of the Acosta Bridge near the Northbank Riverwalk. They depict cows crossing a narrow part of the St. Johns River in the years before Jacksonville was founded in 1822, when the location was called the Cowford.
Workers on Wednesday remove the scaffolding from in front of a mural painted by David Nackashi on two piers of the Acosta Bridge near the Northbank Riverwalk. They depict cows crossing a narrow part of the St. Johns River in the years before Jacksonville was founded in 1822, when the location was called the Cowford.

Nackashi painted three cows in all, two on one pier, one on another. They're not just any cows: They're based on photos he took at a farm in Live Oak that has Florida Cracker cows, descendants of those brought to the state by the Spanish hundreds of years.

They would have been the same kind of cows that crossed at the Cowford — a designation that for years was used as a dismissive term for Jacksonville but has lately been embraced by many as a mark of community pride.

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The project was funded by Downtown Vision Inc. and the Downtown Dwellers, an organization for residents downtown.

It covers up graffiti that sprawled across the two bridge supports at the city's Corkscrew Park, which is next to the spiraling ramp on the Riverwalk under the Acosta. Nackashi said he plans to next year paint more cows on the opposite side of those two columns facing the river.

Mural artist David Nackashi works on scaffolding while painting the second portion of his new mural, "Cowford," under the Acosta Bridge.
Mural artist David Nackashi works on scaffolding while painting the second portion of his new mural, "Cowford," under the Acosta Bridge.

He's 35, a Jacksonville native living in the historic Springfield neighborhood, a graduate of Bishop Kenny High School and the University of North Florida. He's painted numerous murals across the city and stays so busy he's in the envious position, for an artist, of having a backlog of jobs to get to.

"Jacksonville has been cranking out murals," he said. "It's hard to keep up, just in Jacksonville."

He wanted to paint the cows because they're a colorful bit of local lore. He grew up hearing people say the city has little history and no identity — not true, he says, if you know where to look.

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Mural artist David Nackashi works on his new mural under the Acosta Bridge while a train goes by on the nearby tracks over the river.
Mural artist David Nackashi works on his new mural under the Acosta Bridge while a train goes by on the nearby tracks over the river.

Though he finished just a few days ago, the Cowford project has been in the works for a while: "Three and half years — it's finally done — of approvals, permissions. A thousand steps."

Nackashi also does oil on canvas paintings and likes that, but once they're out of your hands you don't know where they're going to hang, what life they will have. But a mural? You know exactly where it will be and from what angles people will see it.

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Then there's the challenge of a large-scale mural. "Sometimes if it's too easy I just kind of get bored with it. It can take a day and it doesn't seem that big of an accomplishment," he said. "But this, all the anticipation, all the approvals, the scale, and how to do it, the process to get it done, is what I enjoy."

For "The Cowford" project, he had to hop over rocks to the bridge piers, hoisting 5-gallon buckets of paint, then climb up several layers of scaffolding to create the cows, the river, the Florida sky.

Crews hand off pieces of scaffolding as they break down the scaffolding from in front of the mural on the upright of the southbound span of the Acosta Bridge on Wednesday after artist David Nackashi finished his work. His latest downtown mural depicts cows fording the St. Johns River, a nod to Jacksonville's original name, Cowford, dating back to the 18th century.

"I will miss it. I'll miss coming out here. Nice. Peaceful," he said.

Some days under the bridge, it got cold and windy, making it hard to hold his brushes. But the lack of direct sunlight is just fine with the artist — and his "Cowford" mural.

"I think it's going to stay vibrant for a long time," he said.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville artist's downtown mural celebrates an old name: Cowford