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History: |
Helen
Cooper Floyd Park is located on a peninsula
southwest of Mayport, at the convergence of
the Intracoastal Waterway and the St. Johns
River. In 1830, bar pilots and fishermen
established the village that eventually
became Mayport. The park property was known
for decades as the Little Jetties. In 1985,
the City and officials of the Greater
Jacksonville Kingfish Tournament began
efforts to co-develop the site as a home for
the event. After the City leased the
property from the Navy and made
improvements, Little Jetties Park was
dedicated in November 1992, but the
tournament never moved there. Around the
first part of 1999, the park was renamed. A
Mayport native, Helen Cooper Floyd
(1922-1998) was a schoolteacher, journalist,
and historical researcher and writer. After
moving with her family to Pascagoula,
Mississippi around 1963, she eventually
compiled and wrote two booklets and a book
about the folk history of Mayport. |
