Jacksonville Beaches
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The Jacksonville Beaches, known locally as "The Beaches" or simply "The Beach", is the collective name for the towns and communities on the northern half of San Pablo Island on Florida's First Coast. These communites are separated from the main body of Jacksonville by the Intracoastal Waterway. The Jacksonville Beaches are located in Duval and northern St. Johns County, and make up part of Jacksonville's metropolitan area.
The northernmost of the beach communities in Duval County is Mayport. Moving south along the coastline are three incorporated towns: Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach and Jacksonville Beach. All three maintain their own municipal governments; however, due to the consolidation of the county government with that of the City of Jacksonville in 1968, denizens of these beach municipalities also vote for Jacksonville City Council members and the mayor of Jacksonville. Continuing south into St. Johns County is Ponte Vedra Beach.
Recently, neighborhoods on the west side of the Intracoastal have started calling themselves part of the Jacksonville Beaches. However, Beaches residents have always maintained a distinct cultural identity and traditionally refer to any residents on the inland side of the intercoastal (a.k.a. The Ditch) as "townies."
