Clay County, Florida
The story of Fleming Island
Everything below is a single verifiable claim with a citation attached. Where the record is a local legend rather than a document, it says so.
- 1790Hibernia plantation
- 1942Four runways laid
- 1990Airfield demolished for housing
founding
How it started
- 1790
George Fleming, an Irish immigrant, received a 1,000-acre land grant from the Spanish governor of East Florida for his military service and established a plantation in 1790.
etymology
How it got its name
-
The island carries the Fleming name, and the plantation was called Hibernia - the Latin name for Ireland.
industry
What it lived on
- 1942
Plantation, then military, then subdivision: the Navy laid four asphalt runways here in 1942 as NOLF Fleming Island.
claim to fame
What it is known for
-
The runways outlived their purpose. Abandoned in the 1960s because they were too short for jets, the decaying airfield was demolished in the late 1990s so the neighbourhoods now standing there could be built.
landmark
What still stands
-
The St. Johns River shoreline, about 21 miles southwest of downtown Jacksonville.
- 1790
Hibernia, the settlement that grew from the 1790 Fleming plantation and still bears its name.