Ponte Vedra Beach's reputation as a popular resort for avid golfers, top tennis players and beach lovers, as well as a home to internationally known sports figures, celebrities and top executives is re-known. Now, however, Ponte Vedra is more than a destination. The beauty and mystic of this charming seaside community has been captured in Ponte Vedra the fragrance.

Begin with a measure of history, spice with international intrigue, add a dash of glamour and a hint of sea breezes, then stir well with time and you have the essence of Ponte Vedra Beach.

The Timucuan Indians were the first to call this area home, but Ponte Vedra has been a destination for people of many nationalities for centuries. In 1513, Explorer Ponce de Leon stopped by on his quest for the Fountain of Youth. Nearly 500 years passed before the 18 square miles of swampland, sawgrass and palmettos populated primarily by alligators, snakes and mosquitoes gained prominence as a playground for golf and tennis enthusiasts and a well-manicured setting for palatial homes.

The French, Spanish and British took turns trying to tame the Northeast Florida wilderness. The French staked a claim just to the north, near the mouth of the St. Johns River, where they built Fort Caroline in the mid-1500s. The Spanish took the fort and also established a mission in South Ponte Vedra Beach. In the 1780s the British built a dam on the Intracoastal Waterway to create a fresh-water channel and rice plantations.

Civilization eventually found its way to the beaches. Then rutile and other industrial minerals were discovered in the sands south of Jacksonville Beach. The mining operation, bought by National Lead Company in 1916, became known as Mineral City. The valuable minerals were essential for the World War I effort, but as the war wound down, the need dwindled.

A nine-hole golf course National Lead built for their employee was the beginning of the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club and of a plan to create an exclusive year-round resort community. Company officials borrowed a name from a city in Northwest Spain, Pontevedra, and in 1928, Mineral City became Ponte Vedra Beach.

World War II put Ponte Vedra in the news as the site of an international espionage story, Operation Pastorious. In 1942, four German saboteurs came ashore planning to plant bombs in defense plants and at major transportation arteries. They joined four other Nazis who landed in Long Island, N.Y., but all were captured before harm was done.

The development of Sawgrass Country Club, the Tournament Players Club and Marsh Landing began in the 1970s and nearly floundered. After farsighted developers enticed the PGA Tour and the ATP to move to Ponte Vedra, development flourished.

Today about 28,000 residents call Ponte Vedra Beach home and thousands of visitors enjoy its beautiful uncrowded, beaches, world re-known golf courses and tennis facilities each year. While few monuments of the past remain, walk the beach, watch waves roll in from foreign shores and put a shell to your ear to hear whispers of the past. Then breathe deeply of the ocean breeze and you will catch of hint of Ponte Vedra the fragrance.
 


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Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida 32082
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