Willie Browne’s gift

Willie Browne lived alone in a cabin on 361 acres of land his father purchased in 1884. This pristine patch of woods overlooked the marshes east of the Fort Caroline National Memorial. Browne continually resisted the urging of developers to sell the property, and upon Read More …

Jacksonville’s The Flying Ace inducted into the Library of Congress National Film Registry

Today, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced the annual selection of 25 films into the Library of Congress National Film Registry.  Films are selected based on their cultural, historic and/or aesthetic importance, and must be at least 10 years old. The 2021 National Film Registry Read More …

Santa Claus and his many names

“He had a broad face and a round little belly, That shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly, He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf, And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself” Clement Moore, “A Read More …

Henry Van Dyke, “Keeping Christmas”

There is a better thing than the observance of Christmas day, and that is, keeping Christmas. Are you willing… to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other people have done for you; to ignore what the world owes you, Read More …

A Visit from Saint Nicholas (‘Twas the night before Christmas) by Clement Clark Moore

A Visit from Saint Nicholas (‘Twas the night before Christmas) by Clement Clark Moore photo credit: via flickr ‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with Read More …

Apollo 17

Apollo 17, the final manned mission to the moon and the first night launch of a U.S. manned spacecraft, lifted off from Cape Canaveral on this date in 1972. Astronauts Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Harrison Schmitt spent twelve days in space, three of which Read More …

YES, VIRGINIA, THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS, by Francis Pharcellus Church

Eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York’s Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history’s most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or Read More …

National Day of Mourning

On Thanksgiving Day, many Native Americans and their supporters gather at the top of Cole’s Hill, overlooking Plymouth Rock, for the “National Day of Mourning.” The first National Day of Mourning was held in 1970. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts invited Wampanoag leader Frank James to deliver Read More …

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving 2021

Apple TV+ became the home of the comic strip’s iconic holiday specials last year, pulling them from airwaves and making them exclusive to the streamer. However, following massive public outrage and a new deal with PBS, “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” aired on the streamer service, Read More …

The New-England Boy’s Song about Thanksgiving Day by Lydia Maria Child

Lydia Maria Child wrote the poem titled “The New-England Boy’s Song about Thanksgiving Day,” in 1845. It is best known for its opening lines “Over the river and through the wood, to grandfather’s house we go.” Her poem gained its lasting popularity in 1874 when Read More …