Hog Hunting, Bar B Q and the City of Callahan.
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Metro Jacksonville takes a look at the City of Callahan, one of the semi rural bedroom cities to the north of Jacksonville Proper.
Callahan is experiencing growth and sprawl and is making the DNA decisions which will determine the future development of the area.
Located in Nassau County, it is one of the areas which looks to the metropolitan authorities of Jacksonville steward its place as part of the regional outlook which is guiding this part of the state.
Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2009-jul-hog-hunting-bar-b-q-and-the-city-of-callahan
Good story. :) However, the teen hall, Link is not sponsored by First Baptist Church of Callahan it is sponsored by Crossroads which is located two doors down from the building. The reason most can't name the mayor is that most can't vote in the election. The official town of Callahan is only 1 mile by 1 mile in size, so most of the people live outside of this boundary. I have also noticed a trend that more and more of us are gravitating towards Yulee for our retail shopping, as the crime rate doesn't appear as heavy as it is in Jax. Even the local Chamber recently had a promotion of encouraging us to keep our dollars in Nassau County. I am glad you got to spend a day with us and hope you come back, perhaps during one of our many community events like our Northeast Fair, Blueberry Festival, Railroad Days, Rodeo, Christmas Parade, Homecoming, or just a day at the Chicken House for some good food and sweet tea! ;D
What exactly is the drunken frat boy sport of "hogging"?
Should have stopped in the hardware store and said Hi
<---------this was taken from the stage of FBC Callahan
Thank God that I never won when my friends went out hogging. Some of them bagged a couple of blue ribbons back in the day.
Traveller - if you don't know what hogging is, it is probably best not to know...
Railroad Days is a weekend festival that celebrates the rail history of Callahan. Its held at the Depot usually in the spring.
"There is a local newspaper. The cover story discusses a recent "European Visit to the Local Library." (an exchange student showed up at the library and was duly immortalized in Callahan print)."
Loved this tidbit.
I really enjoyed this article a lot. It was something a little different than I usually see at MJ, written almost like an old Charles Dickens travel journal.
Fantastic work, as always!
I loved this line:
In Callahan, Barbeque is no respecter of persons, it brings sauce to the godly and the ungodly alike.
seemed rather poetic.
Stevendare, Be sure and check out Barbara Jean's for breakfast (located on the Northside of the street just before the second traffic light). It is the unofficial Townhall during breakfast hours then as you have already discovered the unofficial Townhall moves to the Chicken House, from lunch time on. You definitely want to stop in at Ace Hardware, they have quite a history collection there and love to tell you all about the items they have on display.
It only took a couple of sentences to know which of MJ's crackerjack staff penned this one. Thanks Stephen!
Great job MJ and Stephen. If memory serves me correctly that festival is actually called the Yulee Railroad Days Festival and just passed in May. But it also encompasses Yulee, Callahan, Baldwin, Starke, Waldo and all the way to Cedar Key. Every town has some sort of celebration/festival. Nothing like a small town festival.
And as long as we are in Callahan, I remember reading a story last year sometime that the city council had voted for some dollars to build a railfan platform, similar to what they have in Folkston GA, along the A line where it splits and heads down to Baldwin. I think right where the old Gross cutoff came in would be an ideal spot. But I haven't heard much more about it.
BTW Stephen, if Folkston is not too far away, you might want to do a story sometime on the rail fan platform in Folkston. Its been featured on CBS, USA Today, Ga Public TV and a host of other places. I'll be glad to talk to you more about it.
Ahhhh, the days of four wheel drives and kegs of beer at the Regency dunes, what fun and totally irresponsible days those were.
My maternal grandmother grew up in Baker county. She told us that in her late teens (early 1920's) they would go to Callahan to barn dances. She probably got there in a horse drawn four wheeler.
Us boys on the southsided did not have to go to Regency for fun, we stayed in the Southside dunes that were on either side of JTB.
My great-great-grandparents owned a farm behind the Winn-Dixie in Callahan. My great grandfather Kermit Hodges was mayor there at least twice(maybe 3 times??!). He was also Lt. Governor of Florida for one term. I really don't know much about this town and really enjoyed this
Great article, really captured the feel of the town.
Now y'all have me stuck in a mudhole on memory lane - I misspent most of my youth in the Regency dunes, off JTB and out at Imeson.
I have heard about those dunes. I hope someone has pictures, that would be great to see.
Thats too bad... I wonder how many web hits they will lose not to mention possible visitors to the Blueberry festival. Ah well... I am sure they have too many visitors anyway. It is really too bad that a very positive and informative article about Callahan will never seen.
I haven't been to the Chicken House, but I am rather fond of The Pig across the street. They have some of the best corn nuggets.
The Blueberry Festival seemed to have quite a turn out. But it was HOT.
I noticed a comment regarding photos of the recent Blueberry Festival in Callahan. Some of mine showing some of the vendors and activities were published in the Westside Journal. You may have seen my work if you live in Callahan, Hilliard or Bryceville. Let me know if you'd like to see some of them here.
If you like sports, the Dixie Blues are playing a special game at 7 pm Saturday at Bolles High School. They may be ladies but they sure can play football. I think they're 8-0 this year. Check out http://www.myspace.com/jaxdixieblues:
Delightfully snarky, Jon Stewart would be proud, however did you in fact do the following?
"posted one of our copyrighted articles and one of our copyrighted photographs in the comments section."
If so they have the right to complain
I'm not qute sure how this works since I'm a "newbie," but my name appears above my comment. In any event, the person making the comment beginning "hmm. Thats weird." needs to do some homework. The cited link clearly refers to "online" newspapers. Callahan's WESTSIDE JOURNAL is NOT an online newspaper Your statement that "Its shockingly not up to par," may not be entirely correct. (FYI, the word "its" denotes possession. The correct word here is "It's" representing "It is.") With both items in mind, do a bit more research before putting your foot in your mouth unless you really like the taste. It's also interesting that the North Florida News Daily, an online paper, appears on the list while metro.jacksonville does not. Is it possible that metro.jacksonville is NOT considered a newspaper, at least not an online newspaper? www.Jacksonville.com/community/, a very well known online newsletter, is also not listed on the cited list.
Thanks for your response. To close the subject, I apologize that I didn't express myself correctly. I was not discussing her actions but yours. I believe your comments were inappropriate, at best. Metrojacksonville was incorrect in using a copyrighted article without permission in the first place. I believe at least one other respondent pointed that out. I would like to just leave this discussion at that. Others are welcome to comment. The jury's still out on whether or not I will continue with metrojacksonville. On another tack, do you think I should post some photos from the 2009 Callahan Blueberry Festival? You obviously have been on this site far longer than I and I believe you have more of a feel for what readers might want. I really don't want to post them unless there is some interest.
We are very interested in photos of the Blueberry Festival. Please post them. The response to Stephens article has been pretty good. He opened the eyes of many of us who did not know much about our neighbors. I do not understand the objections to the use of your article... but that is probably just me.
How do you upload photos?
Upload them to a site such as "Photobucket.com". You'll have to create an account to do so but its is free. Once uploaded, copy and pasts the direct link (found at the base of the photo), into your response using the "insert photo" option. the link should go between the "[img][img]" notations.
If you have any more problems just send myself or one of the other mods a PM and we can give you a hand.
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Old and Young: Donnie Marcum (L) at 73 was the oldest racer at the Callahan Speedway on July 4th while Bill Russell (R) is 72. Nathaniel Seidel (L) has just turned 8 while Jacob Horton (R) was the youngest driver at 6. David Hicken, wearing red, and James Wofford are the owners. Donnie has been racing for about 5 years while Bill has been driving GoKarts for about 6. Check out the Speedway website at http://www.callahanspeedway.com/ (http://www.callahanspeedway.com/) for schedules and other information.
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There were 17 breeds of poultry represented at the festival including this Dark Brahma whose males can get to 14 pounds. Wanda also owns Five Star Farms which also has Registered Suffolk Sheep and Rabbits (Holland Lops, Netherland Dwarfs, Mini-Rex).
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1929 Ford Phaeton at the car show
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Harper’s Wood Shop. Come and see us: 13918 SE 44TH AVE, STARKE, Fl, 32091. e-mail us: harperswoodshop@yahoo.com Call us: (904) 966 â€" 1026, (904)571-3815 or (904) 796 â€" 7327.
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Catering, Events, Fairs, Festivals & Special Occasions. Damecia & Davidson St. Fort; Website: <a href="http://www.flavorfulexperience.com" rel="nofollow">www.flavorfulexperience.com</a>. Email: dfortson@flavorfulexperience.com. Phone: (407) 616-6696.
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Wilson Family Band: Fusion of family, faith & bluegrass. Robert or Clint Wilson, PO Box 82, Folkston, GA 31537. (912) 496-7962. Contact@thewilsonfamilyband.com. www.thewilsonfamilyband.com.
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IFE the Clown: Face Painting, Balloons â€" Any Where You Need a Smile. (904) 505-4463 Cell; (904) 213-0934. IFETHECLOWN@AOL.COM.
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B&B Crafts, Bart & Beth Woolsey, Specializing in Wood. Serving Jacksonville and vicinity since 1999. Wholesalers welcome. Phone: (904) 845-4399; Cell: (904)233:4487. bwandbw@windstream.net
MacBeth, my oldest son (10) just started racing go karts down at Barberville. I'm actually thinking about joining him!
That sounds neat. I apologize but I have no idea where Barberville might be. One of the owners of the Callahan Speedway mentioned that his son and he were actually competing -- though not in Callahan. Have you had a chance to visit our Speedway? I think I included the website on one of the photos. It's brand new and it's located near US 1 and Musselwhite just north of Callahan on the road to Hilliard. If you're heading towards Hilliard on US 1, it'll be on the right side where the Fairgrounds are. The website has their schedule, prices and etc.
My sister lives in Hilliard (the notorious Patterson family) and I have heard of the new track but haven't seen it yet. I will be driving through this Friday though so I'll make a point to drop in a take a look.
Barberville is north of Deland in Volusia county.
They normally practice on Thursdays, I think, and race on Saturday or Sunday. It's been raining but the area where they race doesn't get too bad. My road, Eula B, just off Musselwhite, is ridiculous and my yard gets even worse. Hope you enjoy my photos.
Thank you very much.
Nice article, Stephen. As someone who grew up in Hilliard, I enjoyed the photos and take on our neighbor town.
I suspect you touched a nerve with the editor of the Nassau County Record, as they are the more "official" newspaper for Western Nassau County. The Westside Journal has only been around for a few years. However, I believe my parents dropped their subscription to the Record when the Westside Journal (the free paper you referenced) began arriving in the mail once a week. Gotta be a tough business environment for both of those papers right now.
I'm a freelancer whose work sometimes appears in the Westside Journal. I'd like to ask anyone who might have an idea or know of something happening in our area: the west side of Nassau County -- mainly Callahan, Hilliard or Bryceville -- to let me know about it. In order to get something in our paper in a given week, we need to have it by Tuesday of that week. Getting it during the previous week or even Monday of that week would be better. I'm generally available for a photo or a story and while I can't guarantee that it'll get in the paper (that's my editor's job), I can guarantee that it has no chance if we don't know about it. I'm also interested in freelancing for other publications so if you think you have an idea you'd like published somewhere, let me know and I'll see what we can do. You can contact the paper directly at (904) 879-4180 or contact me through metrojacksonville.
You're very welcome and keep that in mind. If you have something you need covered up here, I may be able to do it for you. You have my number as well as my email or you can just reach me here. BTW, If you'd really like a good place to have breakfast, try St. John's Seafood and Steaks in Hilliard, 551856 US Highway 1 - Hilliard, FL - (904) 845-2288. They open for breakfast, I think, at 6 or 6:30 am and serve till 10:30 am. They're very good and reasonably priced. If you're just looking for something sweet or a different kind of lunch, try Sarah Lee's Bakery and Cafe just off SR 200. Let me know when you want to come and I'll get you there. You can also find them on myspace at http://www.myspace.com/slbc2008 (http://www.myspace.com/slbc2008).