PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla.  – This is a very exciting, unincorporated community that once featured a mining operation (titanium, zircon, and rutile), which brought about the name “Mineral City.”  There were not a lot of minerals to unearth, and it took a while before the right guy with the right real estate instincts set the resort on a fast track to glory.

A man by the name of Joseph C. Stehlin arrived in 1929 to take over the mining operation.  He wanted to develop the property similar to The Cloister on Sea Island and concluded that the name Mineral City had to go.

Stehlin and his wife went to the library in St. Augustine and found an old 

Spanish map, saw the name Pontevedra on Spain’s Atlantic coast, and, according to the Internet, learned that the name of the town was derived from a Roman bridge, “pontis vedra” or “old bridge.”   He was elated and got the name approved, which was much more marketable for real estate aficionados than “Mineral City.”

From that austere beginning, Ponte Vedra has become one of the most popular luxury resorts there is.  Today, the median household income stands at $150,646.  “PV” is an upscale place where you rub shoulders with elite personalities, including professional golfers and former football players who enjoy the beach, restaurants, and championship golfing layouts.

Deane Beman, a visionary golf commissioner, wanted to find a permanent home for the Tournament Players Championship and got a head-turning offer of 400 acres in 1972 for $1.00 from a local developer, Paul Fletcher.  That is how the Player’s Championship, which has the richest purse in golf and is the headquarters of the PGA Tour, became located in Ponte Vedra.

I have watched this area grow and prosper over the years.  Coming here in the last years of the Wallace Butts era in Athens, you could appreciate the exceptional features at the Ponte Vedra Inn and Club.  The Georgia football team conducted Friday workouts on the golf course and there were excellent restaurants, even in those days.

A wonderful friend of many years, Vernon Brinson, who grew up in Macclenny, 30 miles west of Jacksonville, played baseball for Jim Whatley at Georgia and became very successful in the automobile business.   He and his wife, Patricia, have been genial hosts many times in the past.

Seeing the sun coming up over the Atlantic is one of the extra benefits from a stay at Ponte Vedra, as is lunch at the beach club overlooking a placid lagoon that enhances an outstanding meal.  That is one of the most pleasant mealtime settings you can find.

The history of Ponte Vedra includes photos at the Inn that help document how worried Americans were in the early forties when a German submarine, U-584, surfaced and allowed four saboteurs to come ashore in a small boat.   They had large amounts of cash and were able to depart on a train for Cincinnati and Chicago but were soon captured.    

Another submarine surfaced near Long Island but were spotted by a Coast Guard seaman on patrol.  They tendered a bribe, but his suspicion caused him to report his superiors.  The invaders were soon caught.  Of the eight saboteurs, six were executed in Washington, D. C.  George Dasch, who turned himself into the FBI in Washington, D. C., along with Peter Burger, were given life sentences but, after the war, were deported to Germany.

Ponte Vedra is a place where it is nice to read a book with the rambunctious Atlantic rolling ashore, providing an uplifting roar that makes you feel you have two seashells covering your ears—if you remember those days of yore.

You walk on the beach when the tide is out, comingling with other temporary residents, leashed dogs, and cackling seagulls.  Then you head to a favorite restaurant that serves fried shrimp and hushpuppies.  You can expect to sleep soundly and pleasantly.

You get up refreshed, and there is the ocean again, the beach, and the seagulls.  It is like your favorite martini.  You never tire of a good thing, and the best of times are those in which you are near a pleasant beach and an ocean that accommodates your desire to feel peaceful.  Here’s to Joe and Elizabeth Stehlin for finding the right name for this wonderful beach environment.

And to Vernon and Patricia Brinson for making my day yet again.