We get a lot of questions about our place and owning 23-24 acres of a wetland, hammock forest.   So, we added this private page to our company site and are answering some of the most common ones.  It is surprising that these are the most common questions we get.

Are there any gators?  Yes.  We have five footers down to small hatchlings.  But they are not numerous, and they are nothing we worry about.  We think it is cool to see them.  We only see them at the dock and it is rare that we do.  They do not come into the forest.

Can you get to the river?  Yes.  We walk through the woods down a little over a quarter mile boardwalk.  It is about 5'-6' off the ground. It is ilke walking in your own park.  

Do you walk in the forest?  Can you walk in it when there is water?  Yes and yes.  However, Anabel does not do this.  It is only a Dennis thing.  Anabel does not like snakes and, where there is water, every floating stick looks like a possible snake.

Do you ever see any snakes?  Yes, but it is only occasionally. Most are pretty small.

Are there mosquitoes?  This one always makes us laugh. It's Florida and we are on the water. Yes, there are mosquitoes.  But they are not like swarming so thick you have to fight through them or anything.  It's just like anywhere else in Florida.

Do you see many animals?  Yes and no.  We do see animals of course.  But many of them come out at night when they feel safer.  We "see" a bunch of them on our security cameras.  About the only two animals we have not seen is a bear or a panther.  We are still hoping though.  To the side are some of the animal pictures and videos.

What do you do in a hurricane?  We move everything off the dock, so nothing blows off and goes into the river.  We tie everything else down and hope for no falling trees that take out the power line. 

Are you worried about flooding during a hurricane?  This one makes us laugh too as everyone on the river gets asked this question. IF you get the perfect storm of conditions, we could.  But that is a super big IF.  The only time it flooded was with Hurrican Irma and the following conditions applied:

1. We got a catagory 3 hurricane that directly impacted Jacksonville AND

2. We had two weeks of rain prior AND

3. We had a nor'easter storm the previous week, raising the water table above normal, before the hurricane hit.

If we get those conditions again, (unlikely) THEN

Yes, the lower level will get some inches of water in it.  But all three of those things happening at the same time has only happened once since hurricane records were kept in over a hundred years.  So, we are ok.  The river can get high and raise the water level in the forest, but it is actually pretty cool to see the forest like that.  We saw a swimming racoon when we had a hurricane once, but we were too slow to get a video.

How tall is your house?  Three stories.  But it is not as big as you might think...it is only 3500 sq ft.

Do you walk to the dock at night through the woods?  Of course we do.  We admit though that some of our guests find it kind of spooky when it is pitch black.  Mainly though, you can't see the spider webs.  Anabel does not like running into the spider webs.  Dennis goes first.

Dennis and Anabel


Our house in the winter.  


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