BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Monitor Editor
GREEN COVE SPRINGS— Clay County’s preservation board heard updates on three historical markers proposed for the county, during the board’s March 17 meeting.
Mary Justino from the clerk’s office proposed a historical marker for the Branon Naval Outer Landing Field.
The WWII-era landing field southwest of Cecil Field consisted of four, 4,000-foot runways that intersected in the center of the facility.
She said the marker would be placed in the Oakleaf area and would highlight the development and work of the Navy’s Blue Angels at the airfield during the 1940s. The marker would also display information about the Spencer Bombing Range.
Although Naval Air Station Jacksonville is listed as the official birthplace of the Navy’s Blue Angels, the unit was actually developed at Branon Field.
Justino said the marker proposal grew out of county Archive Specialist Vishi Garig’s efforts to develop a local history curriculum for Clay County students.
“We really could use a spot where we could send folks in Clay County, whether it’s teachers with their students or families with their kids, and they could read about the military history specific to Clay County and have an understanding of the land they are occupying,” she said.
Justino added that although some areas of the county, like Keystone Heights, Green Cove Springs, Orange Park and Penny Farms have rich histories, Oakleaf has been a challenge.
One preservation board member said he is advancing on the marker commemorating Clay County native Slim Whitman. In the 1950s Whitman performed as Elvis Pressley’s opening act. Over his career Whitman sold over $70 million with 100 albums and over 500 songs.
The board voted to approve the marker during its Feb. 8 meeting.
The board also received an update on a marker commemorating sculptor and Green Cove Springs native Augusta Savage who was associated with the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s and 1930s. Savage’s marker is currently being made at a foundry, which in a letter said it is experiencing delays due to labor shortages.
The foundry said the marker will ship within three to four weeks.
