It’s difficult to go almost anywhere in Jacksonville without running into something the Skinner family has touched.
In between the birth of the city of Jacksonville in 1822 and the first powered aircraft in 1903, the first car hit the road thanks to Karl Benz, Alexander Graham Bell patented the first telephone, and
Though he had less than $1,000 in his pocket, according to a Times-Union story written in 2000, he was able to create his empire of pine trees south and east of the St. Johns River. The largest sections of land went to Arthur Chester Skinner Sr. and to Richard Green Skinner Jr. Most of the land remained in the hands of those two family units of the Skinner family until the late 20th century, eventually being sold off.
A little over 1,000 acres are left from the original land holdings from Skinner’s great-grandfather, Skinner said. All other properties are gone now through various sales or donations over the decades. Seven Pines is named for the seven brothers and the pine trees that were originally so important to the Skinner family and Jacksonville’s history. The tagline for the community, “a legacy of gathering,” is meant to symbolize the importance of people coming together, Skinner said.