With a rich and varied history that goes back hundreds of years, Jacksonville, Florida is a hidden gem for urban explorers in the southeast United States. Nestled along the St. Johns River and stretching to the Atlantic coast, Jacksonville has served as a bustling commerce hub for years and years, with multiple ports, several railroads, and a handful of military sites located within the metro area.
Many were surprised when I listed Jacksonville as the best city in the United States for urban exploration. However, my reasoning for this choice goes far beyond the fact that I currently live here in Jacksonville. The perfect mix of expansive land area, industrial growth, desolation and decay, and great weather year-round makes this city an ideal spot for some strong urbexing pursuits and exploration of abandoned locations.
The below list of the best abandoned places in Jacksonville FL is only scratching the surface of what is actually available here in sunny Duval. In fact, I’ve categorized, logged, and visited over 100 abandoned locations throughout the city.
From velodromes in the middle of the woods to haunted mansions with eerie pasts, rusted-out treasure hunting ships to meatpacking plants, and beyond, the Jacksonville area has everything under the sun. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a city that has a more varying degree of types of “bando” areas to explore.
Killer Urbex Note: The buttons at the bottom of each location mentioned below lead to the site Abandoned Florida. The owner of this site, David Bulit, is perhaps singlehandedly responsible for opening up the world of urban exploration in Florida to the masses.
David Bulit’s book, Abandoned Jacksonville: Ruins of the First Coast, sits on my coffee table at home. His latest book, Abandoned Jacksonville: Remnants of the River City, was released on September 28th, 2020.
Need a strong camera to photograph abandoned places in Jacksonville FL? Look no further than our two top recommendations, the Canon EOS 90D and the Nikon D7500. Find more DSLR options in our comprehensive guide.
The Best Abandoned Places in Jacksonville FL
Over the years, the city of Jacksonville has seen dozens of economic booms and busts. As a result, it’s packed with abandoned schools, factories, residences, towers, and infrastructure just waiting to be discovered by urbex enthusiasts. Read on to learn more about the 10 most fascinating abandoned places in Jacksonville FL, Florida’s largest city.
Killer Urbex Note: Most of the below locations can be explored as of February 2021. However, it should be noted that all properties here, and many other abandoned places in Jacksonville FL, are private property, and exploring would be considered trespassing.
The trespassing note above is one of the reasons why we are not providing detailed instructions on how to find these locations. Proceed with caution, and try not to break the law.
While there are some that are relatively unwatched, there are others under strict supervision around the clock. Do your due diligence, be smart, and read our resource Caught Trespassing? Staying Out Of Trouble Urbexing.
The Ambassador Hotel (Downtown Jacksonville)
Over the last half-century, downtown Jacksonville has struggled to find its footing, as much of the region’s residential and commercial activity has gravitated toward the outer rings of the city. With economic investment concentrated elsewhere, many once-regal downtown structures have been left empty and crumbling, including the former site of the Ambassador Hotel.
First built as a six-story luxury apartment building in 1924, this handsome brick and limestone structure was converted into the Three-Ten Hotel two decades later. It went through several name changes before reopening as the Ambassador Hotel in 1955, the identity by which the now-abandoned building is still known today.
Imagine back in the 1950s if they would have known that, in just a few short decades, the beautiful hotel would become nothing more than another example of the many abandoned places in Jacksonville FL.
The Hotel’s reputation began to decline in the early 1980s. Finally, despite being added to the National Register of Historic Places, it continued its downward spiral in the 1990s, with drug raids by local police commonplace. The city finally condemned the building in 1998, citing a litany of code violations, including bad wiring, poor sanitation, inadequate lighting, and inoperable fire escapes. It has remained vacant ever since, except for a smattering population of vagrants and homeless.
Despite several well-intentioned plans to renovate the Georgian revival-style building and restore it to its former glory, none has come to fruition as of mid-2020. The most recent proposal came from a local development group that purchased the property in 2018 for $5.4 million; however, the promised 100-room boutique La Quinta branded hotel has yet to materialize.
For now, it’s a prime opportunity for more adventurous and daring urban explorers, and one of the best abandoned places in Jacksonville FL. But, its status could change at any time, so don’t wait too long to check it out.
Killer Urbex Note: It should be noted that this building is heavily walled and fenced off, and any entry into the building is considered trespassing. Police presence is common in the area surrounding the Ambassador Hotel, as it sits right across the street from the abandoned JEA headquarters.
Annie Lytle Elementary School (Riverside)
Construction on this historic school began in 1917, on the site of a former wooden schoolhouse known as Riverside Park School. Designed by the prolific Jacksonville architecture firm Rutledge Holmes, the $250,000 brick structure opened as Annie Lytle Elementary School the following year. At the time, the school building was aesthetically striking, with stately columns, a huge auditorium, a cafeteria with a fireplace, and large windows that filled the school with the bright Florida sunshine.
With the construction of two major interstates—I-95 and I-10—in the 1950s (the former can be seen at the top corner of the related image), the school was cut off from the rest of the city and shut its doors for good in 1960. The Duval County School District used it intermittently for storage and offices until the city condemned it in 1971.
The building remained largely forgotten until 1999 when an investor acquired the property and announced plans to raze the school and build a condominium complex on the site.
Pushback from citizens and local historical groups led the city to declare the site an official historic landmark in 2000, ending any plans for commercial activity. Since then, the school has sat idle except for visits from vandals, vagrants, curious teens, and of course, urban explorers, as well as the Annie Lytle Preservation Group.
Four decades of deterioration—including a fire in 1995 that caused a partial roof collapse—have left the old school in tenuous physical condition, so use extreme caution if you decide to venture inside. Despite this, Public School Number Four is well-known in the area as the holy grail of abandoned places in Jacksonville FL.
Killer Urbex Note: While this school is one of the most sought-after urban exploration locations in the United States, popularity growth over the past 10-20 years has caused an increase in security at the premises. There is 24-hour video surveillance, fences all around the property, it is completely boarded up, and there is a strong police presence here.
Proceed to Annie Lytle with caution, and if possible speak with the property owner or authorized parties about obtaining a permit to enter. It should be noted that the Annie Lytle Preservation Group does not allow people to enter to take photos when they are in the process of renovations.
Finally, we highly recommend simply enjoying the view from afar. It is rare that someone is able to get inside this example of incredible abandoned places in Jacksonville FL.
Moulton & Kyle Funeral Home (Downtown)
The city’s first funeral home was founded in the mid-1800s by Calvin Oak, a tuberculosis-stricken Vermont businessman who moved his family to Jacksonville in hopes that its warm, sunny climate would help him regain his health.
His gamble worked, and over the next three decades, he built the city’s first ammunition factory, operated a downtown jewelry store, and founded a marble and mortuary company with his son.
The three-story downtown funeral home changed hands several times over the following quarter-century and was ultimately acquired by Harry Moulton and Samuel Kyle in the early 20th century. The old building was replaced by a new, more modern facility was in 1914; built in the Prairie School style, the two-story structure featured a garage with a turntable.
After Moulton’s death in 1936, the business changed its name to S.A. Kyle Funeral Home. 25 years later, the addition of a new partner required another name change to the Kyle-McClellan Funeral Home, which remained in place until it was purchased by the Peeples Family Funeral Homes in 1992. The firm moved on to a new location in 2013, abandoning the century-old facility to squatters, drug dealers, and prostitutes.
Since then, the building has seen a partial roof collapse, extreme water damage, and the effects of a fire in 2019. Though it’s currently still standing, it likely won’t be long until the forces of nature or city government completely level this historic structure.
Killer Urbex Note: We were right as far as the last sentence above goes. In January 2021, a three-alarm fire broke out at the funeral home, destroying the building and leading to its demolition the following day. Now, nothing of this beautiful example of abandoned places in Jacksonville FL exists.
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Public School No. 8 (Springfield)
Originally known as Graded Springfield School, this public school building welcomed its first students in 1909. The school was built to serve the Phoenix Avenue neighborhood, a working-class settlement that peaked in population in the mid-1920s. The school was expanded in 1926 by local architect Roy Benjamin, who is best known for designing the Florida Theatre and San Marco Theatre.
The area’s population declined until the 1960s when construction of the Haines Street Expressway isolated the neighborhood. The building was repurposed as a Montessori school in 1991, but by the end of the decade, the Duval County School Board determined the $10 million in renovations it desperately needed weren’t a good investment.
Instead, they opted to vacate the school in favor of a new building, which opened to the public in 2005. The building housed the Northeast Springfield Head Start Center until 2013 and has sat vacant ever since. While not in the best neighborhood in the city, Public School No. 8 is quickly being considered a great addition to the long list of abandoned places in Jacksonville FL.
Killer Urbex Note: For those interested in getting more information about the history of this school, I highly recommend reading through Phoenix / East Jacksonville: School Number 8, an article by Jax Psycho Geo’s Professor Tim Gilmore.
Public School Number Eight makes for great exploration, however, most of the windows are boarded up, which means the inside of the school is just about pitch black. Proceed with caution, and be on the lookout for homeless, stray animals, and police.
This is a beautiful school and holds far more urban exploration opportunities in a far less destroyed and decaying building than Public School Number Four, even though it is located in a less savory part of Jacksonville.
As with all other places on our list, this is private property, so we recommend seeing about getting permission before attempting to enter or trespassing onto private property. If you are looking for a similarly developed, abandoned school in Jacksonville FL, the old Norwood Elementary School has an open fence and is a beautiful building. Around the back, you can look inside and see blue-painted, abandoned hallways.
PotashCorp Phosphate Terminal (Talleyrand)
Built in 1966, this $3 million terminal was designed to support the phosphate mining and processing operations of the Occidental Agricultural Chemicals Corporation, which also operated a massive mine and processing plant in White Springs, about an hour outside of Jacksonville.
The new terminal boasted a production capacity of more than 3,000 tons per hour and featured six massive concrete storage containers, a car unloading facility with a 48-inch conveyor belt, six steel storage tanks and a mooring facility.
The terminal was acquired by the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, Inc. in 1995, which shuttered the facility completely just four years later. The site has lain dormant for the last two decades, developing a reputation as the “echo domes” for the sound quality inside the hollow steel storage tanks.
Overall, it is one of the most popular places for out-of-town urbexers to visit on their list of abandoned places in Jacksonville FL, and has been featured on a number of popular YouTube channels, including the Proper People.
ATLAS Hovercraft (Green Cove Springs)
When it was founded in 2005, ATLAS Hovercraft planned to use its Green Cove Springs facility to manufacture commercial hovercraft to ferry passengers on the nearby St. Johns River and other waterways in the region.
Its founder, design engineer Kurt Peterson, envisioned his company becoming the world’s largest source of hovercraft design and manufacturing, with each vessel carrying a price tag of approximately $10 million. His plan also included the construction of a port in Palatka, which he hoped to open by 2007.
Unfortunately, the years ticked by with no tangible progress from Peterson or his team. In an online update published in spring 2008, Peterson promised the prototype vessel was “in the home stretch” and expected to be ready the following year. It was the last public statement he would make before the company shut down the same year, leaving the fiberglass hull of the unfinished craft at the mercy of the elements on the concrete tarmac of the abandoned facility.
Killer Urbex Note: While Green Cove Springs is a half hour south of Jacksonville, it is worth noting that this area is awash with things I would consider abandoned places in Jacksonville FL. From a space shuttle fuel tank to a treasure hunting ship and beyond, Green Cove Springs is an urbex dream.
Currently, the abandoned ATLAS hovercraft sits on the tarmac of the former NAS Lee Field, beside an old Naval Research plane. All in all, this is one of the most interesting abandoned places in Jacksonville FL to explore, and you can usually get within about 100ft of the hovercraft without trespassing onto private property.
The Neff House (Fort George Island)
This private home hidden in the forests along Fort George Island was constructed as a summer residence for wealthy Chicago businessman Nettleton Neff in the early 20th century. The Tudor Revival-style home boasts a striking circular entry tower with a wrought-iron balcony above the front door.
Unfortunately, a series of personal tragedies that culminated in Neff’s suicide in 1931 meant he never had the chance to occupy the home. It was ultimately purchased by local shipbuilding mogul Kenneth Merrill, serving as a family retreat until 1967 when the Merrills sold it to the Betz family, who chose to make the home their year-round residence.
The Betz family expanded the home with a kitchen wing, garage and swimming pool, occupying it until 1985, when Fairfield Communities bought the home to support its archaeological efforts in the region. During their occupancy, the Betz’s and the Neff House gained international notoriety with the supposed discovery of an alien sphere. The full, incredible story is covered in WJCT podcast series Oddball.
The Florida Park Service took over the property in 1989, repurposing it as office space and a residence for park rangers. Structural issues led to the abandonment and sealing of the building in 2002. It takes a good hike and a bit of exploring to get here, but if you can find it, you will be exploring one of the most interesting abandoned places in Jacksonville FL.
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Mt. Calvary Baptist Church (Brooklyn)
Though it has seen a revival—some might say gentrification—in recent years, the historically black neighborhood of Brooklyn is still home to several interesting older properties, including Mt. Calvary Baptist Church.
The land on which it sits was originally a vast 800-acre plantation founded by Philip Dell in 1801, which was sold to a Confederate veteran after the Civil War and redeveloped into the Riverside and Brooklyn neighborhoods. Note: one of the oldest abandoned places in Jacksonville FL is in Brooklyn, the Buffalo Soldier House, which is just around the corner from this church.
The Brooklyn neighborhood in particular attracted many African-American war veterans. The Mt. Calvary Baptist Church was built to serve the community in 1955, designed and constructed by James Edward Hutchins, one of the region’s most prominent African-American contractors.
Hutchins went on to serve as President of the United Craftsmen’s and Builders Association and a member of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, Florida State Business League and National Association of Real Estate Brokers.
At its peak in the mid-20th century, the neighborhood was home to about 6,000 people, but the area soon began to shift to more commercial and industrial use due to the nearby railroad infrastructure and construction of the Fuller Warren Bridge. Over the next several decades, the residential area declined precipitously, leading to the abandonment of the Mt. Calvary Baptist Church building in 1999.
Author note: The neighborhood surrounding this building is not in the best condition, and this church is typically locked up tight. The beautiful blue that you can see in the relevant image from Tim Postal occurs only when the sun hits a specific point, shining at the blue stained glass. Otherwise, the church is relatively dimly-lit.
Jacksonville Terminal Passenger Tunnels (Downtown)
Jacksonville has been a railroad town for nearly two centuries and nowhere is this heritage more evident than downtown, where five railroad companies (Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, Florida East Coast Railway, Seaboard Air Line Railway, Southern Railway, and Georgia Southern and Florida Railway) came together in 1895 to open a regional terminal.
First known as Union Depot and then Flagler Depot after regional rail magnate Henry Flagler, the terminal was replaced by a new Union Station in 1919. Then the south’s largest railroad station, saw peak traffic of 20,000 passengers and 142 trains each day and housed a restaurant, several snack bars, a barbershop, newsstands, a drugstore, and a handful of other shops and services.
The station was abandoned in 1974 in favor of the newly-constructed Amtrak station a few miles away. In 1982, former CSX Transportation chairman Prime F. Osborn III spearheaded an effort to revive the building as a convention center, which opened as the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center in 1986 and remains in use today.
Though the station itself has changed shape, the tunnels underneath it remain largely untouched. A large main tunnel connects to side tunnels and ramps that once led to the passenger platforms, and most of this hidden infrastructure is available for exploration. However, be prepared to encounter dirty standing water, roaches, rats and various other creatures during your visit. It is one of the most dangerous and difficult to locate abandoned places in Jacksonville FL, so if you’re hunting the tunnels down, be sure to stay safe and bring a friend.
Author note: Getting to these tunnels requires digging, trespassing on CSX rail property, and traversing several feet of decades-stagnant water. If you plan to visit, I highly recommend researching to see how you can get permission to access. More information on methods to do so can be found in my guide Explore Abandoned Buildings: How To Get Permission.
Yellow Water Nuclear Weapons Storage Area (Cecil Field)
This top-secret site in western Duval County near Cecil Field was used to store nuclear weapons during the Cold War. It featured 89 ammunition bunkers in various sizes and configurations, including underground spaces with concrete doors for nuclear weapons and small buildings for storing explosives.
The existence of the site was kept hidden from the public until 1985, when a book was published that spilled the beans on several nuclear storage sites around the country; however, U.S. military leadership declined to comment or confirm the information.
In the early 1990s, President George H.W. Bush began dismantling nuclear weapons across the country, and the weapons in Jacksonville were moved to Amarillo, Texas to be decommissioned at a Department of Energy plant. A few years later, Cecil Field was redeveloped as Cecil Commerce Center, but a few storage buildings and bunkers remain behind barbed-wire fencing nearby.
Author note: If you decide to plan a visit, use caution—anyone caught on-site is likely to be charged with trespassing. The area is owned by the city, is in a very desolate part of Jacksonville, and is used for road training for local police. Out of the locations on our list, this is likely one of the least visited abandoned places in Jacksonville FL, and for good reason.
Cameras, headlamps, respirators and more. Urban exploration can be very gear-heavy, especially when exploring abandoned places in Jacksonville FL. When this is the case, it’s important to have a good-quality backpack. We recommend both the Osprey Packs Daylite for sling backpacks or the Mardingtop Tactical Backpack for a standard two-strap backpack. Alternatively, check out our comprehensive guide for far more options, tips, and tricks.
Jacksonville Ford Motor Co. Assembly Plant (Mathews Bridge)
To support the growing popularity of the Ford Model T and subsequent models, Henry Ford expanded his empire beyond Michigan, constructing 17 satellite facilities around the world, including one in Jacksonville.
In 1923, work began to convert the former Bentley Shipyards property into a $2 million manufacturing complex that included two large boilers and a 75,000-gallon water tower as well as a parts department and showroom. Just three years later, the facility was expanded from 115,000 square feet to more than 165,000 square feet to support increased demand.
Unfortunately, the company’s exponential growth came to a screeching halt during the Great Depression, and the Jacksonville facility ceased manufacturing automobiles and was used simply as a parts distribution center until 1968. In the decades that followed, it was sold off to a series of companies that used it for storage until 2015, when an investment company based in Spain acquired the property along with 35 acres of land adjacent to the Mathews Bridge.
The company has yet to announce any plans for the property, leaving the former Ford facility seemingly vacant and ripe for exploration. While extremely difficult to get to, the Ford Plant is one of the most sought-after abandoned places in Jacksonville FL.
Author note: The owners of this building, Amkin Hill Street LLC, have strong security and a fenced-off perimeter. They do not take kindly to trespassers, and are not keen on providing permission to access this location, making this a highly coveted abandoned location, likely best viewed either from the water or by drone.
Some Honorable Mention Abandoned Places in Jacksonville FL
The ten locations above are simply a self-developed top ten list based on my own explorations and research. However, there are a ton of great abandoned locations for urban exploration in and around Jacksonville. Some other locations to consider include:
- The old JEA Tower building in downtown Jacksonville
- Jacksonville Jewish Center
- The Claude Nolan Cadillac Building
- The historic Laura Street Trio
In addition, venturing outside of the Jacksonville city limits brings about some incredible locations to explore, including the culturally-rich Evans Rendezvous right by the ocean in American Beach, abandoned amphitheaters in Jekyll Island, skeletal driftwood beaches at Big Talbot Island State Park, and extensive locations in and around the Reynolds Industrial Park in Green Cove Springs.
Final Thoughts
While it may not be the first city to spring to mind when considering urbex destinations in the southeast U.S., Jacksonville has a surprising number of available sites for discovery and exploration. From forgotten factories to shuttered schools and even a few mysterious military outposts, there’s plenty for urbex enthusiasts to love about this sprawling city on Florida’s First Coast. But the above is simply scratching the surface of abandoned places in Jacksonville FL to explore.
Those who are into urban exploration in the Jacksonville area, and wanting to explore abandoned places in Jacksonville FL, should get comfortable with Florida and Duval County trespassing laws. Luckily, in the state of Florida, the laws are easy to understand and are pretty cut and dry. The same goes for Duval, and the city of Jacksonville.
For these cases, you should familiarize yourself with these laws (we have a comprehensive guide in progress). For more about obtaining permission to explore abandoned places in Jacksonville FL, check out our guide Explore Abandoned Buildings: How To Get Permission.