Them Good Ole Days: Ed Smith

Them Good Ole Days: The Next Generation

by Alec Newell
  

It has been almost forty years now since I walked into Silver's Drug Store at the corner of Atlantic Blvd. and First Street where I saw a stack of signed copies of Ed Smith's newly published THEM GOOD OLE DAYS in Mayport and the Beaches, sitting on the counter, and handed Ester the front cashier, $5.95 for my copy.  The dust jacket on that copy, with the old Mayport Lighthouse pictured on the front, is now worn, torn, and faded; but Ed's anecdotal history of this area should be required reading for anyone who identifies them self as a Beaches resident.

With a grandson who has just entered Fletcher Sr. High School, and a wife who is about to wind up a 30 something year teaching career there, it occurred to me that there were already generations of Fletcher grads who were oblivious to the spring tradition of Fletcher coaches marching the boys in their gym classes the four blocks to the beach to swim in the Atlantic Ocean for phys. ed.; or that there were thousands of Beaches residents who have no memories at all of landmarks like the Atlantic Beach Hotel, Campbell's Pharmacy, Hixson's Surf Shop, Silver's Drug Store, or Ed Smith's Lumber and Hardware Store.

On a recent reread of Ed's book, my eyes were opened to the vast body of Beaches lore which was still waiting to be written.  Anyone lucky enough to have grown up at the Beach, or to have lived here for any length of time, has already been a part of Beaches history; and for each generation living them, these are the good ole days.

With an appreciative nod to Ed Smith's contributions, and in the hope that I continue the tradition by forging another link in the chain, there are a few snippets of lore that I'd like to add before they are forgotten and lost to future generations

 

Ed Smith 1903-1979