In addition, Nocatee is near beaches, golf courses, business parks and major airports in downtown Jacksonville and St. Augustine.[5]
History
In 2005, Nocatee's creator The PARC Group, broke ground on the construction of the township.[citation needed] The PARC Groups's Chairman and CEO, Roger O'Steen, founded the group in 1989 and was directly involved with the development of Nocatee and many other communities.
Donna Lundgren, the manager for the Nocatee Welcome Center, states that Nocatee is "approximately 25 square miles, 14,000 acres with over 60% of remaining preserve for conservation and preservation." She also claims that the actual word "Nocatee" has roots in Timucuan Indian and translates to "peaceful river."[8] However, no such Timucua word is known; "river" is instead ibi while "peaceful" is afatimo.[9] An older town called Nocatee located in DeSoto County along the Peace River dates to the decades after the Third Seminole War, and its name is likely derived from Seminole Creeknakate "What is it?"[10][11]
Amenities
Nocatee contains two large water parks, the Splash Park and Spray Park. Each has pools, slides, and kid-specific areas.[12] The pool areas host events throughout the year, such as Food Truck Friday, farmers' markets, holiday celebration, concerts, Easter egg hunts, and more community events.[13] The community contains other amenities like parks, neighborhood pools, fitness centers, dog parks, a kayak launch, a nature preserve and a series of nature trails.[14][15]
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 22,503 people, 7,641 households, and 6,532 families residing in the city. 3,629 households had children under the age of 18. 10.2% of the population were under 5 years old, 28.7% under 18 years old, and 20.4% were 65 years and over. The median age for Nocatee was 39.9 years old. 49.9% of the population were female.[17]
The median household income was $131,738. 3.5% of the population lived below the poverty threshold, including 0.8% of those under 18 and 2.4% of those over 65. 97.4% of the population 25 years and older had a high school degree or equivalent or higher and 65.9% of that same population had a bachelor's degree or higher. 8.4% of the population were veterans.[17]
Events
Nocatee hosts a variety of events consisting of trivia, on-tap beer tastings, food truck Fridays, monthly farmer’s markets, as well as holiday-themed events such as Easter egg hunts & live music.[5][18]
St. Johns County School District is the school district of the St. Johns County portion, which includes the entire census-designated place.[19][20] The following elementary schools serve portions of the CDP: Palm Valley Academy, Pine Island Academy, and Valley Ridge Academy.[21] Three middle schools serve portions of the CDP: Palm Valley, Pine Island, and Valley Ridge.[22]Allen D. Nease High School serves the Nocatee CDP.[23]
The official subdivisions of the Nocatee development in St. Johns County are zoned to the Palm Valley, Pine Island, Valley Ridge K-8 schools, and Nease.[24] The portion in Duval County (not in the CDP) is zoned to Bartram Springs Elementary School, Twin Lakes Middle School, and Atlantic Coast High School.[24]
