Gainesville: City as Text

The Duck Pond neighborhood is composed of much of Gainesville’s Northeast Historic District, and is named for the stormwater pond (the duck pond) created in the early 1900s, along with the Sweetwater Branch Creek which runs through the neighborhood. The cost of living in the Duck Pond - if your aim is to shop locally - is a bit more expensive than going to other cheaper businesses, according to Kate, a girl I met at the Union Street Farmer’s Market (which is a street away from the Duck Pond). She was buying locally grown organic produce, and tries to avoid buying processed snack foods and genetically modified produce one would find at Walmart or Winn Dixie. She is currently renting a home in the Duck Pond on 5th Street with her husband, and said that though the house was a “bit higher in our price range” than expected, she loves the location and the neighborhood atmosphere. Kate also enjoys rollerblading with her beagle, Hershey, (she tries to either walk or rollerblade to nearby places in general because “city parking is hell”), and likes to attend performances at the Hippodrome with her husband.

The farmer’s market in general was a really cool place to visit. There was a good bit of business and socializing going on. Two of the vendors had actually brought their kids with them, so the kids could have a playdate with each other while their parents did business. Everyone was really friendly and sociable; just a great atmosphere in general to be in.

After visiting University Realty, I learned that most homes in the Duck Pond range from $150-440,000, and most residents are either middle aged professionals, families, or older couples because they lived in the Duck Pond since their youth. The man whom I spoke to at University Realty - Jeff - is actually living in the same house that his grandparents lived in (Queen Anne style, he told me), and what he loves about the Duck Pond is its great location to most everywhere he needs to go (work, church, and grocery stores), and the history behind it because his family has lived here in Gainesville his entire life. His great-grandfather was actually one of the first history professors to work at the University of Florida. Jeff enjoys spending time with his wife, and they walk a lot in the Thomas Center Gardens (even though he doesn’t like it that much, he goes because she does; he prefers to stay home and watch college football). When asked about how he gets around, Jeff says that he tries to walk to work daily because 1) “it’s my health insurance” and 2) he only lives a few blocks away, so it’s pretty convenient for him just to walk. When he was younger, he attended Kirby Smith School with his sister. After the school became the headquarters of the Alachua District School Board in 1980, his daughter actually got a job there as an administrator.

Gainesville’s Duck Pond neighborhood has to be one of the cutest, most quaint little residential areas I’ve even seen. I would move there in a heartbeat, if I had the money. Or family connections. Overall, I feel what makes the Duck Pond neighborhood unique is the historical glue that binds the community together, and the friendliness and hospitable nature of the residents there.