Greater Jacksonville Metropolitan Area

[hunkske 53]

Total no° of updates so far: 7

Overview of updates so far:

* Upd 01 - the Importance of being Jackson

* Upd 02 - To trade or not to trade, c'est la question n'est-ce pas?

* Upd 03 - the Colony is growing, Your Highness

* Upd 03.a - goodies

* Upd 04 - Fort Jackson, where history comes alive!

* Upd 05.1 - Fairfax - The new Old

* Upd 05.2 - Beverly Sands and North Fairfax

* Upd 05.3 - Cherokee - introduction

* Upd 05.4 - Cherokee - views around town

* Upd 06 - Burnaby Borough - Rural pride!

* Upd 06 - continued update.. Burnaby Borough - Lougheed and 

much more... Rural pride once more!

* Upd 07.1 - Ashton - views around town

Hi Everyone!

I've been on Simtropolis for quite a number of years now, and also been playing Simcity for donkey's years...

However, never came to posting my own city journals, usually due to lack of time! But there you go, here's my first city journal.

I appreciate all your comments. As most people, I use mods and custom made bats. Because nowadays there are so many batters around, I'd like to thank everyone and all credit goes to them offcourse. Without them, Simcity wouldn't be what it is today, and we'd all be bored stiff ;-)

This journal will show the cities of Greater Jacksonville, located in Jackson County in the simstate of British Victoria. As I always like cities to come along with its own history, we'll first explore the history of the region. Its great history is recorded in many of the cities' landmarks, and offcourse the region wouldn't be the same without its history!

Update 1 

In the 17^th century AD many simians in the Olde Worlde were looking for new challenges brought to them in the New World . The east coast of the New World was getting fairly developped and the need for new land arose. In Boston, Massachussets, there lived a captain by the name of Captain Clifford James Jackson, who had arrived in the region a mere 5 years earlier. Having explored most of the east coast, he was in high favour with the British government. It was on May, 22^d in the year 1695 he wrote a letter to His Majesty, King William III with a request to explore the inner overseas territories. By the middle of 1696 he received a letter back, granting him a crew of 16 men and 8000 simoleons. 

And so it happened that years later, on June 2^d, Capt. Jackson anchored his ship close to what is now known as Jackson Point. The small peninsula south of downtown Jacksonville, where now the Jacksonville Tigers Stadium is located, was a lush and welcome resting point. The first settlement was set up there. Here's a small excerpt from Capt. Jackson's logbook:

"Its vast lush green forests and deep blue waters make it a pleasant and welcome resting point. Furthermore, its location is such it will make a fine spot to establish our settlement. Located on the flat top of a clif, it overlooks the whole region, and one can see in the far distance for many a yard. People who arrive here by the river will see the settlement high on the top of this clif, and will be overwhelmed by the beauty of the place. One cannot feel but complete awe for the peacefulness and beauty this place exhales..."

Some fellow shipmates, later known as the (Jonathan) Willard Company, stayed on to explore the region, while Capt. Jackson explored the Jackson River. By 1705 the small settlement on the peninsula consisted of 27 members and Capt. Jackson had rounded off his exploration of the Jackson Delta. On the north side of the Jacksonville Island a trade settlement known by the name as Fort Langley came into existence in 1706. 

Here's a sketch of a painting of the early settlement at Jackson Point (original painting by T. Flemmings in 1712), which can be viewed in the Jackson Natural History Museum (Jackson Hall, section European settlement 18th Century). At the top left one can see the start of the cliffs:

Well, this is all folks for the 1st update. 'll be back later with more pics.

But to satisfy your curiosity, here's a little teaser:

[jacqulina 162]

wow very nice start and intro my friend,interesting read,excellent pics and great work

[homeandaway 1]

wow! - a magnificent start my friend! - im eager to see where this goes!, it certainly looks an amazing start, and this place will be booming with members i bet!, take care and be safe

~alex~

[Godzillaman 21]

beautiful city mate, how long did you have the game, cause your city looks like you have experience. I cant wait to see more!

[JakeMD 107]

Very nice!

definetly a work of art

[sEAhAwk fAn121 0]

wow thats great i love the history! and it looks Pacific Northwestern to!

[Schulmanator 5,787]

Nice start. The painting is well done. Kudos to the artist!

[Mike the Mayor 51]

Awesome start there, my friend. Great work, I especially like the first pic - very nicely done. Look forward to more!

[hunkske 53]

REPLIES

Wow, didn't expect this fast reaction! Thanks to all for all your positive replies. I really appreciate it..
Am really glad you all like the history bit! 'Cause there's more to come! ;-)

Godzillaman: Have been playing this game since it came out. This region I've been working on for a couple of months now, on and off since I do not have that much time to play around with it.
sEAhAwk fAn121: Hey Seahawk, tried to give the region a (northwestern) pacific look, as you will discover though the region and the cities are completely fictitious, I've based some of the storylines and places on actual places in that region.

Next update will follow soon...

[hunkske 53]

Update 2

Our previous update mentionned Fort Langley, maybe it's time to look a little bit into that piece of history??



Fort Langley, founded by William Langley in 1706, traded goods such as furs, wood, handicrafts, etc., which they had acquired from the natives, with Jacksonville and the rest of the colony. By 1715 Langley & C° Ltd not only traded goods within the colony but also with the old world, and people from many countries applied for a 3-year work contract at the Fort. Four nationalities had its own quarter in the Fort: the English, Dutch, French and the German. Germans usually worked as lumber jacks, while the French took care of handicrafts. The English specialised in selling, and the Dutch worked as interpreters who specialised themselves in the different languages spoken by the natives. By the late 1770’s the list of nationalities working for the Company had significantly increased, and now included Chinese, Indian, and even Russian workers. The Fort as trading place became essential to the region and to the new settlement of Capt. Jackson. 

Here's a drawing by an unknown author, which depicts the view of the Fort from the river:


Life at the Fort was often hard for the workers, with not much comfort around. A letter of an English worker was recently discovered and is currently on display at the Fort Langley National Historic Site. Here is an excerpt from the letter: 

“My dearest wife Anna, 

As I hope this letter reaches you well on time before Christmas, I wish you a happy Christmas. After being here for so long now, I can honestly tell you, my love, I miss being with you and little Charlotte. <...> Life in the fort is hard, and privacy is almost non-existent. There is one common wash room for each house, which is shared by at least a dozen people. <...> Winters are freezing cold and summers are blazing hot. Water comes from the water pit at the back of the fort. In winter it’s a real hardship to bring yourself to go to this water pit for some water, and in summer one dreads those vicious mosquitos. <...> At least for us it’s a little better, the poor French sleep in a house half the size of ours <...> How I long to be home again... 

Your loving husband, Harold... “ 

A picture accompanied the letter:


In 1796 after 90 years of successful trade, most of the Fort was destroyed by a fire in an assault by the French, allied with the native Que'quah tribe. As a result the French were banned from the state for 50 years, however merely 10 years after this verdict French settlers had moved in again. The Fort was rebuilt, this time further away from the river, and was kept in operation until 1812 when another fire ruined most of the Fort. Today, only the warehouse still exists. The Company decided to build its headquarters in downtown, where it still is located today.

Here's an old postcard, early 1800's:


The Fort as it exists today, a picture taken from the air:

[jacqulina 162]

very interesting history my friend and i love the pics,the drawing one is fantastic,and excellent work with building the fort and the surrounding area very nicely done

[scba 179]

Looks like something out of real life, great job.

[hunkske 53]

Replies

jacqulina : Thanks Jacqulina, I'm trying to do my best editing the pictures, I love adding all sort of effects..

scba : Thanks SCBA, I try to make the region as realistic as possible.

Update 3

A settlement usually grows and grows.. hhmmmm what about this one?

By 1710 the peninsula settlement reached a population of 100 persons, while the regional population in the Jackson Delta had reached about 1500 persons. On August, 16th 1710 Queen Anne (the ninth year of her reign) proclaimed the birth of the British Overseas Territory of Jackson County, installing Capt. Jackson as governor. He promptly decided to rename the peninsula settlement of Salthe (named after an incident shortly after anchoring the ship where a shipmate went overboard and promptly called out 'ye salthe as water can be!') to Jacksonville. Here is a small extract of the official proclamation in the Jackson County Records. The proclamation was ratified by her Majesty the Queen in 1711 and approved by the Act of Parliament 1711-C120) :

By this act not only did he change the name of the settlement, but also gave the County its capital. The previous name of Salthe quickly disappeared in the minds of men, only to be remembered occasionally by the saltiness of the water. 

Two beloved figures in the history of Jackson County:

 from left to right: portrait of Queen Anne made in the studio of John Closterman, c. 1702 (courtasy of: "Handbook of British Chronology", ed. by E. B. Fryde ... [et al.], 3rd ed. (London: Offices of the Royal Historical Society: University College, 1986) and official County painting of Governor Jackson shortly after his appointment as governor.

Today the house where Governor Jackson wrote the famous proclamation still exists, and is not far from the Fort Langley site. It’s a world heritage site, as it gave the city and region true existence on the world map :

Nowadays, Fort Langley is a small agricultural suburb of Jacksonville as you will see in the following pictures:

Overview of Fort Langley Centre:

The local entertainment area:

St. John's Chappel, where Governor Jackson had his daily prayers:

The annual State Fair is in town again:

When I was flying over with my little propeller plane, I snapped a shot of the Mormon Centre.. They've been in town for a century now, and acquired their own plot of land 15 years ago. It holds a cathedral, statue and welcome/meeting/hotel building: (oh yeah, it started raining!)

Randon images from across Fort Langley:

[homeandaway 1]

magnificent introductions my friend! - tryuly amazing!, im so envious! - one of the best CJ starts!, and the history is very well presented! and the graphics certainly add texture!, well done my friend!, be safe and take care

~aleX~

[patriots_1228 51]

nice photoeditting, and the city looks great. is this based on the real jacksonville

[hunkske 53]

Replies

Homeandaway : Thanks! I'm really honoured.. best CJ start.. I hope I can live up to the expectations... Take care friend..

Patriots_1228 : thanks.. The city is not based on any 'actual' city.. The setting is based on the northeastern pacific coast,  and some of the tales are based on actual places (Fort Langley e.g.) or persons, such as Queen Anne.

[homeandaway 1]

with pleasure my firend, if you need anything - PM me, be safe and i look forwards for the next update!, take care my friend.

~alex~

[hunkske 53]

Hey Alex, will surely do.. Thanks! Take care...

No new updates for the moment, will try to do some this evening...

[jacqulina 162]

i can see my friend but i do think you are doing an awesome job at editing the pics they are very realistic,and the history is amazing,excellent farms,beautifull work and pics,you seem to take your time with this and it really pays off

[GMT 389]

wow.

this is a very good cj.

I hope you keep the standard up

waiting for more

[Godzillaman 21]

Nice farmland, im a megalopolis guy myself but your farmland is nice and peaceful, unlike mine : )

[hunkske 53]

Replies

Jacqulina: Thanks Jacqulina, I'm doing my best, and yes, I've been spending quite some time editing the pics and doing some 'historical' background research ;-)

GMT: Thanks GMT, hope I can keep it up indeed, certainly doing my best..

Godzillaman: Hey man, thanks.. farmland always is tricky in SC to my opinion, too much farm makes it boring and too many buildings unrealistic, am pleased you like it.. I always try to balance things in my cities.. As you will see in later updates, the city has a propper downtown, hope you will like it!

Update 3.a

This update is not really an update as such. Just wanted you all to know I'm working on the next full update (where we'll resume history class), but in the meantime enjoy the following teaser shots from Langley. Langley is situated across the Salmon River from Fort Langley, and is home to one of the state's biggest industry parks, Catherine Plains.. Industry has been present here almost from the start of the settlement. As the river was abundant of salmons, this was the first industry to become big business. But in later years as the fish, due to overfishing migrated northwards, other industries popped up. Now besides the port and ship construction yards there is a mass variety of industries - from tiny microchip production companies to big filthy factories..

The Industry park is separated from Langley Centre (mostly residential area) thru Kings' Road which connects Jacksonville to the northern parts of the County, It's a pleasant drive, leaving the bustling city behind, passing Langley Centre onwards to Langley Town Hall, St. Catherine's Cathedral, Victoria Park, and on and on.. offcourse that is if one doesn't feel like taking the speedy highway instead..

Well, that's all for now folks.. Stay tuned for the next update.. The struggle of a colony...

[homeandaway 1]

magnificent!, it looks so cool! and its really interesting aswell!, i look forwards to seeing mor emy good friend!, be safe ~alex~

[Godzillaman 21]

ooo i love large industry in cities, and i devote whole maps to them. lets see more, your good nuclear lizard, Godzillaman!

[hunkske 53]

Quick reply to homeandaway and Godzillaman:

Thanks Alex, am glad you like it - next update will be more history laden again, be sure to check back ;-)) take care..

Godzillaman, I usually never devote whole maps to industry but I do like to have big industry parks, 'cause every major city has them ;-) I'll show you more over the next updates!

[jacqulina 162]

wow excellent work you have done my friend and yes fantastic editing

[alicelli 1]

Great use of PhotoShopping.

Nice little CJ.

Shall be looking out for more!

=]

[hunkske 53]

Replies

Jacqulina : Thanks Jacky!! you sure keep me motivated!

Alicelli : Hey, thank you very much! 

Sorry for not having a full update yet, but as usual I do have some treat.. The City of Jacksonville is proud to present that it has fraternized with the City of Bharatpur in far away Simdia..  Mayor Flemmings of Jacksonville recently went to Bharatpur, and took some pictures along..

A postcard he forgot to send back home... In the lower left it says, written in Hindi, Bharatpur...

A mausoleum to Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan 's beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal

And last but not least, the mayor received a artistic rendering of Connaught Place and Puram financial district, even the old fort can be seen on the lower left...

Am working on a full update, I really hope to get it online very soon.. but as usual, time just slips by

[homeandaway 1]

wow! - that looks great!...bye! got to go to bed........

[sEAhAwk fAn121 0]

wow thats an amazing region and downtown!