Clay County, Florida: A Local Guide for Home Buyers and Homeowners

Green Cove Springs

Green Cove Springs sits on a bend of the St. Johns River, built around a sulfur spring locally called the “Original Fountain of Youth.” The spring drew 1800s tourists, President Grover Cleveland among them, and it still feeds the public pool beside the river. The historic district and the Clay County Courthouse are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Reynolds Park and the old Navy base

The Navy opened an air station here in 1940, and until 1960 its 13 river piers held about 500 mothballed ships of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. The city annexed the base in 1984 for the Clay County Port and Reynolds Industrial Park, and the airfield is now Reynolds Airpark, with a 5,000-foot runway.

Orange Park

Orange Park is a town of about 5.3 square miles on the St. Johns River in the county’s northeast corner, founded in 1877. US 17, called Park Avenue here, runs north to I-295, and NAS Jacksonville is less than 6 miles away. The River Road Historic District runs parallel to the river under century-old trees, and Doctors Lake separates the town and Lakeside from Fleming Island.

Fleming Island

Fleming Island is bounded by the St. Johns River, Doctors Lake, Black Creek and Swimming Pen Creek, about 21 miles southwest of downtown Jacksonville off US 17. It was the Hibernia plantation in 1790 and a Navy auxiliary airfield in 1942.

After the old runways came out in the late 1990s, planned communities like Eagle Harbor, Pace Island and Fleming Island Plantation filled in, and a 7-mile, 8-foot-wide path now runs the length of the island.

Middleburg

Middleburg grew up on Black Creek around ferry crossings in the 1820s and was the county seat until 1874. The Middleburg Historic District covers the old village along the creek, the Black Heritage Museum is here, and Clay County Utility Authority has its offices on Old Jennings Road.

Keystone Heights

Keystone Heights covers about 1.09 square miles in the southwest lake district, between Lake Brooklyn and Lake Geneva. Pittsburgh developer John J. Lawrence founded it, it was named in 1922 for Pennsylvania’s “Keystone State” nickname, and it incorporated in 1925. Clay Electric Cooperative is headquartered here, and Keystone Heights Airport, a public-use general aviation field, sits on the Clay-Bradford line.

Camp Blanding

Camp Blanding, established in 1939, covers about 73,000 acres around Kingsley Lake and was a major infantry training center in World War II. The county’s highest point, 259 feet, is on the western border inside the base.

Clay County SHIP first-time homebuyer assistance

The Housing Finance Authority of Clay County runs a first-time homebuyer program funded with SHIP. It’s a 0% deferred loan with a 30-year term, and it isn’t forgiven: you repay it at the end of the term, or sooner if you sell, rent the home out or lose homestead. It serves very-low, low and moderate income households and some households above that range, and the home must be in Clay County.

The HFA’s award size, income ceilings and open dates can all shift during the year as SHIP money comes in and goes out. Before you write an offer anywhere from Lakeside to Keystone Heights, call 888-601-8344 and we’ll check with the HFA on Kingsley Avenue what the program is paying and whether it’s taking files for that address. HFA notice address: 1279 Kingsley Ave., Suite 118, Orange Park, FL 32067.

Local Housing Assistance Plan

Clay County SHIP nonprofit new construction

Clay’s SHIP plan also helps extremely-low, very-low and low income buyers purchase homes built by nonprofit developers, with the local Habitat for Humanity getting priority. The help is a deferred 0%, 30-year forgivable loan, extra money can go toward a well and septic system if the lot needs one, and the buyer has to meet a Clay residency requirement.

Nonprofit homes come up one at a time, and the money behind them moves with each SHIP round. Call or text us at 954-816-8820 and we’ll ask the county whether a Habitat or other nonprofit home in Clay is open for an application before you get your heart set on one.

Local Housing Assistance Plan

Florida Hometown Heroes (statewide)

Hometown Heroes comes from Florida Housing, the state’s housing finance agency, and it bundles a 30-year fixed first mortgage with a second that covers down payment and closing costs. That second charges 0%, needs no monthly payment and comes due when you sell, refinance, pay off the loan or move out. Florida Housing doesn’t forgive it.

One buyer on the loan needs a full-time job with an eligible Florida-based employer: health care, K-12 schools, first response, public safety, the courts or licensed child care. Camp Blanding makes the military rule worth knowing here. Active duty qualifies with any employer, and veterans, Reserve and National Guard members qualify through any full-time job with a Florida-based employer. Remote roles, part-time hours and offer letters fall outside the rules.

Florida Housing assistance can be used once in a lifetime, so it’s worth getting the right Clay home and the right lender the first time. Funds are reserved loan by loan, so call 888-601-8344 before you sign a contract and we’ll confirm Hometown Heroes is reserving and that your income and the price fit Clay’s limits.

Official program page

FL Assist, HLP and HFA Advantage PLUS (statewide)

FL Assist is a 0% deferred second mortgage for the down payment and closing costs, with no monthly payment, repaid on sale, refinance, transfer or when you move out. It rides on a Florida Housing first mortgage, FHA, VA, USDA or Conventional through HFA Preferred or HFA Advantage, and a Clay buyer can use it whether the house is in Oakleaf or Keystone Heights. The HLP second carries a small fixed monthly payment over 30 years, and HFA Advantage PLUS pairs a Freddie Mac Conventional first with a second that’s forgiven over 5 years while you live in the home.

Florida Housing only takes these through participating lenders and brokers like us. Which second works best next to a Clay SHIP loan depends on the rules in force the week you apply, so call or text us at 954-816-8820 and we’ll line them up for the house you’re considering.

Official program page

Schools and colleges

Public schools are run by Clay County District Schools, with the district office at 900 Walnut St., Green Cove Springs.

St. Johns River State College has its Orange Park campus in the county.

Getting around

US 17 is the main north-south road on the east side, through Orange Park, Fleming Island and Green Cove Springs, and US 301 runs through the west. SR 16 crosses from Starke past Camp Blanding and Penney Farms to the Shands Bridge, and SR 21 and SR 100 also cross the county.

The First Coast Expressway (SR 23) opened its first segment in 2019; before that, Clay had been the largest Florida county without a limited-access highway. JTA runs Clay Community Transportation, including Clay Express-Select from Orange Park and Fleming Island to the Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center. Commercial flights go through Jacksonville International, while Reynolds Airpark and Keystone Heights Airport handle general aviation.

Mike Roess Gold Head Branch State Park

Gold Head Branch, one of Florida’s first state parks, covers about 600 acres near Keystone Heights at 6239 SR 21. It has a steep ravine of seepage springs, sinkhole lakes, and lakefront cabins the Civilian Conservation Corps built in the 1930s that are still rented.

The Keystone Heights lakes

Lake Brooklyn, Lake Geneva and their neighbors recharge the Floridan aquifer. Many nearly dried up in the early 2000s and came back in the 2010s, and the Black Creek Pipeline, a project begun in 2022, moves water from Black Creek to Alligator Creek near Lake Brooklyn to help restore levels.

Fleming Island parks

Black Creek Park on the island’s south end has nature trails, and Moccasin Slough on the north end has a small-boat canal and park. Doctors Lake separates the island from Orange Park and Lakeside.

State forests and Kingsley Lake

Jennings State Forest and Belmore State Forest, together with Gold Head Branch, form a buffer around Camp Blanding. Kingsley Lake sits inside the base.

Clay County Agricultural Fair

The fair at the fairgrounds, 2493 SR 16 W in Green Cove Springs, brings livestock exhibits, an Early Florida Village, AG-Town, midway rides, concerts and a demolition derby.

Museums and markets

The Camp Blanding Museum and Memorial Park, open since 1990 and free, sits outside the base entrance with outdoor aircraft and vehicle displays. The Clay County Historical Museum is in Green Cove Springs, where the Third Saturday Market in the Park runs every month.

Buying a home

FHA is the loan most of our Clay buyers use: 3.5% down and flexible credit guidelines, and Clay County’s SHIP program and the Florida Housing programs above can go with it. With NAS Jacksonville about 10 minutes away and Camp Blanding in the county, we write VA loans too, with no down payment for eligible veterans and service members, along with Conventional loans, Hometown Heroes, DSCR loans for rentals and FHA 100% financing.

AAA Capital Funding has worked as a licensed Florida mortgage broker since 1997 and lends statewide in all 67 Florida counties, so a move from Clay to Tampa or Miami doesn’t mean starting over with someone new. We send your file to multiple wholesale lenders and tell you what you qualify for before you start touring Fleming Island or Lake Asbury.

Refinancing the home you have

A refinance can lower your monthly payment, take cash out to hook up to Clay County Utility Authority sewer or replace a roof, pay off higher-interest debt, or buy out someone else’s share of the home.

Call 888-601-8344 and we’ll set your Clay payment next to the new one, with the cash out and the closing costs on the same page, so you can decide on real numbers.