Jackson Laurie
Coastal Guide, Florida
A Life on Florida's Shores
Jackson Laurie grew up in Florida at a time when the state still had room to breathe. His earliest memories are of the Gulf Coast at low tide, of the particular smell of warm salt air and wet sand, of watching brown pelicans glide in formation just above the surface of the water. Florida was not a destination for Jackson. It was the only place that ever made complete sense to him.
Over the past two decades, Jackson has traveled every navigable stretch of Florida's coastline. He has kayaked through the mangrove tunnels of the Ten Thousand Islands, watched the sun rise over the Atlantic from the dunes of Canaveral National Seashore, driven the Overseas Highway at dawn with the windows down, and spent long evenings on the white quartz beaches of the Panhandle watching the light change from gold to copper to a deep, bruised violet. He has done this not as a tourist, but as someone who considers the Florida coast a subject worthy of serious attention.
Florida Coasts grew out of a simple frustration: most writing about Florida's shoreline treats it as scenery. Jackson wanted to write about it as a place. The difference matters. Scenery is something you pass through. A place is something that shapes you, that has a history and a character and a particular quality of light at certain hours that you cannot find anywhere else on earth.
The four regions covered here represent four genuinely distinct coastlines. The Gulf Coast is warm and calm, its water the color of shallow tropical seas, its pace unhurried. The Atlantic Coast is more exposed, more dramatic, with a surf culture and a different kind of energy. The Keys are their own world entirely, a thin chain of limestone islands strung across a shallow sea, closer in spirit to the Caribbean than to the Florida mainland. And the Panhandle, which many Floridians consider the most beautiful coastline in the state, has sand so white and fine it squeaks underfoot and water so clear and green it looks like something from a travel poster.
Jackson lives in Florida. He writes about it because he knows it, because he has spent years learning its tides and its seasons and its particular moods, and because he believes that the people who love this coast deserve a guide written by someone who loves it too.
"Florida is not a single coast. It is four distinct coastlines, each with its own character, its own light, and its own reasons to return."
Explore the Coasts