The Gauche Beefcake of Fleming Island

Fleming Island, Florida, population 27,000, isn't actually an island; it's a peninsula about 20 miles south of Jacksonville, almost surrounded  by water:  Doctors Lake to the north, St Johns River to the east, and Black Creek to the south.  The western border is all marshland, which is probably just as bad.  There are only 3 roads on and off: Highway 17 (north and south) and Highway 220 (west).

Originally called Hibernia Plantation (after founder George Fleming's native Ireland), it became Fleming Island in 1820, but didn't get its own zip code (and individual identity) until 2004.

Once you get there, you'll find a lot of fancy houses on winding cul de sacs with names like Holly Flower Lane and Buttonbrush Way, bedrooms for the upper-middle class of Jacksonville, Florida (median household income $86,000).

This lovely 5 bedroom, 3 1/2 bath house goes for $386,000.








For being a wealthy community, Fleming Island is surprisingly gauche.  Shopping is mostly in big-box stores:  Target, Walgreen's, Home Depot, even a Wal-Mart.

The restaurants are pedestrian fast-food chain: Wendy's, Chipotle, IHOP.

And the churches are strictly big-box fundamentalist:  CrossPointe Church, Paradise Church, Elevate Life Church (which is in the same building as the high school).

Elevate Life is big into baptism, religious revivals, and keeping count of "lives consecrated to Christ."





Fleming Island High, home of the Golden Eagles, has a rather pedestrian series of clubs: mostly acronyms like FBLA, FCCLA.  No Gay-Straight Alliance.  Even the athletics are limited: weight lifting (naturally -- this is Florida), baseball, basketball, wrestling...









Who is this bulging person on the wrestling team?  He looks like he has Down Syndrome, but I can't find any news stories about a disabled athlete on Fleming Island.















Here's another bulgeworthy wrestler.











Very odd for Florida, Fleming Island High does not offer swimming, diving, or water polo.


So where did this photo of heavily tanned, ab-heavy swimmers falling out of their speedos come from?  Turns out it's from the extra-ritzy neighborhood of Eagle Harbor, Fleming Island, which has its own tennis club, yoga classes, and swim team, the Scream'n Eagles (that's how it is spelled).








These speedo guys are at Splash Park, the ritzy name for the swimming pool in the ritzy subdivision of Fleming Island Plantation, which has not only a pool but a golf course, tennis courts, and a private lodge.












I don't know why, but when I searched for "Fleming Island swim team," this photo of gay porn star Cade Maddox popped up.

Maybe he's from Fleming Island?  Or maybe he filmed a scene at one of the ritzy private pools.