News flash! Hastings is back. Not bigger or better than ever perhaps. But back and punching above its weight nonetheless.
If you’ve ever driven from Palatka to St. Augustine you have passed through Hastings. And probably you have not been impressed: A couple of gas stations and convenience stores here, maybe a fast food outlet over there.
I’ve passed through Hastings many times, usually on my bike. This because Hastings is a “trail town” on the St. Augustine-Palatka Rail Trail.
Which happens to be one of my favorite Florida trails. You ought to try it out sometime.
There’s never been much of a reason to stop my ride here, other than to use the rest rooms at the Hastings trailhead.
And that’s a shame, because Hastings hasn’t always been a decaying backwater town. Far from it.
Once this was a prosperous, bustling farm town. The self-proclaimed Potato Capital of Florida. And agriculture is still a big deal in these parts.
Just not nearly as big a deal as it used to be.
In fact, Hastings had fallen on such hard times that residents voted to give up their city charter in 2018. That had to be a bitter pill for a proud city that got its charter way back in 1909.
But of late, I’ve been hearing rumors of a Hastings revival. And so, this past Saturday, I interrupted my ride-through for a little look see.
And even I – a jaded but trained observer of the human condition – was duly impressed.
Hastings is hopping again.
And as it turns out, surrendering its charter might have been a very shrewd move indeed. Thanks largely to funding from St. John’s County, Hastings is getting a brand new community center.
Not only that. Thanks to the hard work of local residents and business people, Hastings now has a Main Street program that is just starting to show major benefits.
As reported by the Jax Daily Record: “In 2024, a series of businesses opened along the mile-long district, including Main St. Pizza, bakery Chocolattes, juice bar and smoothie shop Hastings Nutrition, Hastings Coffee Co. and auto detailing products seller Anything EC.”
As a result, “Downtown Hastings’ business occupancy surged from an 80% vacancy rate in 2023 to a 90% occupancy rate in 2025…”
For years a for sale sign stood unheeded outside the circa 1927 Hastings Potato Exchange. That iconic structure has now become part of the town’s library/community center complex.
These days Hastings is a town of colorful murals.
Most of them celebrating the town’s original reason for existence: To grow and supply fresh food and flowers for Henry Flagler’s grand hotels in St. Augustine.
So listen, if you happen to be riding through on your bike – or even (Heaven forbid) driving your car on your way to the beach – best take a stop over in downtown Hastings.
Have some coffee. Or a pastry. Or a pizza. Heck, get a haircut – they got a barber too.
Because things are moving again in Hastings.
Listen, they haven’t forgotten where they came from. But they sure seem to know where they’re going from here.
FreeGNV 