The community of Ponte Vedra — along with its oceanfront neighbor to the east, Ponte Vedra Beach — proudly claims its place in Florida’s “First Coast.” The nickname is used to describe a collection of counties in northeast Florida noted in history for being the first section of Florida colonized by Europeans. While nearby military outposts under Spanish rule in St. Augustine and French rule at Fort Caroline led to some use of the area for military travel, it was largely uninhabited until the early 1900s.