First Lady Casey Desantis, State Parks Director Chuck Hatcher & Park Manager Billy Bailey at Florida Caverns State Park during better days.

Newspaper neglects key facts in Florida Caverns story.Commentary by Dale Cox

Note: This is a commentary that includes quite a few facts about the controversy surrounding the severe punishment of seven employees at Florida Caverns State Park. Please take the time to read it and I think that you will learn much about what has been taking place. You will also learn about some objections I have with last week's coverage of the issue in the Jackson County Times, a local newspaper based in Marianna. By way of disclosure, I have friends on all sides of this issue and am trying to be respectful to all involved. I also believe, however, that there is right and there is wrong.

Two Egg, Florida - The editor of a weekly newspaper in Marianna failed to mention a few things when she published a somewhat disjointed article about the controversy over severe punishments handed down for seven  employees at Florida Caverns State Park last week
. 

No Illegal Acts

For example, Shelia Mader, the editor under whose byline the story appeared, did not mention that all of those employees - three of whom have worked at the beloved Marianna park for a combined sixty-four years - were cleared of any and all criminal violations of Florida law. (1) (Note: References appear at the bottom of this column).

She also did not mention that the Office of the Inspector General of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection recommended not the massive crackdown on employees at Florida Caverns State Park that has taken place in recent weeks, but simply stated:  "Based on the outcome of the investigation, as well as the analysis of archaeological materials confiscated from the park by McFadden and Frederick, we recommend that the Division ensures all Park staff are all properly trained on protecting natural and cultural resources in the Park." And yet that one sentence constitutes the entire "Recommendations" part of the 22-page report from the Inspector General's office. (2)

Perhaps most curious of all, the newspaper failed to explain why - with its own connection to one of the key people involved in the situation at the park - it was writing a supposedly unbiased story about it in the first place. After all, wouldn't a truly balanced and fair media outlet tell its readers that it was connected to people on one side of the story or the other?

A Family Matter?

The Jackson County Times failed to disclose to its readers that it has close personal ties to the Director of Florida State Parks. Chuck Hatcher is the man who made clear to employees at the park that he approved of the harsh punishments handed down against them. His father, Woody Hatcher, is the former county judge of Jackson County judge and the owner and publisher of the Jackson County Times. (3)

I asked Shelia about this:

Question: As editor of the paper and writer of the story in question, why did you not feel it necessary to disclose the relationship between the ownership of the Jackson County Times and one of the key figures (Chuck Hatcher, Director of Florida State Parks) in this matter? (4)

Answer: I received all information quoted in the paper from the State of Florida. None of the documents I received made mention of Chuck Hatcher in any capacity. Therefore, I felt there was no need to include him in the article. (5)

Park Manager Billy Bailey at a Caverns Cultural Celebration event enjoys speaking with noted artist Lillie Clark.

I am not suggesting that a father who owns a newspaper would use his publication's pages to support his son in a controversial issue involving popular local park employees. I am questioning whether a writer not disclosing the connection in this particular story was a serious breach of journalistic ethics. 

This is what the Code of Ethics assembled by the Society of Professional Journalists says about the matter: "Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived. Disclose unavoidable conflicts." (6)

The same society recommends for further reading an article by journalism expert Tony Rogers, who included this on his list of recommendations for avoiding conflicts of interest:

Don't Cover Friends or Family Members. If you have a friend or relative who is in the public spotlight....you must recuse yourself from covering that person as a reporter. Readers simply won't believe that you'll be as tough on that person as you are on everyone else — and they'll probably be right. (7)

I asked Shelia if as the editor of a small town newspaper she was familiar with the SPJ's Code of Ethics and whether she believed they represented "best practices" for journalists. This is what she told me:

Answer: I am familiar with the SPJ Code of Ethics. I strive very hard to be fair to everyone involved in any story I write. That is why I waited until the Times had received all information from the state and quoted their findings and standings. (8)

She went on to state: 

 As an added note, the TIMES also published a Letter to the Editor in the same edition from a supporter of the park employees. We, in no way, voiced an opinion one way or the other in reference to the actions taken by the State. (9)

So, if the Jackson County Times was familiar with one of the best known code of ethics for journalists, and if the newspaper was familiar with all with the workings of state government, they surely must have known that this many employees at a premier Northwest Florida state park do not get severely punished without the Director of the state park service knowing about it.

Why not just fess up and admit that your newspaper has an above average family collection to the state park service director?

I do hope that all of the writers at the Jackson County Times will not just familiarize themselves with the SPJ and its Code of Ethics, but follow them. All communities need good sources of strong, independent, and fair local journalism. Newspapers should not be there to smooth things over for those with influence. They should treat everyone the same and tell all stories the same.

Innocent until proven guilty? Not in Jackson County!

Something struck me as I read the story in the Jackson County Times (or TIMES, as they prefer). I will let them battle out the capitalization and branding issue with that other TIMES in New York some day. 

Without getting too deep in the muck, it bothered me that no where in the article was there a comment, a "no comment," or even so much as a mention as a "The Times has not heard back" from any of the Florida Caverns employees named in the story.  (10)

I spent decades of my life in journalism, working my way up from the bottom (and believe me, it was the bottom) at local radio stations to managing newsrooms for some of the largest national media companies. There was always one true and fast rule above all others: No story ever ran without a serious effort to obtain all sides.

I tried to contact some of the Florida Caverns State Park employees named in the Jackson County Times story. I only heard back from Park Manager Billy Bailey in the time available before the publication of this story. He would not comment on the events of the investigation itself, but did say that he had not been contacted by the Times. (11)

I asked Shelia about this:

Answer: The allegations published were already a matter of public record. I did not contact any of the four employees involved in the issues at the Park. (12)

First, there are actually seven employees involved in the issues at the park, not four - if you do not count the employee who filed truth-challenged allegations in the first place. (13)

Second, just because an allegation is a matter of public record, a newspaper assumes that the accused no longer are entitled to defend themselves in anyway? This is America and these people were not found guilty in a court of law or even charged with a crime - in which case they would still be innocent until proven guilty. These are state employees who have been accused of crossing the lines of administrative rules at an environmental agency. 

There are many state employees in Jackson County. I hope that they all pay attention to the above answer from the Jackson County Times, because the newspaper has made clear exactly how it will treat you should you ever be accused of breaking an administrative rule of any type. It won't  bother to even contact you and give you a chance to defend yourself. A mere accusation in the public record is enough.

By the way, I also contacted Chuck Hatcher, director of Florida's state parks, to give him a chance to comment for this column. I have not heard back from him but should he answer my questions, I will happily add his comments.

Who writes what and when?

Something else also bothered me about the article. I had read and heard parts of it before, specifically on WMBB News 13 in Panama City. I asked Shelia about this:

Question: I noticed that the story published under your byline included, verbatim and unattributed, sentences and phrases from an earlier story by Cortney Evans of WMBB. I do realize that the Jackson County Times has a cooperative arrangement with WMBB, but is it your regular practice to publish under your own byline the work of another local reporter without giving that individual credit?

Answer:  The Times does share a partnership with WMBB.  The full interviews were forwarded to me and those that were published were the ones I opted to use. (14)

Fair enough, as far as it goes, but I was hoping that she would specifically address not the quotes from the recordings that WMBB made during interviews with local supporters of the park employees recently, but actual writing from her story itself. Shelia published under her own name lines lifted from the story written by Cortney Evans of WMBB. Here are a couple of examples:

Cortney Evans, WMBB: "The state completed an investigation at the park about the handling of wildlife and historical artifacts. 

Shelia Mader, Times: "The state completed an investigation at the park about the handling of wildlife and historical artifacts.

Cortney Evans, WMBB: "But, some of those heroes are now being reprimanded by the state. Cox said one of the allegations involves how they handled the rehabilitation of a baby owl.

Shelia Mader, Times: "Some of those employees are now being reprimanded by the state. One of the allegations involves the handling of the rehabilitation of a baby owl. (15)

Note that the Jackson County Times downplayed WMBB's description of the park employees as "heroes." Some of them stayed in the park through Hurricane Michael to protect it from looting. 

What really happened at Florida Caverns?

The situation at Florida Caverns State Park started when a relatively new employee decided that he did not like the way things were being done there. He started keeping notes on things ranging from how many minutes per day each of his fellow employees worked - apparently doing this while on his own work time - to the fact that some employees were rehabilitating injured or unhealthy wildlife or even picking up bottles, cans, and in two cases prehistoric artifacts they thought were endangered in a fire line in the park. He ultimately filed a complaint against several of his fellow employees and managers. (16)

This complaint was turned over to the Office of the Inspector General of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. They started an investigation at the park last fall and concluded it in February of this year.

Because the investigation involved artifacts and archaeological sites, the Office of the Inspector General also involved Dr. Paulette McFadden from the Florida Division of Historical Resources. She is the Archaeologist for State Lands. I have attempted to reach her, but she does not respond to my efforts. I am told by park employees, though, that on her first visit to the Caverns she pointed to a framed collection of what most of us would call "arrowheads" and explained that they provided a good example of why the investigation and her work were so important. She told them the collection was a great example of artifacts from the area and she wanted to assure that information about them was preserved. Park employees subsequently explained to her that it was a collection for display only that had been donated to the park by former visitors and that the artifacts actually came from Indiana. None of them were local. 

Two reports were produced by these investigations, one by Dr. McFadden and the other by Inspector General Candie Fowler.

The reports revealed that the original complaint was less than accurate. Animals had not been removed from the park, as he had stated, nor were artifacts being as routinely collected as alleged. 

In fact, a baby owl and baby opossum had been rehabilitated by Park Manager Billy Bailey and returned to the wild in the park. Apparently, this is against the rules of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Two grass snakes had been used by park employees in interpretive programs with park visitors. This was also against state environmental rules. No laws were broken. No criminal acts were committed. 

A few park employees picked up old bottles and cans from trash piles around the closed Florida Caverns Golf Course (which the state plans to bulldoze and replace with a new RV park type campground). It appears that bulldozing the historic golf course is not an issue, but picking up old bottles and cans from trash piles near it is a violation of rules regarding historic artifacts. None of these artifacts ever left the park. Nothing was sold. No digging was done. No laws were broken. No criminal acts were committed.

Finally, new fire lines were plowed by the Division of Forestry when a prescribed burn got out of control in the park. While inspecting the fire lines after the fire, Park Manager Bailey and other employees noticed chert (flint) chips and a few other artifacts on the surface of the ground. Concerned that these might be damaged when the fire line was plowed again, they collected them and placed them in storage in the park. They were required to notify the Florida Division of Historical Resources of the newly discovered sites, which they failed to do. No artifacts were sold. No artifacts left the park. No digging was done. No laws were broken. No criminal acts were committed. (17)

While at the park, investigators seized multiple boxes of artifacts. The Jackson County Times showed a couple of these by reprinting photographs from the Inspector General's report. In fact, there have been boxes of artifacts in storage at Florida Caverns State Park for decades. A letter in my collection from Dr. A.R. Kelly of the National Park Service to Lewis G. Scoggins, Director of the Florida Park Service, written in 1946 shows that boxes of artifacts were sent to the park for storage that year:

Reference is made to your letter of inquiry to the Region One Office, National Park Service, concerning Florida Caverns archeological collections stored at Ocmulgee National Monument. Regional Director Allen, on March 19, has advised that this material has not been restored.

On March 14 to 17, consecutively, we sent the material by parcel post to Florida Caverns. There are four boxes containing the pottery which should be received by now. 

We regret that restoration of the pottery for purposes of exhibit was not completed due to the cessation of laboratory work during wartime [i.e., World War II]. (18)

These boxes of artifacts included material excavated at the park between 1930 and 1940 by archaeologists from the National Park Service. All of those artifacts have been carefully protected without issue by park employees for more than 75-years. They were never taken out of the park by anyone until the State of Florida seized them and took them to Tallahassee as part of this investigation.

These important cultural materials came from the caves and surrounding archaeological sites at Florida Caverns. Nothing wrong took place regarding them. They are now in Tallahassee and will likely never be returned to the community where they belong. Instead they will be placed in a basement in the capital city and forgotten. At Florida Caverns, they were perfectly safe and well-protected by a dedicated and conscientious team of employees that for three-quarters of a century made sure that nothing happened to them.

The Reports

I requested copies of the archaeological investigation from Dr. McFadden and the inspector general's investigation from Parks Director Hatcher under the provisions of Florida's Open Records laws. Neither of them responded to me. 

I subsequently contacted Inspector General Fuller directly and received an immediate response and within three hours a copy of the requested report. I repeated my request to Dr. McFadden for a copy of the archaeological report one week after my original, this time copying it to her boss as well, and immediately received a copy from the the Division of Historical Resources. (19)

 I still have heard nothing from Dr. McFadden or Chuck Hatcher themselves. I am also still waiting for the state to comply with public records requests for emails surrounding the investigation.

Park Manager Billy Bailey

So what happened to the seven employees at Florida Caverns State Park? I want to be a little careful here because these are good people who are trying to make the best of a bad situation. None of them have opted to go public about their situation. They are voiceless because speaking out could cost them their jobs, benefits, and more.

I will say this about park manager Billy Bailey, since the media and State of Florida press person Brian Miller chose to name him. He is a good person, a Christian, a good father to his daughters, and a gentleman. He has worked at Florida Caverns State Park for 18-years, starting off as a volunteer, and working his way up to park manager. I have known him for most of that time, am proud to call him my friend, and stand by him in this very difficult time. 

If you know me, then you know how much I care about our cultural resources. I am as familiar with the cultural resources of Florida Caverns State Park as anyone alive, more so than Dr. McFadden or anyone from Tallahassee. No one on that park staff, especially Billy Bailey, has intentionally done any significant damage to major archaeological sites at the park. In fact, removing them from the park will do more damage to the really important archaeological sites of the caves than any other single thing that could be done short of demolishing the park itself.

The claim by the state that Billy "chose" to resign is laughable. His choice was simple, resign or be fired. He "chose" to resign so that he could try to find employment with a different state agency in hopes of supporting his family. It is funny how far some people will take things when they don't want you around anymore. Billy deserves a good job even if those of us, his friends, fail in our effort to find mercy for him and the other employees from the leaders of the all powerful state.

Because park managers are "at will" employees, Billy cannot appeal his situation. He is literally without a way to defend himself even though he committed no criminal acts and the only recommendation suggested by the investigators was that he and other park employees receive additional training.

The Florida Caverns Seven and State Employees

In addition to Bailey, there are six other employees of the park caught up in this situation. I will not name them because they have chosen not to name themselves. The Jackson County Times printed parts of the Inspector General's report naming some of them while, at the same time, restricting information about the park itself and leaving out other parts of the report. I regret this because the employees themselves are trapped in a situation where they are forced to remain silent and voiceless in order to protect what remains of their careers. It strikes me as unfair to name them if they can't defend themselves.

The Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics agrees in more than one of its rules:

• Balance the public's need for information against potential harm or discomfort. Pursuit of the news is not a license for arrogance or undue intrusiveness.
• Show compassion for those who may be affected by news coverage. Use heightened sensitivity when dealing with. . . subjects who are inexperience or unable to give consent.
• Recognize that private people have a greater right to control information about themselves than public figures and others who seek power, influence, or attention. Weigh the consequences of publishing or broadcasting personal information. (20)

In this case we have a situation where a media outlet has printed allegations of broken administrative rules in an environmental agency against state employees who cannot speak up to defend themselves.

 

Conclusion - Five Questions

I know that I have written long, but this is important, especially for these seven park employees and all other state workers in Jackson County. My dad was a state employee. Here are the key questions that I hope you - and the staff and owners of the Jackson County Times - will consider:

1. Have our friends and neighbors at Florida Caverns State Park been treated fairly by all of us, by the State of Florida, and by the local newspaper?
2. Do all seven of the park employees deserve a second chance? I've been wrong more than I've been right in life and without second chances, I don't know where I would be today.
3. Should 18 or 28 years on a job at one place count for something, especially if you work for the state or county? Should dedication still mean anything?
4. Should a local newspaper be honest when it has connections to people of power on one side of a story? Should it do its best to be balanced and fair about the local news. Does everyone that it covers deserve a fair shake, regardless of how much money they have or political power they might wield?
5. When an investigation says that someone is cleared of a crime, should a news story include that fact? When the recommendation of an inspector general is for more training, is that an indictment of the employees themselves, or of their supervisors in Tallahassee?

Thank you.

References:

(1) Jackson County Times, April 4, 2024.

(2) Final Report of Investigation, II-01-07-2023-221Department of Environmental Protection, Office of Inspector General, Internal Investigation, February 16, 2024.

(3) Jackson County Times, April 4, 2024.

(4) Dale Cox to Shelia Mader, April 6, 2024.

(5) Shelia Mader to Dale Cox, April 7, 2024.

(6) SPJ Code of Ethics - Society of Professional Journalists.

(7) Tony Rogers article

(8) Shelia Mader to Dale Cox, April 7, 2024.

(9) Shelia Mader to Dale Cox, April 7, 2024.

(10) Jackson County Times, April 4, 2024.

(11) Billy Bailey, verbal confirmation to Dale Cox, April 5, 2024.

(12) Shelia Mader to Dale Cox, April 7, 2024.

(13) Confidential Source at Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Tallahassee, Florida.

(14) Shelia Mader to Dale Cox, April 7, 2024.

(15) Jackson County Times, April 4, 2024; Cortney Evans, "Community upset after employees from Florida Caverns reprimanded," WMBB, March 28, 2024. 

(16) Confidential Source at Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Tallahassee, Florida.

(17) Final Report of Investigation, II-01-07-2023-221Department of Environmental Protection, Office of Inspector General, Internal Investigation, February 16, 2024; McFadden, Dr. Paulette, and Cassandra Freeman, "Florida Caverns State Park: Analysis of Archaeological Materials Confiscated from the Park," Department of State, Division of Historical Resources, Bureau of Archaeological Resources, Public Lands Archaeology, January 10, 2024.

(18) Dr. A.R. Kelly to Lewis G. Scoggins, March 22, 1946, Park Archives, Florida Caverns State Park, Marianna, Florida (Copy in writer's personal archives).

(19) Final Report of Investigation, II-01-07-2023-221Department of Environmental Protection, Office of Inspector General, Internal Investigation, February 16, 2024; McFadden, Dr. Paulette, and Cassandra Freeman, "Florida Caverns State Park: Analysis of Archaeological Materials Confiscated from the Park," Department of State, Division of Historical Resources, Bureau of Archaeological Resources, Public Lands Archaeology, January 10, 2024.

(20) SPJ Code of Ethics - Society of Professional Journalists.

Tree planting underway at Florida Caverns State Park! Photos courtesy of Billy Bailey.

by Dale Cox with thanks to Billy Bailey!

Hurricane Michael inflicted destruction on Florida Caverns State Park that will be evident for more than one century to come.

The winds toppled old-growth trees, leveling the park's treasured natural forests.

Life, however, is taking root once again at the Marianna, Florida, landmark. The Friends of Florida Caverns State Park partnered with Florida Caverns State Park volunteers, the National Caucus and Center on Black Aging, and Hurricane Michael Federal Disaster Unemployment Assistance to plant trees. The seedlings begin the process of regrowing the natural forests of the park, restoring them for present and future generations.

The replanting project was the result of donations from local businesses and the help of multiple community organizations!

The trees include eastern red cedars, tulip poplars, fringe trees, and spruce pines. All of the varieties are native to the park and important to its natural communities. They were donated by Southern Craft Creamery, Cindale Farms, and the Chipola Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.

The planting was coordinated and supervised by Ranger Frank Strickland, a 35-year veteran of the Florida Park Service. He has been planting trees in the area since the early 1980s.

Tree planting on February 16, 2020.

The second of two workdays took place on Tuesday, February 18, with over one hundred trees replanted for park visitors and its wildlife to enjoy for decades, perhaps even centuries, to come.

Florida Caverns State Park is open 8 a.m. to sundown, 365 days per year. Some areas of the park remain closed due to damage from the hurricane, and the cave tours are temporarily closed this week due to flooding but will resume soon.

The park is at 3345 Caverns Road, Marianna, Florida. Please click here for more information.

For a unique perspective of the cave tours as done by flashlight after Hurricane Michael destroyed electrical systems, please enjoy this free video from Two Egg TV:

Stunning formations at Florida Caverns State Park in Marianna, Florida.

The caves of the Marianna area and Florida Caverns State Park were places of mystery, legend and sometimes even hiding for our ancestors.

Creek and Seminole families hid in caves during the First Seminole War. They were the first stop on the Underground Railroad for African-Americans escaping slavery. Women, children and the elderly used them as hiding places during the Battle of Marianna. Outlaws frequented out of the way caverns during reconstruction and moonshiners made use of more than one during Prohibition!

In one case - if the media is to be believed - a man even stayed inside one for 37 years!

The story appeared in a New York newspaper in 1887 and was picked up by other papers across the nation:

...A few days ago there appeared upon the register of the Fifth Avenue hotel the name of a gentleman from Marianna, Fla. He was a good talker, and told a most extraordinary tale of an occurrence that took place in the neighborhood of his home town. It is believed by everybody in that section of the state, "and," said the narrator, "I am not prepared to say it is not true, as more than half the people in that town saw the hero of the story." - (New York Graphic, 1888).

Billy Bailey of Florida Caverns State Park explores the narrow passages of Old Indian Cave.

The incident originated from a large cavern 2 miles from Marianna. Tradition identifies this as the Natural Bridge or "Old Indian" Cave at today's Florida Caverns State Park. That cave, however, does not have a spring or karst window inside as the story relates:

...On April 1, 1884, a party of explorers consisting of two gentlemen and five ladies, visited the cave. They followed the path that led to a point known as "The Spring," where a bold stream of cold clear water gushed forth from the rock, and flowed in a rivulet for some fifty feet and disappeared under a mass of detached fragments of limestone. - (New York Graphic, 1888).

It may or may not be significant that the date of this expedition was given as April Fool's Day.

The South America Pool during a time of low water. The rim of the pool approximates the shape of South America.

There are a number of caves immediately around Marianna that match the description given in the article. The "South America Pool" in the tour cave at Florida Caverns State Park forms a rivulet of clear water at times and the Ladies' Cave west of the park has a strong-flowing stream of water. Both are within 2 miles of Marianna.

It was after the party of explorers reached "the Spring" that the story got really interesting:

...[O]ne of the gentlemen of the party, with his cane, detached a jutting rock particularly brilliant with mica spangles from what seemed the solid wall of rock. A large mass of loosened rock followed the fragments with a crash which reverberated hundreds of times throughout the cavernous depths. Then it was an astonishing sight met the eyes of the party which at first rendered them motionless with horror and fright. A hitherto unknown chamber was seen through the aperture, and but a few feet away, apparently motionless as the stone floor on which it lay, was the body of a man clad in the habiliments of a soldier, with his musket beside him. - (New York Graphic 1888).

Kelly Banta of Florida Caverns State Park guides a tour through an enchanted forest of columns and formations.

It took a few minutes for the explorers to recover their senses enough to move closer. The man did not appear to be breathing but neither did he show signs of being dead. The two male explorers tried to lift the body which caused its rotten clothing and equipment to fall away. They wrapped it in a waterproof coat and carried it to the banks of the underground spring. The ladies of the party made their way out to daylight and headed to Marianna in their carriage to alert the citizens.

The two gentlemen explorers located two other men nearby and with them reentered the cave:

...They went directly to the spring. To their astonishment they found that the man supposed to be dead was living with half open eyes, breathing stertorously, while a faint color tinged his cheek. Examination disclosed rapid but distinct pulsation. The horrified men carried the phenomenon to the open air outside the cave as quickly as the burden would allow. -  (New York Graphic, 1888).

The men succeeded in getting the "phenomenon" to take a few sips of brandy and then took him to a nearby cabin. They left him there and started for town but quickly ran into a group of some 50 townspeople on its way to the cave. The crowd went to the cabin and the mysterious stranger was examined by several of Marianna's doctors.

The tour cave at Florida Caverns State Park offers visitors an incredible array of formations and colors.

They gave him stimulants and he soon recovered enough to talk but due to his weakness the physicians would not allow him to be asked questions until the following day. He then told the following story:

...He said that in 1837 he was sent from Pensacola to Fort Dade with important military papers. When near Marianna he was followed by a band of Choctaws, who had gone on the warpath in sympathy with their Seminole brethren.
   Being hard pressed, he abandoned his horse and finding a hole in the ground he squeezed into it, and fearing the Indians would discover his trail, went some distance into the cave, when he suddenly felt a difficulty in respiration, a feeling of drowsiness came over him, and he remembered no further. - New York Graphic, 1888).

The story is definitely bizarre but it includes some little known true facts. Probably the most significant is that there was a handful of Choctaw warriors with a group of Creek Indians that fled into the Florida Panhandle following the Battle of Hobdy's Bridge, Alabama, in February 1837. This fact is so obscure that many modern researchers of the Seminole War are not aware of it.

The Cathedral formation at Florida Caverns State Park. Did a Seminole War soldier really spend 37 years in such a cave?

Also of significance is the mention of Fort Dade, a Seminole War log fort that should not be confused with a later Fort Dade that is open to the public on Mullet Key near St. Petersburg. The original Fort Dade was built in 1837 where the historic Fort King Road crossed the Withlacoochee River near today's community of Lacoochee, Florida.

The New York newspaper's account of this Florida "Rip Van Winkle" concludes:

...It was hard to make the soldier believe that thirty-seven years had passed while he lay in coma, and that the fields of rice, sugar cane and cotton which dotted the landscape were the same wilderness through which he had been chased by the Indians. He seemed to be of a retiring disposition, and did not care to pose as an object of curiosity, and when his strength fully returned disappeared, and was never afterwards heard of. - (New York Graphic, 1888).

Could a Seminole War soldier really have slept for 37 years in a Marianna cave? The writer of the story's original headline probably summed it up best: "A story that the guileless people of Florida unhesitatingly believe."

Dale Cox
May 4, 2017

P.S. To hear the version of this legend as told today and to journey into Old Indian Cave at Florida Caverns State Park, please click play on this video:

Andrew Jackson as he appeared late in life. (Matthew Brady photo, Courtesy Library of Congress)

Andrew Jackson, the 7th President of the United States, would have turned 250 years old today. In the Florida county that bears his name, however, the anniversary will pass quietly.

Jackson County has no events planned to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Jackson's birth.

The only part of Florida to touch two other states - Alabama and Georgia - Jackson County was established just three years after Old Hickory made his only visit to the area. He came through in 1818 during the closing phase of the First Seminole War.

Florida was still a Spanish colony in 1818, but the borderlands had been the scene of open warfare since U.S. troops attacked the Creek Indian village of Fowltown in Decatur County, Georgia. The Battle of Fowltown was really two separate events that took place on November 21 and 23, 1817. The action was the first battle of the Seminole Wars.

Creek, Seminole and maroon (Black Seminole) warriors retaliated on November 30, 1817, by attacking a U.S. Army supply boat on the Apalachicola River at Chattahoochee, Florida. The first U.S. defeat of the Seminole Wars, the action is remembered today as the Scott Massacre of 1817 and ended with the deaths of around 34 men, 6 women and 4 children.

Outraged over the Scott attack but unconcerned over the U.S. raids on Fowltown, President James Monroe had Secretary of War John C. Calhoun order Major General Andrew Jackson to the frontier. Jackson was authorized to invade Spanish Florida to "punish" those responsible for the attack on Lt. Richard W. Scott's command.

The site of Fort Scott as it appears today.

The commander of all U.S. troops in the South, Jackson was at the zenith of his military career in 1818. He had defeated Red Stick Creek forces at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend and the British at the Battle of New Orleans in 1814-1815. He reached Fort Scott at today's Lake Seminole on the evening of March 9, 1818, and assumed command of the troops there on the next morning.

The first phase of Jackson's Florida campaign saw him march into Spanish Florida and battle the Native American alliance at the Battles of Miccosukee, Econfina and Old Town while also capturing the Spanish fort of San Marcos de Apalache. He executed the Creek Indian leaders Josiah Francis and Homathlemico while also capturing and ordering the executions of two British subjects, Alexander Arbuthnot and Robert C. Ambrister.

The general was at Fort Gadsden, the fort he had built on the site of the earlier "Negro Fort" or Fort at Prospect Bluff, when he decided to march into West Florida. Reports had reached him that Creek refugees were being fed and supplied by the Spanish at Pensacola.

Click here to see a great first person interpretation of Andrew Jackson by Billy Bailey of Florida Caverns State Park.

Jackson left Fort Gadsden with an army of 1,092 men and two cannon and marched back up the Apalachicola River to what is now Torreya State Park. Boats had been prepositioned there by soldiers from Fort Scott and the general crossed his army over to Ocheesee Bluff in today's Calhoun County on May 9, 1818. The crossing of so many men was dangerous and took all day to complete.

The next morning, guided by the Creek chief John Blunt for whom present-day Blountstown is named, the army turned northwest and entered the county that now bears his name. The following is excerpted from my book, The History of Jackson County, Florida: The Early Years:

Jackson Blue Spring, where Gen. Jackson's army camped on May 10, 1818 while marching through West Florida.

The army turned to the northwest on the morning of May 10th and crossed into Jackson County. Their route led them across the approximate site of Grand Ridge to Blue Spring where they camped for the night. Captain Hugh Young, Jackson’s topographer, called the spot “Big Spring,” a name that it held for a number of years. He described it as being “forty yards in diameter and of considerable depth with a rock bottom and a clean rapid current.” 

The soldiers in Jackson’s army marveled at the beauty and richness of the surrounding countryside. Young himself kept careful records of the quality of the lands through which they marched. 

The army continued forward on the morning of May 11, 1818. Crossing the hills between Blue Spring and the Chipola River, they reached the Natural Bridge of the Chipola River in today's Florida Caverns State Park by noon. It was here that a supposed incident involving Andrew Jackson took place. 

The Natural Bridge of the Chipola River is seen at left. The sink into which the river descends to begin its underground journey is at the center of the photo.

According to the oft-recited legend, Jackson’s army was moving forward in two columns. One column, led by the general himself and guided by John Blunt, crossed the river at the natural bridge. The second column, maching more to the north, was forced to halt and build rafts so the men and artillery could get across the river. Jackson’s column reached the planned rendezvous point west of the river and the general, known for his temper, supposedly became irate when the second column failed to appear on schedule.

When the bedraggled men of the flanking column finally trudged into camp, legend holds that Jackson berated their officers, demanding to know the reason for the delay. His temper soared even higher when they explained the reason for their lateness. The general had seen no river. The legend holds that it was not until John Blunt explained the phenomenon of the natural bridge that Old Hickory could be placated.

It is a fascinating little story and one of the few about Andrew Jackson that survive in the county today. Mrs. Janie Smith Rhyne, a Jackson County writer and historian of the 20th century, even memorialized the event in poem:

The Jackson County-made horror film Sharkansas Women's Prison Massacre is expected to finish production in Los Angeles tomorrow. Sources close to the project indicate that the Syfy channel has expressed interest.

The movie was filmed at Florida Caverns State Park, Merritt's Mill Pond and at other locations around Marianna and Jackson County, Florida, in early 2014. It was directed by famed B-movie king Jim Wynorski. His previous credits include Not of This Earth, The Return of Swamp Thing, Transylvania Twist, The Wasp Woman and Dynocroc vs. Supergator.

Sources indicate that the new film, in which the Florida Panhandle doubles for the Ozarks of Arkansas, will be reviewed by the Syfy channel for broadcast consideration. The timetable for a decision by the cable channel has not been released, but Syfy has aired a number of Wynorski's previous films.

Sharkansas filming at Florida Caverns State Park

If Syfy picks up Sharkansas, the movie will likely be a ratings grabber for the channel which has seen huge audience spikes with its modern-day monster movie franchise. The success story of Sharknado, of course, is well known to viewers and film industry experts alike.

In another development, Wynorski announced on his Facebook page that the movie contains no nudity, an indication both that he is aiming for a television release and that he is keeping his promise to local tourism and parks leaders that the movie will have no worse than a PG-13 rating.

Sharkansas tells the story of how an accident during an oil "fracking" exploration unleashes a swarm of prehistoric sharks from a buried sea deep underground. The accident coincides with an escape attempt by inmates from a women's prison and soon escaped sharks meet escaped prisoners and the rest is history.

The preview is now available and you can watch it right here:

Here it is!  Your long awaited first look at new Jackson County made horror movie "Sharkansas Women's Prison Massacre." It is set for release in May!




The movie was filmed in and around Marianna and Jackson County. Filming locations included Florida Caverns State Park, Merritt's Mill Pond and El Rio Restaurant.  Some local folks even made the cast as extras.

I'll post more on how to see it as it is released.  Expected rating is no worse than PG-13.

A Baldwin 4-4-0 locomotive State Archives of Florida/Memory Collection

A long-forgotten railroad that ran up the west side of the Chipola River from Marianna to the Alabama state line is #65 on our list of 100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida.

Please click here to see the complete list as it is unveiled.

Near the western border of Florida Caverns State Park and within sight of Blue Hole Spring, the bed of an abandoned railroad cuts through a limestone outcrop before continuing north out of the park. The story of this railroad was almost completely forgotten, but with help from Sue Tindel and Robert Earl Standland of the office of Jackson County Clerk of Courts Dale Guthrie, Pat Crisp of the Chipola Historical Trust and Billy Bailey of Florida Caverns State Park, the facts can now be brought to light.

Billy Bailey of Florida Caverns State Park points out old cross-ties in the bed of the Penn-Jarratt Railroad

Lumber was a hot commodity in the United States during the first years of the 20th century. The red cypress and other hardwood trees growing along the upper Chipola River were of enormous value and great profits stood to be made by the company that could fell them and bring them out of the swamps.

A 640 acre tract in Marianna was home to multiple sawmills and lumber operations, among them the Jarratt Lumber Corporation. This firm had come into existence in 1910 when it purchased the assets of clearly related Jarratt Brothers Lumber Company. By 1920 it had merged with another timber interest to become Penn-Jarratt Lumber.

The bed of the railroad cuts through limestone at Florida Caverns State Park.

The firm leased timber rights to thousands of acres along the Chipola River and employed then revolutionary technologies in its harvesting and milling techniques. Steam-powered skidders were used to drag massive logs of cypress, gum, oak and other hardwoods from the floodplain swamps. These machines replaced the ox carts and manual labor of previous times.

To move the logs to its mills at Marianna, the firm operated a 20-mile long railroad that extended from the L&N (today's CSX) all the way up to the Alabama state line.

Logging railroads were not uncommon in Northwest Florida, but the Jarratt line was unique in that it employed the use of full-size trains instead of the smaller locomotives often used on such lines.

Baldwin 4-4-0 locomotive State Archives of Florida/Memory Collection

One of its locomotives, for example, was a massive steam-powered Baldwin 4-4-0 purchased from the Alabama, Florida & Gulf  (AF&G) railroad in 1917. That line operated passenger and freight trains that ran from the Dothan vicinity south to Malone and eventually Greenwood.

Jarratt found itself in considerable legal difficulty when the company decided to run its tracks along the rights-of-way of public roads in places.  A court case decided in 1917 that railroads could be held liable for using public roadways and for damage to adjacent properties.

The trains ran on the Jarratt line until around 1932 when the last of the old growth timber had been cleared from the upper Chipola River. The mills closed and the company's property holdings were sold for taxes, a common practice employed by lumber companies in those days to dispose of land once they no longer had use for it.

Section of the railroad bed.

Sections of the old railroad bed are still visible at Florida Caverns State Park and on the adjacent lands of the Northwest Florida Water Management District.

The tracks connected with the L&N where Orange Avenue crosses the CSX tracks in Marianna today. From there they ran to the west of the old Marianna High School Campus and followed Carters Mill Road and Fish Hatchery Road into Florida Caverns State Park. A deep section of railroad bed can be seen near Blue Hole Spring adjacent to the equestrian trails in the park.

The tracks crossed through the parking area for the Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail on Highway 162.

From Florida Caverns, the railroad continued up the west side of the Chipola, crossing Waddell's Mill Creek on a trestle and passing through what is now the parking area for the Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail at Highway 162.

The tracks ran from there up the west side of the river and Forks of the Creek all the way to Alabama. Although the rails were removed after the railroad ceased operation, some of the cross-ties can still be seen.

The long forgotten railroad of the Penn-Jarratt Lumber Company is #65 on our list of 100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida.