Dale Cox, Historian & Author: sneads

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Sunday, February 9, 2020

Victory Bridge construction began 100 years ago

Landmark bridge was the first to span the Apalachicola River.

by Dale Cox

Victory Bridge at Chattahoochee, Florida.

The 100th anniversary of construction for beautiful old Victory Bridge is now underway. The 2,100-foot long structure once spanned Florida's Apalachicola River between Chattahoochee and Sneads.

The bridge gained its name from the Allied victory in World War I, the first "war to end all wars." The cost was paid by Jackson and Gadsden Counties, with assistance from the Federal government.

Sections of the structure still survive, although the central part was removed after the State of Florida built the new U.S. 90 bridge in the 1950s. The longest section stretches out over the river from the high bluffs on the Chattahoochee side. It is easy to see at River Landing Park.

A smaller section survives on the Jackson County side but is more difficult to reach.

The Old Spanish Trail stretched from San Diego on the West Coast to
Jacksonville and St. Augustine on the Atlantic Ocean.

The bridge was part of the original Old Spanish Trail Highway, a coast-to-coast tourist route that carried drivers from San Diego, California, to San Diego, California. The highway commemorated but did not always follow the original trails used by Spanish explorers and missionaries.

The graceful arches and ornate rails were visualized by the bridge's designer, James Austin Mortland of the Florida State Roads Department (today's FDOT). It took crews from Masters & Mullen Construction Company of Cleveland, Ohio, three years to finish the project, which opened to traffic in 1922.

A new interpretive panel will be installed this year at River Landing Park in Chattahoochee to tell the story of Victory Bridge and provide visitors with more information.

Read more about the building of the bridge from the August 24, 1922, issue of Manufacturers Record:

Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Can you dress like a pirate?? Prove it at Pirate & Heritage Days!

Public invited to "Dress like a Pirate" for Pirate and Heritage Days!

Ready to let your inner pirate out?! Your chance is coming on May 1-2 when Three Rivers State Park hosts Pirate and Heritage Days!

The event will commemorate the life and times of the adventurer and pirate William Augustus Bowles, who once frequented the Apalachicola and Chattahoochee Rivers. His ships raided commerce on the Gulf of Mexico in 1799-1804, sailing under the flag of the "State of Muskogee."

Jackson County is rich in stories of this unique individual. Legend even holds that he left behind a vast treasure that still remains to be found somewhere along the Chattahoochee River arm of Lake Seminole.

You might not find the lost treasure, but you can definitely get in on the fun and collect a reward of your own by participating in the "Dress Like a Pirate" contest!

Members of the public are encouraged to bring their boats out for the William Bowles Pirate Regatta up Lake Seminole from Sneads Park on Friday, May 1. Launching begins at 4 p.m., and the Regatta will set sail at 6 p.m., led by the authentic 19th-century keelboat Aux Arc (pronounced "Ozark"). Fly your pirate flags and wear your pirate best to compete for cash and prizes as the Aux Arc leads the way with her cannon thundering! Registration information is coming later this week!

After the Pirate Regatta, the fun continues at Three Rivers State Park on River Road just north of Sneads, Florida. The evening will feature live music, entertainment, food, exhibits, and living history portrayals of life in Florida during Spanish colonial times. The "Dress Like a Pirate" contest will continue as team members from Two Egg TV will identify great costumes in the crowd and award cash on the spot!

More fun is set for Saturday, May 2, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Central/10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern, as Pirate and Heritage Days at Three Rivers State Park continues. Fun planned for Saturday includes living history demonstrations, entertainment, historical lectures, exhibits, vendors, food, and more. Plus, "Dress Like a Pirate" competition will continue with Two Egg TV passing out more instant cash and prizes to best dressed members of the public!

Pirate and Heritage Days at Three Rivers State Park is supported by Florida State Parks, the Jackson County Tourist Development Council, Jackson County Public Works, Two Egg TV, the Town of Sneads, and more! Additional sponsors will be announced soon.

Thursday, January 9, 2020

Pirate & Heritage Days coming to Three Rivers State Park!

May event will commemorate the legacy of William Augustus Bowles!

by Dale Cox

The pirate and adventurer William Augustus Bowles
will be remembered at Pirate & Heritage Days at
Three Rivers State Park in Sneads, Florida.

The Chattahoochee River and Lake Seminole in eastern Jackson County are abundant in the history of the adventurer and pirate William Augustus Bowles. He once lived along the river, and his ships made it as far upstream as the forks of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers, where Lake Seminole is located today.

To commemorate this unprecedented era of history, Three Rivers State Park is working with the Jackson County Tourist Development Council, the City of Sneads, Jackson County Parks, and Two Egg TV to host a brand new festival. Pirate & Heritage Days will take place at the lakefront state park on May 1 & 2, 2020.

Bowles arrived in the area during the American Revolution after he was tossed from the British military at Pensacola for a disciplinary infraction. He wandered lost in the woods of Northwest Florida until a trading party of Native Americans found him and carried him to the Perryman towns. These large Lower Creek Indian villages were near today's Parramore Landing.

Bowles enjoyed his new life there so thoroughly that he married Mary Perryman, the daughter of Chief Thomas Perryman, and was adopted by the tribe. He fought at the Battle of Pensacola, one of the most significant actions of the Revolutionary War, in 1781. America's ally Spain won the battle, however, and regained control of the city and Florida.

Bowles's pirate ships flew the "State of
Muskogee" flag in 1799-1804.
State Archives of Florida/Memory Collection

The adventurer went briefly to his family home in Maryland and then on to the Bahamas, from where he came back to the area to open a new route for smuggled goods from the islands. Spain captured him, however, and sent him away to Cuba, Spain, and eventually the Philipines. Bowles escaped, and by 1799 was back in North Florida!

He was furious over his treatment and declared war on Spain! By this time, he called himself the Director-General of the "State of Muskogee," a mostly imaginary empire that he founded in the Florida borderlands. His followers included white adventurers from American territory and the Bahamas, Maroons (escaped slaves), and a few hundred Lower Creek, Seminole, and Miccosukee warriors.

Three Rivers State Park is on the shores of beautiful
Lake Seminole in Sneads, Florida.

To carry out his war, Bowles commissioned a flotilla of "privateer" ships that sailed from the Apalachicola River out into the Gulf of Mexico to prey on Spanish merchant ships. These pirate vessels raided dozens of ships, and their crews included Native Americans from the Perryman towns. The raids continued for about five years until he was captured again and sent away to prison in Cuba, where he died.

The story of Bowles and his pirate ships is a big part of the culture and history of Jackson County. Two different buried treasure legends originate from his activities!

Pirate & Heritage Days will feature a boat parade on Lake Seminole, food trucks, vendors, living history encampments, live music, storytelling, and much more! Everything will take place lakefront at beautiful Three Rivers State Park, with the boat parade launching at Sneads Park and passing the festival grounds.

More details are coming soon, but mark your calendars for the afternoon/evening of May 1 and morning/midday of May 2! If you have a boat or even a kayak or canoe, make plans now to join the boat parade on Friday, May 1!

Thursday, June 27, 2019

A Rescue Mission to the Apalachicola River in 1772

Tamathli and the first days of the Seminoles

By Dale Cox

Tamathli, seen near the center of this section of the 1778

Purcell-Stuart Map was one of the early breakaway towns that

soon became known as the Seminoles of Florid

The Native Americans who lived along the Apalachicola River in today's Jackson, Gadsden, Liberty, and Calhoun Counties did not immediately like the English who took control of Florida in 1763.

A party of warriors from Tomatley or Tamathli - a town near present-day Sneads - demonstrated this in 1771 by attacking an English settlement on the Pascagoula River in southern Mississippi (then part of Louisiana). They killed two people and carried away a family of slaves. It is seldom remembered that the English often took Native Americans as slaves in the early days of their colonization of America and in this case the slaves captured by the Lower Creek warriors from Tamathli were American Indians.

John Stuart, the British agent for Indian affairs, wrote to the principal chiefs of the Lower Creeks, asking that the surviving prisoners be returned:

A Party of the Tomautley People some time ago carried away a Family of Indians Slaves, who belong to a planter on Pascagaula River, the Man they Killed or Burnt, the Woman is still among them. (Y)ou have no right to keep this Woman and Children. They were poor defenceless Slaves, could not be your Enemies being brought from a Country far to the Westward of the Mississippi, where you never go to War. I wish to Know if you the Chiefs of the Nation suffer such proceedings. There is no honor in taking and Killing a poor Slave the property of your Friends. I hope you will send your Talk that the Woman and Children may be restored to their Master. [John Stuart, January 20, 1772]

Stuart's assistant David Taitt carried the message to the Lower Creek chiefs, but was unable to obtain a suitable response. He then decided to travel down the Chattahoochee River and visit Tamathli in person.

The Chattahoochee River flows in from the left to join the

Flint River which flows in from the right to form the

Apalachicola in this 1940s photograph of the Forks. The site

is now covered by Lake Seminole.

Taitt purchased a canoe and prepared for his journey but found the chiefs greatly alarmed by his plans. They pleaded with him, telling him that they "desired me not to go down the River in a Canoe as they alledged there was some dangerous Whirlpools in the river which they said would sink the Canoe."

More likely the chiefs on the Chattahoochee in what is now Alabama and Georgia were concerned that the Tamathli warriors were kill Taitt. They continued to present reasons why he should not go and finally offered to send two of their own head warriors to the town, but refused to let the assistant agent go, "alledging the danger of the River and badness of the people there."

Without saying it, the principal Lower Creek chiefs were telling Taitt that the towns on the lower Chattahoochee and Apalachicola Rivers no longer listened to them. Tamathi was one of the founding communities of what would become the Seminoles. They broke away from the Muscogee or Creeks and resettled in Florida to live independently.

The only white person who had any real influence with them was a white trader named James Burges. He operated a trading post or "store" in Tamathli and another in the town of Pucknauhitla at present-day Bainbridge, Georgia. Burges married Native American women, the daughters of chiefs, and had families in each town.

Tamathli was on the western or right side of the

Apalachicola River downstream from today's US 90

and the Jim Woodruff Dam. The actual town was on high

ground back away from the floodplain swamps.

Taitt sent him a letter on May 4, 1772, requesting his help in freeing the surviving slaves along with a captive white women. The letter was given to head warriors named Chimhuchi and Topahatkee for delivery.

On the same day, Taitt reported back to Stuart:

…The Eufalla people say that they have done no wrong as the house they burnt was on their own land but this I shall talk to them about…I intended to come down the River to Tamatley and had prepared a Canoe for that purpose by permission of the Indians here, since they have raised many objections aledging that there is several dangerous whirlpools in the rivers and the people there are a set of runagadoes from every Town in the Nation…I shall send two head men from this Town to Tomatley for the two Slaves which are alive, although the Boy is sold to a Trader there, the Man and Girl they murdered at the place where they took them. [David Taitt to John Stuart, May 4, 1772]

The two emissaries made it to Tamathli without major incident and returned to the Lower Creek towns on May 22, 1772. They brought with them the slave woman captured on the Pascagoula, but the trader John Mealy - who operated a store at Ocheesee Bluff - had sent him to the populated areas of Georgia, apparently for sale. The white captive living at Tamathli did not wish to be freed. She was married to a warrior of the town and fled into the woods to avoid being taken back by the two messengers.

The Tamathli would improve their relations with the British over the years that followed. The two were close allies by 1778 when warriors from the town went to help fight against U.S. forces in Georgia during the American Revolution.

The town was east of Sneads on the higher ground back from the Apalachicola River just north of the now-abandoned Gulf Power plant.

Editor's note: You can learn more about the colonial-era history of Jackson County in Dale Cox's book The History Of Jackson County, Florida: The Early Years.

Sunday, May 6, 2018

Economic chaos strikes Jackson County. What should we do?

Dale Cox is a retired business leader and journalist
who lives in the "suburbs" of Two Egg, Florida. He has
received national awards for literature and investigative
journalism and has managed multi-million dollar
media outlets and news operations in locations
across the United States.

The following is an open letter to the people and leaders of our community.

Jackson County residents are awakening to a financial crisis that is striking our community from the top to bottom.

The move to close Fire Rescue stations on some days due to insufficient staffing numbers brought the situation home to many, but the county's budget situation is neither sudden nor unexpected. In fact, it has been building for years and numerous local citizens and business people have raised concerns about it only to be promised callbacks that never came or reassurances that the matter was being studied.

In one case a local businessman was even told by an intermediary that he should get behind a specific county commissioner politically if he wanted to be heard.

So what happened? Where did the money go? What can we do about it?

Here are some answers that you have not read in the Jackson County Floridan or Jackson County Times. In their defense, the former often blames lack of staffing for its inability to cover key stories in the community while the latter sometimes says that it only covers "good news."

What is the problem?

The answer, in short, is that we are in the depths of an economic recession that goes far beyond what the rest of the nation suffered in 2008-2009.

Full-time employment in the county is down dramatically since around 2006 due to NAFTA which was a factor in the closings of the local Russell Corporation plants and facilities as well as other industrial operations; the closure of Dozier School for Boys due to the controversy and publicity that surrounded the facility; the loss or downsizing of businesses that supplied these facilities and, last but not least, a dramatic decline in the number of locally owned small businesses.

The net result of the above is that we have lost thousands of full-time jobs with benefits while at the same time local public assistance rolls have skyrocketed.

Financially, many more people in our community are hurting than our leaders seem to realize.

Consider these two statistics:

Median income in Jackson County has declined from $36,442 in 2009 to $35,470 in 2016. This is a drop of $972 over seven years. As economic development experts will tell you, that is a shocking decline.
The number of businesses in Jackson County has dropped from 863 in 2007 before the national recession began to 768 in 2017. In other words, we have lost 10% of our business community since 2007.

As Jackson County is learning the hard way, unemployment numbers do not always tell the true story of what is happening to a community's economy. Unemployment numbers, for example, do not count people who have been unemployed for so long that they no longer receive unemployment compensation. Nor do they count the people once employed here who have been forced to move away in search of work.

Young people are leaving for better opportunities in other places.

You often hear people say that their son or daughter, niece or nephew had to leave Jackson County to find a good job. This is more true today than ever.

Here are the facts:

Jackson County has 1,906 fewer people in the primary working age demographic (18-65) than it did just 8 years ago.
Local officials often blame this on population aging - or as one county leader actually put it - "old people dying off." Census data, however, suggests that this is not the case. The county's population of residents over the age of 65 - many of whom still work to make ends meet - has indeed grown by 1,253 people since 2010. Unfortunately, we have lost 2,715 people in the 18-65 and 17 and under age groups.
Jackson County has lost 617 households since 2009. If you think you are seeing more "for sale" signs along our roads and streets, you are.
The drain in our labor force is a very real problem when it comes to attracting new industry to the community. If we can't demonstrate that we have a strong, prepared labor force, we can't attract industry. No factory wants to open somewhere only to find that it can't hire enough people to run its lines.

Sales Tax collections are down.

The loss of 95 businesses, the decline in population and the loss of full-time jobs are all impacting the retail business in Jackson County. Here are the facts:

Sales tax collections in the main category are down dramatically over the first 8 months of 2017-2018 when compared to the same line item for the same months in the year before the recession (2006-2007).
The drop is bigger than you might think. This year, collections in this category are down by $244,823 from their level in the first 8 months of 2006-2007.

Money that one decade ago was helping to fund local government is simply no longer there in the amount that it was back then.

Gasoline Tax collections are down.

Gasoline taxes fund road work and improvements in Jackson County. These monies too, however, are on the decline.

Using 1-cent local option gas tax collections to measure this decline, the amount brought in during the first 7 months of the 2017-2018 fiscal year is down by $8,394 since 2006/2007.
The real number has dropped from $391,034 during the first 7 months of 2006/2007 to $382,640 during the first 7 months of this fiscal year.
All other gas tax collections that benefit the county are also down.

As families cut back on expenses or leave the area, their need to buy gasoline here decreases. When fuel purchases go down, money coming into county coffers also goes down.

Tourism is way down.

Jackson County had a small but thriving tourism industry in 2006/2007. It has dropped by around 10% since that time.

Tourism tax (i.e. "bed tax") collections in Jackson County were $124,158 for the first four months of 2017-2018 (the most recent numbers available). This is a drop of $12,032 in actual dollars from 2006-2007 when collections totaled $136,190.
Just as sales tax collections reflect retail sales in a community, tourism tax collections reflect hotel and campground stays. Fewer people are staying here overnight than were doing so one decade ago.
Attendance at Blue Springs is down dramatically since the county commission doubled entrance fees. Numbers for the 2017 summer season show a decline of nearly 15,000 visitors since 2014, when fees were increased. Money collected at the gate is down since that year. Concession sales are down since that year. Boat rental fees are down. Pavilion rental fees are down. Total revenue from the park is down by around $18,000 from 3 years ago. If that trend continues this summer, the park will make less money than it did before fees were doubled while serving nearly 20,000 fewer local residents and visitors.

It should be mentioned that efforts designed to help attract more visitors to Jackson County have often been blunted or ignored by county administration. Consider the following:

The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity funded and approved the results of a $20,000 study on ways to improve tourism traffic along U.S. 90 in Jackson County. The plan was prepared by this writer and approved not only by the state, but also by the Tourist Development Council and the Board of County Commissioners. Since that time, several years ago, nothing has been done implement any of the recommendations. One county official even informed a group in Sneads last year that he "hadn't had time to read it" and wasn't sure what he had done with his copy.
Local citizens raised and gave to the county more than $5,000 in funding for boardwalks on the Bellamy Bridge trail, an amount matched by the Tourist Development Council. County officials gave assurances that the money was sufficient for the purpose. Despite annual promises to build the footbridges - which will allow access to the popular tourism attraction during most times of high water - they still have not been built. The county now says that it has spent the money donated for the purpose and despite repeated requests has failed to answer specific questions about unauthorized expenditures from the fund.
Requests that the Tourist Development Council lead a group to organize an annual reenactment of the Battle of Marianna were rejected. A reenactment of the battle staged for its 150th anniversary in 2014 attracted thousands of people.
One of the landings on the Merritt's Mill Pond canoe trail has been closed by property owners and has not been replaced.
The Upper Chipola River paddling trail, approved by the state after the county promised to maintain it, is barely maintained.
The county's decade old effort to create an approved plan for development of tourism resources along Lake Seminole from Neals Landing on Highway 2 to Sneads is still not complete.
The fall in tourism tax revenue is also reflected by the decline of gas tax collections. With our population and median income falling, our failure to return to pre-recession/pre-Dozier controversy levels of tourism has is hurting us in areas far beyond hotel stays.

"Other places have the same problems."

This is a common excuse heard in Jackson County, but is it true? Consider these facts:

Holmes County to our west and Gadsden County to our east have increased their sales tax revenues during the same time that Jackson County has seen its revenues fall. In fact, those two counties along have increased sales tax collections by $879,000 during the period described above while Jackson County has suffered a decline of $244,000.
Washington County and Holmes County, on US 90 and I-10 west of Jackson County, have increased their 1-cent local option gas tax collections while Jackson County has experienced a drop. Washington County's collections are up by $8,540 and Holmes County's by $2,076 while Jackson is down by more than $8,000.
Tourism is increasing in Washington and Holmes Counties to our west and Gadsden County to our east, while falling in Jackson County. Washington County has increased its tourism tax collections over the period described above by $4,896. Holmes County is up by a remarkable $14,794. Gadsden County is up by $25,104. This reflects an increase of more than $40,000 in tourism tax collections by adjoining rural counties while Jackson County's dropped by more than $12,000.

What is the answer?

This is the question that many of us have been pondering for years. I have discussed the very same trends outlined above with county administrators, county commissioners, tourism leaders, other business people and at the Chamber of Commerce's Leadership Jackson County class for years. Others have done the same. Our inability to get anyone to pay attention has been so frustrating that I have sometimes wanted to bang my head on my desk.

The recent news about Jackson County Fire Rescue was just such a moment. Those who pay attention to such things have known for years that this problem was coming. The problem of our trained employees leaving for other places so they can better support their families is not new, and yet years have passed with no major effort to provide better pay so they can stay here.

Nothing written here should be taken as a criticism of any person or group of people. My goal is to put the facts and my thoughts on them out there for my friends and neighbors to consider. I am an eternal optimist and I believe that we can reverse these alarming trends - and should have already reversed them - but time is growing short. I am not running for public office and have no plans to do so. I hope that this will be seen as what it is, an open letter to the people and leaders of Jackson County with thoughts and ideas from someone who just wants to help.

Here are some recommendations that I have after studying the numbers. Your ideas may be better than mine. It is time for us to start thinking and listening and - above all else - taking action.

Clerk of Courts Clayton O. Rooks should lead a full audit of county funding to tell us how much is coming in and where it is going. This would help our leaders see places from which money can be moved or cut to assure that our most important county services - Fire Rescue, Law Enforcement, etc. - are not only funded but improved. Reducing these services is not an option. This would also help us identify any financial improprieties.
County commissioners should consider an immediate moratorium on non-essential travel outside Jackson County by their employees. This money is needed to keep Fire Rescue running.
Work with Chipola College, Baptist College of Florida, Troy University, FSU, FAMU, UF and other institutions to provide real training so county employees can improve themselves. We can always get better and improving the skills of the people who work for us is a good way to help them get better and more efficient at their jobs.
Do not, under any circumstance, increase another tax or fee until our economic situation is turned around. Real people are suffering here. Median income is down. Our working age people are fleeing and taking their children with them. Use the money that we have to make things better. It can be done. Private businesses do it all day, everyday.
Don't assume that every thought, criticism or idea is political. Most people here just want to see things get better.
Work together. The county should work together with Sneads, Marianna, Graceville and other municipalities to find areas of agreement that all can support (and vice versa). Communities in specific parts of the county should work together. Malone, Campbellton and Graceville, for example, have Highway 2 in common. Perhaps they could work together to improve that corridor of the county? The same is true for the Historic Highway 90 Corridor that passes through Sneads, Grand Ridge, Marianna and Cottondale and the US 231 corridor that connects Campbellton, Jacob City, Cottondale, Alford and the Compass Lake area.
Clean up! Make our interstate exits the cleanest and prettiest in Florida. You never know who is going to come off that highway to look around while out scouting locations for a new business or industry.
Lower the entrance fees at Blue Springs back to $2 per person so local families - especially those with reduced incomes as a result of this situation - can afford to go.
Work to make it easy to do business in Jackson County. Reduce fees for startups.
Find a way to fix our awful cell and internet service. Let's face the fact: If we want to have a 21st century economy, we have to provide the infrastructure to attract 21st century businesses. Large swaths of Jackson County have no cell phone service and substandard (or no) internet service. Hold the feet of our existing providers to the fire and seek out other companies willing to solve the problem at THEIR expense in exchange for a chance to make money here.
Invest in our young people. Seek out high school students here in Jackson County who want to major in business, tourism, engineering, law enforcement, fire rescue services, parks and recreation and more. Invest in them by helping with their college expenses in exchange for a commitment that they will return and work here for a set length of time. Provide them with internships and mentoring. If we can afford to help only one, that is one more than we can count on now.
Listen to local business owners. They can tell you their stumbling blocks to growing and hiring more people.
Seek out success stories in other places, not to duplicate but to learn how they created success. We have our own special place and want to keep it that way. We can always learn from others, though, about how they made their communities better places.
County and city administrators and elected officials should return calls and answer emails from constituents.
Finish projects that are on the drawing board. Get the Historic Highway 90 Corridor plan going. Washington and Holmes Counties are already ahead of us. We want to be a part of the success that they are already realizing.
Dream. Look for ways to do something good instead of searching out stumbling blocks.
Stop blaming others. Let's work together. We know that we need to. It means that some of our ideas will be pursued and some won't. That's fine. Movement is better than no movement.
Take advantage of our human resources. We have many people in Jackson County who have achieved remarkable things in their lives. Listen to the advice and suggestions that they can offer.
Improve our own corners. In other words, make our own neighborhoods better through elbow grease and cooperation. Not everything takes money to do. If we all improve our own neighborhoods, the whole county will improve.
Get involved. This is a message to citizens especially. Attend meetings. Offer advice. Run for office. I admire anyone willing to put their name out there. I appreciate the service of all of our current elected officials, just as I appreciated the service of those who served before them and will appreciate the service of our next round of leaders. It is the American way.
Care. We all have to care for each other and our communities. Churches, we need you now more than ever. Community organizations, we need you too. Individuals, you as well. Do everything you can to make things better.

I hope that at least someone out there will take the time to read through this long editorial and that it benefits you. When one of us succeeds, we all succeed.

This was written as a "stream of thought" so please excuse me if I made any errors or typos.

Thank you.

Dale Cox

May 6, 2018

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Ocheesee Pond Wild Man: A 19th Century Bigfoot capture in Florida?

Was a bigfoot captured in Florida in the 1880s? Check out the video above to find out!

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

#57 Buena Vista Landing (100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida)

Buena Vista Landing from the water.

Buena Vista Landing, a small but extraordinarily beautiful park on Lake Seminole, is #57 on my list of 100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida.

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

If you are not familiar with Buena Vista, it is located off River Road (Highway 271) exactly 14 miles north of U.S. 90 at Sneads. The park was developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as part of its Lake Seminole project during the late 1950s. It is now managed by the Jackson County Parks Department.

Buena Vista is a paradise for birders.

The park occupies a low ridge that overlooks an arm of Lake Seminole. There has always been water here, but before the completion of the Jim Woodruff Dam in 1958 the stream was known as Sugar Mill Creek. It is now much wider and flows at a slower pace than it did prior to the completion of the dam and creation of the lake.

The elevated ground along the spring-fed stream has attracted human beings for thousands of years. It offered a good place to live above the normal flood levels of the Chattahoochee River with great access to food sources. The creek was rich in fish, shellfish, turtles, alligators and other foods while the surrounding woods and swamps offered bear, deer, possum, rabbits and other game animals. Nuts were plentiful, as were edible plants, roots, fruit and more.

Channel leading from Buena Vista to Chattahoochee River

By around the time of Christ a prehistoric American Indian village began to develop at what is now Buena Vista Landing. The people that lived here were subjects of the Kolomoki chiefdom, a far-flung prehistoric nation centered on a capital city at today's Kolomoki Mounds State Park near Blakely, Georgia.

The Kolomoki chiefdom was part of a culture known today as Weeden Island (also spelled Weedon). Thought by some archaeologists to have been the most powerful chiefdom or nation in the Americas from around AD 400 to AD 900, the Kolomoki people developed advanced knowledge of astronomy, engineering and art. They were exceptional makers of high-quality pottery and tools.

The village stood on the high ground at the top of the ramp.

The village at Buena Vista was a fair-sized Kolomoki town. Long-time residents of the area remember that bulldozers and graders uncovered vast piles of shells as they built the parking area. These shell mounds or middens were created by the people of the village as they enjoyed thousands of meals of shellfish from Sugar Mill Creek.

Archaeologists investigated the site in 1948 and again in 1979. They found broken sherds of prehistoric pottery that helped them to date the village to the Kolomoki era. They also found flint and quartz tools and arrowheads from that time period.

Chattahoochee River arm of Lake Seminole near Buena Vista

While most of the large and important prehistoric site is now covered with asphalt, the natural beauty of its setting can still be enjoyed. The park offers a boat ramp, dock and small picnic area and is a great place for fishing, picnicking, photography and birding. Many of the trees show beautiful colors in the fall and the parking lot area is known for its beautiful redbuds during the spring.

To reach Buena Vista Landing from U.S. 90 at Sneads, travel north for exactly 14 miles and turn right (east) on Buena Vista Road. The road dead-ends at the park.

One note: Like all such places on Federal lands, the remnants of the archaeological site at Buena Vista are protected by U.S. law.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

#73 Mission San Carlos (100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida)

View of Lake Seminole from the Mission San Carlos site

A long-forgotten Spanish mission that stood on a hilltop near Sneads is #73 on our list of 100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida.

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

The first attempt by Spanish missionaries to convert the Chacato Indians of Jackson County to Christianity ended in disaster. Less than one year after two missions and a part-time church were established west of the Chipola River, the Chacato rose up against the priests and drove them from the area in 1675.

Restored fort at Mission San Luis in Tallahassee

Spanish authorities responded by sending soldiers and Apalachee militia from Fort San Luis at present-day Tallahassee. The towns and fields of the Chacato were burned and the people forced to flee into the woods. Many eventually joined the Alabama/Coushatta (Coosada) towns of the Upper Creeks near Montgomery, Alabama.

The Chacato who had converted to the Catholic faith, however, remained behind and relocated from western Jackson County to the high hill overlooking the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers near present-day Sneads. Spanish documents first refer to their presence at this site in 1680.

Jim Woodruff Dam from Mission San Carlos site

Because the group of Christian Indians came primarily from the destroyed village at Mission San Carlos (in Washington County), they named their new village San Carlos as well. The chiefs appealed to the Spanish for a new friar to lead them and in 1680 the name of Mission San Carlos appeared in official documents.

For the next 16 years, Mission San Carlos or Senor San Carlos de Chacatos was the most outlying Spanish settlement and Royal outpost in Florida. This gave it critical importance as the launching point for numerous exploration and diplomatic parties that entered western Florida and Alabama during the years 1680-1696. Among these was the 1686 diplomatic mission to the Upper Creeks led by Marcos Delgado and the 1693 crossing of the Florida Panhandle by the exploration party of Governor Don Laureano de Torres y Ayala.

Restored Spanish church at Mission San Luis in Tallahassee

Life at Mission San Carlos for the American Indians who lived there consisted of farming, fishing and hunting, as well as Catholic Mass in the chapel. The mission likely had a smaller version of the restored church that can be seen today at Mission San Luis in Tallahassee. The priest lived next door in a convento or residence.

The arrival of the English in South Carolina, however, spelled the doom of Mission San Carlos and its peaceful inhabitants. The English wanted slaves to do heavy labor in the development of their American colonies and arranged to purchase captives taken by the Creek Indians for that purpose. With slave trading now a profitable enterprise, the Creeks set out on a series of raids against the mission settlements in Florida, rounding up men, women and children to be taken to Carolina and sold into slavery.

The church at Mission San Carlos was smaller but
probably constructed in a similar manner to this one
at Mission San Luis in Tallahassee.

It is a little known fact that the first large group of slaves in the American colonies were peaceful Christian Indians from Florida. Between 1693 and 1706, the Creek slave raids wiped out the Timucua, Apalachee, Chacato and other tribes that had lived in Florida for hundreds of years. The captives wound up living in slavery as far north as New England.

The Creeks first attacked Mission San Carlos in 1693. The church and homes were looted and captives taken. The raid did not destroy the settlement, but severely damaged it. The mission's days, however, were numbered.

Spanish friars served at Mission San Carlos in 1680-1696.

Creek warriors returned to Mission San Carlos three years later in 1696. They destroyed the Chacato village, desecrated the church, looted the settlement and made off with a large number of captives to be sold as slaves to the English. The remaining inhabitants scattered into the woods and swamps.

Mission San Carlos was never rebuilt after this 1696 raid. A village named San Carlos was established near modern Tallahassee a short time later and populated by Chacato refugees from the Jackson County settlement. That community, in turn, was destroyed by raiders in 1702-1704. Some of the surviving Chacato fled to St. Augustine. Others made their way west to Mobile Bay where they soon settled near the French, who also practiced their Catholic faith. Their descendants live in Louisiana and Texas today.

Jackson County Spanish Heritage Trail
(Click to Enlarge)

A major historic site, Mission San Carlos is now Stop #3 on the Jackson County Spanish Heritage Trail. A new 150-mile driving tour of important Spanish colonial sites in the county, the trail begins and ends at the historic Russ House & Visitor Center on West Lafayette Street in Marianna. Free guidebooks are available there.

An interpretive kiosk for the mission site has been purchased by the Jackson County Tourist Development Council and was erected this morning (6/4/2014) by the Jackson County Parks Department with assistance from the Town of Sneads and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Learn more about the Jackson County Spanish Heritage Trail by visiting http://visitjacksoncountyfla.com/heritage/spanish-heritage-trail/

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

#75 The Headless Indian Chief of Sneads (100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida)

Looking across to Jackson County on a foggy day.

The bizarre and tragic legend of the Headless Indian Chief of Sneads is #75 on our list of 100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida.

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

There is an old legend told by people who fish in the Apalachicola River between Sneads and the neighboring Gadsden County city of Chattahoochee. When conditions are just right and fog rises from the river to fill the vast swamp on the Jackson County side, the ghostly figure of a headless American Indian chief appears on the riverbank. He stands there in silence, as if in mourning over the disappearance of his people.

I first heard this ghost story when I was a child but never knew until about 10 years ago that there is a stunning true story behind it.

American Indian village of the 1830s.

The roots of the legend can be traced to the Creek War of 1836. In the spring of that year a portion of the Creek Nation rose up against white settlers in Alabama and Georgia in a final desperate attempt to halt plans to remove the entire nation to new lands west of the Mississippi. The odds against the warriors were overwhelming and they fought even knowing that they stood no real chance.

The war quickly went against them as U.S. troops and state militia forces from Alabama and Georgia moved in on the Creeks from all directions. As the fighting came to an end, soldiers forced the Creek men, women and children from their homes and into "emigration" camps to be forcefully removed from their homes and sent west on the Trail of Tears. Some warriors were arrested and tried for taking part in the war. Among them were three of my Yuchi Creek ancestors who were hanged at what is now Phenix City, Alabama.

Among the Creek chiefs at this time was a respected man named Coa-hadjo (not to be confused with the Seminole leader of the same name). As his people were disarmed and forced into an emigration camp, they were set upon by an outlaw group of militia soldiers who assaulted women, robbed people of jewelry and other valuables and generally terrorized the people of Coa-hadjo's band. Infuriated, he led his people out of the camp during the night and into the swamps of the upper Pea River.

They were driven from there south into what is now Walton County, Florida, where they engaged in a series of fights with white settlers and Florida militia troops. They eventually wound up making their way east through what is now Bay County. Desperate to prevent them from carrying out additional attacks, the interpreter Stephen Richards left Ocheesee Bluff and sought them out. Through his intervention they were convinced to surrender.

Seminole town in Jackson County, 1838

Richards brought them into Jackson County to Walker's Town, a village of Apalachicola Seminoles that stood just south of U.S. 90 on the high ground back from the Apalachicola River near today's Sneads. John Walker, the chief of the town, agreed to let them live among his people until the government provided transportation for them to all move west together.

Coa-hadjo, however, was stabbed to death by one of Walker's warriors. The people of the town prevented a war between the two bands by executing the murderer. When the people of Walker's town began their long journey west on the Trail of Tears, the graves of their ancestors and friends were left behind. One of these was that of Coa-hadjo.

One year later, Dr. Joseph Buchanan of Cincinnati, Ohio, wrote a letter from Pensacola in which he noted that he had obtained the skulls of Coa-hadjo and his murderer, a warrior named Lewis, as well as that of the long dead chief Mulatto King. Whether he dug them up himself or paid someone to steal them for him is not known. The bodies of the three men were left behind as Buchanan was interested only in their heads.

Jackson County shore as seen from Chattahoochee Landing

Buchanan was a phrenologist. This now extinct term referred to a scientist who believed he could determine the intelligence and personality of a person by examining the shape of their head. It was quack science and the exhumation of the graves of Coa-hadjo, Lewis and Mulatto King was a sacrilege.

The heads of the three American Indians were added to Buchanan's vast collection and what became of them is not known to this day. It was from this incident, however, that the legend of the Headless Indian Chief appears to have grown.

Does one of the three men appear on the banks of the Apalachicola in ghostly form to mourn the disappearance of his people on the Trail of Tears? I can't answer that question. I can say that each time I visit Chattahoochee Landing across the river on a foggy or rainy day, I always feel a bit of a chill run down my spine as I look across to the Jackson County shore and wonder if the headless chief will appear.

While the story is based on tragic events, the legend is an important part of the American Indian culture of our area and for that reason it is one of the 100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida.

The story of the Headless Indian Chief of Sneads is one of the ten additional stories included in my book, The Ghost of Bellamy Bridge. It is available from Amazon in either book or Kindle format:

(Book) The Ghost of Bellamy Bridge: 10 Ghosts & Monsters from Jackson County, Florida

(Kindle) The Ghost of Bellamy Bridge

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Mission San Carlos - One of the Oldest Settlements in Jackson County

West Bank Overlook near Sneads

Noted for its beautiful views of Lake Seminole, the West Bank Overlook near Sneads also holds the distinction of being one of the most significant historic sites in Jackson County. It was here during the 1680s and 1690s that the Spanish maintained the mission of San Carlos de Chacatos.

A mission was a religious center where Franciscan friars worked to convert Native Americans - in this case Chacato Indians - to Christianity.

View of Jim Woodruff Dam from the Overlook

Mission San Carlos was established in around 1680 to serve a group of Christian Chacatos that had relocated to the hilltop near Sneads from their original homes west of the Chipola River in Jackson and Washington County. A 1675 rebellion involving part of the tribe had destroyed the original Mission San Carlos, thought to have been located near Falling Waters State Park in Washington County. A sister mission, San Nicolas, was destroyed in what is now Jackson County at the same time.

Both of these original missions had been dedicated in 1674, but lasted for less than one year. Spanish soldiers and allied Apalachee warriors retaliated against the Chatot by invading their territory and destroying their towns and fields.

Lake Seminole

Not all of the Chacato had been involved in the rebellion, however, as several hundred members of the tribe had accepted Christianity through the teachings of the Franciscans. Opting to remain close to the Spanish, they relocated to the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers (today's Lake Seminole), where they built a new town on the high ground where the West Bank Overlook can be seen today. The site was then directly across the Chattahoochee River from Mission Santa Cruz de Sabacola, which stood in what is now Seminole County, Georgia.

In around 1680 the Franciscans responded to the calls of the Chacato and established a new Mission San Carlos at the site near Sneads. It would remain for the entire time of its existence the westernmost establishment on the Florida mission chain and the most outlying post of the King of Spain in the Florida colony.

Part of the Mission San Carlos Site

This status gave Mission San Carlos a unique place in history. In 1686, for example, Marcos Delgado left the mission on a noted overland expedition to establish an alliance with the Upper Creeks of Alabama. Seven years later in 1693, Governor Don Laureano de Torres y Ayala rested briefly at San Carlos while making the first known overland crossing of the Florida Panhandle by Europeans. Both expeditions also stopped at another well-known Jackson County landmark, Blue Springs.

Another view of the Mission Site

Mission San Carlos, tragically, did not survive the decade of the 1690s. Attacked by war parties of Creek Indians from Alabama and Georgia, the mission was destroyed. Many of its people were slaughtered and others carried away into slavery to be sold to the English in South Carolina. The church was desecrated and its religious objects either destroyed or carried away as booty.

The site of the mission was rediscovered in 1948 by Florida archaeologist Ripley P. Bullen. Working on the hilltop at the west end of the then under construction Jim Woodruff Dam, Bullen found pieces of Spanish ceramics and other artificacts indicating the presence of the mission site. The West Bank Overlook now crowns the hill where Bullen conducted his work.

There are no interpretive markers at the site noting it as the location of the long forgotten mission, but perhaps the future will bring about an effort to place one there. To learn more about Mission San Carlos and other Spanish sites in Jackson County, please consider my book: The History Of Jackson County, Florida: The Early Years.

It is also available for Amazon Kindle by clicking here: The History of Jackson County, Florida: The Early Years

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Three Rivers State Park once again targeted for Closure!

Three Rivers State Park

For the second time in three years, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has proposed closing Jackson County's Three Rivers State Park. The move would save the state $200,000 but cost the economy of the Sneads area more than $1,000,000.

To save $6.5 million out of its $1.4 BILLION budget, DEP is recommending the closure of ONE-THIRD of Florida's State Parks and Historic Sites. These include both the Olustee and Natural Bridge Battlefields, the only preserved Civil War battlefields in Florida; the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Home, where the famed author wrote The Yearling; San Marcos de Apalache Historic State Park, which preserves the ruins of a 300 year old Spanish fort; three parks that preserve ancient Indian mounds; the site of America's oldest free African American settlement; the site of the Dade Massacre which ignited the Second Seminole War, historic homes, museums and more.

Among three parks that DEP recommends closing permanently and returning to their landowners is Three Rivers State Park. Located on State Road 271 (River Road) on the northern edge of Sneads, the beautiful park covers hundreds of acres of waterfront land on the shores of Lake Seminole and features fishing, camping, hiking trails, picnic areas, boat ramps and a beautiful natural setting. It is on the Great Florida Birding Trail and is the scene of a very nice annual Christmas Lighting Display.

Three Rivers operates at a cost of only around $200,000 a year, but according to DEP's own studies, generates more than $1,000,000 for the local economy. Such an economic loss could be devastating for Sneads and eastern Jackson County, especially with the nation in the midst of a recession. Please click here to read more about the park.

The proposal is currently before the Florida House of Representative's Agriculture & Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee, which is scheduled to meet again on February 9th. To voice your opinion to the subcommittee members, please visit this link and simply click on their individual names: http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/sections/committees/committeesdetail.aspx?SessionId=66&CommitteeId=2597

Friday, November 26, 2010

The Ice Man Cometh - Dr. Gorrie in Jackson County

Replica of Gorrie's Machine

It is a virtually unknown fact today that Dr. John Gorrie, the Floridian honored in the U.S. Capitol as the inventor of artificial refrigeration, once lived in Jackson County.

Although Gorrie is primarily associated with Apalachicola, where he lived and worked during the 1840s and 1850s, he settled first at the Pope settlement in eastern Jackson County when he made his way south from South Carolina in around 1833. The site of his home was atop what is still known as Gorrie Hill, an elevation adjoining the southern border of Three Rivers State Park just north of Sneads.

Like many of his day, Dr. Gorrie came south in hopes of making a life for himself in the rapidly growing Territory of Florida. Pope's Store, a settlement that would later become Sneads, was then an important trading post and village on the heights overlooking the confluence of the Flint and Chattahoochee Rivers (the actual site of Pope's Store is now under Lake Seminole). Having covered the long distance down from South Carolina, Gorrie decided to settle there to ply his profession as a medical doctor to see if he could establish himself in Florida.

It was during this same time, however, that the port city of Apalachicola was entering its boom phase. Gorrie remained at Pope's for only one year before moving on South to Apalachicola, where he would eventually invent a machine that not only could refrigerate or "air condition" a room, but could also make large quantities of ice.

His ties to Jackson County would remain strong, however, as he married a young woman from the Myrick family. Both his wife and son relocated to Marianna after the doctor's death in 1855 and their graves may be seen at St. Luke's Episcopal Church cemetery in Marianna.

You can learn more about his life at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/gorriemuseum.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Three Rivers appears likely to remain a state park!

Outstanding news today from Tallahassee. Governor Charlie Crist has recommended that all Florida State Parks, including Three Rivers State Park in Jackson County, remain open!

There had been a proposal from the Department of Environmental Protection to close a number of Florida's state parks as a cost saving measure, despite the fact that the state's budget has more than doubled in just the last ten years alone. Three Rivers was one of two parks that the state was considering closing permanently and turning over to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps had indicated that it did not have money to operate the facility and would likely lock the gates.

But in his new budget, Governor Crist has recommended keeping all of the state parks open. This will likely save Three Rivers for enjoyment by present and future generations of Floridians. A spokesperson for the governor indicated that the public support for keeping the parks open did play a role in the decision.

Three Rivers is located on River Road just north of Sneads and, for a cost of less than $200,000, pumps more than $1,000,000 into the local economy each year and also offers outstanding recreational opportunities along the shores of Lake Seminole.

To learn more about the park, visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/threerivers.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Evidence of Prehistoric Brain Surgery in Jackson County

Sneads - The Mississippians were the ancestors of most of the Native American nations we recognize today. The Muscogee (Creek), Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw and Seminole people can all trace their history to the Mississippian culture. Some older groups such as the Yuchi and Hitchiti are believed to have descended from earlier people already living in the region when the Mississippians arrived.

From A.D. 900 until A.D. 1540, the Mississippians were the absolute masters of the Southeast. In Jackson County, the largest known early Mississippian settlement was the Curlee Site near Sneads. This site was occupied by around A.D. 1000 and consisted of a large village and mound on the banks of the Apalachicola River near where the U.S. 90 Bridge crosses between Chattahoochee and Sneads. Paired with a large seven mound ceremonial center across the river at Chattahoochee Landing, where the remains of a large platform mound can still be seen, the Curlee village was an important center supported by vast fields and a trading network that made use of the Chattahoochee, Flint and Apalachicola Rivers.

Although the mound has now been washed away by the river, the Curlee Site is one of the best researched Native American sites in Jackson County. Prior to the destruction of the site by erosion, archaeologists conducted numerous seasons of fieldwork at the site and learned a great deal about the lives of its inhabitants. They ground grain and baked bread, grew squash, melons and other crops, made both ceremonial and utility pottery, used tiny triangular points to tip their arrows and made tools from stone, wood and bone. They even made bone fishhooks for use in harvesting food from the Apalachicola River.

One of the most stunning aspects of the Curlee inhabitants, however, is that they seem to have developed the capability to perform brain surgery. A skull from the site and now in the possession of a private collector in Chattahoochee had a rectangular hole that had apparently been cut using stone tools. Most surprising, however, is the fact that the bone surrounding the hole had begun to refuse or grow back, confirming to anthropologists that the unfortunate individual had survived his primitive surgery.

Although scientists have speculated as to why inhabitants of Curlee would conduct brain surgery on a resident of their village, the best they can do is guess. Some have suggested that the individual may have suffered from migraine headaches or somehow been injured, but we may never know for sure.

At some point around 1250-1350 A.D., Curlee and other Mississippian sites along the Chattahoochee and Apalachicola Rivers in Jackson County were suddenly abandoned. No one is quite sure why, although it possibly had to do with the arrival of a new, militaristic group in western Jackson County – the Chacato.

Note: This article is excerpted from Volume One of my new book, The History of Jackson County, Florida. The book is available locally at Chipola River Book and Tea in Downtown Marianna and can also be purchased at http://www.amazon.com/.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Lake Seminole History, Part Eleven

Continuing our look at historic sites around Lake Seminole, we have more today on Camp Recovery.

This site is located in Decatur County, Georgia, about thirty minutes or so from Sneads. To reach the site, just go across the river to Chattahoochee and turn left at the light as you arrive in town. Follow Booster Club Road up into the Lake Seminole area and then veer right instead of going straight into the Booster Club Park area (if you are familiar with the lake, you will recognize this as the road to Wingate's Landing). The camp site is a few miles ahead on the right.

A historic marker and memorial archway stand by the entrance on the highway. From there it is a short walk up the lane to the cemetery site, which is accessed by a small gatehouse. The monument erected by the U.S. Government during the 1880s can be seen there.