Preserving Florida’s Past: Part II

by Adele Woodyard 

Preserving the state’s history and/or ecology has been an underlying aim for the Florida state parks since the first ones were built for recreation in the 1930s. Here are three of them, near or on the Apalachicola  River, that I visited during my recent Panhandle trip.

Torreya State Park lies on the eastern edge of the river about midway between I-10 to the north and Bristol, on S.R. 20 to the south. As such it’s an easy drive to or from the Panhandle Pioneer Settlement I wrote about last week. One of the first of the eight parks built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) it was named after the  Torreya tree (Taxifolia), a species of conifer also known as Stinking Yew. Decimated by an unknown fungus, this rare and endangered tree can be found in the high bluffs and deep ravines along the river, and in southernmost Georgia. 

Being a history buff, I was more interested in the Gregory House, a plantation home that sits atop a bluff and overloooks  the Apalachicola River 150 feet below. Originally built about 1849 at Ocheesee Landing, by planter Jason Gregory, it was moved across the river by the CCC in 1935.  Ranger Dan Cole tells us how they dismantled the house and carried it piece by piece, up the steep hill only to be stored on the property for the next two years.

Apalachicola River 150' below

During a tour of the house, he points out one of the four bedrooms that was rented to an eye doctor or river captains, a common practice in those days. Cole tells us why one object is called a “courting” candle (the “date” is over when it burns down to a certain point); that a sewing machine on display was one of the first Singer built; and that the handsome young  Gregory. was only an inch over 5 feet tall.

Cole’s most intriguing tale featured daughter Chaffa. With no slaves left to care for the property after the Civil War, the family moved out. Chaffa, an unmarried teacher,  returned to the homestead at age 50, and eventually wed a childhood sweetheart whose wife had died. Two years later he was beaten to death on the front porch, by the son of a former slave. Ranger-guided tours 10 a.m. weekdays, 10 a.m., 2 and 4 p.m. weekends. 850-643-2674; www.floridastateparks.org/torreya

 The next two are in Apalachicola, on U.S. Hwy 98. The town was named one of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Dozen Distinctive Destinations, in 2008. Over half the buildings listed on the Historic Walking Tour pamphlet date back to the 1800s, when the town was the third-largest cotton port on the Gulf Coast. Today the cotton and sponge warehouses hold shops, art galleries and restaurants serving seafood fresh from the ships that line the waterfront.

 The Orman House was built in 1838 by Thomas Orman , a cotton merchant  who was instrumental in helping the tiny town grow in importance during the mid-19^th century. Used for both business and social gatherings, the antebellum house was built in sections at the very beginning. The wood was pre-cut in Syracuse, New York and shipped to Apalachicola by sailing vessel. Like the Gregory House it was

Orman House

assembled on a bluff overlooking the Apalachicola River. It became one of the state park’s more recent acquisitions in 1999.   .   Open  9 -12 a.m., 1- 5 p.m., Thurs.-Mon.  Closed major holidays.one

Also on site, the adjoining Chapman Botanical Garden, honors a prominent southern botanist, physician and Apalachicola resident in the 1800s. Dr.Alvan Chapman and his wife, are buried in the Chestnut Street Cemetery, established in 1831. Construction had me miss the garden, but the elaborately carved marble headstones in the cemetery made for an interesting stop in itself. Open 8 a.m.-sunset daily.     850-653-1209. www.floridastateparks.org/ormanhouse   

 John Gorrie Museum State Park honors a little-known physician whose invention gave Florida—in fact, the world—a way to beat the heat. Shortly after moving to Apalachicola in 1833, he donned a number of hats, serving as mayor, postmaster, city treasurer, bank director, council member and founder of Trinity Church. But it was as a doctor that Gorrie gave his most important, and least recognized, contribution to humanity. After developing a Rube-Goldberg device to cool the rooms of yellow fever patients, Gorrie invented an ice-producing machine. Although he received the first U.S.  patent for mechanical refrigeration in 1851, he was unable to market his invention before he died four years later. A replica of his ice machine is on display, as well as exhibits depicting Apalachicola history Open 9-12 a.m., 1-5 p.m. Thurs-Mon. 850-653-9347. www.floridastateparks.org/gorriemuseum   

 Saving money? Download our eBook where 52 out of 100 places to go are FREE.  100 FLORIDA “freebies” and “cheapies” Vacation fun for $5 or less is available on www.vacationfunflorida.com.

Preserving Florida’s Past: Part I

by Adele Woodyard

 Two of my three sons who bemoan the inevitable passing of “Old Florida” should meet Willard Smith, of Blountstown, a small community on Fla. Hwy. 20. Unable to shake the realization that the way of life he’d grown up with was disappearing, he did something about it. With the help of many Calhoun County residents, Smith founded the Panhandle Pioneer Settlement, a living history museum, in July, 1989. Once county commissioners donated land in Sam B. Atkins Park, Smith and his group of volunteers went to work.

Oddly enough, the first donation to be moved in and rehabilitated, was not typical of the area. Instead of a log cabin, the Yon farm house © 1897 was the double-pen “dog trot” home of a family who’d prospered over the years even before Florida became a state in 1845.  It is said the original homestead included an exotic peacock amid the chickens, horses and other assorted livestock on their 100 plus acres. Over time, houses built in the 1800s of round or flat hewn logs, with chimneys made of sticks and mud, began to appear. Among them a two-room schoolhouse and “dairy” house, designed to keep milk drinkable, were further donations by the Yon family. An L-shaped log home and its all- important smoke house came from Henry Hamilton Wells descendants. Originally built in 1846 as a two-room house with separate kitchen, it expanded to its present shape by connecting the kitchen and enclosing the porches to accommodate a family that had 12 kids. It wasn’t easy living in those days. Even huddled together like a litter of pups, wouldn’t keep you warm.  The 1872 cabin (in photo) that came from the last surviving member of the Sexton family, had no sleeping loft, or ceiling to give relief from  winter wind that blew through cracks in the logs. Especially when temperatures dropped below zero (yes, that happened in Florida) during the “Big Freeze “ of 1899.  

 Today the grounds also include replicas of a grist mill, firehouse, and a blacksmith shop complete with brick forge, and filled with antique tools of the trade. The last was built by members of the Florida Artist Blacksmith Association, headed by Smith, who served as state president from 1985-1989. Donations in money and materials continue to add to the settlement’s growth. A halfway refurbished post office is waiting in the wings. While we were there, a Victorian wedding gown and “at least a hundred year old nightgown” with a hand-crocheted yoke trimmed with pink ribbon (in photo) came in from a family who’s 99 year old matriarch had just died.                                                               

“The nightgown looks brand new,” I remarked. “How did they get it so white?” When co-founder Linda Smith explained “In those days they boiled their clothes.” I thought maybe making your own soap and standing over a steaming tub had some advantage after all.  

Smith intended the settlement to portray rural life history between 1840 and the beginning of WWII, so some of the buildings were from the early 40s. For instance, the T-shaped Red Oak Methodist Church, is open to all denominations and available for such events as weddings. The  Frink Gymnasium built in 1942, and moved after the school closed, continues to be used for community gatherings, plays, games and musical performances. Guided tours begin  at the combined post office/general store. Among the annual events are Quilt Shows, Folk Life Days, old time Peanut Boils, Hog Butchering  and an Old Fashioned Christmas. That’s when you add something extra as you step back in time.

Open 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Tues, Thurs-Sat. . www.ppmuseum.org; 850-674-2777.           

Like living history? Join me on more of my Panhandle trip, in Preserving Florida’s Past, Part II, next week. 

Download 100 FLORIDA “freebies” and “cheapies” Vacation fun for $5 or less, for some other historic sites around the state. Available on www.vacationfunflorida.com.

Rosemary Beach

by Steve Morrill
Went to the Florida panhandle for this press trip. Rosemary Beach is a development just west of Panama City, on the coast (state road 30-A) and designed by architects and urban planners Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk. The first homes went up on 1997. Duany and Plater-Zyberk had done Seaside—just down the road a few miles—some fifteen years earlier and Rosemary Beach follows in that tradition of New Urbanism, with close-set homes and everything within walking/bicycling distance of everything else.

There are differences: Rosemary Beach is more upscale (most people would consider Seaside pretty upscale but Rosemary Beach gets into serious money). Homes for sale today range from $898,000 to $6 million-plus. One buyer recently paid $8 million for a beachfront home and then tore down the house and rebuilt it.

The town is largely built out now, with about 680 of the 800 or so plots sold, and about 160-179 full-time residents at present. This will change. I revisited Seaside on this trip too and was astonished at the activity in the small downtown. Shopkeepers were smiling, people were swarming, parking was still possible but only because the residents walk or bike everywhere. In terms of people-activity, Rosemary Beach is today where Seaside was ten years ago.

Now comes the good part for those of you traveling in Florida. You can rent the vacant homes at Rosemary Beach. About 200 of the homes are available for short-term stays by the day or week. Why stay in some motel when you can have a home to yourself, a day spa, tennis, pools, an uncrowded beach—and the Florida panhandle beaches are among the world’s best—and shops and restaurants? There is also a hotel under construction that should be finished in 2009, so ask about that.

I stayed for three nights in a carriage house built over a two-car garage, the simplest home and suitable for one or two, and the folks at Bamboo Beach and Bicycle Company issued me a bicycle for transportation. Turned out I rarely used even that as I needed to walk to take photos and notes, but it was nice to have the option and the locals all ride the bikes.

I was being wined and dined and was too stuffed to think about it, but there are two grocery supermarkets just two miles east on 30-A if you need to stock up and cook in your rental home.

One caveat: the homes at Rosemary Beach are private homes and do not need to abide by the Americans With Disabilities Act. Bluntly put, this is not a great place to have to get around in a wheelchair. Most of the public spaces are accessible, as is the beach, but the homes run to stairs, lots and lots of stairs because they sit on small footprints and multi-storey is the way to get more living space (and good views too). If you need a place with an elevator, be sure to mention that when you call for a reservation.

In a few days I’ll add a more extensive description of Rosemary Beach at our web site.

Contact Info: Rosemary Beach Cottage Rental Company
Phone: 1-888-855-1551
Email: rentals@rosemarybeach.com
Web: http://www.rosemarybeach.com