Panama City Beach to Apalachicola and Carrabelle...
December 19, 2022
Apalachicola
We came into the harbor at Apalachicola to find the place we were suppose to stay while wide enough, it was not long enough for us to get off the boat coming into the slip bow first. They had no deckhands and Danny was not interested backing in with the dinghy on the back so we quickly made a change to a marina further up Scipio Creek. This Christmas tree display is in the middle of downtown Apalachicola. We visited here by car in the spring of 2019 and we enjoyed our stay. Our stay on the boat was for 3 days so we can make our way to Carribelle in what looks like decent weather.
Scipio Creek Marina
A happy couple had just come in from fishing!
The first big industry was cotton. It was brought down to Apalachicola and moved to steamships off the coast. In the late 1800's, much of the forests in this area had significant population of cypress trees. Lumber mills were built and this material shipped throughout the US and other countries. Many of the beautiful houses you can see were built with cypress and other woods found locally. Along with lumber mills, the seafood industry became significant which in addition to seafood included sea sponges. Currently, this includes oysters, crab, shrimp, and fish. When we were here in 2019, the state of Florida, closed the oyster grounds closest to the Apalachicola harbor. While oysters can be collected not far away, the grounds still closed. The reasoning was the increased levels of fresh waters which has been blamed on the water draining from Georgia. This was a big deal when we were here before. One of the guy's we were talking to in the marina's restaurant was an oysterman but stopped that career. In his opinion, he felt the oyster grounds had just been overworked. According to him, the state is encouraging setting up new beds and aqua farming. The guy seemed happy at the bar shucking oysters at The Half Shell and being a bartender. The town has done a great job maintaining the old buildings from the 1900's where there are shops, restaurants, and other businesses. According to their museum, there are over 900 homes, buildings and sites on the National Register in Apalachicola. The Chamber provides a detailed walking map of the homes and history as well as a walking map of the Chestnut Street Cemetery with detailed information about the gravesites and the people buried there. Danny and I had done this before. The homes are beautiful as well as their lawns. As for the cemetery, interesting information and some of the stories are quite scandalous.
From left to right- Ice plant on the waterfront, Large house from the 1890's now a B&B, Chestnut Street Cemetery, one of the streets in Downtown Apalachicola, and the Ormond House just outside "downtown".
We were unable to go to the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve just east of Apalachicola in Eastpoint. You can also see Black Bears in this area but we did not have that opportunity. I would have liked to have gone to Black Island- interesting history of 2 men from New England coming down to the area to salvage treasures from sunken Spanish ships. Once they accomplished this, one of the men, Sam "Black" Bellamy started into piracy becoming very successful. The Black nickname came from his full head of black hair and his refusal to wear the powdered white wigs famous in the 1700's. On his return to his family in Massachusetts, his ship sank due to a nor'easter off Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Bellamy's 2 year career as a pirate and salvager in today's dollars is estimated to be 140 million dollars. While no doubt he most likely did bad things, when he captured the 53 vessels for which he is credited, he disarmed those ships, released the enemy crew members, and slave ships released the slaves. Bellamy reportedly hired some of these people to work with him. They are developing this area as high end real estate and only accessible by boat. Another interesting fact about Apalachicola is in 1851, Dr John Gorrie is given credit for the invention of refrigeration and a form of air conditioning while trying to treat yellow fever patients. Unfortunately, the house is a museum but only open Thursday through Saturday so we missed out on that opportunity.
During the Civil War, Florida was essentially not affected by the war. One of the items made along the Panhandle of Florida was salt. While Florida and several other states did not make near as much salt as the northern states it was still used to keep meat edible. The salt cured meats were the only way for the troops to have meat. The Union realized producing a salt shortage in the South would provide the North with an advantage. The Union troops would attack saltworks whenever they would find them. As history is told, there was one man in Apalachicola who controlled all of the salt mines in the Panhandle. Workers in the salt mines asked to be paid in salt instead of wages to benefit from the inflation of salt prices. Many people in this area harvested their own salt and hid it within their homes. Most living along the Panhandle used seawater to cook their meals and this would also leave salt deposits behind. There were reports of salt being cut with ash deposits which would present as a darker salt. Information was sent out to residents to avoid this as instead of preserving meat, it would actually cause spoiling. The last log home associated with the saltworks in Carrabelle was destroyed in the 1960's.
During our time in Apalachicola, we walked around the town into the shops and one of Danny's favorite brewery- Oyster City Brewing. It was the first place we went after tying up and they had 4 beers Danny really enjoyed only 2 were canned to enjoy at a later time. I also got to enjoy some bird watching early in the morning and as the sun set not to mention lots of walking. When we signed in at Scipio Creek, the woman in the office told me they had 2 resident cats- Ida, who was in the office and another cat who was black and white and we may find it on our boat looking for cat treats or food. She never mentioned the cat's name. When we got back from the brewery, I found the cat on our boat. No problem but I never passed the message onto Danny. We went into the Half Shell at the marina and while I was paying the bill, Danny returned to the boat. All of a sudden, I was getting multiple text messages of which I was not looking. Apparently, Danny walked into the living area of the boat and found this....... Danny thought I had put the cat in the boat, which I didn't. We believe Danny left the door open and the cat entered while we were at the brewery and had been there a couple hours enjoying the heat!
On further examination, I found the cat had a very special anatomical finding!
It is called polydacty. It is a congenital anomaly which anatomically is where the cat has an extra pad. I had not seen one since I was at Hemingway's house in Key West. Some people will call these cats, Hemingway cats. What I found interesting is these cats are found along coastal waters as sailors collected them and found them to be good luck. We then found out the cat's name- Ernie!
So you know who he was named after....Ernest Hemingway! He tried to stow away but Danny would not have it.......
While walking one day, I was able to see the display for those that served in the Vietnam War. I thought the monument was familiar and after reading the granite tablet, realized this is the monument in Washington DC. It is a detailed cast from the original molds by the artist, Frederick Hart. It did not say how the town of Apalachicola came to have these here in their town.
While traveling to Carrabelle, we were lucky to see eagles scoping the water for a meal!
Carrabelle
Carrabelle, Florida which is about 30 miles east of Apalachicola was our next stop. This is where many boats "stage" to cross the Gulf to the west coast of Florida. There are 2 options here. One called the Big Bend Route is to go due east to Steinhatchee, then Cedar Key, then Crystal River which is done over 3 sailing days based on wind and waves during the travel days. The second option is crossing the Gulf to Anclote Key, an island in the Gulf just outside Tarpon Springs, which is 180 miles leaving late in the afternoon to time your arrival to Anclote Key at 10am or later. The reasoning for this is to be able to see the stone crab pots laid out in the Gulf without the sun in your eyes. The stone crab pots are said to be quite extensive. So, yes, you sail all night. I already know who is getting the late, late shift. 😀
Below: Town clock in Carrabelle and the monument to the Military troops as well as those from Carrabelle who served from World War I through Vietnam.
While we were in Carrabelle, many places were closed due to the Holidays but I was able to go to the Carrabelle History Museum. The museum starts with many Indian artifacts and information of the different tribes most specific- the Apalachee which were in this area. The city of Carrabelle was started closer to the bay and after several destructive hurricanes in late 1800's moved the downtown to its current location and became a city in 1893. It too was known for lumbering and the seafood trade. In addition to these businesses, it also was known for producing turpentine. The yellow long leaf pine which was found in great numbers made a particular turpentine pigeon tar and naval stores. Naval stores is the term for a wide variety of products such as turpentine, pitch, and tar that were made from pine sap through a distillation process. This was used on the cotton placed between the wood slats of a boat to make it water tight. They also had on display the different things the turpentine was used to include soap and baby cough medicine?! In 1899-1900, Carrabelle was the largest port on the Gulf as it had a natural depth of 16 foot depth in the harbor. Many of the ships during this time were from Europe to transport wood back to Europe for furniture. The ships would remove ballasts (stones put in the bottom of the ship to stabilize it while traveling the open waters. These ships would remove these stones at the out island of Dog Island, before coming into the port. By 1928, all of the cypress had been harvested and this business came to an end. Prior to dredging, the only natural deep ports in Florida were Key West, Pensacola, and Carrabelle. Transport from Carrabelle to other points in Florida was by ferry until 1935 when a road was constructed as Highway 98 to points east and west.
Buck O'Neil, who was a great ambassador for baseball, was born in Carrabelle in 1911. While he was accepted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, sadly, he did not live to see it. 
The world's smallest police station was also in Carrabelle as noted in this telephone booth, circa 1963. This is the police station with a rotary dial phone in the right corner which I don't know that you can appreciate! While this is funny just looking at it, what makes it more entertaining is the Police chief was on Johnny Carson one night discussing the police station. In the museum, they have a recording of the Police Chief on the show and was full of laughs. I was unable to find it on You Tube for you to watch. Needless to say, it is no longer used and they have a reproduction outside on the street for people to take pictures.
When I was at the museum on December 23rd, the Director of the Museum and others working invited me to their Christmas Eve Services. All of them had a potluck supper following the service. I had the options of Baptist, Episcopalian, or Methodist services. I chose to go to the Episcopalian services as it was at 5pm and knew I could get back to the marina before it got really dark. This was the minister, Phoebe, who had been in town for 4 years. Interestingly, she had served in Australia for 19 years despite being from upstate New York. Very kind people in the congregation during my visit.
The temperature on Christmas Eve morning was 16 degrees and Christmas morning, 23 degrees!
Prior to Christmas when we arrived, the only place opened to eat was Harry's. The owner was in and bought everyone's drinks which was very nice. On our return from Charlotte, we were able to enjoy Korean food and a seafood house both across the street from the marina.
More beautiful sunsets...
TOTAL MILES TRAVELLED 818.3 miles
TOTAL DAYS 41
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