Florida's Forgotten Coast - Apalachicola

Book Giveaway*

Steamboat loaded with cotton

Continuing our journey to lesser-known places in Florida, this month we find ourselves in the little town of Apalachicola.

A-pa-la-chi-co-la—Don’t you just love the sound of that word? We can thank the Native Americans who lived in the area first, the Apalachicola Indians, which were a subset of the Seminole Indians. A combination of “apalachi” meaning ‘on the other side,’ and “okli,” meaning ‘people,’ the word means people on the other side and in this instance, it’s the other side of the river, the Apalachicola River.

Set at the mouth of the river where it runs into the Apalachicola Bay, then the Gulf of Mexico, the town was originally called “Cottonton” when the British established a trading post there. In 1827, the name was changed to West Point and in 1831, received its present name.

Anyone visiting the little town of around 2500 people today would be surprised to discover that it was once the third busiest port on the Gulf of Mexico. Before railroads covered the state, the town thrived with international shipping to all points of the Americas and Europe.

Cotton planters in Alabama and Georgia sent their cotton down the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers to the Apalachicola River which flowed along the city’s downtown waterfront. Steamboats piled high with cotton were unloaded at the docks and stored in brick warehouses until the cotton was sold and carried by schooners to larger ships waiting offshore. 

Former cotton warehouse, now Center for History, Culture and Art

During the height of the season, the streets near the waterfront were often stacked with cotton as well. Sometimes the steamboats were loaded so full that the cotton was dangerously close to the smokestack, the cause of more than one fire and demise of the steamboat and its contents.

The Civil War blockade of 1861 ended the cotton trade for the city, and only two of the fifty brick warehouses built to store the product remains today, due to a huge fire that burned several blocks of downtown in the late 1800's.

Today’s key industries are oysters and shrimp, a must have when you dine in one of the local seafood restaurants.

Several other antebellum buildings survive, such as Trinity Episcopal Church, a Greek Revival church built in 1839. The wood-paneled church boasts Florida’s oldest pipe organ.

Another notable landmark is the John Gorrie museum. Dr. Gorrie invented refrigeration in 1851 while attempting to treat victims of yellow fever.

A few pre-Civil War mansions still exist and two are open for tours. Both homes were built by wealthy cotton planters. The 1836 Raney House is a Greek Revival home housing a museum with 19^th century furniture and artifacts. The mansion built by prosperous cotton merchant Thomas Orman in 1838 is now part of a state park and has ranger-led tours steeped in local history.

Gibson Inn

While in town, stay in one of the historic lodging facilities. The Gibson Inn, built in 1907 has thirty guest rooms decorated with period furniture.The 1905 Coombs Inn is a Bed and Breakfast built in the former home of James N. Coombs, a successful businessman once recognized as the wealthiest man in town. Mr. Coombs owned three sawmills, the First National Bank of Apalachicola and the Coombs Company, exporter of pine and cypress lumber to destinations around the world.

Cape St. George Lighthouse

After strolling the downtown area of Apalachicola, drive over the bridge to St. George Island and see the Cape St. George Lighthouse which was rebuilt after erosion from the Gulf of Mexico toppled it into the water.

My book, Rebel Light, was set in Apalachicola in 1861. Leave a comment with your email address for a chance to win a copy of it.

It’s 1861, Florida has seceded from the Union, and residents of Pensacola evacuate inland to escape the impending war. But Kate McFarlane’s impulsive act of rebellion changes her life and that of many others in ways she never expected.

As a result, Kate finds herself with an eccentric aunt in an unfamiliar place. Lieutenant Clay Harris, a handsome Confederate officer, offers a chance for romance, but his actions make Kate question his character. When a hurricane brings an injured shipwrecked sailor from the Union blockade to her aunt’s house, Kate fights attraction to the man while hiding him from Clay. She wants to warn her sea captain father about the blockade, but needs someone to help her. Who can she trust - her ally or her enemy?

Marilyn Turk writes historical fiction books set around lighthouses or the coast of the United States. She is the author of Rebel Light, a Civil War love story on the coast of Florida, A Gilded Curse, a historical suspense novel set in 1942 Jekyll Island, Georgia, and Lighthouse Devotions - 52 Inspiring Lighthouse Stories, based on her popular lighthouse blog. (@ http://pathwayheart.com). She is also a regular contributor to Guideposts magazine and the Daily Guideposts devotional.

Why Write About Indentured Servitude? ... And a Giveaway!

by Pam Hillman

Each story idea starts with one tiny little puzzle piece. Just one.

A word, a photo of days gone by, a scent, a location, an event. Before The Promise of Breeze Hill became the full-fledged novel that it is now, it was just a single thought to write about an indentured servant.

Why? Fish out of water, maybe. Or having a character who can’t walk away, but then later doesn’t want to walk away. And, since I like to put a bit of a twist on my stories, I wanted the hero to be the one who was placed in this situation.

And to make matters worse, let’s indenture the poor guy to the heroine, but something in his past makes this a really bad thing. I just kept tightening the ropes on him. I also wanted my indentured servant to be an alpha male, with a take-charge attitude. More thinking outside the box turned Connor into a man who has already served a forced seven year indenture, but willingly indentures himself to pay for his four younger brothers' passage from Ireland.

Fairly quickly in this process, I made the decision to move the story to the late 1700s, early 1800s at the latest, as indentured servants weren’t that common in the 19th century. Not completely unheard of, but not the time period we first think of for indentured servants. So, the 18th century is a departure for me as all my other published works fall between 1850-1890. How my hero ended up being Irish, I’ll not be knowing. It just is.

Then I needed to decide where to set this indentured servant story. More than likely, most of us think of indentured servants solidly in the New England states, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia, the Carolinas, etc. But I’m from the South, and New Orleans and Natchez were bustling ports in the 18th century, so it made sense to plop my characters on my home turf.

The story just keeps growing, one puzzle piece at a time.

What would make Connor so adverse to be under the thumb of a woman...something more than just be an alpha male in a time period when women had little say in how things were run? What baggage and problems can I throw at Isabella Bartholomew? And what power (big grin) can I give her? What can push them apart, but draw them together? On and on and on, the pieces just keep falling in to place.

And it all started with the germ of an idea to write about an indentured servant.

Hey, let's have some fun. Solve the puzzle below for a chance to win a signed copy of The Promise of Breeze Hill. Make sure to comment that you'd like to be included in the drawing and leave your email address so that you can be contacted if you win.

Note: Winner will be chosen by Random.org on June 20, 2017 and posted in the comments as well as the HHH sidebar.

The "Fixer Uppers" in Waco, Texas

By Golden Keyes Parsons

With the increased popularity of the hit television show, "Fixer Upper," Waco, 

Waco Trib Staff Photo

Texas, has become the top real estate hot spot in the state, and even a top tourist attraction. People are actually moving to Waco from California and New York, drawn by the show.

One of the latest ventures for Chip and Joanna Gaines was the renovation of a property in downtown Waco for their primary business location which has housed the "Silos." The silos are a defining feature of the property and the entire downtown area. When the Gaines bought the property the city council asked them to paint the structure, but Chip Gaines asked that they be able to retain the original look, which fits in with their "shabby chic" look. The town leaders agreed and the silos remain with their original look.

Much of Waco's early history took place in this very location as the railroad ran

Texas Collection, Baylor University

by the large buildings housing the cotton bales the slaves and land owners brought in for sale.

By the late nineteenth century Waco had established itself as one of the most significant urban centers of the South. The town held the title of being the King of Cotton until the onset of the Great Depression. By 1900, cottonseed was second only to lumber as the most important cash crop in Texas. The state established itself as the leading processor of cottonseed in the nation and one of the largest suppliers of cooking oil, vegetable shortening, margarine and salad oil--by products of cottonseed oil.

Texas Collection, Baylor University

This locale was home to the Brazos Valley Cotton Oil Company beginning in about 1910. The company took truckloads of cottonseed from local gins and extracted the oil for industrial use, then sold the meal for cattle feed. Ask any Baylor student who attended the University until the 1960s, and they can quickly recall distinctive odor of the cottonseed oil being produced. The photo to the left is of the property before the erection of the silos.

Because Waco was recognized as one of the nation's major inland markets of cotton after the Civil War, an exposition and fair was planned to be named the Texas Cotton Palace. A huge building was erected and the event was a success, but in 1895 the building burned. The event was not reactivated until 1910, and with great success. It was known as one of the biggest most elaborate expositions in the nation. Horse racing, concerts, art shows, livestock exhibitions and a variety of activities surrounded the event, crowned by the Queen's Ball, the social event of the year. It became a casualty of the Depression, but the event continues in the form of a pageant-type event every year in the spring on the Baylor University campus. That affair was just held a couple of weeks ago.

Texas Collection, Baylor University

So the next time I decide to go shopping down at Magnolia, or you see Fixer Upper on television, remember the rich history of cotton in our town. We love Waco, and we love Fixer Upper. Come see us in Waco!

AUTHOR BIO

Although a multi-published fiction author, Golden Keyes Parsons’ first published non-fiction work, Spiritual Spring Cleaning, (BoldVision Books) just released last spring. Her series, Darkness to Light, (Thomas Nelson) chronicled the journey of her ancestors in 17^th century France and was a finalist for ACFW’s Debut Author of the Year in 2008. Her fourth novel, His Steadfast Love, a Civil War novel, was a National Readers Choice finalist. Parsons has also written a biblical fiction series entitled Hidden Faces, Portraits of Nameless Women in the Gospels (WhiteFire Publishing). Golden lives in Waco, TX, with her husband, Blaine. www.goldenkeyesparsons.com

Put on that Party Dress!

***Leave a comment at the end for a chance to win a new book!

Feedsack dress, courtesy National Museum of American History

By Marilyn Turk

The Christmas festivities are here and we reach back into our closets for that holiday wear that only comes out in December. For many of us, it’s the only time of the year we wear red.

Children are decked out in their special jolly clothes for church or to take pictures with Santa. Little boys may be seen wearing ties and vests while little girls twirl in satin, taffeta or velveteen.

But what did people wear in the Depression? What festive clothes did they have? Many mothers couldn’t afford store-bought clothes, so they made their children something new to wear out of something they already had – like flour sacks.

By the time I came along, the store my grandmother ran was no longer in business. However, it was attached to her house, so I strolled through the mostly-empty store looking into vacant glass cases and bare shelves. That’s the first time I saw it. On one shelf there was a stack of fabric in various prints. I liked the prints, but when I touched it, it was rough and stiff. My mother explained to me that they were old flour sacks that people used to buy from Grandma to make clothes.  I looked at Mother like she was crazy and said, “I wouldn’t want a dress made out of that scratchy stuff!” Mother laughed and told me it wasn’t too bad after it had been washed a few times. I doubted it would ever be soft like my clothes though.

And yet, in the Depression, people were just happy to have something new. Women made shirts for boys and dresses for girls out of the material that flour and other goods came in. Even feed sacks were used to make a variety of household items like curtains, quilts, towels, and even underwear and diapers!

When the flour mills found out how the bags were being reused, they began making the bags in color and then added lively prints. Manufacturers even pasted on paper labels so they’d be easier to remove than the stamped-on labels. By the 1930’s, manufacturers competed with each other by hiring artists to design the prints. The trend was great marketing, and more companies that sold their products in sacks caught on. Women often chose their flour, sugar, beans, rice, cornmeal, feed and fertilizer, based on which fabrics they liked the best.

Not only were women being thrifty, they were helping the government during a cotton shortage.  After the war, rural women showed off their homemade fashions by competing in national sewing contests. Farmers often found out they had more feed sacks than they could use, so they were able to sell them back to the store to be resold. I wonder if that’s where my grandma got hers?

Magazines and pattern companies took advantage of the sack popularity and published patterns specifically for feed sack prints. Directions were even given for using the strings from the sacks in knitting in crocheting.

And it wasn’t only poverty-stricken families wearing these garments. A 1942 estimate showed that three million women and children of all income levels wore them.

However, as technology advanced, largely due to the war itself, many items were no longer packed in cloth bags. Paper and plastic was cheaper to produce and more sanitary and rodent-proof, and a new man-made material called rayon appeared on the market. Cloth bags practically disappeared, and clothes made from them disappeared as well.

Did you ever have a flour-sack dress or know someone who did?

A multi-published author, Marilyn Turk writes historical fiction about the coastal South. Her fascination for lighthouses spawned her popular weekly lighthouse blog @pathwayheart.com, and inspired her upcoming Coastal Lights Legacy series and her Lighthouse Devotions. Her novel, A Gilded Curse, will be released March 2016 from Heritage Beacon Fiction, an imprint of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas.

Leave a comment (and your email) for a chance to win a copy of our brand-new book, Lighthouse Devotions.

May you have a very blessed Christmas!