Word "Chipola" is hundreds of years old

By Dale Cox

The Chipola River as seen from the air.

Marianna – The traditional story often told in books and articles about Jackson County  - and repeated on many websites - is that the word “Chipola” originates from the Choctaw language and means something akin to “sweet water.” The interesting tale dates back many decades, but unfortunately, it probably is not true.  The Choctaw never lived in Jackson County and there is no evidence that they named the Chipola River.

Early writers probably confused the little-known Chacato with the Choctaw. The names are similar and the Chacato were living in what is now Jackson County when the Spanish arrived in 1674. Their primary homeland was in the rich lands between the Chipola River and Holmes Creek.

Spanish missionaries settled among the Chacato and established the missions or churches of San Nicolas and San Carlos. A third visita or part-time station was built at a place called San Antonio. San Nicolas was a few miles northwest of Marianna, San Antonio was near Campbellton, likely in the Daniel Springs area, and San Carlos was probably near Orange Hill in what is now Washington County.

Blue Springs (or Jackson blue Spring) was called "Calutoble"
by the Spanish. It is mentioned in the 1677 report that also
includes the first use of the word "Chipola."

In 1675, however, the Chacato warriors rebelled and drove out the missionaries. Spanish soldiers retaliated by burning San Nicolas and San Antonio. Most of the Chacato survivors fled to the Coushatta (or Coosada) towns in Alabama, although some who had converted to the Christian faith moved closer to the Spanish capital at Mission San Luis in today's Tallahassee.

The war against the Chacato soon expanded to include the Chisca (possibly the Yuchi?) who lived in what is now Walton County. Chisca warriors raided Spanish settlements around Mission San Luis from a fortified village somewhere in southern Walton or Okaloosa Counties.

Apalachee Christian militia responded in 1677 with a raid that located and destroyed the Chisca stronghold. The soldiers passed through Jackson County and the report of the expedition’s commander includes the first known written use of the word “Chipola.”

Crossing the Chattahoochee River at a site now covered by Lake Seminole, Captain Juan Fernandez de Florencia reported that the Apalachee commander and his 197 men marched west into Jackson County in September of 1677. After camping at a pond somewhere north of Grand Ridge, the force continued Blue Springs (Jackson Blue Spring) which the captain described as “a spring which is named Calutoble, whence a river runs toward the south.”

Paddlers enjoy the headwaters of the Chipola River at
Lily Pad Adventures near Campbellton, Florida

The route of the expedition then angled to the northwest across today’s Dogwood Heights area to the natural bridge of the Chipola River at Florida Caverns State Park. There, the Apalachee commander told the captain, his men camped “in a great forest called Chipole; and the next day knelt to pray.”

The 1677 account was the first documented use of the word “Chipola” and it applied to the vast floodplain swamps and not the river itself. This puts the assumption that that the word meant "sweet water" into doubt.

The expedition was guided by friendly Chacato warriors and the word is undoubtedly Native American in origin, so it is logical to conclude that it was from the Chacato language. The exact meaning, however, has been lost to time.

The Alabama-Coushatta of Texas are descendants of the Chacato but report that "Chipola" has no meaning in their language today.

Based on its usage, "Chipola" - which today provides the name for a river, a college, and numerous businesses and nonprofit agencies - probably means something like "big swamp" or "big forest."

Learn more about the Spanish and Native American history of Jackson County in Dale Cox's book: