Article: Florida's Lost County

Remembering Florida’s Lost County

By Dale Cox

Eastern Jackson County – One of the more unique political fiascos in Florida history took place in 1832 when the Territory’s Legislative Council carved off the eastern half of Jackson County to create an entirely new political entity. Called Fayette County (after the Marquis de Lafayette, a hero of the American Revolution), the new county was a political boondoggle of the first order.

For five years, the communities of Marianna and Webbville had been engaged in a fierce political battle to become the county seat of Jackson County. Although Webbville received the designation of the U.S. Congress, Marianna ultimately prevailed in the fight when the Legislative Council (the equivalent of today’s state legislature) levied fines against any public officials not doing business from the new city on the Chipola.

Unwilling to give up the fight without one last attempt, the promoters of Webbville devised the bizarre strategy of giving away half of the county in order to win the coveted county seat title. In a flurry of intense lobbying, they convinced the members of the Legislative Council that the people of eastern Jackson County would be happier if they could govern themselves.

Accordingly, on February 9, 1832, the council approved “An Act to organize a county to be called the County of Fayette.” Encompassing the entire area of today’s Jackson and Calhoun Counties between the Chipola and Chattahoochee/Apalachicola River systems, the new county stretched from the Alabama line south to the northern limits of today’s Franklin (then part of Washington) County. The modern communities of Malone, Bascom, Greenwood, Two Egg, Dellwood, Cypress, Grand Ridge, Sneads, Altha and Blountstown are all located within the limits of the original Fayette County.

On the same day, the council also incorporated the “Town of Ocheesee” at Ocheesee Bluff in what is now Calhoun County to serve as a county seat for the new county and construction was soon underway there on both a courthouse and jail.

The dream of the Webbville promoters to remove a large block of pro-Marianna voters from Jackson County, however, was soon dashed. When the council approved a new election to determine a permanent county seat for Jackson County, Governor James D. Westcott quickly realized what was happening. Just two days after the creation of Fayette County, he vetoed the election bill for Jackson County. In a letter to the leaders of the Legislative Council, he noted that after contentious debate the county seat issue in Jackson County had finally been resolved. “I am averse to disturbing the quiet of the county by raising the question again if it can be avoided,” he wrote. The governor also called into question the whole Fayette County debacle, “Had I anticipated the agitation of it, when the bill for forming Fayette county was under consideration, it would have formed an additional objection to that act.”

Webbville’s final effort had failed. Although Fayette County became a reality, it was short-lived. Just one year after the creation of the new county, the Legislative Council responded to pleas from residents living in its northern areas and reunited them with Jackson County. Ten months later, on January 15, 1834, the residents from the remaining part of Fayette County filed a similar petition in Tallahassee.

Fayette County disappeared from the map of Florida on February 1, 1834, when the Legislative Council repealed its earlier act creating the county. In existence for only two years, it is now remembered as “Florida’s Lost County.”

This story is presented in much greater detail in the new book - The History of Jackson County, Florida: Volume One - now available for purchase by clicking here.

An 1827 Account of Jackson County

The following is from this week's issue of the Jackson County Times. If you haven't subscribed to the newspaper yet, you can do so by clicking here.

A Description of Jackson County from 1827

By Dale Cox

Marianna – One of the most interesting accounts ever written about Jackson County is found in the journal of an early Catholic Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Michael Portier. He entered the county in June of 1827 by way of Orange Hill in what is now Washington County and left the only known description of the site of Marianna before the founding of the city.

Biship Portier crossed over the site where Marianna would be founded just a few months later while make his way on horseback from Pensacola to St. Augustine.

In his journal he wrote:

“On every side you could hear the rippling of the brooks which here and there blended their waters and developed into streams of deep and regular formation. Rocks were to be met as high as the trees themselves, and bordered around with wild flowers, while sweet-scented shrubbery decked the sides and summits of these pygmy mountains. Natural wells, underground caves, oak trees blasted by lightning or cast by the tempest across our narrow pathway like an artificial bridge – everything was present to enhance the spectacle.”

Less than six months after the bishop passed across the beautiful site, Robert Beveridge and his workers began carving the modern city of Marianna from the wilderness. Portier’s description provides a good idea of why the site was considered as an excellent location for a settlement.

Pushing on across the Chipola River, the bishop spent the night at the home of William Robinson overlooking Blue Spring. Robinson had moved to the area from Georgia a few years earlier and acquired more than 3,100 acres in the area around Blue Spring. A life-long bachelor, he was described as less than an ideal host by Portier.

The bishop was impressed, however, with the spring itself. “This beautiful body of water, of perfect blue color,” he wrote, “imparts the same tint to whatever it reflects, and when the sun is in the zenith the reflected images take on all the colors of the rainbow through the prismatic influence of the waters.”

Portier’s description of Blue Spring provides a fascinating word picture of how it must have appeared before the creek flowing from it was dammed later in the 19th century:

“Like a small flood tired of being hampered and held up in its progress, it pours over with mighty force into a bed cut deep into the rock. This bed or vase is oval in shape and possibly a hundred feet wide at its broadest span. So clear is the water that the smallest objects are distinctly seen in it at a depth of thirty or even thirty-five feet; while all around the magnolia, laurel, cypress, and cedar are found in profusion. The wild grape-vine, after pushing its plaint branches to the very tops of these trees, hangs suspended over the stream in festoons. Fish without number find shelter in this retreat; but at the slightest sound of an inquisitive wayfarer they seek speedy refuge in the deeper places.”

Bishop Portier passed on from Blue Spring after only one night and crossed the Apalachicola River in a small boat the next day. His account lives on, however, as one of the finest descriptions written of early Jackson County.

Bishop Portier’s journal is one of the early accounts of Jackson County in the new book The History of Jackson County, Florida: Volume One.

The Wreck of the Steamboat Eagle - Neal's Landing, Florida

Coming in this week's issue of the Jackson County Times, I have an article that I think you will find interesting.

It tells the story of the shocking wreck of the great steamboat Eagle near Neal's Landing in the northeast corner of Jackson County.

The Eagle was a 200 ton steamboat that was one of the largest and most elegant paddlewheel boats to navigate the Chattahoochee and Apalachicola Rivers during the years before the Civil War.

On January 29, 1854, she caught fire as she was approaching Neal's Landing and completely disappeared in less than 15 minutes. The fatal fire was one of the most shocking tragedies in the early history of Jackson County and also gave rise to a remarkable story of heroism.

Be sure to pick up a copy of this week's paper to read the story. If you haven't subscribed to the Jackson County Times, please consider doing so. They publish more news about the history of Jackson County than any other publication in the area. You can subscribe online by clicking here. Just look for the "Subscribe" button.

I will post the full article later in the week after this week's issue is out.

Florida's First Astronomical Observatory was in Jackson County

This is a view of Irwin's Mill Creek in the northeast corner of Jackson County. The location of the first astronomical observatory in the history of Florida was not far from this spot.

Neal’s Landing – It is a little known fact that the first scientific observatory in the history of Florida was established in what is now Jackson County in 1799.

Florida was still a Spanish possession at the time and the observatory was the result of a joint U.S. and Spanish expedition assigned to determine the exact boundary line dividing the two nations. Spain and the United States had ratified the Treaty of San Lorenzo in 1796 and the treaty established the 31st parallel as the official dividing line between the United States and Florida.

The problem was that no one knew exactly where the line ran. To find out, the two countries assigned teams of surveyors to hack their way through the wilderness and mark the new boundary. The U.S. team was headed by Andrew Ellicott, a veteran of the American Revolution and the man called on by President George Washington to survey the new District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.). The leader of the Spanish team was Stephen Minor, a Pennsylvania native that had served in the Spanish army during the American Revolution and then settled in what was then Spanish territory at Natchez, Mississippi.

The two men, accompanied by other surveyors and a detachment of Spanish cavalry, started their work on the line in what is now Alabama in 1799. After they determined the starting point, Ellicott and Minor traveled separately by ship to the mouth of the Apalachicola River while the other men of the survey party chopped their way due east through the wilderness, marking the line with a series of mounds of earth known today as “Ellicott Mounds.”

Most of the mounds can still be found, but although the surveyors did the best they could with the equipment of the time, the Ellicott Line was incorrectly located for virtually its entire length. The errors were corrected by later surveyors.

Severely blistered by poison ivy, Ellicott began his trip up the Apalachicola River on July 18, 1799. The wind did not cooperate, however, so he moved his equipment from his ship into a canoe and set up off stream. Pushing ashore at a Native American village in what is now Calhoun County, he purchased horses and crossed into present-day Jackson County on July 23rd.

Following an old trail along the route of today’s River Road, he made contact with the surveying party on the banks of the Chattahoochee River just north of Irwin’s Mill Creek on July 25, 1799. In his journal he noted that, “The observatory was finished on the 27th, and the instruments unpacked and set up; but the rain continued until the 30th, and prevented any observations from being made until that day.”

Ellicott was soon joined by Minor and the two officials spent a total of 28 days at their observatory in Jackson County, conducting astronomical observations to determine what they believed to be the precise location of the 31st parallel. In the process, they also recorded the first known weather observations in the history of Jackson County.

On July 28, 1799, for example, Ellicott noted that the day was “cloudy with rain all day” and that the temperature began at 82 degrees in the morning, but fell to 80 degrees at 10 a.m. On August 20th he reported that the morning began “remarkably fine and clear, wind from the east,” but that a severe storm blew up at around 9 a.m. At 1 p.m. he reported a “gust of rain accompanied by large hail stones from the S.W.”

The observatory was abandoned on August 23rd and the surveyors moved down to the present site of Chattahoochee in Gadsden County where they continued their work. Their Jackson County observatory, however, was the first known such scientific establishment in Florida.
The site, located on the Chattahoochee River just north of Neal’s Landing, is now overgrown and forgotten, with nothing more than one of Ellicott’s mounds remaining to mark this landmark event in the history of Jackson County, Florida, the United States and Spain.

Location of Webbville

I received a question from a reader who was curious to know the location of the Jackson County "ghost town" of Webbville.

Webbville was a prominent community during the 1820s and rivaled Marianna for the title of county seat. In fact, the U.S. Congress actually designated Webbville as the official county seat of Jackson County. The Florida Territorial Legislature threatened to fine any public official that did not conduct business from the courthouse in Marianna, however, and all of the county's officials moved to that location. Webbville, however, still remains the congressionally designated county seat.

Nothing remains of the town today. The site was located near the intersection of Highway 73 and U.S. 231. Union Road leads north off Highway 73 near the intersection. This dirt road (Union Road) was the old Campbellton Road that connected Marianna, Webbville and Campbellton. The Webbville site is located on the hill between Highway 73 and Russ Mill Creek. Union Road crosses directly through the site.

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.

Lake Seminole History, Part Ten

Continuing our look at historic sites around Lake Seminole, this is Camp Recovery.

Located in Decatur County, Georgia, less than a 30 minute drive from Jackson County, Camp Recovery was a hospital camp established for soldiers at nearby Fort Scott during the great fever outbreak in 1820.

Surgeons at the fort were anxious to find some way of relieving the suffering of the soldiers stationed there. Of the 780 men at Fort Scott, 769 were ill with what modern experts believe was malaria.

Finally, after considering the options, they decided to move as many of the men as they could to a camp located on a high pine ridge a few miles south of the fort. It was hoped that moving the men from the "swamp air" at Fort Scott would help them recover. The cause of malaria had not yet been identified in 1820 and most experts believe it was caused by "bad air."

More than 100 soldiers were moved to the site known today as Camp Recovery, where a camp was established in the open pine woods. At first they did show signs of recovery, but a heavy rain set in and the soldiers soon relapsed. A number died and were buried in a cemetery at the site. The camp was abandoned soon after.

During the 1880s, the U.S. Government placed a monument at the site to mark the burial ground.

We will have more on Camp Recovery in our next post.

Lake Seminole History, Part Nine

After rebuilding Fort Scott during the summer of 1817, U.S. troops held the post until the fall of 1821.

During this time the fort served as the headquarters for the U.S. Army's Southern Command. General Andrew Jackson launched his invasion of Florida from here during the First Seminole War of 1817-1818. The post served as an important frontier bastion until Spain ceded Florida to the United States.

The site of Fort Scott proved extremely unhealthy. Malaria ravaged the troops assigned to guard the Georgia frontier. By 1820, 769 of the 780 men assigned to the fort were sick. Dozens of them died. The story was repeated in 1821.

By the time Fort Scott was abandoned in September of 1821, more than 100 U.S. soldiers had died at the isolated post. They were buried on the grounds and their resting place today is forgotten and overgrown.

Our series on historic sites around Lake Seminole will continue.

Lake Seminole History, Part Eight

This is a view of the site of Fort Scott as it appears today. Other than a few traces of earthworks, nothing remains of the old fort and the site is overgrown with trees and brush.

Following his return from the expedition to the lower Apalachicola River, Col. Clinch ordered his men to begin the construction of a new, much larger fort on this site. The work was progressing well when the post was inspected by Major J.M. Davis in October of 1816.

Davis described the new fort at that time as consisting of a line of barracks, constructed end to end, in a row about 100 yards back from the edge of the bluff. The buildings were constructed of squared logs and designed so that by closing the doors and windows, they could be easily defended against a force attacking with small arms. A similar structure for the officers was constructed between this line of buildings and the edge of the bluff.

The fort was still not finished when Clinch was ordered to evacuate the site in December of 1817, so it was left in the care of George Perryman, a local Native American leader. Shortly after the troops left, however, Creek and Seminole warriors arrived at the fort, drove Perryman and his family away and set fire to the buildings.

The bloodless attack prompted the U.S. government to order to reoccupation of the fort and by June of 1817, troops were again at the site and busy reconstructing the fort.

We will continue our look at Fort Scott when our series continues.

Lake Seminole History, Part Seven

Continuing our look at historic sites around Lake Seminole, we shift today to the Georgia side of the Lake.

This is the State of Georgia marker for Fort Scott. The marker is located at Hutchinson's Ferry Landing (better known as Wingate's Lodge) in Decatur County, Georgia.

Fort Scott was an extremely important military post constructed by the U.S. Army in June of 1816. Under orders to establish a new outpost at the confluence of the Flint and Chattahoochee Rivers, just above the border of Spanish Florida, Lt. Col. Duncan L. Clinch and a battalion from the 4th U.S. Infantry arrived in the area during the first week of June of 1816. After surveying the area, they selected a commanding bluff just up the Flint River from the confluence. The site is only about 10 miles from Jackson County (as the crow flies).

Here they constructed a rough log stockade that was originally named Camp Crawford after Secretary of War William Crawford, a Georgian. The name was changed to Fort Scott later in the year.

It was from this post that Clinch launched the expedition in July of 1816 that would result in the bloody destruction of the so-called "Negro Fort" on the lower Apalachicola River. To read more about this expedition, please see a series currently underway on our sister site, Civil War Florida.

When Clinch returned from that expedition in August, he renamed the new outpost Fort Scott in honor of General Winfield T. Scott, a hero of the recent War of 1812. He also began construction of a new, much more extensive fort at the site.

We will have more on Fort Scott when our series continues.

Lake Seminole History, Part Six

This beautiful view of Lake Seminole was taken from the picnic area at Three Rivers State Park just north of Sneads.

The now submerged lands visible from this vista are among some of the most historic in the South.

The lake now covers the significant Kemp Mound and Tan Vat Pond Archaeological sites. Located in the flood plain of the Chattahoochee River, the sites were flooded when the Jim Woodruff Dam was completed.

Research at these sites determined that they were occupied nearly 2,000 years ago by Native Americans who built villages and constructed an earthen burial mound in the rich floodplain lands.

In 1674, the Spanish mission of La Encarnacion a la Santa Cruz de Sabacola was established just across the Chattahoochee River in what is now Seminole County, Georgia. The Bishop of Cuba participated in the dedication of a church at Sabacola in 1675.

After the settlement of Jackson County, the lands now on the lake bottom were cleared for fields of cotton, corn and sugar cane. By the time of the Civil War, this was an area of large plantations.

To read more about the history of the Three Rivers State Park area, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/threerivers.

Our series will continue.

Lake Seminole History, Part Five

One of my favorite historic sites around Lake Seminole is the old Sneads Town Pump.

Located on Old Spanish Trail in Sneads, the pump was installed in 1899-1900 and according to tradition was the second mechanical pump in the area. The land on which it stands was deeded to the Town of Sneads for $200.

Legend holds that "He who drinks from this pump will always return" and for generations, non-local grooms of local brides were brought here for a good "dunking" to make sure that they always brought local girls back home.

It is remarkable that the pump has survived through the years when so many similar landmarks around the area have disappeared.

The site is now maintained by the Town of Sneads and an adjacent historic marker tells the story of the town and the old pump.

Our series will continue.

Lake Seminole History, Part Four

This view of Lake Seminole was taken from the Mission San Carlos site looking out at the "big water" of the lake just above the Jim Woodruff Dam.

Beneath the water near the shore is the site of Pope's Trading Post, an important early Jackson County settlement.

William S. Pope first arrived in Jackson County shortly after the transfer of Florida from Spain in 1821. He lived for a time at Mt. Vernon (Chattahoochee), then relocated west to the Chipola settlement in Jackson County. Early land records show that he acquired property around Webbville (a few miles northwest of Marianna).

He lived in this area and speculated on the success of the community until nearby Marianna was established and secured the Legislative Council's backing to become county seat. Pope then relocated to the high ground just west of the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers. Here he acquired land, established a trading post and began farming.

Pope's Store was listed as a Jackson County voting precinct during the 1830s and Pope was appointed to the role of U.S. Subagent to the Native Americans still living on reservations along the lower Chattahoochee and Apalachicola Rivers. In 1833 he negotiated the "Treaty of Pope's" with several of these groups, by which they agreed to relinquish much of their land. The treaty ultimately led to their removal west on the Trail of Tears.

The site of Pope's first settlement is now covered by the lake, but his legacy lives on in a pattern of continuous occupation in the area that continues today in the Town of Sneads.

Our series will continue.

Lake Seminole History, Part Three

This aerial view shows the western end of the Jim Woodruff Dam at the point it intersects with the commanding bluff overlooking Lake Seminole in Jackson County, Florida.

The paved parking area visible in the left center of the photograph is the West Bank Overlook, a park area near Sneads that provides a beautiful view of the main lake.

The overlook and surrounding hilltop was the site of Senor San Carlos de Chacatos, a Spanish mission established here in around 1680 to serve a village of Christian Chacato Indians.

The Native Americans who inhabited the village on this site had originally lived west of the Chipola River, but relocated here between 1675 and 1680 after the two missions originally established to serve them had been abandoned following an uprising by part of the Chacato nation.

Spanish missionaries returned to this site and established a church that functioned for sixteen years as the most outlying European settlement in Florida. The presence of the mission establishment here was mentioned in the 1686 journal of Marcos Delgado and again in the documents relating to the 1693 expedition of Don Laureano de Torres y Ayala. The latter official led the first known overland crossing of Northwest Florida from the Apalachicola River to Pensacola Bay by European explorers.

The mission at this site was attacked and destroyed by Alibamo (Alabama) and Apalachicoli (Lower Creek) warriors in 1696. Many of the inhabitants were carried away as slaves and sold to the English in South Carolina. The church was destroyed and the implements used in the religious services there were looted. The survivors of the raid fled to a new site near present-day Tallahassee.

Florida Park Service archaeologist Ripley P. Bullen relocated the site of Mission San Carlos in 1948 while conducting studies in the area as the Jim Woodruff Dam was being built. No structural traces of the mission were found, but he did locate broken fragments of Spanish ceramics and other items consistent with the presence of a 17th century settlement at the site.

There are no markers at the site, but it is open to the public. Searching for artifacts is strictly prohibited on U.S. Government property.

Our series will continue.

Lake Seminole History, Part Two

This photograph was taken looking west across the Apalachicola River to the Jackson County shore from the top of the large Native American platform mound at Chattahoochee Landing.

Known locally as the "Indian Mound," this mound has been reduced in height and size due to erosion but still is quite impressive.

Originally there were at least seven mounds at Chattahoochee Landing, with an eighth across the river on the Jackson County side. The large mound is the only one that remains fairly intact. A few traces of the others can still be seen at Chattahoochee Landing, but the mound on the Jackson County side was washed away by the river during the 1970s and 1980s.

During the Fort Walton Period (A.D. 900-1540), these mounds were part of an important ceremonial complex. Although archaeology at Chattahoochee Landing has been minimal, salvage excavations were conducted on the Jackson County shore as the site there was being washed away. They revealed the presence of a large village along the riverbank, in addition to the burial mound there. It is assumed that the landing site across the river was a ceremonial complex for the people of the village.

One of the more interesting finds was a human skull that revealed evidence the person had received brain surgery hundreds of years ago. A square hole had been cut in the skull, but had started to grow back, an obvious indication that the person had survived the surgery.

Our generation sometimes under estimates the knowledge of ancient peoples such as those who lived here along the Apalachicola River. Their mental capacity, however, was the same as the present generation and their knowledge of many things was probably superior to our own, especially regarding nature, wildlife, etc.

Our series will continue.

Lake Seminole History, Part One

This is an aerial view of the Jim Woodruff Dam between Chattahoochee and Sneads. Dedicated in 1957, the dam itself is now a historic site having turned 50 years old last year.

Just beyond the dam can be seen the "big water" of Lake Seminole. This was the point, about 5,000 feet north of the dam, where the Flint and Chattahoochee Rivers originally flowed together to form Florida's noted Apalachicola River.

Within this photograph can be seen scores of historic sites that are of considerable significance. In the lower right hand corner of the photograph, just below the U.S. 90 bridge, can be seen Chattahoochee Landing, a major archaeological and historic site. Just below the modern U.S. 90 bridge can be seen a surviving part of the old "Victory Bridge," built during the 1920s and named in honor of the Allied victory in World War I.

Now submerged beneath the waters of the lake just above the dam are an array of archaeological sites, some dating back thousands of years. Also beneath the lake above the dam is the site of Nicoll's Outpost, a British fort constructed during the War of 1812 in anticipation of an invasion of Georgia. The war ended before the invasion could take place.

Our series on historic sites around Lake Seminole will continue tomorrow with a look at the Chattahoochee Landing archaeological site and Native American mound complex.

Historic Sites around Lake Seminole

Forming much of the eastern border of Jackson County, Lake Seminole is a beautiful 37,500 acre reservoir located in the heart of one of the most historic settings in the United States.

The lake spreads across Jackson County, Florida and Seminole and Decatur Counties, Georgia. Formed by the Jim Woodruff Dam, built in the 1950s between Sneads and Chattahoochee, it covers the original confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers.

This area was a major population center and strategic point for thousands of years. As a result, Lake Seminole covers and is bordered by literally hundreds of significant archaeological and historic sites. These include Native American mounds and villages, pioneer settlements, historic forts, Spanish mission sites, "ghost towns," plantations, riverboat landings, steamboat wrecks and more.

Beginning tomorrow, I will start a series on some of the most important historic and archaeological sites around Lake Seminole. I hope you will find this to be a good introduction to this fascinating area that is so vital to Jackson County.

The Unknown Confederate Dead of Riverside Cemetery

In the old section of Riverside Cemetery in Marianna can be found a small burial plot containing two rows of Confederate soldiers. Most of the graves are marked simply with the inscription "Unknown, C.S.A., 1861-1865," although a few still display the fading names of the unfortunate men buried there.

Local tradition holds that these men died fighting Union troops during the Battle of Marianna. The town was attacked by Union troops on September 27, 1864, and the presence of so many graves in two burial trenches has long led to the belief that they must have been victims of the battle.

Research reveals, however, that it is more likely that these men were the victims of illness instead of Union bullets.

Only a few of the men buried in the plot can be identified, but all of them died of sickness while patients at the Confederate military hospital in Marianna. Nasrey "Z.T." Brogden, for example, is buried in the small Civil War plot. Although tradition and a modern marker on his grave indicate that he died on September 27, 1864, the date of the Battle of Marianna, his military records actually reveal that he died in the hospital at Marianna from sickness on December 22, 1863, nine months before the battle.

The same is true of the other couple of soldiers who can be identified. In view of this information, it seems more likely that the burial plot was actually a place where soldiers who died while receiving hospital treatment were buried.

There are victims of the Battle of Marianna buried at Riverside. Several of their graves can be found nearby. But since all of the dead from the battle can be accounted for and identified, it seems that the "unknowns" likely died of disease.

History of Parramore's One Room School

Parramore - A couple of weeks ago I mentioned this little one room school that still stands along Oak Grove Road just north of Parramore in eastern Jackson County.

A longer article will appear in this week's issue of the Jackson County Times and I thought you might be interested in reading it here as well:

Parramore – Along the side of Oak Grove Road just north of the Parramore community in eastern Jackson County can be found a rare relic of life in Jackson County’s early years. A historic one room school still stands, looking out on the old dirt road just as it has for many decades.

The Cox School was established during the 1870s as part of the early move to create public education in Jackson County. Originally located about one-quarter of a mile west of its present location, the little schoolhouse was located on land donated by members of the Cox family. There was a wood stove at one end of the building for heat and students of all ages sat on plank benches.

At that time, Parramore was a growing and thriving community. Located on the hills overlooking the Chattahoochee River, the community was an important riverboat port that grew to have a number of stores, a post office, sawmill, gristmill, cotton gin, blacksmith shop and several turpentine operations. The need for education was filled several of these small one room schools.
In addition to the Cox School, the community also had little schoolhouses at Oak Grove Church, Circle Hill Church and a number of other nearby locations. Only the Cox School survives today, a unique reminder of life in the days of one room schools.

In 1979, I had an opportunity to interview several students who had attended class at the little school. They remembered how the structure was sweltering hot in warm weather and freezing cold in winter. They also recalled walking to class with a baked sweet potato in their pocket for lunch.

According to their memories, some of the teachers and officials who served at the early landmark were Florence Worline, Ely Johnson, Clemmy Nichols, Floyd Allen, Louise Bevis and Estel Hart.

The school, along with the other nearby one room schools, closed in around 1920. At that time it was returned to the Cox family and converted for use as a kitchen on the nearby home of William Henry Cox. Using round logs as rollers, family members and neighbors pushed the little building to its present location and connected it to the house with a covered walkway.

The house and walkway are gone today, but the old school still stands. Despite its age and years of use as a barn, the little building is still structurally sound. The massive hand-hewn floor joists remain strong and the old plank floors, worn smooth by more than a century of flood traffic, are in good condition.

Talks are currently underway to further stabilize and begin a slow restoration of the structure, assuring that it is preserved for future generations as a landmark of the early days of public education in Jackson County.

The Apalachicola River

The Apalachicola River, which forms part of Jackson County's eastern border, is one of the most historic rivers in Florida.

I've started a new series on historic sites along the river on our sister page, Civil War Florida. Over the next couple of weeks, I'll be sharing information with you on a wide variety of interesting places along the Apalachicola River. Some are in Jackson County and most of the others are less than one hour away.

You can access it by visiting http://civilwarflorida.blogspot.com.