(First entry, p. 34)

HISTORICAL SKETCH

Wakulla County lies in west-central Florida and extends from the Ochlockonee River eastward to the Gulf of Mexico. Broad swamps, rising but a few feet above the sea, form its coastal portion. The inland surface continues flat for many miles, gradually growing more diversified with rolling sand ridges and hills. Toward the northern corner of the county the land rises more than 50 feet above the sea.(1) The one recorded elevation in the eastern part is at St. Marks, which is only 8 feet above the sea.(2)

Lost Creek flows through the north-central portion of the county. Several natural bridges are formed by the alternate sinking and rising of this stream. Wakulla Springs, near Crawfordville, is one of the natural outlets of the deep waters in the county. It covers an area of about 4 acres and is 118 feet deep. Wakulla River originates in this spring. The Ochlockonee and Sopchoppy Rivers on the west receive the surface drainage of this division. Sprinkled over the north-central region are numerous sink holes and solution channels through which surface waters enter into underlying porous limestones. The St. Marks, Wakulla, and East Rivers form the principal drainage of the eastern portion.

The Apalachee, one of the principal native Indian tribes of Florida, maintained a town in the sixteenth century at the site of the present St. Marks, and it was here that the explorer, Narvaez, embarked in 1528, followed 11 years later by Hernando de Soto. Until after the year 1600, these Indians successfully resisted Spanish occupancy, but finally were subdued and accepted the Christian faith presented to them by the Spanish.(4) Subsequently, San Marcos de Apalache, or St. Marks, became the  most important mission station in Florida.(5) A rude fort was erected by the Spanish at St. Marks, in 1677.(6) In 1704 the English governor of South Carolina with his allies, the Creeks, invaded the settlement reducing it to ruins, including the fort.(7) The entrance of this tribe,

------------------------------------------

1. George Charlton Matson and Samuel Sanford, "Geology and Ground Waters of Florida," Florida State Geological Survey, Annual Report, Water Supply Paper 319, 1913, p. 420; the Ochlockonee River was formerly spelled Ocklockonee and Ocklocknee.

2. E. H. Sellards and Herman Gunter, "The Underground Water Supply of West-Central and West Florida," Florida State Geological Survey, Annual Report, 1912, p. 140.

3. Ibid., p. 140.

4. Frederick Webb Hodge, "Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico," pt. 1, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin No. 30, 1910, p. 67.

5. Ibid., pt. 2, p. 499.

6. Mark F. Boyd, "The Fortification at San Marcos de Apalache," Florida Historical Society Quarterly, XV, no. 1 (July 1936), 32.

7. Hodge, op. cit., pt. 1, p. 68; pt. 2, p. 449.

2

(First entry, p.34)

Historical Sketch

named Creeks by the English because of the numerous streams in Alabama and Georgia, their early country,(8) was apparently the beginning of the end of the Apalachee, for they were supplanted by the Creeks in this region(9) and the Scotch-Indian, Alexander McGillivray, became the celebrated Creek chief.(10) Before the close of the eighteenth century, the remnants of the Apalachee were fugitives among these other tribes, and fled for protection to the French at Mobile.(11) The Seminoles, composed originally of immigrants from the Lower Creek towns on the Chattahoochee River, were classed with the Lower Creeks until 1775, when they began to be recognized by their present name.(12) This tribe was known to have been in Wakulla County as late as 1839.(13)

The first attempt of the Spanish to colonize the region which is now in Wakulla County was in 1677, when Governor Pablo de Hita Salazar erected a primitive fort on Apalachee Bay and garrisoned it with a detachment of 13 men.(14) This is evidently the fort that was destroyed by Col. James Moore in 1704, since it was following his invasion that the chief of the Apalachees induced the Spanish governor to build a fort at St. Marks. It was finished in 1718 and named San Marcos de Apalache.(15) Spanish settlement in this county really began with this second structure.(16) Within the walls of this small wooden rectangle of about 60 feet square with four bastions were a church, a lookout, a storehouse, and barracks.

The fact that the building was inadequate, situated as it was at the concourse of the two rivers and on swamp land where it was subjected to floods, doubtless persuaded the governor to begin the construction of a stone fortification. Some time after 1738, it was started, but was evidently incomplete in 1758, since the garrison was quartered in the old wooden fort, which was flooded that year, drowning 40 men.(17) In

-----------------------------------

8. Hodge, op. cit., pt. 1, 362.  

9. Boyd, loc. cit., p. 14.

10. Lawrence Kinnaird, "The Significance of William Augustus Bowles' Seizure of Panton's Apalachee Store in 1792," in Florida Historical Socity Quarterly, IX, no. 3 (Jan. 1931), 156.

11. Hodge, op. cit., pt. 1, p. 68; Boyd, loc. cit., p. 14. 12. Hodge, op. cit., pt. 2, p. 500.

13. The Daily National Intelligencer, XXVII (1839) 3.

14. Boyd, op. cit., p. 32.

15. Caroline Brevard and H. E. Bennett, History and Government of  Florida, pp. 72, 73.

16. Daniel G. Brinton, A Guide-Book of Florida and the South for Tourists, Invalids and Emigrants, p. 86.

17. Boyd, loc. cit., pp. 8, 9.

3

Historical Sketch

(First entry, p.34)

1763 the Spanish relinquished Florida to the English,(18) and an European traveler who passed that way 20 years afterwards wrote that the old Spanish town was almost in ruins.(19)

During the early part of the second Spanish regime, 1783, their officials signed a treaty with the Creeks whereby the Indians permitted the Spaniards to reoccupy the fort of St. Marks. In 1785 the Spaniards added Apalache to the jurisdiction of West Florida but they [apparently] did not reoccupy the old fort until 1787.(20) St. Marks and the adjacent islands ceased to be under Spanish rule in July 1821.(21)

In 1783, Charles McLatchy, a member of the British firm of Panton, Leslie and Company, established a trading post near St. Marks, and the following year through the intercession of Creek influence, official Spanish approval was granted for the continuance of the post.(22) Panton, Leslie, and their associates were allowed to remain in Florida after the other British subjects had left, merely by taking an oath of allegiance. At that time this fort served the two-fold purpose of protecting Panton's nearby store and of preventing contraband trade between the Indians and the British of the Bahamas.

A loss of something over ten thousand dollars was sustained by the post in 1792 when the young adventurer, William Augustus Bowles, with William Cunningham and a band of Indians, seized it.(23) Bowles was an agent for the British merchants at New Providence, who were waging commercial warfare against the house of Panton.(24) This house was succeeded by John Forbes and Company, and, in 1804, the Indians granted to them a tract of land in payment(25) which included also the islands on the coast, about 1,427,000 acres in all, in which not only Wakulla but four other counties were later organized.(26)

--------------------------------------------

18. Robert Ranson, Chronology of the Most Important Events Connected with Florida History during Four Hundred and Seventeen Years, 1513 to 1900, p. 18.

19. Johann David Schopf, Travels in the Confederation (1783-1784), p. 236.

20. Boyd, loc. cit., p. 14.

21. Niles Weekly Register, XX (1821), 404-405.

22. Boyd, loc. cit., p. 14.

23. Lawrence Kinnaird, "The Significance of William Augustus Bowles' Seizure of Panton's Apalache Store in 1792," Florida Historical Society Quarterly, IX, no. 3 (Jan. 1931), 156, 167.

24. Ibid., p. 156.

25. 'The Forbes Purchase, Letter from James Innerarity to William Simpson, Pensacola, Sept. 24, 1804," Florida Historical Society Quarterly, X, no. 2 (Oct. 1931), 102, 106.

26. Terr. Acts, 1845, p. 91; "The Forbes Purchase, Letter from James Innerarity to William Simpson," loc. cit., 102, 106.

4

(First entry, p. 34)

Historical Sketch

There was a tragic note in the final exit of the British from Apalache, in 1818. That year General Jackson, who had led an army into Florida against the Seminoles, captured the fort at St. Marks, and with it two British subjects, Alexander Arbuthnot, an Indian trader, and Robert Ambrister. These men were court martialed and speedily executed upon the charge of their having incited the Indians to hostility toward the Americans.(27)

After the United States acquired Florida in 1821, the land commissioners refused to recognize the Forbes Grant(28) which covered Wakulla County and included Fort St. Marks;(29) therefore, the county was mainly settled before the United States courts confirmed this claim.(30) Some of these settlers had entered and paid for large tracts of land,(31) but after the Supreme Court upheld the claim of the litigants of Forbes and Company, in 1835, reserving the fort and some 305 acres of adjacent land on which a townsite was laid out,(32) the settlers were reimbursed by this government.(33)

The town of Magnolia was founded during the period of the first settlement, about 1828. Augustus Steele, newspaper publisher, and the Hamlin brothers, were among the pioneers.(34) The place had an ephemeral existence, its foundation undoubtedly having been shaken by the crashing of the Merchants and Planters Bank there, in 1834.(35)

By this time St. Marks was important as a port of shipment and entry for cotton, being the destination of a long train of freighted wagons from the plantations of Middle Florida and lower Georgia.(36)

---------------------------------------

27. A. H. Phinney, "The Second Spanish-American War," Florida Historical Society Quarterly, V, no 2 (Oct. 1926), 105.

28. Work Projects Administration, Historical Records Survey, Spanish Land Grants in Florida, I, 133; American State Papers, Public Lands (Duff Green edition), IV, 94 et seq.

29. Resolution XIII, Terr. Acts, 1845, p. 91; Boyd, loc. cit., p. 26.

30. The claim west of the Apalachicola River was declared invalid, but that on the east bank was confirmed. See Work Projects Administration, Historical Records Survey, Spanish Land Grants in Florida, III, 132; American State Papers, op. cit., IV, 86; 9 Peters 711; 15 Peters 173.

31. Resolution XIII, Terr. Acts, 1845, p. 91.

32. Boyd, loc. cit., p. 26.

33. Resolution XIII, Terr. Acts, 1845, p. 91.

34. See John Kilgore, "Leon County's Newspapers," Tallahassee Historical Society Annual, IV, (1939), 72; J. H. Randolph, "Modern St. Marks," The Semi-Tropical, II, (July 1876), 409.

35. Rowland H. Rerick, Memoirs of Florida, II, 46.

36. Caroline Mays Brevard, A History of Florida from the Treaty of 1763 to Our Own Times, I, 105.

5

Historical Sketch

(First entry, p. 34)

Public roads were opened and improved to render transportation into this port less difficult, but the volume of business transacted between the country lying northward and St. Marks demanded a quicker means of conveyance, and through the influence of Governor Call,(37) a railroad was built from Tallahassee through St. Marks to Port Leon [on Apalachee Bay](38) in 1837, and this diverted the commercial interest of the interior to the new town, which later became the railroad terminus.(39)  

The Seminole War was in full swing by this time. There was an army depot at Port Leon,(40) and the populace at St. Marks had their share of terror.(41) Upon the heels of this, a flood overwhelmed both St. Marks and Port Leon in 1843, compelling the inhabitants to form the town of New Port, several miles up the St. Marks River.(42) Here settled some of the best people of Florida.(43) Daniel Ladd, a delegate to the Secession Convention,(44) owned an iron foundry here.(45) The sulphur springs invited health seekers and New Port expanded into a fashionable resort, flourishing in 1847,(46) and succeeding St. Marks in commercial importance.(47)

In the meantime, Congress was asked for an appropriation toward the erection of a marine hospital "at or near the town of New Port."(48) By 1853 this idea had not matured, as the collector of the port at St. Marks stressed in his report of that year the need of a seamen's hospital, which was built some time before or during the Civil War. It was damaged by a hurricane in later years, and no longer exists.(49) In 1860, New

---------------------------------------

37. E. H. Sellards, "Geology between the Ocklocknee and Aucilla Rivers in Florida," Florida State Geological Survey, Annual Report, 1917, p. 91.

38. Brevard, op. cit., I, 105.

39. Alice Whitman, "Transportation in Territorial Florida," Florida Historical Society Quarterly, XVII, no. 1 (July 1938), 44.

40. John T. Sprague, The Origin, Progress and Conclusion of the Florida War, p. 332.

41. Joseph B. James, "Edmund Kirby-Smith's Boyhood in Florida," Florida Historical Society Quarterly, XIV, no. 4 (April 1936), 252.

42. Terr. Acts, 1845, Resolution XV, p. 92.

43. Randolph, loc. cit., p. 410.

44. "Journal of the Proceedings of the Convention of the People of Florida," p. 5.

45. Mary W. Keen, "Some Phases of Life in Leon County During the Civil War," Tallahassee Historical Society Annual, 1939, IV, 22.

46. "A Journal of the Tenth Annual Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Florida, 1847," p. 27.

47. Terr. Acts, 1844, Resolution XLVII, p. 93.

48. Terr. Acts, 1845, Resolution XLVII, p. 93.

49. Boyd, loc. cit., p. 26.

6

(First entry, p. 34)

Historical Sketch

Port began to decline, due to a lack of resources,(50) caused by the construction of other railroads outside the county.(51) Then came the War between the States.

Following the closing of the port at St. Marks by blockade, in 1861, the Confederates seized the Tallahassee railroad,(52) and were active in manufacturing salt on St. Marks Bay, and Goose Creek, until these works were demolished by the Federal navy. The loss to the Confederacy was estimated at $3,000,000.(53) The railroad was also temporarily demolished by Sherman's army in 1864.(54) The most important attempt on Fort St. Marks, which the Confederates had renamed "Fort Ward," occurred in 1865.(55) Gen. William Miller, in command, upon learning of the landing of the Federals at St. Marks, was impelled to call out the cadets of the State seminary, together with old men, to defend Tallahassee, as few companies of regulars were available at this time for resistance. The battle at Natural Bridge, over the St. Marks River, ensued, resulting in victory for the Confederates. This practically ended Florida's part in the War between the States.(56)

With the declaration of peace the port at St. Marks,(57) long known as "The Spanish Hole,"(58) was reopened to trade, only to be halted by a fire in 1868, which aided in its reduction to a mere fishing village, where an oyster industry was conducted in 1872, and a train from Tallahassee arrived tri-weekly.(59)

About 1875 efforts to restore New Port to its former prosperity resulted in improvements at the springs and the opening of a hotel. Among the few residents there at the time were Reverend Charles Beecher, former State Superintendent of Public Instruction,(60) J. B. Oliver, and Mrs. Mary Archer.(61) Sopchoppy, in the interior, was the

-------------------------------------

50. Randolph, loc. cit., p. 410.

51. Rerick, op. cit., I, 226; II, 219.

52. "Investigation of St. Marks Harbor &c.," Tallahassee Historical Society Annual, 1935, II, 48-49.

53. Ella Lonn, "The Extent and Importance of Federal Naval Raids on Salt-Making in Florida, 1862-1865," Florida Historical Society Quarterly, X, no. 4 (April 1932), 178-179.

54. "Investigation of St. Marks Harbor &c.," loc. cit., II, 48-49.

55. Boyd, loc. cit., p. 29.

56. William Watson Davis, The Civil War and Reconstruction in Florida, pp. 314-315.

57. "Investigation of St. Marks Harbor &c.," loc. cit., II, 48-49.

58. Randolph, loc. cit., p. 411.

59. "Investigation of St. Marks Harbor &c.," loc. cit., II, 49.

60. Florida Superintendent of Public Instruction, Biennial Report, 1894, p. 44.

61. John L. Crawford, "Wakulla County--Inducements to Immigrants," The Semi-Tropical, I, (Sept. 1875), 44.

7

Historical Sketch

(First entry, p. 34)

largest town in the county in 1884. Curtis Mills, Smith Creek, Sopchoppy, and Wakulla Springs were post offices;(62) Ben Haden, Ochlockonee, and Shell Point were merely small communities at that time.

By 1895 another railroad, the Florida Central and Peninsular, was cutting through the center of the country,(63) and this line, called The Carrabelle, Tallahassee and Georgia Railroad in 1902, made connections with boat lines at Carrabelle for Apalachicola, Mobile and Columbus, Georgia.(64) Some years later the name was again changed to the Georgia, Florida and Alabama Railroad. Both this and the old Tallahassee Railway have been absorbed by the Seaboard Air Line System.(65)

Wakulla County was formed by an act of the legislature, approved March 11, 1843, from that part of Leon County included within the following boundaries: "Beginning at the Gulf, thence north on the range line between range two and three, until it intersects the north boundary of section twenty-four, township two, range two, south and east; thence due west on that line, until it strikes the Ocklockonee river; thence, down the river until it strikes the Gulf; and thence, along the line of the Gulf, to the point of commencement (including islands),..."(66) The same session of the legislature that approved the creative boundary, altered it by returning to Leon County two sections, "To commence at the northern line of section thirty-six, in township two, range two, South and East, and thence due West on said line to Ocklockonee River, which boundary shall be in the place of the northern line of said county specified in the Act establishing said county."(67) Minor changes were again made in the boundary in 1849 and 1851.(68)

The present boundaries of Wakulla County were designated by special legislative amendment in 1851, and are described as: "Beginning at the Gulf; thence north on the range line between ranges two and three until it intersects the north boundary of section thirty-six, township two, range two, south and east; thence due west on that line to the railroad leading from Tallahassee to St. Marks; thence along said railroad two sections north; thence west along the section line to the Ocklockonee river; thence down the river till it strikes the Gulf and thence along the line of the Gulf to the point of commencement (including islands),..."(69)

---------------------------------

62. See Wanton S. Webb, Historical, Industrial and Biographical Florida, pp. 111-112; J. M. Hawks, The Florida Gazetteer, p. 100.

63. Florida Comptroller, Annual Report, 1895, p. 24.

64. Rerick, op. cit., II, 364.

65. Ibid., II, 364; Sectional Map of Florida, 1938.

66. Terr. Acts, 1843, pp. 29, 30.

67. Terr. Acts, 1843, p. 33. For spelling of "Ocklockonee" see supra, p. 1, n. 1.

68. Acts, 1849, ch. 288, secs. 1-2; Acts, 1851, ch. 414, sec. 1.

69. R. G. S., 1920, sec. 25.

8

(First entry, p. 34)

Historical Sketch

The act establishing Wakulla County provided that Port Leon should be the temporary county seat, and that it should remain so until a permanent site should be established by three commissioners.(70) In that same year, 1843, Port Leon was being devastated by a flood and the residents moved to New Port, which became the county seat.(71)

Because New Port was not centrally situated, disapproval brought forth another enactment in 1845, providing for the town to remain the county site until the commissioners should select a new one, when a majority popular vote would determine either New Port or the new site.(72) A further passage authorized the commissioners to purchase land and lay off lots to be sold, and to build a courthouse and jail at the site selected.(73) For the county seat the commissioners evidently agreed upon Lost Creek [which was probably situated upon the stream of the same name], but it was not accepted. A few years later, in order to learn "more fully....the will of the people," the judge of probate ordered an election in which New Port versus Lost Creek was the issue.(74)

The assumption is that New Port continued as the county seat until after the war, when an act specified as commissioners: R. W. Ashmore, Kader Kersey, Noah Posey, T. F. Swearington, W. W. Walker, Abijah Hall, and H. L. Henderson, and instructed them to convene at the Shell Point Methodist Church for the purpose of selecting a permanent county seat.(75) Shell Point was the original name of the present county seat. It was later named Crawfordville for John L. Crawford, Secretary of State for many years, and State Senator.(76) A fire, in 1892, destroyed the courthouse and all but a few of the early records.(77)

The name of the county, which was thought to mean "mystery," was suggested by Wakulla Springs.(78) The spring, which probably exceeds in depth all others in Florida, is so clear that objects at the bottom are plainly visable.(79) These facts, combined with the presence of the

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70. Terr. Acts, 1843, pp. 29-30.

71. Terr. Acts, 1845, Resolution XV, p. 92.

72. Terr. Acts, 1845, p. 48.

73. Acts, 1848-49, ch. 286, sec. 1.

74. Acts, 1852-53, ch. 553, sec. 1.

75. Acts, 1865-66, ch. 1518, sec. 1-2.

76. H. Clay Crawford, "Reminiscences of Crawfordville and Wakulla County Forty-Eight Years Ago" (Ms.), Margaret Thomas, owner, Tallahassee, n. d., p. 6.

77. Deed Record, see entry 37.

78. Charles Ledyard Norton, A Handbook of Florida, p. 98.

79. E. H. Sellards, "Geology between the Ocklocknee and Aucilla Rivers in Florida," Florida State Geological Survey, Annual Report, 1917, p. 113.

9

Historical Sketch

(First Entry, p. 34)

eerie cypress swamp, over which "formerly hovered at intervals a column of smoke which various theories have attempted to explain, none of which are susceptible of proof,"(80) was apparently the basis of the supposed significance of the word "Wakulla." A more recent authority on the Indian language expresses doubt that "mystery" is the interpretation of "Wakulla," and gives loon, the fish-eating bird, which winters in Florida, as the possible meaning.(81) A still later publication states that "Wakulla" is a corruption of "Guacara," which was the name of an ancient  Indian tribe in Florida.(82)

The population in Wakulla County in 1850 was 1,955 of whom 790 were slaves and 1 a free Negro. By 1870 the Negro population had increased 19 percent, and the white 34 percent, the former comprising 37 percent of the total population of 2,506. Of this number, 61 percent were Florida-born, 35.9 percent came from Georgia, North and South Carolina, Alabama and Virginia, and only 3.1 percent from other states.(83) The figures fluctuated between 1870 and 1915, when the peak of 7,606 was attained. By 1925 the population had fallen to 5,811, but reached 6,083 in 1935.(84) The 1935 state census reported the population of Wakulla County as 82 percent Florida-born. In 1935 Negroes made up 41 percent of the total. Of the foreign-born, Canadians and Germans constituted the largest element.(85)

In this county in 1870, 36.7 percent of the inhabitants over 10 years of age cound not read, and 40 percent could not write. Of the latter number 27.5 were white.(86) In 1920 the total percentage of illiterates in the county was 19.6 and this figure was reduced to 12.3 during the next decade. Negroes comprised the larger element of illiterates in 1930, the percentage being 23.9 as contrasted with a 3.9 illiteracy rate for the whites.(87)

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80. Rerick, op. cit., II, 365.

81. William A. Read, Florida Place-Names of Indian Origin and Seminole Personal Names, p. 37.

82. Works Progress Administration, Florida Federal Writers' Project, Florida: A Guide to the Southernmost State, p. 486.

83. U. S. Bureau of the Census, Ninth Census of the United States; 1870, Population and Social Statistics, I, 18-19, 349.

84. Florida Commissioner of Agriculture, Sixth Census of the State of Florida, 1935, pp. 10-11, 56.

85. Ibid., pp. 106, 118.

86. U. S. Bureau of the Census, Ninth Census of the United States; 1870, Population and Social Statistics, I, 405.

87. U. S. Bureau of the Census, Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930, Population, III, pt. I, p. 415.

10

(First entry, p. 34)

Historical Sketch

Although the public school system had been fairly well established in Florida by 1860, the Wakulla County superintendent reported that the county had levied a tax for common-school purposes, but that no children had attended school that year. A county school board had been organized by 1870,(88) with the following officers: S. D. Allen, chairman, William McRay, W. P. Casseaux, and F. M. Williams. The local superintendent was D. W. Core.(89) There were 135 persons attending school that year, 19 of whom were Negroes.(90) In 1871 Rev. Charles Beecher, of New Port, was appointed State Superintendent to fill the unexpired term of Superintendent Chase.(91) In his report that year, he made the statement, which might well apply to this county, that one of the major obstacles to educational progress in Florida was the need of suitable textbooks, and that the miscellany furnished by the parents would provoke laughter were it not for the pain and harassment such a condition brought to teacher and pupil. He added that in one county the only uniform textbook in constant use was Webster's Elementary Speller.(92)

Crawfordville maintained a private day school in 1875.(93) In 1905 there were 32 public schools in the county, taught by 32 teacher for an average term of less than 5 months. The total value of school property was $9,222 and the total school expenditures were $6,322.(94) In 1936-37 there were 32 schools, taught by 44 teachers for an average term of 8 months. The total value of school property was $179,670 and the total school expenditures amounted to $99,554.(95)

In 1870 there were 11 organized churches in Wakulla County with the same number of church buildings, totaling a seating capacity of 650. The denominational divisions were Baptist, 6, and Methodist, 5.(96) The Baptist teaching continues to predominate in the county, 52 of its 87 churches being of that denomination, while 18 are of Methodist faith.

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88. Thomas E. Cochran, History of Public School Education in Florida, pp. 23-24, 27, 52.

89. J. M. Hawks, The Florida Gazetteer, p. 101.

90. U. S. Bureau of the Census, Ninth Census of the United States, 1870, Population and Social Statistics, I, 405.

91. Florida Superintendent of Public Instruction, Biennial Report, 1894, p. 13.

92. Cochran, op. cit., p. 69.

93. John L. Crawford, "Wakulla County--Inducements to Immigrants," Semi-Tropical, I, (Sept. 1875), 44.

94. Florida Superintendent of Public Instruction, Biennial Report, 1906, ch. III, Tables II, VII, XIII, XVII, XXVIII. 95. Ibid., 1938, pt. II, pp. 121, 137, 145, 153, 169.

96. U. S. Bureau of the Census, Ninth Census of the United States, 1870, Population and Social Statistics, I, 533.

11

Historical Sketch

(First entry, p. 34)

There are also 17 non-denominational assemblies.(97)

The sulphur spring at New Port, which attracted tourists in the early years, (98) has recaptured some of its popularity and many improvements have been made there. At Panacea is a group of springs, no two of which furnish water of the same mineral content. This is a health resort, and water is bottled for sale.(99) In former times tobacco was a lucrative product of the fields, and much attention was given to the cultivation of the wild grape.(1) Grapes continue to be grown and, excepting watermelons, are the only salable fruit.(2) Fish of all varieties abound in the inlets, and shell fish especially are readily marketed.(3) It is a large-scale industry and is carried on about 4 months in the year.(4) At. St. Marks, Wakulla Beach, and Panacea, there are wholesale fish houses. The county has 12 [commercial] fisheries.

The principal sources of revenue for many years were lumber and naval stores, and notwithstanding that the timber production has been somewhat curtailed,(5) lumber mills and naval stores still operate in the county on a commercial basis.(6) Wakulla County has long had the reputation of being one of the best sugar producing counties in Florida, of which over 4,000 pounds per acre were made at one time.(7) Sugar cane is now a marketable product.(8) In 1870, Wakulla County had 183 farms ranging from 3 to 100 acres, with one having 500 acres. The value of all farm products was estimated at $109,329, and the total value of all livestock, including 2,576 stock cattle, 299 sheep, and 3,800 swine, was $64,031.(9) In 1937, there were 249 farms averaging less than 100 acres in size. The total value of field and truck crops was $78,843, while

--------------------------------

97. Work Projects Administration, Florida Historical Records Survey, A Preliminary List of Religious Bodies in Florida, pp. 229-231.

98. H. C. Rippey, "Middle Florida," Semi-Tropical, II, (Feb. 1876), 97.

99. E. H. Sellards, "Geology Between The Ocklocknee and Aucilla Rivers in Florida," Florida State Geological Survey, Annual Report, 1917,  pp. 113-114.  

1. J. M. Hawks, The Florida Gazetter, p. 100.  

2. Florida Commissioner of Agriculture, Report of Manufacturing in Florida, 1937, p. 57.  

3. Rerick, op. cit., p. 364  

4. Florida Commissioner of Agriculture, Florida, by B. E. McLin, 1904, 591 pp.  

5. Florida Commissioner of Agriculture, North and Northwest Florida, n. d., p. 127.  

6. Florida Commissioner of Agriculture, Report of Manufacturing in Florida, 1937, p. 57.  

7. H. C. Rippey, "A Trip to Wakulla County," Semi-Tropical, II, (May 1876), 268.  

8. Florida Commissioner of Agriculture, Florida, loc. cit. 9. U. S. Bureau of the Census, Ninth Census of the United States, 1870, Statistics of Wealth and Industry, II, 116-117, 348.

12

(First entry, p. 34)

Historical Sketch

10,394 stock cattle were valued at $143,925.(10) From the sale of poultry and hogs the county derives a substantial income, the latter being in greater demand than any other farm product.(11)

The towns in Wakulla County that are known to be no longer functioning as municipal corporations but for which no records of abolishment have been found are, Fort St. Marks, incorporated in 1827,(12) Magnolia, incorporated in 1828,(13) and its Charter amended in 1829(14) and 1831;(15) New Port, incorporated in 1844,(16) and reincorporated in 1855;(17) and Port Leon, incorporated in 1841,(18) and reincorporated in 1843.(19) The town of St. Marks was first incorporated in 1833.(20) The next year the charter was amended;(21) it was reincorporated in 1837,(22) and again in 1927.(23) Sopchoppy, the largest town in the  county,(24) was incorporated in 1905,(25) incorporation was validated in 1907,(26) and was abolished in 1918.(27)

The earliest available tax figures for Wakulla County, reported in 1886, show the assessed valuation of all property as $373,662, of which $4,326.76 was the value of real estate.(28) The figures for 1928 showed the assessed valuation of all property as $1,190,064; and of real estate

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10. Florida Commissioner of Agriculture, Agricultural Statistics of Florida, Twenty-first Census, 1936-37, pp. 189-211.

11. Florida Commissioner of Agriculture, North and Northwest Florida, n. d., p. 127.

12. Terr. Acts, 1826-1827, p. 130; for the list of towns herewith given see also Work Projects Administration, Historical Records Survey, A List of Municipal Corporations in Florida, pp. 29, 49, 56, 67, 72, 76.

13. Terr. Acts, 1828, pp. 289-292.

14. Terr. Acts, 1829, pp. 117-118.

15. Terr. Acts, 1831, p. 36.

16. Terr. Acts, 1844, pp. 3-6.

17. Acts, 1855, ch. 772.

18. Terr. Acts, 1841, pp. 26-31.

19. Terr. Acts, 1843, pp. 25-26.

20. Terr. Acts, 1833, pp. 102-104.

21. Terr. Acts, 1834, p. 70.

22. Terr. Acts, 1837, pp. 6-8.

23. Acts, 1927, ch. 13373.

24. Florida Commissioner of Agriculture, Sixth Census of the State of Florida, 1935, Table 4, p. 156.

25. Miscellaneous Record, vol. 1, 1892-1932, pp. 158-159, see entry 57.

26. Acts, 1907, ch. 5850.

27. Municipal Charters [Secretary of State], vol. 1, pp. 5-6.

28. Florida Comptroller, Annual Report, 1886, pp. 24-25.

13

Governmental Organization and Records

System

(First Entry, p. 34)  

as $871,380.(29) There was a marked reduction in assessed valuations by 1938, the total valuation being $563,315, and that of real estate, $713,500. Of the last amount, $258,045 was the assessed valuation of lands under tax sale certificates or exempted as homesteads.(30) Total taxes, including state taxes, for the years 1886, 1928, and 1938, were respectively: $4,326,(31) $84,224,(32) and $19,373.(33)

GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION AND RECORDS

SYSTEM

The present Constitution of Florida recognizes the county as a political division of the State Government.(1) The county is created by an act of the State Legislature and its governmental powers and functions are limited to constitutional provisions and the specific authority enumerated in the several legislative acts concerning its creation and perpetuation.(2) The Constitution provides for a uniform system of county government with certain exceptions when the matter or thing affected is of local nature or concern.(3)

The board of county commissioners is the general administrative body of the county, the composition of which body and its members' terms of office are uniform throughout the State.(4) Its powers extend to virtually every function of the county's affairs. The supreme court has said "It is the agency through which the county performs its usual functions of government."(5) The clerk of the circuit court is ex officio clerk of the board and auditor of the county.(6)

Among the many powers vested in the board are the powers to prosecute and defend all legal causes which the county [is] interested in, or

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29. Ibid., 1929, p. 413.

30. Ibid., 1939, p. 169.

31. Ibid., 1886, p. 25.

32. Ibid., 1929, p. 217.

33. Ibid., 1939, p. 169.  

1. Const., 1885, art. VIII, secs. 1-2.  

2. Payne v Washington County, 25 Florida 198, 6 So. 881 (1889); Jackson Lumber Co. v Walton County, 95 Florida 632; 116 So. 771 (1928); Amos, State Comptroller et al v Mathews, 99 Florida 1, 126 So. 30 (1930).  

3. Const., 1885, art. III, secs. 20-22, 24.  

4. Const., 1885, art. VIII, sec. 5.  

5. Jackson Lumber Company v Walton County, 95 Florida 632, 116 So. 771 (1928).  

6. Const., 1885, art. V, sec. 15.