Promotional booklet for attractions along U. S. Highway 98 in Florida, circa 1959

Fishing

Real estate

Promotional brochure for business and attractions along U. S. Highway 98 in the Florida Panhandle.

U. S. Highway 98 Association, Inc.

State Library of Florida, Florida Ephemera Collection

Hull, George W.

1959

Keightley, Fred

booklets

eng-US

text

sle_fairs-festivals-shows_02

Postwar Florida (1945-1968)

Pensacola (Fla.)

Fort Walton Beach (Fla.)

Destin (Fla.)

Panama CIty (Fla.)

Panama City Beach (Fla.)

Port Saint Joe (Fla.)

Apalachicola (Fla.)

Carrabelle (Fla.)

Lanark (Fla.)

Panacea (Fla.)

Perry (Fla.)

Escambia County (Fla.)

Okaloosa County (Fla.)

Bay County (Fla.)

Gulf County (Fla.)

Franklin County (Fla.)

Wakulla County (Fla.)

Taylor County (Fla.)

Florida Panhandle

Emerald Coast (Fla.)

Forgotten Coast (Fla.)

Nature Coast (Fla.)

Fort Pickens (Fla.)

Miracle Strip (Fla.)

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Tourism and Promotion

Flamingo Bar and Package (Fort Walton Beach, Fla.)

Chuck Clary's Bayview Supper Club (Fort Walton Beach, Fla.)

The Dog Island Company (Tallahassee, Fla.)

Wilson's Beach Cottages (Fla.)

Aqua Sports Arena (Fort Walton Beach, Fla.)

Ruth and Hub's Service Station (Crawfordville, Fla.)

Tallahassee Yacht Club (Panacea, Fla.)

Vause Grocery (Panacea, Fla.)

Southern Dunes Development Corporation (Panacea, Fla.)

Dykes Smoke House (Panacea, Fla.)

Panacea Courts (Fla.)

Kingfish Lodge (Panacea, Fla.)

Lanark Auto Service (Fla.)

Woodlawn Gulf Station (Panama City, Fla.)

Holley's on U. S. Highway 98 (Panama City, Fla.)

Tennessee Motel and Gift Shop (Destin, Fla.)

Tower Beach Casino (Fort Walton Beach, Fla.)

Indian Mound Bar (Fort Walton Beach, Fla.)

Bay View Supper Club (Fort Walton Beach, Fla.)

Gulfarium (Fort Walton Beach, Fla.)

Patrick, T. P., Mrs.

Hale, Jean

Destin, Leonard, 1813-1884

Hull, Izabella M.

[Cover]
June 1959
U S Highway 98
Along Florida's Gulf Coast
"The Scenic Route"
[Illustration of Highway 98 along the Panhandle with cities marked on it and a compass with a seahorse in the middle]
Billy Bowlegs Festival
June, 11 - 12 - 13
Fort Walton Beach
Pensacola Quadricentennial
June-July
Pensacola Beach

[page 1]
The U. S. Highway 98 Association publication will be published monthly for the benefit of all attractions and events that are located on that segment of the highway between Pensacola and Perry Florida. The publication will be a media for the diseminating of information regarding events of interest to the traveler of the facilities that are available to him on this route. The circulation of this publication will be free to every source of origin out of state to promote the increase of traffic on the route. All memebers and advertisers will recieve a quantity of this publication to distribute as they see fit. The aim and purpose of the U. S. Highway 98 Association will be to increase traffic on the route throughout the whole year. Also to relay information to the travlor regarding special events that are and will take place in the various cities on the route. Letters to the editor will be accepted.
Publisher.......Geo. W. Hull
Editor.............Fred Keightley
Business Manager.....Izabella M. Hull
Published monthly through the editorial office of the U. S. Highway 98 Association, Inc. P. O. Box 122 Carrabelle, Florida. Buisness Office, Rt. 1, Box 28x, Tallahassee, Florida.

[page 2]
[Photograph of a boy lying on his belly on a pier playing with a stick in the water]
Enjoy the Billy Bowlegs Krewe and Visit the Flamingo
Flamingo Bar & Package
Downtown in Fort Walton Beach
On Scenic U S Highway 98
WELCOME TO THE PIRATES KREWE
While Here Visit the Miracle Strip's Stork Club
Chuck Clary's Bayview Supper Club
Fort Walton Beach, Fla. On Scenic U S Highway 98

[page 3]
Billy Bowlegs Festival Highlights June Event at Fort Walton Beach
A fun-filled weekend of “pirate captures,” sporting events, colorful parades, costume balls, beard shaving contest and many other events feature the 1959 Billy Bowlegs Festival.
Sponsored in past years by the Junior Chamber of Commerce, the event has grown to such proportions that it was placed in the hands of a city-wide steering committee this year. Now in its sixth year, the Festival will run from June 11-14.
Held in the past on Labor Day, the Festival annually attracts thousands of local people and visitors to see and join in the fun. Starting as a water ski show under the sponsorship of the City Recreation Department, it was a crowd pleaser from the start. Already too large for the Recreation Department, the Jaycees, in their first year as an organization, were asked to take over. The Jaycees adopted the pirate theme and the name of Billy Bowlegs for the next festival.
A spectacular start to the festival is provided when Billy Bowlegs and his Krewe of Bowlegs sail up the sound to take over the city and declare three days of fun and frolic. The festival is named after the infamous pirate, Billy Bowlegs, who once roamed the area waters.
The gay occasion ends three days later when the last pirate has slipped back into his own individual “ship.” Members of the Krewe ride the elaborate parade floats and appear at the varied events in elaborate and gaily colored costumes of satins, silks and velvets. From the Krewe membership, Billv Bowlegs is named to reign over the fiesta.
While final “negotiations” were not completed by press time, the Festival planning committee is trying to get Chuck Cabot and his “Ink Spots” with Betty Harmon, to provide entertainment during the gala event.
While “bigger and better” are adjectives used to describe the Bowlegs Festival every year, this year’s event truly promises to be the best ever.
FORT WALTON BEACH
SCHEDULLS PAGEANT
Feature attraction of the Playground Area is the Miss Northwest Florida beauty pageant which annually attracts thousands of visitors in July. Sponsored by the Kiwanis Club, the beauty contest is recognized throughout the southeast as one of the major attractions of the summer season along the white sandy beaches of Florida’s west coast.
Held at the Tower Beach Casino the contest attracts approximately
60 girls each year to vie for the crown of Miss Northwest Florida and the valuable prizes which go
with the title. Winners in past years have received beautiful loving cups and in addition, the first- place winner is awarded $150 in cash and a week’s paid vacation at Silver Beach Motel. one of the Miracle Strip’s plushiest vacation
spots.
A number of related activities such as the ball at the Community Center. and receptions have been included in events related to the contest in recent years.

[page 4]
Fishing for Free Along 98's Waterways
Exciting salt water fishing can be fond on Highway 98- and it doesn't have to be expensive. Probably on of the best spots is the Panacea Bridge, a mile long span crossing Ochlockonee Bay. Catwalks have been built on both sides of the bridge where the water is the deepest, and the visitor can fish removed from the hazards of traffic. On the road that turns left towards the mouth of the river at the Panacea Bridge is a long fishing pier, called Trade Winds Pier, where the fishing is also free. Bait, tackle, and refreshments are available, as well as a launching ramp for small boats. About nine miles across the bridge is Wilson's Beach, also with a fishing pier where there is no charge. This is an especially good spot for catching sheepshead, providing diffler crabs are available for bait. At Alligator Point, which is reached by a paved road just beyond the Panacea Brdige, surf fishing is often good, particularly in the spring. For those who don't want to fish, there is an interesting place at the end of the paved road beyond Trade Winds Pier. This is at the mouth of Ochlockonee Bay, and a large area is uncovered at low tide. Many forms of marine life may be found in the tidal pools, from baby horseshoe crabs to starfish.
Visit Beautiful
DOG ISLAND
"ON THE GULF"
Refreshment hut- bath-house- facilities, now on week-ends
Frequent ferry service from Carrabelle
Choice Beach Lots Still Available
The Dog Island Co
Box 750 Tallahassee, Fla.
[Photograph of Dog Island piers]

[page 5]
For the finest vacation you ever had! Wilson's Beach Cottages
1 2 and 3 bedroom cottages
By the day, week or month
Bathing beach - Fishing Pier - Grocery Store - Service Station - All Cottages Fully Equipt
For Reservations Call Carrabelle MYrtle 7-3876 or write Wilson Construction Co., Tallahassee, Fla.
Drive down Today to SOUTHERN DUNES on the gulf
Directly South of Tallahassee on the Gulf. a mile across the Panacea Bridge, SOUTHERN DUNES has 9000 feet of gleaming whitesand beaches, a dozen of the finest fishing lakes, and a third of a mile on Ocklockonee Bay. All lots are cleared, ready for immediate building at no additional expense to you. Asphalt roads are included in the base price.

[page 6]
RELIC OF PAST WARS, FOR PICKENS IS ATTRACTION FOR MANY VISITORS
Old brick Fort Pickens, on the western tip oi Santa Rosa Island, is a relic of a coast-defense system rendered obsolete by the invention of rifled cannon and armored battleships. The works were built to defend the important deep-water harbor of Pensacola against foreign attack, but the only times Pickens was ever under fire was during the War Between the States when Federal troops manned its guns against a domestic foe. It was one of the three Southern forts, all in Florida — the other two being Fort Taylor at Key West and Fort Jefferson on Dry Tortugas -——- that the Confederates were unable to seize.
Plans for the fortification of Pensacola Harbor were projected as early as 1822 in anticipation of the selection of Pensacola as the principal United States naval depot on the Gulf of Mexico. The plans, as finally matured, called for four forts—-one at Santa Rosa Island, a second on Foster’s Bank immediately opposite, and the third on the mainland in rear of the Old Spanish fort, San Carlos de Barrancas and one three fourth miles north. The first three commanded the water approach to Pensacola Harbor; the fourth was designed as a protection against land attack. These fortifications, later named Fort Pickens, Fort McRee (some government maps and records list it as “McRae’’), Fort Barrancas and Redoubt were built in that order between 1829 and 1844 under the supervision of Captain William H. Chase of the Corps of Army Engineers.
Fort Pickens was begun in June, 1829, and completed October 21, 1834, when it was garrisoned by
an artillery company of thirty-four men. Called simply the fort on Santa Rosa Island until it neared completion, it was named in 1833 in honor of Brigadier General Andrew Pickens of the South Carolina State Troops in the American Revolution. The original estimate of the cost of the works was $465,300. The actual initial cost, however, was $677,000, and subsequent improvements brought the total expenditures by the end
of 1844 to $759,168.
The fort was pentagonal in shape with a bastion at each of the five corners, and was complete with covert ways, a dry ditch, and
glacis. Its brick and “tabby” walls, forty feet high and twelve feet thick, were embrasured for one tier of guns in bombproof casemates and for one tier open or en barbette. It was designed to mount 250 guns and to accommodate a garrison of 600 men during ordinary warfare or 1,200 men under seige. A garrison of 50 men was considered sufficient in time of peace. During most of the time between its completion and the Civil War, however, the fort lacked even that modest complement, and
at the outset of the war it had been unoccupied for ten years.
Fort Pickens was used as a prison for military and political prisoners during the latter part of the Civil War. The return of
its garrison, only an ordnance sergeant being assigned as a caretaker. In 1875 Congress appropriated $25,000 for repairing the fort, which appears to have been garrisoned thereafter and again used as a military prison. The Apache, Geronimo, and some of his band were imprisoned for a time at Fort Pickens after their capture in 1886.

[page 7]
This is DESTIN
[Photograph of a woman] Mrs. T. P. Patrick U S 98 Assn. Rep. Panama City and the Beaches
[Photograph of a woman] Mrs. Jean Hale U S 98 Assn. Rep. Fort Walton Beach Destin Pensacola
Fun for Old and Young
Aqua Sports Arena, Wrestling Wednesday Nights over water 8:15
Amusement Park
Swimming, boating, bath house, new type water bikes
Across from Famous Gulfarium
Amusement Park at the Aqua Sports Arena Fort Walton Beach
Destin has been described as a state of mind rather than a geographical location and, to the thousands of vacationists who vis- it there annually, this description seems as apt as any.
To say that Destin is an unincorporated fishing village located some five miles east of Fort Wal-
ton Beach on U. 8S. Highway 98 is a precise beginning, but it conveys no hint of the treasures in store tor the visitor.
Destin, to be fully appreciated, has to be discovered and explored and many vacationists return, year after year, and find new charm end adventure with each visit.
The town was founded some 125 years ago by Captain Leonard Destin, a New England seafarer, seeking to establish a commercial fishery. Proof that he chose well is pointed up by the fact that the village he founded has come to be
known as “the luckiest fishing village on the Gulf Coast.”

[page 8]
Welcome to Billy Bowlegs Festival and Florida's Gulfarium
The Miracle Strip's Year Round Attraction
Fort Walton Beach On Scenic U S Highway 98
[Picture of men on a beach harvesting fish from a gill net]

[page 9]
[U. S. Highway 98 logo]
List of Members
U. S. 98 Association
CRAWFORDVILLE, FLA.
Ruth & Hub’s Service Station
PANACEA, FLA.
Tallahassee Yacht Club
Vause Grocery
Southern Dunes Development Corp.
Dykes Smoke House
Panacea Courts .
Kingfish Lodge
LANARK STATION, FLA.
Lanark Auto Service
PANAMA CITY, FLORIDA
Woodlawn Gulf Station
Holley’s on U. 8. Highway 98
DESTIN, FLA.
Tennessee Motel & Gift Shop
FT. WALTON BEACH, FLA.
Flamingo Lounge
Tower Beach Casino
Indian Mound Bar
Bay View Supper Club
Gulfarium

[page 10]
[Photograph of a man being buried in sand by three kids, as a fourth person looks on]
All along the Gulf Coast one will find comfortable accomodations on the beautiful white sand beaches. The average mean temperature is 68 degrees, where one can enjoy nine months of ideal weather. In the summer the breeze from the Gulf is a natural air-conditioner. Bathing in the clear blue water and suning on the whitest sand in the world attracts the young and old alike. The Miracle Strip between Pensacola Beach and Destin is fast becoming known for its fun for all and their season is lengthening every year. Fishing both surf and deep sea is known from coast to coast. The "fun Reserve" to motorists and families who travel U. S. Highway 98 between Pensacola and Perry have made this the Playground Area of the Gulf Coast. For a weekend or for weeks there is no other spot that affords more to the vacationer by the way of natural beauty than does this section. WIth its growth and continued effort all phases of fun lovers can be found along the Scenic Route. As one visiting out of stater put it, "If you have not seen it, you can not believe it."

[page 11]
East or West
Travel U. S. 98
"The Scenic Route"
Ao Northwest Florida's Beautiful Silver Beaches, to
Perry Panacea Lanark Carrabelle Apalachicola Port St. Joe Mexico Beach Panama City and beaches Destin Fort Walton Beach Pensacola
U. S. Highway 98 Association, Inc.