North Okaloosa Historical Association. PIONEER DAY in Dorcas, FL. 22 October Laurel Hill Oktoberfestival of the Arts 22 October 2011

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1 Svea, FL North Okaloosa Historical Association Near Laurel Hill, ca 1908 Bakerblockmuseum.org Winter Canoe Community, Church, ca 1920 Corner Rt 189 & SR 4 (850) Spring Website Stats: Pyron Chapel Community, 1915 bakermuseum@aol.com Summer Fall Contents: PIONEER DAY in Dorcas, FL. 22 October noon 4 p.m. at Dorcas Baptist Church Dorcas present, T3N, R22W, Sec. 35, P.O Settlement began in the mid-1800s. It thrived due the naval stores industries. Cattlemen would bring their stock to the area for grazing. Small family farms as well as turpentine stills dotted the area. Boothe, McSwain, Powell, Griner, Halford, Hart, Hinote, McCallum, McCellan, Miller, Spoon, Williams were among the pioneer families. At its zenith Dorcas had a school, general store, a Woodmen Hall which doubled as a church and a post office which opened in Two cemeteries. Laurel Hill Oktoberfestival of the Arts 22 October a.m. until 3 p.m. Held in the Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church Yard. Directions: Take 85 north ; at electronic street sign for Laurel Hill School (across the street from the 1905 Gallery buildings), turn right on 4th Street. Go 3 blocks down the street; on the left. Announcements Heritage Festival 5 Nov 2011 Floridale and the Twin Towers As I Remember It Series Local Surnames Series - Jernigan NEW Publication, Limited Edition

2 Annual Heritage Festival Saturday, 5 November a.m. 4 p.m. Corner Hwy 189 & SR 4 in Baker, FL. Pine Needle Baskets (Stephens) In the late 1930s when the CCC Camps were set up, we had them here in our area. Mr. Esmond Griner remembers finding a little pine needle purse in one of the make-shift barracks set up in Niceville FL. He says that is was popular among young girls, in those days, to make items for themselves from pine needles. Powder Horns, Knives (Burford) Knife collectors know the value of a well-made knife and are known to pay handsome prices to acquire them. Skilled craftsmen use all kinds of materials for the handle and the craftsmanship of their work is remarkable. Fried Pork Skins. (Red Rock Masonic Lodge, Munson) If you have never tried this local delicacy, now is the time. They were a big hit with folks last year! Local Honey (Tri-county Beekeepers Association, Shreves) Perhaps you have heard that local honey is an excellent deterrent for allergies. Get it here while you can. Native American history & artifacts. Not only will tribal Elder, Mr. Nathan Chessher, be here with exhibits and artifacts, other vendors will have jewelry and other Native American objects on display and for sale. Live Music sit under the large open tent and enjoy the performances. Bluegrass, gospel, country. And this is only the beginning! There will be vendors with Jams, jellies & baked goods; Pecans. The Flintknappers will be present. Make sure to see the Cornshuck dolls; Bull whips; Guitars & cowboy items; Naval stores displays; the Holt Boy Scouts will be with us. The Division of Forestry is bringing Smokey Bear and Alger-Sullivan will have a display and sale items. In all, there will be over 50 booths.

3 Floridale, FL. - A local Boomtown Did you know that in the 1920s investors began a large planned community hundreds of acres covering parts of present-day Okaloosa and Santa Rosa Counties? The source for much of this article is Floridale: The Rise and Fall of a Boom Community. * The Porter family - Ebenezer and sons Huston and Harold - moved to Holt, FL. from Kansas in After incorporating their real estate, farming and business activities in 1892, the elder Porter turned the business over to his sons. The family donated land for two churches and by 1912 they brought in Holt s first doctor, Dr. Mixon. The family helped organize a Woman s Club and set up a Chamber of Commerce. (Some time later, present-day Harold was named after son, Harold Porter.) Among their other business ventures, the Porters touted their Satsuma nursery as the coming successful fruit product of the area. In 1923 the Porters planned to have 2500 acres of the fruit planted as their chief income and that same year the family moved to Pensacola, FL. The next year son, Huston, traveled to Chicago to get investors and this was just the beginning. Porter would continue to run agricultural endeavors and new partner, Ringling and White, Inc. made plans for a poultry farm and a small village. (Ringling and White also had intentions to build a warm-weather home site for their circus concerns.) These were no small plans, either. At the time it was rumored that they would form the largest dairy farm in the world as part of their businesses. The partnership flourished as they rode the land boom and fruit fever in 1920s Florida. By 1926 when the building phase of their projects began to take shape as, unfortunately, the land boom in the State had begun to wane. But undeterred the group moved forward. Extensive plans and blueprints were drawn up and distributed during 1927 and the successful Kea-Ring Poultry Farm was doing well and even won awards for its products (eggs). That year a member of the famed Rockefeller Family visited the area and had good things to say about development. (continued.) The Floridale Towers, Floridale, FL

4 Plans for the idyllic community took shape. It was called, Floridale. And Ringling and White, Inc. didn t waste any time. The Floridale Plan was written and published in detail - Floridale The Year Round Colony in Florida. This 15-page brochure printed by Ringling And White, Inc. NYC., ( A copy has been donated to the museum by Pansy H. Cooper **). includes a photo of planned 5-acre poultry farms; plans and plats for the city of Floridale with surrounding farm lands. Plats were divided into two sections one north of the L&N railroad and the highway which would house industry, switches and freight houses. And the section south of the RR and hwy. was designated for residential homes and farms. Chief among anticipated agricultural produce was the Satsuma orange. In addition, plans also included ten-acre blueberry orchards and poultry farms; dairy farming and well designed residential areas, a hotel and much more. Tung oil trees were a later (failed) experiment. The power plant and lighting system for the Hotel Granada were almost finished when worked stopped when Ringling and White lost the mortgage on it in The Twin Towers as the locals called it had been built for the hotel. One was a water tower and the other contained the hydraulics for operating hotel services and other needs of the planned community. But, the fruit fever (as Rucker calls it) was over; the land boom was bust and a series of bad weather incidents (a hurricane and a long, hard winter freeze) helped bring on the demise of the Floridale community and all its plans. The looming Depression sealed the end to all those grand accomplishments and plans. Granada Hotel, Floridale, FL In the following years several business concerns attempted to profit from what was left of the properties, but to no great success. The old land plats for Floridale were vacated in 1954 and part of the hotel burned in the 1950s. The hotel ballroom remained until the 1960s and served as a weekend dinner theater and dance hall. In 1975 the water tower had become unstable. It was demolished due safety reasons. Today, the only physical evidence left on site is a small sign along the railroad tracks, Floridale. * Floridale: The Rise and Fall of a Boom Community, by Brian Rucker, PhD. Patagonia Press, 200l, is now out of print. However, the museum research library has one copy. You ll be surprised and amazed to read the elaborate and fascinating details of just what all was planned for this model community. Come in to the library and read what Brian has written. ** Included in Pansy Cooper s donated items are copies of Letters of Support to the developers, Porter Interests of Florida and Ringling & White, Inc. Written in , these letters include: Chamber of Commerce of Rock Island, Ill.; Agricultural Appraisal Co. of Columbus OH; United States Marshal, Northwestern District of Florida, DOJ; and Krentzmans Department Store, Milton, FL., among others.

5 AS I REMEMBER IT - THE FLORIDALE TOWERS Norman Ware, who is in his mid-eighties and his wife Ima Lou, stopped in to the museum the week before the Fourth of July. He brought with them an original painting of the Floridale Towers. According to Ware, his father Willie Ware, who was an architect, helped build the towers. Norman was one of eight children four boys and four girls. They grew up in the Milton area. Norman says that his father told him that Al Capone had the Floridale Towers built. He goes on to say that there aren t many pictures of the twin towers. The towers - one burned and the other was later torn down are gone now. Normal tells the story that the taller tower had a flag. If it was flying the outlaws could get off at Floridale; if the flag wasn t flying they would just continue on and go on to Milton or Pensacola. Norman didn t elaborate on what kinds of nefarious activities the outlaws might be planning. Seems there were several things on the property a power plant and hotel all paid for by Capone, says Norman. Over the years, after the Capone era, the building(s) were used for all sorts of businesses, especially in the 1960s. At one time there were ideas of a planned community though it never really got off the ground. Norman says that Capone also built in an area he called Dickson City. But that never really went anywhere. There are probably many more twists and turns in the history of the Floridale Towers and that s fine. But this is how Norman, who lived during the era, remembers it. He s also passed it along to his daughter and son-in-law Gail and Jerry Murrell. Perhaps this archiver s most memorable comment from Mr. Ware is what he said about fighting with Patton s Army in World War II: he says that he was standing Guard Duty on the forward battle lines one night when General Patton walked up to him and told him to go smoke a cigarette and he (Patten) stood guard duty while I did. He was a fine gentleman! said Mr. Ware....said he didn t have any problems following the general all across Europe. This story, as reported by Mr. Ware, merits attention. Perhaps the gangster was here (several accounts of his presence have been told by local residents over the years). At the least local lore makes for a lively past. At best it gives us a moment in time as our forebears knew it. Many thanks to Mr. Ware for sharing this oral history with us. This painting was done by Mr. ware s sister, Florence Ware Metcalf. He was a small child at the time, says Norman, but he remembers his sister standing across the highway Hwy 90 so she could get the best view of the towers. It was in the early 1930s, Florence was grown up and married to Dean Metcalf by then, he continued. The painting later passed to their younger sister and, later, on to Norman. He now wants a good home for the painting so that others can enjoy and remember the history it represents. See it in the museum.

6 Surname Series: JERNIGAN* W.A. Jernigan as he was known to many, was born on Oct. 20, 1919, in Baker, Fla., and was the second child of Addie Cobb Jernigan ( ) and Walter Burns Jernigan, born Jake lived on the Cobb farm in Baker until moving to Crestview, Fla., with his sister Louise to attend grade school. He enrolled in the University of Florida. Interrupting his education to serve in WW II, he graduated with a degree in education. In 1950 he married Claire Covell from DeFuniak Springs, Fla. They had six children. In 1956 he founded the First National Bank of Crestview and until 1966 served as its first chairman. Active in local and national politics, he served on the Crestview City Council. He was also a founding board member of the Okaloosa Island Authority. His close relationship with Senator George Smathers provided a unique vantage point to experience political history as it was made in the 50s and 60s and led to many friendships and opportunities. One of his most prized possessions was a gold watch given to him by his friend, the then-sen. John F. Kennedy. He later became a successful Washington lobbyist serving the aviation industry and was instrumental in securing the Apollo contract for North American Aviation; the biggest contract ever awarded by the Federal Government at the time. Built in 1940, The Jernigan house remains unchanged since the property was developed some 70 years ago built with local materials of ironstone, brick, and heart of pine. It sits among ten acres of majestic tress and beautifully maintained gardens. Today, the family maintains the Jernigan House as a country-side estate available for special events - weddings, receptions, family reunions or business meetings. The Jernigan House * Read more on the Jernigan surname Airport Road See the binder in the museum s research library Crestview, Florida thejerniganhouse.com NEW PUBLICATION available beginning 5 November, A must read for all who enjoy and appreciate strong and sturdy family values, and wish to pass them along to others! Family memories and events have special power to create a sense of wellbeing, strength and vitality in our own lives and the lives of those who hear the story. The brief stories in this 30-page book are told by local area residents. They illustrate the heritage, spirituality and culture of Northwest Florida through the lives of the people who lived them. We hope these stories will inspire you to search your own family for stories, too. Even if viewed as cautionary tales they remind us of all we do have in times of fiscal unrest or emotional distress. They teach us to reframe our current difficulties. And look inward to reclaim personal power to live well with what we have. Just as we see in these stories, we have ability to rise above; to claim joy in living and be glad for the gifts at hand which we can, in turn, pass on to those who come after us. To order: phone (850) , bakermuseum@aol.com or come in to the museum, 10 a.m. 3 p.m., Tuesday Friday. A $3 donation, per book, will be appreciated.