EXPLORE THE APALACHICOLA
RIVER BASIN
people
refer to the Apalachicola River Valley as the Forgotten Florida. After all,
only 6,000 people live in the region's four main cities. People can walk to
neighborhood markets. Banks make character loans. One of the counties has
only one stoplight, and it only blinks.
But for those
who live here, the region might better be called the Unforgettable Florida.
Residents have long memories about how things were and still are. Slow change
keeps their places familiar to them. People not only want to preserve what
they have, they also want to re-capture at least some of what has been lost.
The Apalachicola
River centers their thinking and holds the valley together. It's the heart
of what makes the region so appealing to visitors. The river runs 107 miles
from Lake Seminole south to its namesake bay at the Gulf of Mexico. The Jim
Woodruff Dam forms Lake Seminole and backs up the confluence of the Flint
and Chattahoochee Rivers down from Georgia and Alabama. Both the lake and
the river are popular sources of recreational fishing. People catch bluegills
and bream, catfish, redfish, shellcrackers, striped bass, trout and more.
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Hikers viewing the river from bluff - Photo credit: Pamala Anderson
In the lower
reaches, houseboats cluster along the river banks, often with neither roads
nor tracks leading to them. Folks putter up on their outboards from some nearby
landing. They might leave soda or beer cans on the houseboat decks; chicken
coops and dog cages remain empty till next time.
Former four-term
Apalachicola Mayor Jimmie Nichols remembers when the river was the "road"
from town to town. Steamboats came down from Columbus and Bainbridge carrying
passengers and turpentine. Races, too, connected the cities of Chattahoochee
and Apalachicola (or Apalach, as folks along the river call it). "One
year they'd go in one direction, the next year the other," Nichols recalls.
"They called it the Rivercade. We'd have a picnic in Blountstown - that
was the next town up the river. There was a queen and everything and a dance
here at the armory after a cookout."
Delores Roux, Former four-term Apalachicola Mayor Jimmie Nichols (left) and a friend.
When roads came
and then Interstate 10, "river traffic got killed," says Dolores
Roux, who runs Dolores's Sweet Shoppe and Restaurant. "This town is old
enough that everything used to be something else. People like it here because
it's a real community. The river and bay continue to provide the real sustenance
and linkage to the friendly neighboring communities upstream."
Tourism hasn't
taken over Apalach. Well-off outsiders, who buy and fix up Victorian homes
in the National Register Historic District, come precisely because the town
isn't all touristy. Twenty years ago, preservationists fixed up the moldering
Gibson Hotel, built in 1907. The steamboat-like Gibson sits at the foot of
the John Gorrie Bridge. Other notable accommodations include the Coombs House
Bed & Breakfast and the riverside Apalachicola River Inn with its well-known
Boss Oyster Raw Bar along with charter fishing and ecotour river trips available.
Like most locals,
newcomers are in no hurry to see Apalach change. They may have created demand
for restaurants, bookstores, art galleries and even the renewal of the Dixie
Theater that has begun scheduling stage plays again. But new businesses so
far exist side-by-side with marine hardware stores, boat repair yards and
fish houses. The masts of dozens of shrimp boats that ply the near shore Gulf
waters still tower over town, and seafood still drives the economy. Apalachicola
Bay receives the sweet water outflow of the river and is famous for its oysters,
supplying 90 percent of Florida's harvest and 10 percent of the nation's demand.
Upriver, towns
cluster populations bred to the rural bone, loyal to family, church, high
school and country. Blountstown and Bristol occupy opposite banks of the river
at the Highway 20 bridge, 45 miles north of Apalach as the gull flies. Blountstown
pleasantly runs on "slow time" located on the west side of the river,
which for most of its way divides Eastern and Central time zones. A Main Street
community, the downtown is anchored by the old red brick County Court House
and will soon be traversed by a greenway that links a river landing (Neal
Landing) to an outdoors museum of landmark buildings known as the Panhandle
Pioneer Settlement.
From Blountstown,
it's less than a half-hour drive to the spring-fed Chipola River, Florida's
principal tributary to the Apalachicola River, an inspiring canoe side trip.
At the Chipola's Dead Lakes State Recreation Area near the town of Wewahitchka
and the confluence with the Apalachicola, an eerie cypress forest decays.
Boat ramps supply access to these mysterious waters and can be used to access
the downstream Apalachicola.
The eastern upper segment of the river feature remarkably high bluffs that range to 170 feet (high for Florida, and providing impressive views westward). The bluffs are best experienced at Torreya State Park or The Nature Conservancy's Garden of Eden Trail at Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve, where relic flora include collections of rare Florida Torreya and Florida yew, plus the Florida Champion winged elm. The river and the adjacent deeply etched ravines support North Carolina-like microclimates conducive to unique vegetative communities.
Looking at Bluffs from the river and down in a cool ravine at the The Nature Conservancy's Garden of Eden Trail at Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve
A regional writer
some years ago claimed that Torreya was site of the biblical Garden of Eden.
Angus Gholson, Jr., a noted regional botanist, claims that the river between
Blountstown and Chattahoochee "contains some of the most diverse biology
left in America - unique since Noah built the ark."
Chattahoochee City Manager Lee Garner doesn't hesitate to call the place paradise. The city itself sits
Lee Garner -Chattahoochee City Manager and City boat dock with old bridge and Jim Woodruff Dam in background
alongside the
northeast end of the river, just south of big Lake Seminole and north of the
bluffs and ravines. Chattahoochee makes for a good trip launch point whether
traveling by boat, car or bike. Steep hills contour the town. Altogether,
the bluffs with their views and the associated ravine micro-climates, the
dam and the river unsettle familiar notions of Florida.
From Bristol
south, roads that parallel the east side of the river lead to paddling trails
through the Apalachicola National Forest and Tate's Hell State Forest. They
lead to Fort Gadsden, where almost two centuries ago, a complement of runaway
slaves and local Indians died defending their freedom when their fort's powder
magazine was hit by incoming artillery from besieging U.S. forces.
Fort Gadsden Explodes and Early Aspalaga riverside settlement. Fort Gadsden painting by Pat Elliott
These days the
area feels memorably quiet. Especially midweek, more cyclists than cars might
pass along S.R. 65 on the river's east side. Cypress and pine forests back
broad prairies. Spring wildflowers turn the roadsides yellow and fuchsia.
Where the road reaches the coast again near Eastpoint, the land adjoining
the bay is open and un-built upon.
Visitors quickly understand why locals think of the region as unforgettable.
USEFUL
BOAT RAMPS LOCATIONS
Three Rivers State Park - Lake Seminole and the Chattahoochee
River. Located on S. R. 271, two miles north of Sneads. Ramp, camping, toilets
and pier.
City of Chattahoochee Park - Just to the south of Jim Woodruff Dam.
Boat Ramp, Park and toilets.
City of Bristol Boat Ramp - Off Hwy. 20 take North Central St. to City
boat Ramp.
Blountstown - Neal Landing. Head west on Hwy. 20. Take "River
Road" south to landing.
Wewahitchka -Take "Lake Grove Road" (22A) east of town to
Gaskin Park. Ramp, pavilions.
Howard Creek - Hwy. 71 in Gulf County to C.R. 387. Follow west to end.
Ramp, local store.
APALACHICOLA NATIONAL FOREST Liberty and Franklin Counties east
of the River.
Bloody Bluff . Approximately 14 miles north of Hwy. 98 on Hwy. 65. Turn west
on Bloody Bluff Road.
Brickyard Landing. Approximately 16 miles north on Hwy 65, then west on Ft.
Gadsden Road.
CITY OF APALACHICOLA
Bay City Lodge - Ramp, gas, storage and toilets. (850) 653-9294.
www.baycitylodge.com
Scipio Creek Marina - Ramp, gas, toilets. (850) 653-8030. www.scipiocreekmarina.com
Breakaway Marina. Ramp, storage, gas, toilets. (850) 653-8897. www.breakawaymarina.com
OTHER RIVER RESOURCES
Book Me A Charter - River fishing and ecotours. (850) 653-2622
or www.BookMeACharter.com.
Apalachicola River & Estuary Tours. (850) 653-2593 at the Scipio Creek
Marina, Apalachicola. www.apalachicolatours.com
Apalachicola River Inn - (850) 653-8139. 123 Water Street, Apalachicola.
Also, collocated, Boss Charters at (850) 653-8055.
Backwater Guide Service - (850) 653-2820
www.backwaterguideservice.com/riverfishing.php
Apalachicola Tours, Inc., Gibby Conrad.
(850) 653-8687 www.ApalachicolaTours.com
Panhandle Pioneer Settlement - Route 20 west out of Blountstown. Located behind
Sam Atkins Park.
TNC - Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve S.R. 20 in Bristol,
take S. R. 12 northeast (toward Greensboro.) 1.6 miles to Garden of Eden Road,
a dirt road and sign to the left.. (850) 643-2756.
Torreya State Park - Torreya State Park is S.R. 12. On C.R. 1641, 13 miles
north of Bristol. (850) 643-2674.
Apalchicola Bay Chamber of Commerce.
www.apalachicolabay.org (850)
653-9419
Calhoun County Chamber of Commerce www.calhounco.org
(850) 674-4519
Liberty County Chamber of Commerce
www.libertycountyflorida.com
Gadsden County Chamber of Commerce
www.gadsdencc.com (800) 627-9231
For a pdf version of the "Explore the Apalachicola River Basin" brochure click here
