Oystering in Apalachicola

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Will

Oyster tonging

Oystering communities around the world take pride in the quality and freshness of their succulent bivalves, and Apalachicola is no exception. With its brackish waters and calm winds, Apalachicola Bay is a prime setting for both oysters and the industry built around them to thrive.

Young boy enjoying oyster at the Florida Seafood Festival – Apalachicola, Florida

The people of Apalachicola possess skills, beliefs, and a spirit of generosity and perseverance that make the community unique. Crafts such as boat building or oyster tong making are passed down through generations, as are techniques for harvesting and shucking the oysters. Successful seafood distributors make the product available to the many restaurants and retailers in the region, and the community celebrates its heritage during the annual Florida Seafood Festival.

Miss Florida Seafood 1974, Rosalie Nichols, at the Florida Seafood Festival

From 1986-1987, the Florida Folklife Program, in collaboration with the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, conducted the Maritime Heritage Survey. The fieldworkers documented fishing communities around the state, including a wealth of interviews and photographs from Apalachicola. The following sound clips came from that survey.

Interview with oyster shuckers Virginia Duggar and Nanette Lolley

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More Info: Catalog Record

Oyster shuckers Virginia Duggar and Nanette Lolley describe techniques for shucking oysters and the tools of the trade.

Oyster cracking machine in J. Hewett’s shop: Eastpoint, Florida

Interview with oyster tong maker Corky Richards

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Download: MP3

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download: MP3
More Info: Catalog Record

Corky Richards discusses materials and terminology used for building oyster tongs, how they are built, what makes a good pair of tongs, and how they can be customized for each oysterman.

Corky Richards making an oyster tong: Apalachicola, Florida

Interview with oyster shucking knife maker Loys Cain

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Download: MP3
More Info: Catalog Record

Knife maker Loys Cain discusses materials and tools for building oyster shucking knives, as well as how health and safety regulations have impacted the construction of the knives.

Knife maker Loys Cain with finished oyster knife: Eastpoint, Florida

How do you like your oysters? Baked? Steamed? Raw on the half-shell? Tell us about where your favorite oysters come from and how you eat them!

John Gorrie and Mechanical Refrigeration

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Jon

Perhaps no one is more responsible for the growth of southern Florida’s population than
Apalachicola’s Dr. John Gorrie.

Wealthy industrialists certainly played an important role, financing and building railroads, hotels and golf courses to entice hordes of tourists to venture south during the winter months. But what about the sweltering summer heat? Boosters pined for a solution that could perhaps convert winter tourists into permanent residents.

Portrait of Dr. John Gorrie

Enter Dr. John Gorrie. His contribution came, appropriately, at the beginning of summer, in May of 1851, when he patented an ice-making machine. Gorrie’s goals were medicinal, and his machine helped to lessen the suffering of yellow fever victims.

The invention of mechanical refrigeration also became the basis for air-conditioning in the 20^th century. If not for Gorrie’s invention, Florida may have remained a winter destination instead of a year-round paradise.

Model of the first ice machine displayed at the John Gorrie Museum: Apalachicola, Florida (1955)

March 1862: Invasion!

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Boyd

Florida and the Civil War

This is the second in a series of monthly posts commemorating the sesquicentennial anniversary of Florida’s role in the American Civil War.

March 1862: Invasion!

The arrival of a Union invasion fleet off Amelia Island on March 3, 1862, was a startling but not unexpected event. As early as October 1861, Governor John Milton notified neighboring Confederate governors that a Union invasion fleet was steaming southward for a possible landing in Florida. Although the fleet’s target at that time was Port Royal, South Carolina, not Florida, ships from the flotilla eventually transported the Union expeditionary force that descended on Amelia Island in March.

Map of the harbor at Fernandina (1862)

For months, east coast Confederate and Unionist Floridians had expected Federal troops to land in Florida. Although a Federal raiding party occupied the Gulf port of Cedar Key in January 1862, under orders from General Robert E. Lee, General James H. Trapier, the commander of Confederate forces in the Department of Middle and East Florida (the area from the Atlantic to the Choctawhatchee River in the west), concentrated the bulk of his forces for the defense of Amelia Island. Meanwhile in Jacksonville, a city with a strong Unionist element, pro-Union men and women awaited the liberation of their city, where many of them were threatened by secessionist vigilance committees.

By March 1862, however, the Unionists had more cause for optimism than the secessionists. Confederate defeats in Tennessee during February resulted in the Richmond government’s decision to withdraw its troops from Florida to reinforce Tennessee. As the Union fleet approached, General Trapier ordered the withdrawal of his troops from Amelia Island. On March 4, the Federals occupied Fernandina after the last train carrying troops and fleeing civilians crossed the bridge to the mainland under the fire of the USS Ottawa, a Union gunboat. Fernandina remained under Union control for the rest of the war and became a place of refuge for hundreds of escaped slaves from Florida and southeast Georgia.

February 1862: Florida the Undefended

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Boyd

Florida and the Civil War

This is the first in a series of monthly posts commemorating the sesquicentennial anniversary of Florida’s role in the American Civil War.

February 1862: Florida the Undefended

Florida’s precarious position on the periphery of the Confederacy became even more exposed in February 1862, when the Confederate government ordered the withdrawal of all but a handful of the Confederate forces in Florida.

9th Mississippi unit: Pensacola (1861)

This decision came in the wake of a series of Union victories during the first half of the month. Federal troops in Tennessee under the command of Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant captured Forts Henry and Donelson on February 6 and 16 respectively. In between those victories, on February 8, a Union naval force captured Roanoke Island off the North Carolina coast.

These victories resulted in the surrender of thousands of Confederate troops and opened the way for Union thrusts into the Confederate interior, especially in the West, where Grant advanced south towards Mississippi. A shocked and dispirited Confederate government rushed to reinforce the West by withdrawing Confederate troops from Florida.

On February 18, Richmond ordered General Braxton Bragg, commanding the Confederate army at Pensacola, to withdraw his units and send them to Tennessee as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, on Florida’s east coast, General Robert E. Lee began preparations to remove most of the forces under his command. At this stage of the war, Lee was responsible for the defense of the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia and East Florida. On February 24, the Confederate War Department ordered Lee to transfer units under his command in Florida to Tennessee. He was only to keep enough troops in Florida to block Union entry into the St. Johns River and for the defense of Apalachicola: the Confederate government feared Union capture of Apalachicola could result in an invasion of Georgia from the south.