Merry Christmas, Y'All

We have noticed that this part of the Florida Panhandle is very Southern sounding. We were at the grocery store and a man in shorts, t-shirt and straw summer hat wished us a "Merry Christmas, y'all!"

There is an amazing amount of Christmas decorations in the towns and on people's lawns. I think it just looks odd to me because it is so warm, green and tropical here. This cheery fellow greats us as we drive into the campground.

We explored the park trails today. By stringing them all together we must have traveled over two miles. This park has an interesting history. During the 1778 British occupation of Florida, Native Americans were still living on Falling Waters Hill and the surrounding area. Two industries operated near the waterfall. A gristmill, powered by the waterfall, ground corn into grits and cornmeal during the Civil War period. In 1891, a legal whiskey distillery furnished spirits to a wine shop established to meet the demands of men working at the frontier railway construction site. 

In 1919, one of the first oil wells in Florida was drilled at Falling Waters. Indian legends and a wildcat stock promoter's claim of oil helped get the project going. A tall, wooden derrick and steam-driven rig were used to drill for oil, but the drillers had little luck. When a depth of 3,900 feet was reached, a blow of gas released from the drill site temporarily excited area residents with a false report of a gusher. Promoters continued to drill the oil well to a final depth of 4,912 feet. When all was said and done, no oil of commercial quantity was ever found. The well was capped in 1921.

This is a seedling Long-leaf pine tree. There is much said about prescribed burns, both at Falling Waters and at St. Joe Peninsula Park. By periodically (every 2-3 years) burning the underbrush, the Long-leaf pines, which only release their seeds in the heat of a fire, will continue to thrive. This little guy, about 3 feet high, looked so cute!

There is a two-acre pond that was established in the park to provide swimming and to control the amount of water that flows over the falls. The dam is the square structure on the lake.

There is a lot of construction going on in the park.

The capped oil well along the trail.

There is an interesting geological feature in the park. The "falls" drops over the edge of a 100-foot deep, 20-foot wide cylindrical sinkhole. It then disappears into a cave at the bottom of the sinkhole.

This is another sinkhole along the trail. I'm afraid that this camera flattens the view so the depth of the hole is not very evident.

Water-created erosion has revealed a massive system of roots which are needed to keep this tree upright and healthy.