Years ago, I somehow got my hands on copies of the Wakulla Area Digest from 1994 and 1995. Since my Council family and, I think, my Robison family lived in that area, I enjoyed reading the history of Wakulla County, Florida. Freeman Ashmore wrote a column called "Looking Back" and that is my favorite part of the magazine.
Roads Back Then and Now describes the hardships of travel
Having been to this coastal area of Florida many times, I know how sandy is the soil and the woods are filled with palmetto and pines as well as live oak trees.
According to Ashmore, when the first settlers came to this part of Florida there were no roads, only trails made by the Indians and by wild animals. One reason the first settlers settled near big creeks and rivers was that transportation on the water was easier than on land. It was safer to build a boat to go from place to place back then. On land possible attacks from the Indians and the wild animals made travel dangerous.
The early settlers in my family went to north Florida as soon as it was opened up and land was for sale, around 1840. - 1845. Land travel was by high-wheeled carts, wagons, buggies and on foot. As the settlers began to widen the trails, they cut trees but often left a stump in the road. If the vehicle was high enough that the axle did not hit the stump, all was fine, but if not, travel came to an abrupt halt, and sometimes the driver found himself thrown off the seat.
Even the high wheeled wagons did not work well when heavy rains came and made deep ruts in the soft earth on the path. Also, the road makers cut the smaller trees, but left big trees in the middle of the road. For a cart or buggy to get around the big tree, the road zig-zagged around the it. Often the horse or oxen drawn vehicle would hit a stump when they tried to get around a big tree.
Freeman Ashmore told this story in his column.
The mail carrier used a pair of oxen to pull the wagon over the deeply rutted roads. The oxen bolted for some reason, pulled the cart off the road and hit a stump. The mail carrier was thrown out of the wagon. He hit his head on a root and was knocked unconscious. He landed by a bee hive and the bees, being upset by all the commotion, stung him on his arms and legs. The pain from the stings woke up the unconscious man. He sat up, confused about where he was. A local girl wearing a white dress was passing by at the time of the accident. When the mail carrier saw her running for help, (he said at a later date) he thought he had died and gone to heaven and was seeing an angel.
The writer tells other stories of the difficulty of traveling in the county, especially when heavy rains flooded the creeks and branches. Even though the roads were built on high land, none of the land in Wakulla County is very high and low places would hold water for a long time. People usually just had to wait until the water went down before they could go to another town.
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| My father, top row to right of his mother. The babies and children on the second row from front are cousins I remember, all gone now. |
Even as late as the early 1900s, the roads were poor and cut through heavily wooded areas. My grandfather, Tom Council, told of the time when he was hauling salted fish and other goods from his farm up to Pelham, Georgia where his family lived. The big trees met over his head and he felt as if he were driving through a tunnel. Suddenly, from a limb above, a panther leaped onto the back of one of the horses pulling the wagon. Panthers were prominent in the northern region of Florida at that time. Both horses bolted.
Tom could barely keep himself upright in the wagon as he pulled on the reins and called out to the frightened animals, "Whoa, Whoa." He feared the wagon would flip over, and he would loose his load. But the panther scrambled away. The horses realized the danger was over, and he was finally able to calm and stop the runaway steeds.
Travel today, 2019
When we travel on the super highways, the interstates at 75 miles per hour, it is hard to imagine the slow travel our ancestors endured. I am always in awe when I look at the structure of bridges, roads that seem to cling to the side of a mountain, or the entangled masses of highways in Atlanta. Mankind has come a long, long way.
In our hurry up and impatient life styles of today, no one can imagine taking two days to travel from Crawfordville, Florida to Pelham, Georgia, but that is how long it took for my grandparents to move their family in 1910. Their belongings packed into two covered wagons, Tom and the children, who were old enough, walked.
My father told stories about his family and so did my mother She knew all of his sisters and brothers and his mother from childhood when they moved to Pelham, Georgia. My family history book, Profiles and Pedigrees, The Descendants of Thomas Charles Council, is about my grandfather and grandmother Council and their ten children. To purchase, click on www.riceandbeall.blogspot.com for ordering instructions.
Until next week, happy trails.
Thanks, DJan. I love reading the history of an area where I knew my family once lived.
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