7th May, Thursday.....Apalachicola, FL

It was a senior moment !! as we are crossing the bridge into Apalachicloa, 24 miles west of Carrabelle on the 98 coastal road we realise we were here in 2012.....
However we didn't do the walking tour then, in fact all we can remember about the town is having ice cream, this time we do a proper job.....
In the 19th century the sponge trade, led by Greek immigrants was the major industry in the town...sponges are still harvested here....
Apalachicola is still a major port for oyster and shrimp harvesters...more than 90% of Florida's oyster production is harvested from the bay.....

Interesting self guided tour......again of course many Antebellum style houses and 19th century buildings...
This is The Trinity Episcopal Church,....
built in 1838 .the white pine was shipped by schooner from White Plains, New York down the Atlantic Coast, around the Florida Keys and then assembled using wooden pegs.....

The three decades prior to the Civil War were very prosperous for Apalachicola. Revenues from the cotton and sponge trade meant merchants built several fine mansions including the Greek-Revival Raney House, above....
Apalachicola was also home to Dr John Gorrie who invented an ice machine to cool his yellow fever patients...his invention became the basis for the ice machine industry and air conditioning...

And then we come across The Apalachicola Municipal  Library, about the size of the old Grayshott Library....not the county library that's a few streets away....it was originally a reading room...we had a lovely visit talking with Caty the librarian and her colleague...although predominately housing historic artefacts and photos it is also a working library with 6 public access computers...and a good stock of up to date adult and children books....they do rely heavily on donations as Caty's budget is only $54,000 per year...hence their book sale of withdrawn stock...$1 a bag...our libraries do the same for £1 bag...

Back into the heat, about 90 degrees but not complaining....typing this while watching the weather channel and over a foot of snow in Rapid City, South Dakota and record snow at Mount Rushmore, we visited both last year...tornadoes and very heavy rain in Texas and Mississippi in Vicksburg where we were a couple of weeks ago...tropical storm Ana hitting the Atlantic Coast of South Carolina.....so no not complaining about the heat, we feel we did the right thing heading south !!!
This building is Fort Coombs....said to be the oldest building continuously used by a National Guard Company...another fact for you Dave !!

On the left hand side of this water-tower and reason for including, ha ha is an osprey's nest...

On to just outside of town to the Veterans Memorial Plaza....a lovely botanic garden, we have the place to ourselves, a lovely peaceful walk around the Circle of Freedom garden....

In the grounds of the botanic garden is the Orman House....
 (Orman was a prominent 19th century merchant)  again the wood for this house was cut to measure in New York and shipped to Apalachicola.....

Front view of the Orman House.....

The Three Servicemen Statue South....erected in 2008....

From here we drove on along the coast to South Vincent Sound...a nice drive but not a lot to see apart from big houses and very large plots for sale.....
Back home to catch up on voting in the general Election in UK.....I won't voice any opinion as I don't want to upset anyone who maybe doesn't have the same views but suffice it to say we went to bed feeling fairly relieved....
More soon from the beach.....and The Sunny Campers....