Wakulla County Historical Society May/June 2009 Newsletter

What a great time we have had the last few months!  First we get a trophy for the Valentine’s Day Parade in February for “Most Original Float”, and then we get Honorable Mention for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade!  The Sopchoppy Worm Gruntin’ Festival was also a tremendous success.  Our meetings continue to draw big crowds as well.  And in addition to that we are close to opening the first floor of the Museum and Archives at the Old Jail and the Heritage Books are being delivered.

As if that was not enough we continue to press forward with the Heritage Village.  Some of the Board members visited Westville Historic Village in Georgia to get some ideas about the direction we would like to go with our Heritage Village.  We also made a side trip to see “Swamp Gravy” in Colquitt, Georgia.  It is a play performed by  local residents based on the heritage of the community.  We wanted to see what that was all about to get ideas about how we might do something similar in Wakulla!

{sidebar id=1}And then, on top of all of that, Wakulla County Historical Society has been nominated for “Non-Profit Organization of the Year”.  This award is given annually by the Wakulla County Chamber of Commerce.  The awards ceremony will be held on May 21, 2009.  I will provide you with more information as it becomes available.  Thanks to all of our wonderful members and their support we have really had a successful year so far, now we just have to keep the ball rolling!

Remember, we are getting close to our summer break, our next meeting will be on May 12, and will be at the Historic Wakulla Courthouse located  at 23 High Drive at 7pm.  Please make note that in May we will not be meeting at our regular place.  After that we will be taking a break until September 8, 2009.  However, I will continue to keep you updated as to what is going on with the society.  Please be safe this summer and we look forward to continuing our journey through Wakulla history in the fall!  See you all in September!

Historical Society Happenings

May 2 - 2009 Panacea Blue Crab Festival- contact Barbara Hines to volunteer (barbarahines20@yahoo.com)
May 7, 6:30 PM - Genealogy Group meeting at the library.
May 12, 5:30 PM - Board meeting at the library.
May 12, 7:00 PM - Wakulla County Historical Society meeting at the OLD COURTHOUSE
May 21, 6:00 - 8:00 PM - Genealogy Open Lab Research at the library.

The Old Courthouse

Please join us for our next meeting at the Old Wakulla Courthouse, located across from our Museum and Archives.  The address is 23 High Drive.  For those of you who have yet to visit the unique historic structure, this is a great opportunity to do so.  Construction of this building began on August 7, 1893 by G.W. Tully and Thomas McGlynn.  It was completed in August 1894.  At the time it was common to see livestock on the square where the courthouse was located, and goats often cluttered on the front steps blocking passage.  A water tower was located next to the courthouse with an old safe placed on its side that was used as a watering trough.  People often complained of the mess that the livestock made of the courthouse square.  Spanish Bayonets were eventually planted around the base of the building to prevent pigs from wallowing under the building.  

In 1948 the county commissioners adopted a commission to build a new courthouse and the Old Courthouse was relocated about 500 feet from the center of Crawfordville to its present location.  The move was done by placing wooden rollers under the building with timbers below so the rollers would not get stuck.  There was a cement vault that was so large that it could not be moved and was instead buried.  This vault remains buried underneath the current courthouse.  According to local lore, the first floor served as the bench mark for all surveys in Crawfordville. 

The Old Courthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of three existing wooden courthouses in the state of Florida.  It currently houses the Wakulla Chamber of Commerce.  Please join us on May 12th at 7pm and  experience this local historic jewel for yourselves!

*Information contained in this article was researched using the Wakulla County Chamber of Commerce website (www.wakullacounty.org/Chamber/court_house.htm )

This newsletter originally published on April 27, 2009.

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Written by :

mkwestmark

 

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