Sunday, March 8 – Friday, March 13th

Most of the time I’m writing these posts in arrears after I have loaded pictures and worked my way through remembering (and reviewing with the fam) all that we have done in the past week. So, this week’s post continues in that regard, reflecting the time period above, before all of this COVID-19 disruption to the world. The next post will reflect on this new twist to ‘normal’ life.

On Monday, we got ourselves set up for school at Presnell’s Bayside Marina & RV Resort. They had a brand new heated pool and a clubhouse complete with exercise equipment, wrap around deck, kitchen, reading room, Foosball table and laundry facility. The quiet rooms were perfect for us to study. Izzy and Ben also absolutely loved working on the community puzzle and actually ended up completing one of them and starting another. We met a family from Michigan who have been coming to Presnells for the past 8 years. There are about 25 of them and they fish together and the kids play together. We had about 15 kids in the pool playing a whole host of games and they absolutely invited Ben and Izzy in the mix.

So much of Port St. Joe was new and re-built in the wake of Hurricane Michael. At the same time, there was much that still needed to be reconstructed including dilapidated churches, houses, commercial buildings, etc. Perhaps they won’t be? There were entire homes that the flooding had lifted off their foundations and moved across the highway. The kiddos and I saw gaping holes along the beaches where apartment building had once been. I’m not sure we have the nerve to live in this part of the US; I suppose we find fires and volcanoes more our speed?!

On Tuesday we did our usual school in the morning and then headed to Cape San Blas. The locals had been telling us about this beach with it’s remarkably soft, white sands. We also learned that the dunes were non-existent after the hurricane and the water was all the way up to the road. The state had to pump the sand back in and rebuild the dunes. As expected, it was very quiet and we had the beach to ourselves. I drove up the way to the local grocery store to pick up some boogie boards for the kiddos since the waves were just right. Turns out the owner had a friend, currently a pastor, in Bend, OR. Small world. He also assured Ben that the fins he was seeing in the ocean belonged to dolphins, not sharks. I’m not sure Ben is totally convinced. Sidenote: Ben and Izzy have been feeding my mom-twinsy buying on this trip. I just think they look so cute!

On Wednesday, we pretty much did a repeat of Tuesday, but we stopped by the Piggly Wiggly to pick up some produce. I was really proud of the kiddos for not driving me crazy throughout the store asking for everything they saw. We’re all getting better at communicating expectations and sticking to boundaries on this trip. As you can imagine, 300SF of living space is so much better when the weather outside is breezy and sunny. Izzy has really taken to fishing and wants to do a lot more of it. We hope to hire a charter so we can get more info on bay fishing. St. Joseph Bay is far different from regular sea fishing and we’re seeing plenty of fishermen come through the clubhouse with all their fish cleaned up. In fact, we have a group of pelicans (about 10-12) who like to hang out by the fish cleaning station on the dock and eat the leftovers from the cleaning of catches of the day.

On Thursday, we decided to do a little more exploration of the town. We wanted to see the St. Joseph Point Lighthouse and visit the Constitution Convention State Museum.

The lighthouse proved to be full of history. It was constructed in 1838 along St. Joseph Bay and is dubbed the ‘traveling lighthouse’ since it has been moved a few times. It was originally constructed because of the refuge the bay provided to mariners. The lighthouse was there through all the craziness and the demise of the town of St. Joseph and the establishment of Port St. Joe’s in the mid 1900s. The first keeper and his wife were there for almost 30 years. During WWII, ten guardsmen were stationed there. I’m not sure when, but the wooden stairs were replaced by an iron spiral set. Ben, Izzy and I climbed to the top and back down a few times taking in the views. (Izzy and I are practicing being twinsies too!) We also sang Judy, the volunteer on duty, a happy birthday since she was still working that day! Best part about a small town is that everyone has to help out. We took the keys from Judy and unlocked the lighthouse for her that day.

St. Joseph has quite the remarkable history. The kiddos and I received a personalized tour from Florida State Park Ranger Joanna Lindsey, who manages the Constitution Convention State Museum located just off of Highway 98. What a sweet lady! She gave the kids their own copies of the constitution and quills! She also let them in behind the scenes to take a picture! Port St. Joe was actually founded as St. Joseph, or “the lost city” back in 1835. Well, actually, they are two separate towns founded about 2 miles from each other and about a century apart. The story goes…..

Folks from the city of Apalachicola (pronounced Apala-chik-ola) were fed up with the some land title messiness which resulted in a situation where folks who thought they owned the land beneath their homes through homesteading, but actually didn’t. The land owner victor in the court case turned around and imposed inflated land leases. Many of these residents decided to cut bait and start their own city; St. Joseph. The two cities continued to compete for trade and ports, each trying to up the ante on the other to attract commerce into their own towns. There’s some pretty awesome propaganda published by each town’s local paper.

St. Joseph was over 12,000 people strong during its heyday, and even supported the first railroad in all of Florida. One of the major political moves was made by the City’s delegate was to host the constitutional convention there as opposed to hosting it in the capital, Tallahassee. We sat in a room just feet from where the constitution was signed in 1838. Strangely enough, the originally signed document is lost.

Six years later, Florida joined the Union as the 27th state. And then, all hell broke loose. First, in early 1841, the cost of the railroad to bring in goods was more than the neighboring Apalachicola ports, so shipments went there and the economy of St. Joseph suffered. Then in mid-1841, a ship from the Antilles brought Yellow Fever. The city had already halved its population from the lack of commerce by this point. Yellow Fever halved it again. In the Fall of 1841 there was a fire, but only for those who survived the massive hurricane that preceded it. By 1842, there were only 400 residents left. Interestingly enough, it was perceived that the opulence brought about by the ports and trade in St. Joseph also brought about the vices. Many thought the demise of the town was ordained by God who wished to see the city return to a more humble existence. We drove by the cemeteries not knowing until later that they were segregated and supposedly haunted too! No wonder they called St. Joseph the ‘City of the Dead’.

Back to 2020- All of the folks we have been meeting that are local to the ‘Forgotten Coast’ or the ‘Gulf Coast’ have been very kind to us. Usually on a boat or a golf cart, they’ve all remarked how far we are away from home. Funny enough, our friendly neighbors to the North are pretty far too. We have had plenty of retired neighbors from Ontario and Quebec who actually know where my parents lived (Dorval) and where I was born (Tillsonburg). Friday we leave for Carrabelle, just an hour East. Pretty sure we will survive Friday the 13th with this amazing weather and sunshine.