Newport, Florida
Encyclopedia
Newport is a small unincorporated community in Wakulla County
, Florida
, United States of America
, situated where U.S. Highway 98 meets State Road 267.
epidemic
. In 1843 Port Leon, located on the St. Marks River, was devastated by a hurricane that produced a 10 foot storm surge
. The area still struggles against the same recurring hurricane surges that move up the St. Marks River entrance.
After the hurricane of September 13, 1843, washed away all of the homes, buildings and railroad tracks in Port Leon
promoters Nathaniel Hamlin, James Ormond, Peter H. Swain and several others met a week later and made plans to establish another town.
They spent several days searching for a site safe from the sea, then selected a piece of land on the west side of the St. Marks River
, about two miles below the old town of Magnolia, Florida
. This location offered high ground, fewer swamp
s, and beautiful bubbling springs
. It was owned by the Apalachicola Land Co. The organization permitted citizens who had suffered from the storm to draw lots at a cost of $25 and up.
The promoters named this new town Newport and platted it with four streets running east and west. The streets were New, Washington, Market and Adams. Those that extended north and south bore the names Bay, Pine, Elm and West. These street names were remarkably similar to those in St. Joseph, Florida
territorial Florida's largest town, about 80 miles to the west down the coast.
, Newport's leading cotton merchant, solved the situation by ordering a 100-foot steam tugboat
named Spray, later the CSS Spray
. Ladd used this craft to tow vessels into and out of Newport.
Although those involved in the cotton brokerage businesses built several warehouse
s at Newport, the town shared its shipping with St. Marks further down the river. By that time, the Tallahassee Railroad had rebuilt its tracks that had been destroyed in the storm of 1843, and 40 hard-working mules were back pulling cars. A stage coach transported passengers from the terminal near St. Marks to Newport. Exporting cotton
, tobacco
and animal hide
s and importing items such as flour
, coffee
, whiskey, gunpowder
, quinine
and other medicines by rail proved expensive, however.
Although several roads led to Newport, the idea of a "plank road
" became popular in the mid-19th century as an alternative to high railway charges and road-building problems. This type of road was introduced by the Spanish centuries earlier when they created routes of travel by laying logs across low places. Ladd, Ormond, John Denham, William McNaught and several others in Newport backed a plan to build a plank road proposed by Green and Joseph Chaires, wealthy Leon County planters.
The Florida Legislature incorporated the Georgia and Georgia-Florida Plank Road Company
in 1851. The road was to run from Newport to Thomasville, Georgia
, but it was completed to only the Tallahassee vicinity. Wagons used this road at a cost of about $1, and it brought competition to the Tallahassee Railroad.
Eventually, the rail connection from St. Marks was upgraded to accommodate locomotive-pulled trains and the St. Marks port became dominant over Newport with their wood plank road to Tallahassee. Newport dwindled but remains intact with a handful of hearty residents. By the way, the St. Marks railroad is long-gone and made into a park whereas the plank road, now dirt (without the planks) remains passable in large part from Newport.
obtained controlling interest in the Tallahassee-St. Marks Railroad. The new company improved the tracks and replaced the mules with a steam locomotive that cut travel time from nearly five hours to two hours.
spring said to have healing properties. The spring empties into the St. Marks River
. Below the springs there are a series of caves. Wakulla County has taken over maintenance of Newport Springs.
Wakulla County, Florida
Wakulla County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2000, the population was 22,863. The U.S. Census Bureau 2005 estimate for the county was 28,212 people...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, United States of America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, situated where U.S. Highway 98 meets State Road 267.
1840s
In 1841, the current Newport area and the community of Port Leon, just south, endured a severe yellow feverYellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
epidemic
Epidemic
In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...
. In 1843 Port Leon, located on the St. Marks River, was devastated by a hurricane that produced a 10 foot storm surge
Storm surge
A storm surge is an offshore rise of water associated with a low pressure weather system, typically tropical cyclones and strong extratropical cyclones. Storm surges are caused primarily by high winds pushing on the ocean's surface. The wind causes the water to pile up higher than the ordinary sea...
. The area still struggles against the same recurring hurricane surges that move up the St. Marks River entrance.
After the hurricane of September 13, 1843, washed away all of the homes, buildings and railroad tracks in Port Leon
Port Leon, Florida
Port Leon, Florida was a river port town located in what is now Wakulla County, Florida, which existed for only about six years in the first half of the 19th century...
promoters Nathaniel Hamlin, James Ormond, Peter H. Swain and several others met a week later and made plans to establish another town.
They spent several days searching for a site safe from the sea, then selected a piece of land on the west side of the St. Marks River
St. Marks River
The St. Marks River is a river in the Big Bend region of Florida. It has been classified by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection as an Outstanding Florida Water, and is the easternmost river within the Northwest Florida Water Management District....
, about two miles below the old town of Magnolia, Florida
Magnolia, Florida
Magnolia, Florida was a thriving river port town in southern Wakulla County, Florida, established in the 1820s and is classified as an "extinct city" by the State Library and Archives of Florida....
. This location offered high ground, fewer swamp
Swamp
A swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a large number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp...
s, and beautiful bubbling springs
Spring (hydrosphere)
A spring—also known as a rising or resurgence—is a component of the hydrosphere. Specifically, it is any natural situation where water flows to the surface of the earth from underground...
. It was owned by the Apalachicola Land Co. The organization permitted citizens who had suffered from the storm to draw lots at a cost of $25 and up.
The promoters named this new town Newport and platted it with four streets running east and west. The streets were New, Washington, Market and Adams. Those that extended north and south bore the names Bay, Pine, Elm and West. These street names were remarkably similar to those in St. Joseph, Florida
St. Joseph, Florida
St. Joseph, Florida, was a boomtown that briefly became the largest community in Florida, before being destroyed only eight years after it was founded. St. Joseph was founded in 1835 on the shores of St. Joseph Bay, one of the finest natural harbors on the Gulf Coast of the United States. The...
territorial Florida's largest town, about 80 miles to the west down the coast.
A seat of government
Since most of Port Leon was destroyed by the storm, Newport became the seat of government in Wakulla County on Feb. 1, 1844. One of the priorities became removing the debris from the St. Marks River, a project discussed and attempted almost 20 years earlier. Dredging was undertaken, but it failed to really deepen or remove many of the rocks from the river. Daniel LaddDaniel Ladd
Daniel Ladd was born in Augusta, Maine and was an exporter, cotton broker and merchant in early Florida and active as a member of the Secession Convention of Florida.-Antebellum:...
, Newport's leading cotton merchant, solved the situation by ordering a 100-foot steam tugboat
Tugboat
A tugboat is a boat that maneuvers vessels by pushing or towing them. Tugs move vessels that either should not move themselves, such as ships in a crowded harbor or a narrow canal,or those that cannot move by themselves, such as barges, disabled ships, or oil platforms. Tugboats are powerful for...
named Spray, later the CSS Spray
CSS Spray
The CSS Spray was a steam-powered, side-paddle wheel tugboat built in New Albany, Indiana originally fitted as a mercantile ship before becoming a gunboat in the Confederate States Navy and used in the St. Marks, Newport, Florida area....
. Ladd used this craft to tow vessels into and out of Newport.
Although those involved in the cotton brokerage businesses built several warehouse
Warehouse
A warehouse is a commercial building for storage of goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial areas of cities and towns. They usually have loading docks to load and unload...
s at Newport, the town shared its shipping with St. Marks further down the river. By that time, the Tallahassee Railroad had rebuilt its tracks that had been destroyed in the storm of 1843, and 40 hard-working mules were back pulling cars. A stage coach transported passengers from the terminal near St. Marks to Newport. Exporting cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
, tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
and animal hide
Hides
A hide is an animal skin treated for human use. Hides include leather from cattle and other livestock animals, alligator skins, snake skins for shoes and fashion accessories and furs from wild cats, mink and bears. In some areas, leather is produced on a domestic or small industrial scale, but most...
s and importing items such as flour
Flour
Flour is a powder which is made by grinding cereal grains, other seeds or roots . It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history...
, coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
, whiskey, gunpowder
Gunpowder
Gunpowder, also known since in the late 19th century as black powder, was the first chemical explosive and the only one known until the mid 1800s. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate - with the sulfur and charcoal acting as fuels, while the saltpeter works as an oxidizer...
, quinine
Quinine
Quinine is a natural white crystalline alkaloid having antipyretic , antimalarial, analgesic , anti-inflammatory properties and a bitter taste. It is a stereoisomer of quinidine which, unlike quinine, is an anti-arrhythmic...
and other medicines by rail proved expensive, however.
A plank road
Newport competed as a port with nearby St. Marks that offered a rail connection to Tallahassee that, in the beginning, featured mule-pulled train cars. Inland cotton growers and shippers through the rail terminus at Tallahassee would carry their cargo to these river ports on the St. Marks River from which they would be carried to other ports and processing points along the gulf coast and eastern seaboard.Although several roads led to Newport, the idea of a "plank road
Plank road
A plank road or puncheon is a dirt path or road covered with a series of planks, similar to the wooden sidewalks one would see in a Western movie. Plank roads were very popular in Ontario, the U.S. Northeast and U.S. Midwest in the first half of the 19th century...
" became popular in the mid-19th century as an alternative to high railway charges and road-building problems. This type of road was introduced by the Spanish centuries earlier when they created routes of travel by laying logs across low places. Ladd, Ormond, John Denham, William McNaught and several others in Newport backed a plan to build a plank road proposed by Green and Joseph Chaires, wealthy Leon County planters.
The Florida Legislature incorporated the Georgia and Georgia-Florida Plank Road Company
Georgia-Florida Plank Road Company
The Georgia-Florida Plank Road Company was 1 of 5 such roads authorized by the Florida legislature in 1850 but this was the only one built. Joseph Chaires and Green Chaires, plantation owners, were granted a charter for the plank road company...
in 1851. The road was to run from Newport to Thomasville, Georgia
Thomasville, Georgia
Thomasville is the county seat of Thomas County, Georgia, United States. The city is the second largest in Southwest Georgia after Albany.The city deems itself the City of Roses and holds an annual Rose Festival. The town features plantations open to the public, a historic downtown, a large...
, but it was completed to only the Tallahassee vicinity. Wagons used this road at a cost of about $1, and it brought competition to the Tallahassee Railroad.
Eventually, the rail connection from St. Marks was upgraded to accommodate locomotive-pulled trains and the St. Marks port became dominant over Newport with their wood plank road to Tallahassee. Newport dwindled but remains intact with a handful of hearty residents. By the way, the St. Marks railroad is long-gone and made into a park whereas the plank road, now dirt (without the planks) remains passable in large part from Newport.
1850s
In 1856, the Pensacola and Georgia RailroadPensacola and Georgia Railroad
The Pensacola and Georgia Railroad was a railroad line chartered in January 1853 that, by 1863, ran from Tallahassee, Florida east to Lake City, Florida and west to Quincy, Florida...
obtained controlling interest in the Tallahassee-St. Marks Railroad. The new company improved the tracks and replaced the mules with a steam locomotive that cut travel time from nearly five hours to two hours.
Attractions
Newport has Newport Springs, a sulfurSulfur
Sulfur or sulphur is the chemical element with atomic number 16. In the periodic table it is represented by the symbol S. It is an abundant, multivalent non-metal. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with chemical formula S8. Elemental sulfur is a bright yellow...
spring said to have healing properties. The spring empties into the St. Marks River
St. Marks River
The St. Marks River is a river in the Big Bend region of Florida. It has been classified by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection as an Outstanding Florida Water, and is the easternmost river within the Northwest Florida Water Management District....
. Below the springs there are a series of caves. Wakulla County has taken over maintenance of Newport Springs.
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