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Saturday, March 18, 2017

A Meteor and a Music Metaphor

WME3.NET

Welcome to an edition of IN COUNTRY with ME3TV and a team of under-achieving, over-rated but fascinating characters from a world of nearly famous people who may never become a blip on the radar of folks. Nothing out of the ordinary.  We hope that your few minutes with us will yield memorable fragments of enjoyable ,entertaining  and educational insights, in a world of never-ending streams of information overload.

Today's Episode is brought to you by Oakes Meats of Chumuckla, Florida, where you latest trophy deer is prepared the way you want it for the table you share with friends. Oakes - because FRIENDS EAT too.  and   River Resources - a log-jam logger operation that clears out rivers and makes useful lumber out of a lost resource. Find them at Chumuckla.com.

It boggles the mind sometimes, the treasures that simply fall out of the sky around us.  Charles Faulk thinks he found one - sixty years ago. He thinks it was a meteorite but trained scientists tell us otherwise. Still - it is a a mystery from the banks of the Little Escambia Creek at Barnett's Crossing near Brewton, Alabama.

Mr Faulk saw the fiery trail in the sky. He saw a fire in the woods. He found fresh turned earth in the fire.  And he found this piece of glass.  Learned folks conclude it has no characteristics of a meteorite. It is not a piece of space junk.  If the glass fell hot into the dirt it would have left a sand and dirt obscured shell over the glass.  One explanation is that it is melted glass from some minor industrial effort over a hundred years ago. It was a chance encounter that led Mr. Faulk to it those many years ago.

 You might find Mr. Faulk at the location of his old sawmill in Floridatown, which is something of a bypassed community that for a time in the 1800's was a critical junction for connections to Pensacola from the East. Many mysteries abide there - from the Native use of the land to the era of early mills, logging efforts and ferry boat services............... FOLLOW UP VIDEO.
Josh Morrell and Jake Nowland are a team for music. Josh has a cerebral palsy, yet a fine melodious voice. Combined with Jake's voice coaching and guitar to accompany, his message with music is worth listening to.  This was recorded at one of their presentations at the Jay Historical Society.You will find more of this story at the Historical society facebook page

Jake Nowland and Jerry Morrell are both authors as well.  Jake's book, Sketches from Life "then and now" is actually a book of sketches with hand printed stories on the topics.  On Page 70, Jake talks about a fiddle he made. "My Miniature FIDDLE ... I made this
little fiddle back in the 1960's and sure did have lots of fun making all of the parts.  After I finished this thing and after close scrutiny, I said "" Well, I'll be, it just looks like an old violin!""  (I wanted a fiddle)"

TO GET A COPY:
 It was published in 2011 . Jacob M. Nowland, Jr, PaceFL, (850) 994-1173.  Or - email vic@buzzcreek.com for contact information. They are NOT people of the web..
Mr. John Diamond wrote about the Winding River Road (along the Escambia River) in 1943. He captured the end of an era and some of the fast fading landscape of the pioneer era.
...
 "This road had its beginning in this neighborhood not necessarily because of the
spring, but because the Spaniards extended their settlements up the water courses from
Pensacola and Florida Town and this area was one of the earliest to be occupied. At this
time the Spaniards had ceased to search for gold and silver in Florida. They were looking
for Indian Trade, quantities of large straight yellow pine timber and luxuriate open range
pastures, and timber for shipment to Spain and pastures for their cattle horses and hogs.
They were also looking for a region having an ample supply of pure spring water for
domestic purposes, and creeks having sufficient fall and narrow valleys to supply
water power. They knew if they were to remain healthy in a land where medicines and
doctors were scarce a supply of pure water must be available. Many of them had been in
West Florida long enough to know the value of an ample supply of fish and game in a land
where the reserve supplies of food is small.
 These adventure-loving Spaniards found exactly what they were looking for in the
area extending from the mouth of Moore’s Creek three or four miles below the
“Spring of Healing Waters,” northeastward along the east bank of the Escambia River to
the Florida-Alabama State Line in the low flood plain and hammocks along the river and
among the crystal springs and clear creeks flowing through the lands adjacent to the

river’s flood plain. Here indeed they found a forest primeval containing the largest and
tallest trees they had ever seen, the most luxuriant and well watered pastures and the
purest water in crystal springs and clear creeks the minds of adventurous Spaniards could
imagine. An examination of the creeks revealed plenty of water and ample fall for
supplying water-power for all the machinery they would need. An ample supply of fish was
found in the river and creeks and plenty of game grazing in the swamps, hammocks and
piney woods. Truly, adventure had found the land of the present and the future. The small
boats bringing the adventurous Spaniards were anchored or tied up in the mouths of the
little creeks where they emptied into the river and the erection of cabins begun. "

The Winding River Road -- ca 1943 by John T. Diamond- courtesy of the Jay Historical Society.
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We will learn more from Mr. Diamond in future installments.

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This post was brought to you by WME3.NETChumuckla.com and BuzzCreek.com. Supporting morale comes from Conflict Free Collards in season at local farm stands and the Jay Historical Society.

Additional morale and technical support provided by Roger Wilco, Roy Talks and Uncle Vic. Local Authors.

Local histories. Local voices. Join us regularly from links at Buzz Creek Dot Com.