The HEART of PINE documentary on the longleaf

wme3.net

This film was presented recently for several days at the ARCADIA MILL site in Milton. If you have never visited the ARCADIA MILL - an 1830 industry in the Florida Panhandle ... you should. The boardwalk through the creek swamp and old mill site are an excellent introduction following a tour inside the museum.  Here is the film on the LONGLEAF PINE.  60 years ago, I wandered through second growth longleaf that was already  40 years old and very large. Many older trees remained in the forest - and carried "cat faces" from the harvest of turpentine.  This was a huge industry in the coastal plains "Pine Barrens" that blanketed the southeast.  It involved the rivers, the land and the people - along with tremendous mills and machinery with rails and communities to support the whole enterprise.  MOST OF THAT IS NOW A MEMORY. It was only a fragment of itself in 1960.   Watch this film and learn about that amazing resource .. and perhaps the hopes to bring some of that back again.
Presented here courtesy of  Conflict Free Collards

LONGLEAF: THE HEART OF PINE from The Southern Documentary Project on Vimeo.

Dr. Rucker presents Camp Helen State Park

Camp Helen is located near the Western edge of Panama City Beach in Walton County.  Dr. Rucker talks about this gem here. The ending clips show some streaming outfall from coastal lakes similar to the one this park borders.  Learn more about Dr. Rucker's books at his facebook site PATAGONIA PRESS.   His TREASURES OF THE PANHANDLE is available from Amazon.

RUCKER goes to the BEACH - 30-A

Dr. Brian Rucker - a prolific historian of topics big and small in the panhandle of Florida provides here a glimpse of the developments along Hwy 30A in the Panhandle.  After this brief history are some clips of some of the scenery there -- the developments along 30-A.

DUNE LAKES of the Florida Panhandle

One of the more prolific historians for our Panhandle is Dr. Brian Rucker, a professor at Pensacola State College and at UWF.  His lecture series often include tours with students to areas referenced in class. Here is a quick look at DUNE LAKES of South Walton County  off Hwy 30-A.  Learn more about his books at PATAGONIA PRESS.  A multi part documentary on these Dune Lakes is available through the St. Joe Community Foundation.

Gaylier Miller - Author

WME3.NET

Gaylier Miller writes historical fiction among other things. A retired educator whose roots are in Northwest Florida, she finds colorful characters and vibrant history right at her feet.  Her latest book, "CLEVE" is a part of an "interwoven" series that began with "WAITING DEER" and the complex meeting of cultures and peoples who pioneered the region.

"CLEVE" is a bit later - late 19th century, CLEVE" takes us from what now is a ghost town (erased but for a cemetery) of Coon Hill in Santa Rosa County, Florida, to Auburn University, to the FIRST Chautauqua at DeFuniak Springs, Florida and more of the Panhandle.

We are fortunate to have this talented author to give us a glimpse of an era that hides behind the thinnest veil of generations and colors a period many of us living can remember our grandparents talk about.  "

EXTENDED INTERVIEW 1 (Cleve)
EXTENDED INTERVIEW 2 (Waiting Deer) (reading passages)