| Boggy Bayou: Around Niceville and Valparaiso Contributor(s): The Heritage Museum of Northwest Florida (Author) |
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ISBN: 073854163X ISBN-13: 9780738541631 Publisher: Arcadia Publishing (SC) OUR PRICE: $22.49 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: October 2005 Annotation: Located just north of Florida's Gulf Coast, the twin cities of Niceville and Valparaiso nestle side by side along the shores of Boggy Bayou. Although they are now dynamic modern communities, the land they occupy remained a wilderness long after the rest of Florida was settled. After the Civil War, early homesteaders carved out a meager existence by making turpentine, sawing lumber from the pine forests, and harvesting fish from the waterways. In the 1920s, word spread that this region was an unspoiled paradise, so Chicago investors purchased land for development. Photographs taken at the time show the first hard road to Crestview, an early-20th-century bathhouse and waterslide, and formal get togethers at the Valparaiso Hotel. Today the nearby towns of Destin and Fort Walton Beach host millions of tourists, but just across the bridge, Niceville and Valparaiso hold on to their small-town charm. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | United States - State & Local - South (al,ar,fl,ga,ky,la,ms,nc,sc,tn,va,wv) - Photography | Subjects & Themes - Regional (see Also Travel - Pictorials) - Travel | Pictorials (see Also Photography - Subjects & Themes - Regional) |
| Dewey: 975 |
| LCCN: 2005926135 |
| Series: Images of America (Arcadia Publishing) |
| Physical Information: 0.36" H x 6.58" W x 9.3" (0.74 lbs) 128 pages |
| Themes: - Geographic Orientation - Florida |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Located just north of Florida s Gulf Coast, the twin cities of Niceville and Valparaiso nestle side by side along the shores of Boggy Bayou. Although they are now dynamic modern communities, the land they occupy remained a wilderness long after the rest of Florida was settled. After the Civil War, early homesteaders carved out a meager existence by making turpentine, sawing lumber from the pine forests, and harvesting fish from the waterways. In the 1920s, word spread that this region was an unspoiled paradise, so Chicago investors purchased land for development. Photographs taken at the time show the first hard road to Crestview, an early-20th-century bathhouse and waterslide, and formal get togethers at the Valparaiso Hotel. Today the nearby towns of Destin and Fort Walton Beach host millions of tourists, but just across the bridge, Niceville and Valparaiso hold on to their small-town charm." |
Contributor Bio(s): The Heritage Museum of Northwest Florida: - Contributing authors Carole Spence Apfel (of the Spence family who owned the Niceville Fish House) and Annette Brabham are lifetime residents of the area. Annette s father, Cliff Brabham, spent years photographing the bayou and has provided many of the pictures for this publication. Co-author Kay Harter has lived along Boggy Bayou for many years, sailing its waters and leading local preservation efforts. Barbara Brundage, museum director, has worked as a professional historian for more than 20 years. She has a degree in history and interpretation from Penn State University and worked as a ranger/historian for the National Park Service. |