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The Crooked River Lighthouse
Carrabelle with its population of about 1,400 is one of
those rare towns in Florida that hasn't grown much since its early days. It had a good
start in the late 1800's with cotton from Georgia, hardwoods from Central America.
Florida's extensive pine forests along with several saw mills in the area also meant more
business for the port. It was a busy port processing it through the port of Carrabelle but
like Cedar Key and Apalachicola things didn't develop as hoped due in part to the
development of railroads in other parts of Florida. Now it's a pleasant community where
sport and commercial fishing are the main activities. This area of Florida has been called
the "Forgotten Coast." Hopefully it will stay that way for a long time. It's
unspoiled and handsome and one of the few areas left with no high rises along the shores.
It gives you a sense of what Florida was like years ago. The police station in Carrabelle
is famous for being the smallest in the world, a phone booth in the middle of town.
Carrabelle and Dog Island, just offshore from Carrabelle
played an important part of the World War II efforts and served as a huge military
training facility. Over 30,000 troops were stationed here at what was once called Camp
Gordon Johnston with over 1,100 buildings. There was a bombing range, bazooka range, live
grenade practice area, bayonet and knife course, and an area covered with barb wire and
obstacles, shell holes and trenches where six machine guns would fire live ammunition just
30 inches above the ground while troops crawled their way underneath. On the 159,347 acres
of land that this training center occupied there was even a street fighting course called
Harbeson City that was constructed from an old logging village to simulate a Nazi occupied
village. Training in small landing craft along the beaches was also an important part of
the training here. Nothing much is left of this now.
Lighthouses were an important part in the development of
any seaport and the first lighthouse to guide ships into the Port of Carrabelle was built
on Dog Island, a barrier island just offshore from Carrabelle. Constructed in 1838 it
became the victum of a storm which toppled the tower and destroyed the keepers 35 years
after it was built. During the time it was operational it also suffered damage by the
Confederates during the Civil War which is the typical story of lighthouses during the
war.
Twenty-two years went by with no lighthouse to guide ships
into the area after the lighthouse on Dog Island was washed away and then in 1895 a new
light was built on the mainland protecting it for the ever shifting sands of the barrier
island. It was placed just north of town and this is the lighthouse that still stands
today. It is exactly like the lighthouse on Anclote Key near Tarpon Springs. It's called a
skeleton lighthouse and was quite an advancement over the heavy brick lighthouses built
earlier. They used less materials and were less expensive to build. They were
prefabricated and could be more easily assembled and taken apart if they needed to be
moved at a later time. The surface area was less than that of a brick lighthouse so it
meant that they would stand up better in hurricanes. Most of all they weighted less so the
foundation wasn't as critical as were heavy brick lighthouses that weighed thousands of
tons.
Meanwhile Dog Island like all barrier islands continue to
shift and move with not much to be done about it. It's just a natural thing. These sandy
beaches come and go, sometimes growing in size but just as often wash away because of
hurricanes. People still continue to build homes on these barrier islands which I believe
is quite risky.
The lighthouse is hard to see from the road and you have to
keep a sharp eye out for it since it is hidden behind the tall Florida pines that surround
it. It looked much different when it was first built as there were no trees at all
surrounding the light. Two keepers houses with large porches stood on each side of the
lighthouse but they have long since disappeared. At the time it was built the cost for the
lighthouse, oil house, and two keepers houses totaled $40,000.
Now small houses are being built in the immediate area
around the lighthouse and other lots are for sale. It looks to me as if the area around
the lighthouse has become a nightime hangout for teenagers and although there is a fence
around the lighthouse to keep vandals out it seems to me that it is quite susceptible to
abuse if not cared for in the future. It would make a wonderful tourist attraction if only
the area were developed with a gift shop and some tidying up. Otherwise I believe this
lighthouse might deteriorate into a memory.
©Roger Bansemer
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