Apalachicola

Once the third-largest port on the Gulf of Mexico, Apalachicola's diverse and colorful past remains visible today.
This delightful little fishing village has a warm and friendly atmosphere, making it even more appropriate that Apalachicola's name is a Native American word meaning friendly people. When Apalachicola was established in 1831, its major industry was cotton export, and the city soon became an important port on the Gulf of Mexico. When the railroads expanded throughout the United States, Franklin County developed several large lumber mills to harvest and process wood from the surrounding cypress forests. These lumber magnates built many of the magnificent historic homes that still line Apalachicola's streets today. With more than 900 historic homes and buildings in the National Register Historic District, visitors are invited to stroll along the picturesque, tree-lined streets where Victorian homes display the charm of years gone by.

Author Beverly Mount-Douds is a genealogist and historian with many ancestral links to the area around Gulf County. She is the founder and president of the Gulf County Genealogical Society and a member of the St. Joseph Historical Society. Her previous works include Images of America: Gulf County and the self-published Lighthouse Keepers. It was with the help of the Apalachicola Municipal Library, the Apalachicola Bay Historical Society, and the residents of Apalachicola that these images were acquired and the stories behind them could be written.