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SHELLY

SoWal Insider
Jun 13, 2005
5,770
802
Re: What are those posts in the water?

As you cross the bridges heading south on 331, if you look to your left there are a bunch of posts out in the bay. What are they?
One person told me they are an oyster farm, another told me that traders used to tie up out there.
What are they?

They're for the new TDC Blue Signs.


.
 

Mango

SoWal Insider
Apr 7, 2006
9,709
1,360
New York/ Santa Rosa Beach

ShallowsNole

Beach Fanatic
Jun 22, 2005
4,292
849
Pt Washington
Re: What are those posts in the water?

Bet SN knows what they are!

Been there longer than I can remember, so it never occurred to me to ask. :blush: I know someone I can ask about the military thing, if he lives long enough for me to see him again (that sounds bad, but with the age of folks who were friends with my parents...:blink:). I do think the original purpose was to guide logs for the sawmills. If you go to the boat access on Tucker Bayou at the end of 395, or to Eden, the posts you see in the water there were definitely for the sawmills.

I can tell you that there are far, far fewer military manuevers over the east end of the bay than there were when I was growing up. Before I was born, there was an incident with flare bombs accidentally being dropped in our yard instead of in the bay...
 

ASH

Beach Fanatic
Feb 4, 2008
2,156
443
Roosevelt, MN
Re: What are those posts in the water?

I was off the dock out at Pt Washington one day when one of the locals living there stopped by the dock and chatted with me for awhile. He's got that white Jeep and a huge garden North of his place on the main road going into the Pt. Apparently he still owns a bit of land over there.
He told me there was a sawmill just across the river from the dock and it was built on the pilings.
I never thought to ask about the pilings out in the main body of water. I always thought that would be a good place to fish due to all the structure over there.
But if they were ever using that for bombing runs...:leaving:
 

ShallowsNole

Beach Fanatic
Jun 22, 2005
4,292
849
Pt Washington
Re: What are those posts in the water?

Yup. I think I know who you are talking about, and he would be a good source of info.

I'm also going to ask my uncles. They seem to know everything about the sawmills. The military part is what I need to find my dad's friend for. The man's son runs a business in Seaside so I might try him first. :wave:
 

Kurt

Admin
Staff member
Oct 15, 2004
2,233
4,925
SoWal
mooncreek.com
Re: What are those posts in the water?

I was off the dock out at Pt Washington one day when one of the locals living there stopped by the dock and chatted with me for awhile. He's got that white Jeep and a huge garden North of his place on the main road going into the Pt. Apparently he still owns a bit of land over there.
He told me there was a sawmill just across the river from the dock and it was built on the pilings.

Yes he would know - that's Tucker bayou, not the river. The pilings in the bayou were for docks used to load lumber onto ships. A lot of the raw logs were floated in so it would make sense for them to process them on the docks as well.

As for the pilings out in the bay I have heard several stories:
- bombing target
- directional indicator for planes at Eglin (possibly lit at night)
- held some sort of radar array for Eglin
- oyster farm
 

ASH

Beach Fanatic
Feb 4, 2008
2,156
443
Roosevelt, MN
Re: What are those posts in the water?

I've been looking for information online, but it is spotty at best. This guy I spoke with that you know. Is he one of the owners of the Red Bar by chance?
 

Sarah Moss

Beach Lover
Apr 5, 2006
217
27
Black Creek
Re: What are those posts in the water?

I've heard many stories similar to the ones posted, even the one about someone taking the caps off of them and being arrested (but that they were copper, not aluminum).

We've never gotten very close to them, but friends said they were going to try fishing there and there is no sign of any life around them, not even oysters growing on them. :shock: I bet they used some heavy duty chemicals to treat the wood back then.
 
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