I really should learn to proof my posts before I post. apologize for typos
What are those posts / pilings in the bay east of the 331 bridge?
- Thread starter bluemtnrunner
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Which book did you see that in? I have always read that all timber was moved by boat. I believe you may be confusing with pilings in Tucker Bayou from the old docks where they processed and shipped in and out.
I'll check my stash of books today. I recall a history of Geneva Alabama that referenced this but I know that that touring the House at Eden, references were made to the timber railway over the bay. I will look further and get back with you.
Okay, on a quick scan I have found a reference to thesepiling remnants in a book titled THE WAY WE WERE; Recollections of South Walton PioneersThat reference describes a thriving lumber business located in Point Washington. "Finished lumber, awaiting shipment by barge to Pensacola, was stacked on wharves in the bayou. The remnants of some of the piling for the wharves is still visible today". Pg 48 I might have hallucinated the notion of the over bay train trestle but I don't think so . I'll look on. It will take me a while I have two ill family members and will be tending to them today
Yup...you can still see the posts they refering to, but they are in the bayou behind Eden. Very few still stand...
Just like the number of licks it takes to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop....The world may never know!
The posts in Tucker Bayou were for the lumber industry wharf's. The posts in the bay that you can see from the 331 bridge are not related.
I think the wise old owl in th commercial determined it was three licks!
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ0epRjfGLw"]YouTube - Tootsie Pop[/ame]
There were train tracks near Point Washington, but to the best of my knowledge there was never anything that spanned the bay until the 331 causeway ("bay fill" as it was formerly known) and the original drawbridge were built in the early forties.
As far as the train tracks, one would likely need to ask Van Ness or Albert Butler about that. I have a vague memory of someone mentioning a train that ran through the Bunker area over to Bay County (we were connected to Bunker until the Intracoastal was dug in the late 1930s). I also remember hearing something about someone getting the old cross-ties.
As far as the train tracks, one would likely need to ask Van Ness or Albert Butler about that. I have a vague memory of someone mentioning a train that ran through the Bunker area over to Bay County (we were connected to Bunker until the Intracoastal was dug in the late 1930s). I also remember hearing something about someone getting the old cross-ties.
I am reading the book, "Of Days Gone By" A book of reflections of South Walton County. I picked it up at the estate sale at Point Washington.
There is a story about Geneva Mill stating that it was built at Mill Point where Lafayette and Four Mile Creek run together, just east of the shipyard that is still there. There is a photo showing tracks that it states ran logs from out around Black Creek. Lumber was processed at Geneva Mill and the story states that the railroad ran from Freeport through the sand hills almost to Red Bay. Logs went one way and then processed lumber went the other. The Geneva Mill closed in 1931. The story notes that no bridge spanned the bay until 1940. The Clyde B. Wells (331 Bridge was built in 1946)
There was another mill called Strickland located at the head of Tucker Bayou that shipped lumber to Pensacola where they were loaded on trains.
Apparently there were as many as seven large mills running at once back then.