There are many regional authors that touch on Chumuckla. Anne Stanton Sims is a writer who descended from people who lived at Coon Hill in the 1870's-1890's. In her book, "IF PERFECTLY AGREEABLE" she revives the letters between two who courted by way of letters and a ferry across the river to McDavid. Posted at IN COUNTRY with UNCLE VIC
Both communities were hotbeds of commerce - Coon Hill and McDavid. Today, both are quiet remote backwaters. Coon Hill, as most know, is the seed community of Chumuckla ... gradually clawing its way to the current position as the tree harvest edged South. So, Coon Hill is about 6 miles almost Northwest of the Current Chumuckla School.
COON HILL PHOTOS
(always ask permission to go there. Family members are always happy to provide at daytime tour - Trespassers will be prosecuted)
HINT THREE -- THE CHILI SECRET INGREDIENT
ALRIGHT --
Next ingredient is
1-2 tablespoons of dried granulated garlic powder ...
Use a pack of McCormicks Chili Season Package. (half a pack to the whole thing - your choice)
CHECK out our TEESPRING Chumuckla Heritage Store and see if you can find a TeeShirt or mug or something that you love.
Those sales will provide profit toward the scholarship funds for MS Marilyn's Little Olives. Scholarship checks will be given to Ms. Marilyn's Little Olives who are in college now.
THE NEXT LINK TOWARD THE SECRET INGREDIENT IS
The LAST post of course will include the
SECRET INGREDIENT ! Help this move along.
See the store link below. Share the link to start the
scavenger hunt. 12ponder.com
CHUMUCKLA HERITAGE STORE at TEESPRING
Here are some items you will find there. There are more. One my favorites is the poster of the 1912 Advertisement to attract tourists to the Chumuckla Springs Hotel !
A BOOK REVIEW of "Perfectly Agreeable"
(by Vic Campbell)
A RIVER RUNS BETWEEN THEM. Two young people find a spark of interest. But their stoic lives in pioneer Florida require only the most formal of exchanges - as they meet and correspond with each other all dependent on the level of the river and the seasons of the year. Letters begin to flow back and forth from one side of the river and back. Church visits in public were a start. Then after church family dinners.
TO arrange these social suarez - The letters from the Village of McMillan - only four miles distant by river crossing, were always signed "If it is perfectly agreeable" . And answered - that it was "indeed agreeable.
This is not a fictitious love story. It is an actual exchange of letters that were written with fine hands tuned to the language, with all courtesies and flourish. It was a love story taking place in pioneer villages, where times were in reconstruction - and the 19th century industrial age was in full swing for the main industry of logging for the region.
The letters color in the activities of communities near the turn of the century and warm the heart to a more civil and genteel age. For the people in the area - there are many genealogical webs woven as this love story shapes up and moves into a married life in the early 1900's. The graves rest in a backwater cemetery - cared for by loving descendents over the following century and more.
One of the towns no longer exits with only the cemetery to indicate it once did teem with life. The other town - across the river - rose to prominence and then faded to a small sustaining village of bedrooms and small farms supporting the main city to the South - Pensacola.
McDavid and Coon Hill . Villages in History. And a moment in time - preserved in these jewels of letters. Read the book. Step back in time.
https://www.zillow.com/daphne-al/loma-alta-towers_att/ down by the river
Shirley Allen McDaniel, 83, of Milton, died January 1, 2015. Mrs. McDaniel was born in Jacksonville, Florida, to Ray Franklin Allen, Sr, and Madeline Michette Allen. Shirley and her husband, the late J. V. McDaniel, moved around for a number of years, then returned to Santa Rosa County and their families in 1987.
