L.I. Smith and his family are known for the dairy farm that operated from 1906 to 1945 in DeFuniak Springs. It was the oldest working dairy farm in Florida, and the Smith home can still be seen on Highway 331 near the Burger King restaurant. [Digital Collection: Courtesy of Scott
Continue readingCategory: Agriculture
Wooden Stirrup
This wooden stirrup represents the evolution of horseback riding techniques. It was located in an abandoned barn near Dewitt, Arkansas, in the 1970s. Wooden bar stirrups were in common use in Walton County after the Civil War and through the depression following the 1929 stock market crash. [Accession No. 2002-11-3:
Continue readingHoe
The hand-forged hoe pictured above was typical of those made and used in Walton County. [Accession No. 2002-11-9: Donated by James E. Moore]
Continue readingHorseshoe
The photograph shows a typical horseshoe. [Accession No. 2002-11-8: Donated by James E. Moore]
Continue readingThe Road to Health, Happiness and Prosperity
The R.E.L. McCaskill Co. published a promotional booklet in 1920 called “The Road to Health, Happiness and Prosperity.” The booklet interlaced facts and photographs with folksy prose designed to lure farmers and ranchers to Walton County. The inside cover featured a photograph of his home on Circle Drive. “Our interest
Continue readingSilo Scraper
The tall tool with a fin-shaped blade was discovered under the DeFuniak-Walton Library building. It was used to scrape the inside of a grain silo. [Donated by Dan Owens, then Head Librarian, Walton County Library System] [Accession No. 2012.19.1]
Continue readingThe Sunny (?) South: Interesting Florida Letter.
DEFUNIAK SPRINGS, FLA., March 12, 1890. Leaving home on Christmas day, which in old St Clairsville was ushered in by the roar of Jackson crackers and the hurrying and scurrying and the hilarity of the small boy, which may not have been in honor of our leaving, but simply, I
Continue readingTung Oil Grove Near Mossy Head, 1937
“Tung oil grove near Mossy Head, Florida. This is a new development in the cultivation of naval stores for oil The trees came from China, the nut, when pressed, yields an oil used in paint manufacture.” Photographer: Dorothea Lange [Source: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division]
Continue readingTobacco Farms
The following item appeared in The Marlboro Democrat of Bennettsville, South Carolina, on July 19, 1889: Large tobacco farms, to be worked and managed by skilled Cubans, have just been established at De Funiak Springs, Fla. Tobacco grown there from Havana seed is said to be even finer and more
Continue readingNational Forest Headquarters
This item appeared in the Bradford County Telegraph (Starke, Florida) on September 30, 1910: The headquarters of the [Choctawhatchee] and Ocala National Forest will be moved from DeFuniak Springs to Pensacola and the supervisor in charge of these forests is making preparations to [transfer] the office. This will be done
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