ShareThisAPALACHICOLA, Fla. - St. George Island and nearby Apalachicola like to keep it natural. People live in harmony with the ebb and flow of the mighty Apalachicola River and the gentle wash of waves on white sand.
This little-known, year-round destination keeps a low profile and its distance from the neon-lit tourist towns of coastal Northwest Florida. St. George Island is about 75 miles southwest of Tallahassee. Thick longleaf pine forests protect Apalachicola and the communities of Alligator Point, Carrabelle and Eastpoint and help them keep their "Old Florida" ambience.
During winter, a mild climate ensures that golf courses stay populated and docks remain busy. Local marinas supply deepwater access to the Gulf of Mexico and the services of experienced local charter fishing guides. Saltwater and freshwater fishing is huge here during every season. At Alligator Point, where clam beds yield a flavorful bounty, kayakers paddle through wetlands. Nature lovers hike in the dense forests of Franklin County and spy on wintering bald eagles and kestrels.
Nearly 90 percent of Franklin County falls under federal or state protection, a necessary safeguard to ensure that Apalachicola Bay remains pristine and productive.
"The estuarine is a pretty incredible place," says Erik Lovestrand, education coordinator of the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve. The visitor center's displays depict creatures big and small living in the pure habitats of Apalachicola Bay.
Winter visitors enjoy many pleasant days in the sun and surf of the Gulf of Mexico. The 22-mile-long St. George Island, the largest of the area's four barrier islands, has expansive underdeveloped beachfront. The island's center point is the Cape St. George Light, one of four lighthouses in the area. The77-foot beacon was relocated to the middle of the island after it toppled in 2005 from damage caused by Hurricane Opal. Visitors can climb the 92 steps and experience sweeping views of the island's pastel-hued beachfront townhouses, multifamily houses and Old Florida-style bungalows.
St. George Island State Park on the east end of the island offers picnic pavilions, bathhouses and campground. Light winds comb through the sea oats on dunes. Waves are mellow and soothing. Here the flat, open-skied beach stretches for nine miles with only the tracks of blue herons and sea gulls. On the bayside, trails weave through hardwood hammocks and breezes sway cabbage and sabal palms. Offshore fishermen catch groupers, snapper, amberjack and cobia in the white-tufted blue water; from shore, they reel in sea trout and flounder.
The historic town of Apalachicola maintains a small business district and a working waterfront. Oyster and shrimp boats unload their catches to delivery trucks waiting along Water Street. Oyster lovers can thank the oystermen of Apalachicola Bay for filling their platters. The bay provides 90 percent of the oysters sold in Florida and 10 percent of the nation's supply, giving it bragging rights as the Oyster Capital of America.
In the early-morning hours, with their long-handled wooden tongs, oystermen pull the shells from the muddy bottom and onto their boats. Captain Doug Joyner explains the motion: "Leverage it like a seesaw. Use the right elbow to push down and pivot." While his cypress-and-pine boat bobs in the bay, he sorts the oysters for size. He and fellow oystermen deliver their harvest to sheds on Water Street and elsewhere before 1 p.m.
Apalachicola Bay oysters have a distinctive sweet taste. Restaurants, such as Boss Oyster, prepare succulent oysters in imaginative ways, such as Ala-Artie, an oyster with blue crab meat, artichokes and Monterey cheese; and Boss Gooda-Gooda, a flame-broiled oyster topped with caramelized onions, spicy creole soy sauce and smoked gouda.
Shrimp, crabs, clams and fish also make the short leap from water to table. Innovative chef Brett Gormely concocts conch cakes with mango coconut slaw and Key lime sauce for patrons at Up the Creek Raw Bar. Alligator and white bean chili is another favorite. "You have to stay ahead of the trends; otherwise you are in the past," he says. Many patrons simply order boiled shrimp and spend the evening on the open-air decks overlooking Scipio Creek and the Apalachicola River.
Gift shops, fashion boutiques and antiques emporiums are sprinkled throughout downtown's nine-block area, the original town plan of the 1830s. Apalachicola developed into the third-largest port on the Gulf of Mexico by the 1850s primarily because of cotton shipping. With the coming of railroads to this isolated region, industrial growth shifted to harvesting lumber from outlying cypress forests. Oyster harvesting, shrimping, fishing and crabbing were the chief livelihoods of the late 1800s. The Apalachicola Maritime Museum highlights local history as influenced by the Apalachicola River, the fifth-largest in North America.
With only one traffic light and 200 historical structures, Apalachicola retains the look of the past. Restored 19th-century-ship chandleries, cotton warehouses and old net factories have new functions as art galleries and offices. George Stritikus makes chocolate treats in a former men's haberdashery. Gingerbread trim, cupolas, turrets and tin roofs adorn residences in leafy neighborhoods. Coombs House Inn, a Queen Anne-style home, serves as a bed-and-breakfast inn. The Gibson Inn, a hotel in 1907, continues its tradition of hospitality by offering a cozy bar and lobby, topped by 30 guestrooms. The Water Street Hotel and Marina has 30 suites with screened verandas overlooking bronze sawgrass tidal marshes and the river.
With 50 degrees fairly normal for winter, visitors and guests congregate at picnic tables and a playground at Battery Park by the City Marina. Life moves leisurely in this remnant of Old Florida, just as slow and pure as the golden amber honey harvested from surrounding tupelo forests.
For more information, contact the Franklin County Tourist Development Council: 866-914-2068; www.anaturalescape.com.
(Linda Lange is a travel writer living in Knoxville, Tenn.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
