Before the Atlanta and Saint Andrew Bay Railroad came to Panama City in 1908 there was very little tourism. In the 1800’s, only well-to-do planters in north Florida and south Alabama could afford to send there wives and children to Saint Andrew Bay to seek refuge from the heat of summer. The cool bay breezes were…
The Old Dutch Roadhouse and Tavern on old Panama City Beach is renown as a wellspring of popular entertainers that flourished throughout the south-land. The comedian affectionately known as ‘Brother Dave’ Gardner was a favorite performer that honed his early career at the Old Dutch. David Gardner was born in 1926 in Jackson, Tennesee. He…
The twin screwed steamship the SS Tarpon was built in 1886, at Wilmington Delaware. She was originally christened the Naugatuck. She measured 130 feet overall with a beam of 26 feet and was powered by twin steam engines driving iron propellers. Naugatuck’s owners sold her to Henry Plant, whose shipping empire at Tampa, Florida, was…
Part of the difficulty keeping the railroad workers alive was the lack of nutritious food. As a food source, Minor Keith became interested in a fruit that he had seen for sale in New Orleans…the banana. He buys several hundred banana plants and has them planted along the railway. They become a welcomed source of…
Today the lowly banana is the commonest of fruits. However, it wasn’t always that way. A century ago, bananas were very rare and highly prized by those that could afford them. The Chiquita bananas on your kitchen counter today are part of a story with all the drama and suspense of a Hollywood movie. It…