Welcome to the Tour Franklin County Website

We invite you to travel back in time, to visit places that have shaped the spirit and history of Franklin County. Take a leisurely drive along St. Vincent Sound to the historic city of Apalachicola. Stroll along the streets laid out in the 1830s by the Apalachicola Land Company when the city was one of the largest cotton ports on the Gulf coast. Drive past elegant Queen Anne houses along the bay and more modest cottages, bungalows, and shotguns on the Hill, the traditionally African-American part of town. Walk along the waterfront, not long ago lined with seafood houses, to the long-closed Economy Cash Store, once the heart of the Greek commercial district. Drive across the John Gorrie Bridge, named for Apalachicola resident and inventor of the ice machine, to Eastpoint, once a farming cooperative and the heart of the Apalachicola Bay's oyster industry for over a century. Cross the Bryant Patton Bridge to St. George Island where you'll be greeted by the newly restored Cape St. George Lighthouse. Travel along the Big Bend Scenic Byway to the charming seaside town of Carrabelle, famous for its fabulous fishing and home to the Camp Gordon Johnston Museum. Drive east past Lanark, once an exclusive resort, and St. Teresa, where some of Tallahassee's most prominent families have summered since 1875.

Brochures for sites in Apalachicola and in Carrabelle and the rest of Franklin County may be downloaded and printed.

Touring the sites should be accomplished by walking or driving - Please respect the privacy of owners who have graciously allowed their properties to be included on the tour.

This website is a work in progress and at best only a taste of Franklin County's rich and colorful history. Additional materials will be posted for Carrabelle and other sites outside of Apalachicola. We will also be adding audio from oral history interviews to the site. Many of these interviews were conducted by Franklin County Middle School students. It is our hope that this website will flourish and grow and that Franklin County residents-old and young, natives and newcomers-will be inspired to connect to the past.

Materials on this site were developed by the Institute of Science and Public Affairs, Florida State University, in cooperation with the Franklin County School System, the Apalachicola Bay Chamber of Commerce, the Apalachicola Area Historical Society, the Carrabelle Chamber of Commerce, and the Carrabelle Historical Society. This project has been financed in part with historic preservation grant assistance provided by the Bureau of historic Preservation, Division of Historical Resources, Florida Department of State, assisted by the Florida Historical Commission. The Photo of boats in the top right of the banner is credited to David Taylor, Florida State Archives, Florida Photo Collection.