[country music]
[Peter] Good morning guys
here in Alligator Point Florida.
And it’s fair to say
most of Florida’s coastline
is highly developed.
There is one stretch though
from here down to Port St. Joe
that’s known as Florida’s Forgotten Coast.
And here I’ve been told
is that old world Florida.
That unfortunately is somewhat
going away but still exists.
So we’re gonna go down through
some of these small towns here
some of these beach communities
get a look around
talk to the locals
and try to capture
what that old world Florida
looks and feels like.
Let’s do this.
[country music]
[Peter] Look at that. Is that a bear sign?
Interesting.
So basically so far it’s a lot of this.
Just mailboxes, long driveways,
you can see all the names there.
And beautiful forests out here.
Beautiful pine forests.
[music continues]
Let’s check this out.
Looks like a snowbird zone.
[dog howls]
-[Peter] Your guard dog?
-[man] Yeah.
“No stupid people beyond this point”?
That’d be me.
-How is it here? Do you like it?
Oh yeah we’ve been here many years.
-You’re snowbirding from Iowa?
-Yeah we’re retired.
-Just come down for the winter?
-Yeah.
You call this the Forgotten Coast?
It is the Forgotten Coast.
-There are bear signs everywhere.
-Oh there’s bears here.
They used to get in the trash.
I haven’t seen one lately but yeah.
Plus we fish.
I got a portaboat in the trailer.
A plastic boat that unfolds.
-Yeah?
-We go out here fishing.
It’s pretty much our driver.
I’ve had it for 25 years probably.
-So you drive this big RV
and haul the bug in the trailer?
Yeah, sure do.
-Fair to say you’re living your best life?
-Beats the hell out of working.
Best job I ever had.
-What’d you do?
Well for 26 years
I worked on heavy equipment
and then I went to Quaker Oats.
-Okay.
I worked there as a machinist
fixing cereal machines in Cedar Rapids.
-Fixing cereal machines?
Interesting.
They make oatmeal and Cap’n Crunch
and I’m sure you’ve heard of them.
Of course.
We all grew up on that stuff.
-So most of these people are just retired?
Oh yeah 90%.
Talk to them, they’ll talk to you.
-Alright alright.
-They’re nice people.
[cowboy ringtone rings]
-Nice ring.
-That’s my ding.
-See ya.
-You betcha.
These guys are all making
retired life look great.
So you guys restored this thing,
polished it up?
-Yeah.
Why don’t they make them
like this anymore?
So much cooler back then.
I mean look at the features
like the little rain gutter drip edge.
-It’s got a drip edge there too.
And this is called a door in a door.
I think they still do this
but I’m not sure.
Do that…
And you have–
-So this is what, 1950s?
1962.
We have a ’54 we’re redoing
but it’s going slow.
-You even put some flamingos up.
Oh you have to have flamingos.
-Then you added this?
-Yeah I put that on there.
It’s been to a lot of places.
It’s been Maine and Grand Canyon
and a lot of places in between.
-You took your kids to see all 50 states?
Yeah that’s what I said to them,
“This country’s amazing.
You ought to know what you have here
before you start traveling overseas.”
-Yeah I’ve done a lot of overseas
but now I’m doing way more US.
And the layers to the onion
keep peeling back.
-I’ve been overseas many many times.
When I was young
I went with my mother a lot.
We’d go to Greece all the time
and lots of Europe.
But I wanted our kids
to know what this country was like
before they went abroad.
To know what they actually had here.
Now they are traveling abroad
but they do appreciate this country.
[truck passes]
[Peter] Gotta say this feels
really nice here.
Open road, no traffic,
miles of untouched shoreline,
no high-rises, no theme parks.
And we’re coming up on
a small town here called Carrabelle.
From what I’ve heard it’s not going to
allow big development to come in
and build high-rises all over the place.
As they say
it’s Florida as it used to be.
Let’s check it out.
Cute little place.
-Hi.
-Hi.
[woman] Oh you look familiar.
-Oh no! Oh!
-No. No.
-Uh-oh.
-Ooh!
[Peter] What happened?
Are you from Carrabelle?
I am not from Carrabelle, no.
But you’ve got to go in the junction.
-Show me around. What’s going on?
-Let me show you.
-What’s your name?
-Libby.
-Peter.
-I know.
[laughter]
-I knew I would run into you someday.
-Where are you from?
It’s happened.
Libby where are you from?
I’m from Port St. Joe.
-Oh I’m going there.
-Are you really? Whatcha gonna do?
I’m doing a video right now,
Florida’s Forgotten Coast.
It is kind of around here.
-Oh this is cool.
-Is this nice?
-Yeah, Libby.
-I just ate but good food here?
-Very good.
-Let me ask you one question…
-Mm-hmm.
What do people not know
about Florida’s Forgotten Coast?
This region, would you say?
Oh my God. Okay.
So everybody’s out there right?
-Yeah.
-That water.
But we’re up on the rivers back here
in our bass boat fishing.
-Rivers are sweet?
-Fantastic.
You go up these places
where hardly anybody goes
and it’s overgrown
and you’re out there with the alligators.
-Nice.
-It’s fun.
Libby I won’t hold you up but thank you.
-I am so excited to meet you.
-Me too.
[Libby giggles]
[Peter] Take care.
-Ladies how are we doing?
-How are you?
You’re the manger? You’re the owner?
So you’ve owned this for how long?
Almost six years.
-How’s it going?
-Awesome.
The people in general,
the public, the locals.
-You got good local people here?
-Oh yes.
Running restaurants is hard?
Understatement.
-Understatement?
It is extremely hard.
-But you’re staying above water?
Oh yes.
-Thank you. All the best.
-Have a good day, sir.
-Yeah you too.
Okay Carrabelle Junction. Cool place.
A lot of eclectic things
on the walls here.
Just a…
very simple feeling out here
in a good way.
Just very… wholesome.
So the economy here revolved
around timber at one point in time.
The Franklin Lumber Company mill site
owned by James Coombs.
Okay so they had…
I’m not going to read all this to you
but old-growth cypress
was fully harvested by 1928.
So that was lumber
that was worth a ton I’m sure.
Then the mill
was shuttered afterwards.
A lot like the Northern California story.
Like Humboldt County with
those old-growth redwoods.
Very durable timber,
very valuable, very unsustainable.
So yeah,
you get these boom-and-bust cycles
in the history of towns like this.
Just nice little streets
with cute little homes, lot of porches.
That’s a hotel here.
What is that called?
Carrabelle Hotel I think.
All grown in.
Methodist Church.
Just that simple Americana type of town.
The smell of the sea,
the gulf, the salt water.
And this is what the road is like.
[birds chirping]
-What’s your name?
-Adrian.
Adrian, Peter.
-Good to meet you.
-Yeah you too.
-Is it okay if I roll on this?
-Absolutely man.
-Let me pull in.
-Sure.
I saw you filming and walking around
and I’m like,
“No way, that’s Peter Santenello.”
-Adrian you’re from Carrabelle?
-I actually live in Tallahassee.
Originally we’re actually from Canada.
-No way.
-I live in Tallahassee now. Yeah, yeah.
Okay how is it
living down here from Canada?
Oh man it’s just way better, you know?
Man it’s just freedom.
It’s different here.
You feel it?
I feel it yeah. Yeah for sure. I feel it.
My wife, she feels it with her job
and I have a business
and things are just a lot better here.
The economy is a little bit better.
We find people are
a little bit more friendlier down here.
Feels like we’re 20 years in the past.
-Okay but Canadians
are known for being friendly.
Absolutely yeah.
I would say that we’re friendly.
But things have kind of changed in Canada
in the last five, six years.
You know what I mean?
Without getting political about it.
I don’t really subscribe
to mainstream politics.
But yeah it still feels like
family-oriented community-oriented here.
We feel like we’re part of a community.
-Right on.
-Yeah man.
And I guess you’re
filming an episode here.
I’m doing an episode,
Florida’s Forgotten Coast.
-Okay.
-This is the Florida people don’t know.
Even people in South Florida
don’t even know of this.
Yeah nobody knows about
the Forgotten Coast man.
It’s literally the Forgotten Coast
and it’s such a gem
during the summertime and the spring
the water is all green.
-Oh it clears up?
It clears up.
-It’s a bit brackish ’cause fresh water
coming in with the salt?
Okay how have Americans accepted you?
Man they just…
I don’t even know how to answer that.
They just…
You know what? We respect their culture.
And so they love having people
come move there
as long as they’re gonna
respect their culture.
You don’t have to necessarily
watch football and go to church.
You know in this part of the country,
Deep South a little bit right?
This is similar to Alabama but not quite.
-I think you were in–
-Yeah it is Deep South though.
A little bit Deep South.
But yeah when you do it the right way
you’re respecting the people
that you’re moving to live next to.
You’re respecting people
in your neighborhood.
You’re paying your taxes.
You’re not coming in
through the back door.
However that’s happening or not.
You hear rumors.
Honestly Peter,
the biggest difference here is
people are just…
they kind of have like life in them still.
And I mean that in a positive way.
They’re just super friendly and–
-Unpack that. What do you mean?
Yeah like… [sighs]
Okay.
So where we’re from in Canada
we feel that things kind of changed right?
The whole tight with your neighbors,
the community.
Things have changed in the last
five years for whatever reason.
And so here,
people are still just themselves.
Does that make sense?
Were you in a city?
I lived in a big city.
I lived in Toronto at one point.
And then I lived in Niagara Falls.
Okay so you’re feeling that
quintessential countryside vibe?
Countryside vibe, small town vibe,
which is really cool.
The last place we lived in Canada
was up just by Lake Huron.
Just across from the U-P
on the Canadian side in Ontario.
-Yeah.
-And it was kind of similar.
But you know when this opportunity
came up to make this happen
we just jumped at it and like
we’re excited to start a family here.
Nice! That’s great to hear.
-You know what I mean?
-Well welcome.
-Yeah man.
-We love great people.
Absolutely brother. That’s great man.
-And you’re going to stay in the US?
-Absolutely.
Yeah we’re going to stay in the US.
Tallahassee is where we’re at
and just Northwest Florida in general.
It’s a great spot to be.
Now okay…
now I’m going to hit you with a hard one.
Okay okay. Yeah.
Hockey.
What are you going to do about this?
USA versus Canada.
Oh man I’m still going for Canada man.
I was going for Canada the last few weeks
during the Four Nations Cup.
I mean it’s kind of in my blood.
I played hockey growing up
and it’s always gonna be there.
But I think the US
has probably a better team on paper.
I was surprised they didn’t
win that tournament.
-You don’t have to be diplomatic.
-I’m not a diplomatic guy.
But I was happy that Canada won.
I like to go down to Tampa
to watch the Lightning play.
What about the Panthers
winning the Cup last year?
That’s awesome. I was pumped.
Listen, Florida is where it’s at man.
When you go to North Florida
it’s like you’re in the South.
When you go to South Florida
it’s like you’re in the North.
-Totally.
-And it’s a totally different culture.
You hear more New York accents
North of Miami
than you do Deep South accents.
Here it’s like go ‘Noles
and we’ll see you at church on Sunday.
Go ‘Noles, go Dawgs, Bama,
whoever it is, whatever your team is.
That’s it man.
[country music]
[Peter] Here we’re coming up on
a town called Apalachicola.
It has roughly the same population
as Carrabelle where we just came from.
But it’s got somewhat of a
different feel here at first glance.
Bit more of a fishing industry maybe.
A little more touristy.
And look at these buildings.
Had to be thriving back in the day.
[seagull cawing]
[Peter] This video
is sponsored by Ground News.
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Now back to the story.
[Peter] This shop is pretty wild.
[man] Yeah the owner’s had it
for like 50 years.
-50 years? Okay.
-You said your grandfather is from here?
-My great-great-grandfather.
-Great-great-grandfather?
-Born here in 1859.
Okay so what was it?
Apalachicola. What was the industry?
The industry was mostly the river.
It was the third largest port
on the Gulf
after Mobile and New Orleans.
-Wow. I never heard of it.
-Yep it was big.
Biggest thing here was oysters.
-Oysters.
-Up until when?
Up until… Well they closed the bay
like four years ago.
-Oh.
It’s a federal closure.
Repopulate.
And it put a lot of people out of work.
Okay so people
are pretty pissed about that?
Oh yeah.
So it should be opening.
I guess we’re at four years now.
So what happens to all the fishermen
when they’re put out of work?
They just do other things
and they’re gonna come back you think?
I mean a lot of people
tried to stick around.
-It’s definitely run some people off.
-Right.
There was no job
to support that many people.
But it needed to happen right?
To rebuild the stock of oysters?
Yeah… I mean yeah.
According to the federal officials yeah.
Okay I guess I bet it’s one of those
things depending on who you talk to.
Exactly. Exactly. Yeah.
-All sorts of views on that one right?
-100% yeah.
They just had a good documentary
that just came out on PBS about it.
Okay.
Did they do a good job do you think?
Yeah they did a really good job.
-Pretty fair? That’s cool.
-Mm-hmm.
How’s it living here?
It can be quiet but it’s great.
It’s a great town.
It’s a pretty tight community.
-Young people,
they stick around or they take off?
I’d say the population
skewers towards older.
-Oh yeah.
I mean I’m 50
and I feel like I’m young here.
This town is so cool.
It’s got great old buildings.
And one of these classic old post offices.
Sometimes the interiors are really nice
and sometimes not.
But we’ll see.
Okay this one is cool.
Marble stairs.
Oh look at this.
For those who don’t know,
hurricane categories.
Cat 5 is the worst.
And you’ve just got this old style.
I love it when so much craft was put
into these buildings back in the day.
And the old boxes.
Love it.
[dings bell]
[Peter] So it used to be what?
-[man] A customs building.
-Okay.
We took it over in 1942. We took it over.
And then after that
it’s been a post office.
-People were immigrating here?
Yeah they used to come in the bay.
They come through here
to this building first.
-Do you know where they were coming from?
-No I couldn’t tell you.
But they were coming in by boat.
Yeah to the bay right here.
-Okay. Well thank you.
-You’ve got a beautiful town. It’s nice.
-Thank you.
Okay a little more history here.
“When the river was king! History
records the first shipments of cotton
to leave this port
arrived in New York, 1822.”
So probably grown in Georgia or Alabama
and then transported through
the river port here
to the Northeast and to Europe.
“1840, 130,000 bales of cotton
annually left this port.
Foreign and coast-wise shipments amounted
to between 6 million and 8 million yearly.
Apalachicola was the third
largest cotton port in the US.”
So yeah guys, I can’t give you full
deep dive history in a video like this
with so many places but there’s a lot.
And then we have the sponge industry.
And I don’t think anyone ever thinks of
the sponge industry as a thing
but here we are, Apalachicola.
All right just got some intel
on the street off-camera.
Go to Miss Lynn’s Oysters.
Miss Lynn’s Quality Oysters.
And we’re backtracking a bit.
“It’s worth it.” they said.
So we’re going to go there
eat some good food
hopefully get some good information
and then go back.
We’ve got quite a bit of ground to cover.
[country music plays in the restaurant]
-[Peter] These are the freshies?
-These are.
-This is your place?
-Yes sir.
Alright how’s business?
It’s been good. Good spring so far.
Just really getting kicked off.
-Oh nice.
Good?
Nice.
-Farm-raised oyster.
That’s local farm-raised?
Okay because you haven’t been
doing oysters for four years right?
Right it’s been closed since 2020.
-Ouch. Is that tough for you guys?
Oh yeah. Yeah we…
That’s what we were.
Wade can tell you, he’s been here
since the building was built.
But we were a wholesaler.
We weren’t a restaurant at all.
-All we did was harvest off the boats.
-Gotcha.
Washed them, repackaged them,
and shipped them.
This whole wharf in front here,
there’s probably 15 plants
along the waterfront.
They’re just like us.
-Oysters?
-Yeah.
Now we’re using farm-raised oysters
until they reopen the bay.
-But they’re going to reopen soon?
When they were shucking and packing
we got oysters from all over
the Gulf Coast including ours.
-Okay. Gotcha.
So they had to shut it
to bring the stock back?
So it was necessary?
Yeah it was at the time.
There’s oysters there now.
They need to be spread out.
-They’re a lot out there now? Okay.
That’s you?
That’s me and that’s Lynn.
That’s Brandon’s mom.
She’s friends with both of us
that worked here.
That’s you?
-Me and my mom.
-Miss Lynn?
That’s when it was
a real working waterfront.
Okay that’s what it was before.
The cars across the street.
That’s house workers,
and shuckers, and guys unloading.
That little fella
up there on the dock, that’s me.
-Oh this looks awesome.
-This sauce, you guys make this?
-That’s our homemade cocktail sauce.
-Cocktail sauce?
-And it has the horseradish in it also.
Just not as much as is in that cup.
-[waitress] What y’all need?
-[woman] Crawfish.
[waitress] You want some crawfish?
[Peter] Mmm.
You were oyster capital of the world?
Apalachicola Bay.
And now probably Chesapeake Bay
or somebody took that.
-Do you think you guys get it back?
I don’t know if we’ll ever
get back like it used to be.
There’s not going to be as many people
that are still going to go oyster.
-The younger generations aren’t doing it?
Yeah well it skipped now
two generations probably.
-Basically, yeah.
So we’ve lost a lot of knowledge on it.
A lot of the old timers,
they’ve passed away.
-There is a lot of knowledge doing this?
-You gotta know what you’re doing.
You don’t just go out there
and start pulling up.
They’ve got little spots
where they’ve always hid them.
What the tides doing and everything else.
-So it was a lifestyle, fair to say?
Yeah people loved it.
They were their own boss.
You get on the boat in the morning
and work for yourself.
-Could they make a good living?
Raise a family on it type stuff?
Yeah a lot of families.
That’s all they ever did.
Thank you ma’am.
Did you want something to drink?
Some water.
-Okay.
-Yeah thank you.
Check these out.
What seasoning do you put on these?
-We use garlic butter
and old bay seasoning.
-Okay yeah.
A lot of people say that’s the best
steamed shrimp they’ve ever eaten.
Best steamed shrimp ever?
-You agree?
-I agree.
All your juices stay together.
You’re not boiling in water.
Mmm.
That’s fire.
You’ve got to try this man.
Oh man. Look at that.
-This is Granny’s Gumbo.
This was my grandmother’s recipe.
That’s probably one of our
top two items that we sell.
Mmm.
Very good.
This is a steamed shrimp dip
and this is a smoked mahi dip.
-Oh wow… wow.
-Thank you.
-Yes sir.
That’s nice.
What do you put this on?
-We serve them with those crackers.
-All right.
Mmm.
-You don’t want to charge me?
-No you’re good.
How much is that normally?
$11.
[waitress] Hey y’all.
Have a seat wherever you like please.
So 22 bucks.
-Amazing seafood dinner, 22 bucks?
-Yeah.
-That’s good.
Thank you man.
-Hey you’re welcome.
-Yeah.
-Nice to meet you.
-Appreciate it. You too.
You do everything
like put cheese on them?
-[woman] Mm-hmm.
-[man] That’s called a Manny.
And that’s the baked one.
That’s parmesan garlic and butter.
-Wow I’ve never seen that.
-That’s Bacon and–
Bacon and cheese.
Wow.
-[Peter] Taking those home?
-I’m gonna eat ’em.
You a regular here?
[woman] Oh yeah.
He fishes our docks every time.
You fish out there?
Nice. How’s it been lately?
I’ve been catching a lot of fish.
-Yeah? Nice.
[woman] He’s my buddy.
Food, rod holders, brakes,
and pretty much all we need.
-Living the good life.
I probably live a mile or two
down from here.
You just come down, do some fishing,
get some dinner, cruise home?
Uh-huh.
-Right on buddy. You’re a cool kid.
[country music]
All right guys, so there’s this big bridge
going out to St. George Island.
Way out there on the other side
I’ve been told the water is very clear.
And the unfortunate reality
is if we’re going to
make it today that will throw us off.
So know there is beautiful beaches
out there, beautiful water, very blue.
Here’s brackish, fresh water coming in
mixed with the salt water.
It’s a little more brown.
Out there is a different story
I’ve been told.
[music continues]
All right we’re in Port St. Joe.
It’s a little more built up.
You can see new construction
coming into town.
See if I can run into anyone.
No one’s really on the streets.
That’s the problem.
But I’ll give it my best.
Mardi Gras is going on
right now in New Orleans.
[Peter] Okay so this is Port St. Joe
but you call it Port St. Slow?
Yeah.
-You’re from here?
-Oh yeah.
-Born and raised.
-Both of you?
Yeah.
-You got some respect here
from being a local right?
Well yeah the people listen
while I be around
and people would be talking and whatever.
“Yeah I was born and raised here.”
“Oh really?”
And the first thing they asked me,
“What was it like?”
-Yeah so what was it like?
-It was laid back.
-It was laid back. It was slow.
It was an industrial town.
We had a paper mill
and some chemical plants.
My dad worked for…
Had a sawmill out where
the wastewater treatment plant is now
called Kenny Mill.
And when I was born here
if you worked for a company like that
back in those days
they called it a mill town.
The company owned everything.
They had a company store,
doctor, house, all that.
-Out here?
-Yeah.
Okay so they pay in scrip?
Like company money?
Well they had some company scrip
but the deal was if you worked for them
they provided everything that you needed
but they owned everything.
And so it was hard for anybody
to get ahead beyond that.
But my dad had no formal education at all.
My mother had to teach him
how to sign his own name.
-He had no education.
-Okay.
‘Cause he came up hard
and as soon as he got old enough to work
he went to work.
Right.
And so there was a lot of that
in the community.
Uneducated farm people.
Everybody was working
just trying to survive
’cause nobody had much of anything.
What decade are you talking?
-That was the ’40s and early ’50s.
-’40s?
-Just survival out here?
-Yeah just right after the war.
Because the war effort had taken so much
and people, you know, was trying to
kind of catch up after the war.
We were war babies.
[laughter]
Everybody called that place Kenny’s Mill.
But the mill belonged to
St. Joe Lumber and Export.
But Kenny, they ran it.
So everybody called it Kenny’s Mill.
They had a bunch of houses out there,
a boarding house, a company store.
-They had all kind of–
-Is it still up?
No it’s all gone.
They got a big wastewater treatment plant.
-And then beyond this,
what’s this island out here?
That’s St. Joe Peninsula.
This is actually St. Joe Bay.
And on the other side
is the Gulf of Mexico.
-Gulf of America.
-[laughter]
-That’s where–
-Gulf of America,
excuse me President, I’m sorry.
[laughter]
That’s where the water
gets really clear right?
Yeah it’s clear out here.
-Most of the time.
-Most of the time.
It deadheads up there
but when we don’t have
much rain and runoff here it’s real clear.
But it comes in at the end
of the peninsula there.
This is all bay here.
-So you guys feel like a different Florida
up here than South Florida?
-Yeah.
-Wouldn’t go any further south.
-You wouldn’t go any further south?
-No.
And I tell people that come here,
glad to have you here,
love to have you here,
you’re welcome,
but this is Port St. Slow.
Please don’t try to change it.
Just keep it… Not against growing
or anything like that.
I don’t want the fast growth.
And things just get… take it away.
-Is it growing a lot right now?
For us it is yeah.
It’s changed a lot in the last 10–
Back in the day we had two or three
grocery stores, clothing stores, theater.
Yeah.
All gone. Had a drive-in theater one time.
-That’s all gone huh?
-Oh yeah. Yeah.
Last job I had before
I went in the Marine Corps
I worked at the Port Theater.
It was like an old regular theater.
Roy Roger movies and stuff like that.
You could go to the movie
on Saturday for 50 cents.
It was funny when I worked there.
People would bring their children.
People didn’t have TVs back then.
Right.
They’d bring their kids.
That place would fill up with kids.
They would leave them there all day.
So we had an all-day babysitting service.
-The building’s still there.
-Yeah it’s still there.
So it was… You guys are retired
but you made less money.
-But the prices were lower.
-Yeah.
It was easier then,
you could have an average job right?
-Have a home here.
-Yeah.
Support your family.
Your wife could be at home with the kids.
-So that was happening?
-Yeah.
And now that’s impossible here right?
-These homes aren’t cheap I’m sure.
-No. Gosh no. Huh-uh.
No there’s no way.
The houses that was built
just like I know for sure…
I think it was the old Wimberly place
that just was remodeled.
It was built…
I’m going to say in the early ’50s.
They remodeled it the other day
and they got a lot of money
for that house.
-How much?
Well it’s in the papers so I can say.
$437,000.
Back whenever I come out of the service
I could have got probably for $20,000.
-Something like that.
-Right.
Because it was industry and everybody
was making pretty good money,
dime stores and things like that.
Had like five car lots.
Had five car dealerships.
Gas stations.
Now we don’t have a car dealership.
When did the industry
start falling away here?
Well really the door was closed
in the late ’90s
when they shut the mill down.
-Paper mill?
-Paper mill.
It was there on the water.
We lost some
smaller businesses before then.
It was sad because
there was a lot of jobs.
It affected a lot of people.
A county this size
and we lost the railroad.
Which is where he worked.
It cut a lot of jobs.
We lost about 1,200 jobs.
-Why’d they shut the mill?
The industry itself changed.
A lot of paper mills have shut down
in the Southeastern United States.
They had their own woodland division.
It affected all the counties around here
because those people from Franklin County…
-…and Calhoun County–
-They came in here for jobs as well.
-Okay so the ’90s were rough here?
Yeah that’s when
we definitely knew it was changing.
If we didn’t have this
and it didn’t change to tourists
we would definitely be in trouble
’cause people wouldn’t be coming here.
-So you’re happy the tourists are coming?
Well I’m happy for the people that
own the businesses and stuff, and jobs.
I’ve got children, grandchildren here.
What I feel bad about is the young people,
graduates, they have to leave here.
There’s no industry.
When we graduated there was
good jobs here for men and women.
Telephone company.
See one company owned everything,
St. Joe Corporation.
But it was owned by DuPont from Delaware.
They owned everything.
Land, they own a million acres
of land in Florida.
Railroads, telephone companies.
-Do you think those times
were a little more simple?
They were as far as the community because…
Well America’s changed.
In my opinion
just in our little community here
things that we’re seeing now
because of drugs and addictions
we didn’t see back in our day
because men went to work
and they supported their family.
They wadn’t addicted to drugs.
Once in a while somebody
would get whacked out on alcohol
and become an alcoholic.
But it was few and far between.
But the stuff that you see nowadays
the way families are being
tore up by drugs is terrible.
-You’re seeing that here?
-Oh yeah.
Every town in America.
-Yeah it’s true. I hate it.
-It comes out in every one of my videos.
-Yeah.
I got a nice go-lucky video today.
When I start talking to people in depth
the topic always comes up.
-And it needs to come up.
-Yeah.
I mean it’s unfortunate.
And it’s, as you know,
not just in the cities.
It’s everywhere.
Well this is a nice neighborhood.
Oh yeah. It’s really nice.
The only time I left was
the four years I was in service.
And I came back
and I decided this, you know,
this is where I want to raise my family.
You’ve had long lifespans.
You saw the ’60s.
Weren’t the late ’60s,
the country was pretty divided?
Yeah.
Vietnam War did a number on it.
-And you served?
Yeah and the drug culture.
When we come back from California
they told us when we leave the base…
of course you could tell we was military
but they told us not to wear
our uniforms off the base.
So we didn’t wear
our uniforms off the base.
One thing I don’t understand
because I didn’t grow up then.
-A lot of people were drafted right?
-Yeah.
The kids in college didn’t get drafted.
-They could stay in college?
-As long as they was in college yeah.
The guys that got drafted went over,
had to do the worst stuff ever.
-Yeah. A lot of them died.
-A lot of them died.
But the ones that came back, right…
That were drafted, had to go,
didn’t have a choice came back.
Then you have college kids
spitting on them and shaming them
and you can’t wear your uniform.
And run into Canada like Clinton did.
Not call any names.
But I mean imagine
whose life is worth more?
Is anyone’s life worth more than another?
Like a college kid’s life worth is more?
I don’t get that. It doesn’t make sense.
Well it was a political war.
And, and…
You had the drug culture
kicking off about that time also.
So you had the hippies, the drug culture,
you had the war, you had the division.
And America separated a lot.
That’s what separated them.
The war and the drugs and the new culture.
-You weren’t drafted?
I was not drafted.
I volunteered.
I didn’t see my first draftee till 1966.
-Were the draftees…
Were they different over there?
No. No.
-They just flipped
the switch and got into it?
They got in.
Some of them I couldn’t
tell the difference till they told me.
They were there and looked at it like
serving their country
doing their time and then…
But I volunteered, two weeks
after graduation I was in boot camp.
-Wow.
But I didn’t know at the time the war
hadn’t escalated to the point it did.
It escalated while I was in
and that’s how I wound up over there.
Had to be pretty rough huh?
-In the jungles out there?
-There were some bad days yeah.
I was a sergeant before I got out
and I had a section of 12 men.
I had one killed and six wounded.
And we was in communications.
So it was a lot of stuff went on.
So the country now versus then,
was it more divided then?
Uh…
I would say it’s…
probably…
it…
I would say it’s pretty close
to about the same.
-Okay.
[Peter] So it will come around again?
I’m sure.
Yeah.
But like I said it was a political war
and it just…
There was a lot of bad things
done on both sides.
It just grew and it finally
got to the point where
it went on way too long.
And just another…
I think it was another
mistake that America made.
Should never go that far to fight a war.
It’s just too much.
Big a country as this is should have
blowed that place off the map.
Never put a boot on the ground
to clean it up.
-Yeah the Viet–
-It was all political.
The Vietnamese won
but they lost 4 million.
-Right.
-Yeah.
You know?
Yeah they won but there’s
a lot of people died in that.
But being raised here
it’s a small town flavor.
I love the small town flavor.
It’s still…
Sometimes it gets a little aggravating now
when a lot of people get in here.
But I’m not going anywhere.
I’m going to finish up right here.
I was born here
and I’m going to die right here.
I just want to send a message again.
If you come to Port St. Joe,
remember it’s Port St. Slow.
Please don’t try to change it.
-She’s going slow in her golf cart.
-Yeah.
Well that’s… She’s fast.
[laughter]
[country music]
[Peter] All right guys.
Here we are in Mexico Beach
Little bit past Port St. Joe.
The final stop of
Florida’s Forgotten Coast so they say.
A very interesting day
seeing those small towns
and a lot of forests in between.
And now we’re looking at
what most of Florida looks like.
When you get to South Florida,
wow, it’s towers up on the beach
way more developed than this.
So a nice little sliver of the state.
Getting into that Deep South culture
and a little slower pace of life.
All right guys.
This is part of a greater Florida series.
Check out the other Florida videos.
Thanks for coming on that journey.
Until the next one.
[music continues]