March 19, 2017 – Monday
In preparation for our gulf crossing, we walked the fisherman’s marina and talked to the locals about weather and the sea state of Government Cut. All weather reports and all local knowledge reports are good and it looks like we are ready for a gulf crossing tomorrow afternoon.
After talking with the local fishermen we visited the Orman House Historic State Park and Chapman Botanical Garden. The 1838 antebellum Orman House, built with pre-cut wood from Syracuse, New York and shipped to Apalachicola, was owned by Thomas Orman, a man who helped the transformation of the area from wilderness to the third largest cotton shipping port on the Gulf coast. Like the tides, Apalachicola’s affluence has risen and fallen many times throughout history. As both a steamboat port and railroad depot its fortunes have risen and fallen with the fishing, lumber, and cotton industries. Its current industry seems to be mostly tourism. The gardens of the Orman House holds the Three Soldiers, Detail statue, a one of a kind bronze sculpture made from the original mold of the Three Servicemen Statue that is part of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C.
In the evening we looked up Robert E. and joined him for happy hour at the Apalachicola ICE House. Searching for a way to leave the cold of the north (Kentucky?) behind, Robert E. and his wife have moved to Apalachicola and live onboard Stella Blue, a 27 foot Ranger Tug. At the ICE House the locals, transplants, and visitors enjoyed beer, tall tales, and Sweet Tea Two, a great local band. The ICE House used to be a machine shop with a shaft on the ceiling the length of the building that drove milling machines, lathes, and drills all by a belt drive.
