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Florida Panhandle

April 02, 2023

For a list of other political entities with similar geographic extensions, see Salient (geography). For the British colony (1763–1783) and later the Spanish colony (1783–1821) that included modern-day Florida west of the Apalachicola River as well as portions of what are now Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, see West Florida.

The Florida Panhandle (also West Florida and Northwest Florida) is the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Florida; it is a salient roughly 200 miles (320 km) long and 50 to 100 miles (80 to 161 km) wide, lying between Alabama on the north and the west, Georgia on the north, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. Its eastern boundary is arbitrarily defined. In terms of population, major communities include Tallahassee, Pensacola, and Panama City.

Florida counties that may be included in the Panhandle; the eastern extent of the Panhandle is arbitrarily defined and may vary
U.S. Coast Survey map or nautical chart of St. George Sound, Florida, the coast part of Tate's Hell State Forest, just southwest of Tallahassee, along the Florida Panhandle (1859)

As is the case with the other eight U.S. states that have panhandles, the geographic meaning of the term is inexact and elastic. References to the Florida Panhandle always include the ten counties west of the Apalachicola River, a natural geographic boundary, which was the historic dividing line between the British colonies of West Florida and East Florida. These western counties also lie in the Central Time Zone (with the exception of Gulf County, which is divided between the Eastern and Central Time zones), while the rest of the state is in the Eastern Time Zone. References to the Panhandle may also include some or all of eleven counties immediately east of the Apalachicola known as the Big Bend region, along the curve of Apalachee Bay.

Like the rest of North Florida,[1] including North Central Florida, the Panhandle is more similar in culture and climate to the Deep South than the rest of the state, particularly to Central Florida and South Florida in the lower peninsula, being known for its conservative politics and "piney woods."[2]

The largest city in the Panhandle is Tallahassee, the state capital, population 196,169 (2020). However, the largest population grouping is the Pensacola Metropolitan Area with a population of 511,502 (2020), which includes the second and third largest communities in the region, Pensacola and Navarre. The total population of the Panhandle, as of the 2010 Census, was 1,407,925, just under 7.5% of Florida's total population as recorded in the same census. At roughly 70 persons per square mile, its population density is less than one fifth of Florida's as a whole.[3]

Coastal regions

Emerald Coast

Main article: Emerald Coast
 
 
Beach in Destin

Emerald Coast, a term coined in 1983,[4] refers in general to the beaches and coastal resorts from Pensacola to Port St. Joe,[Emerald_Coast 1] but is sometimes used to refer, by extension, to the Panhandle as a whole, especially west of the Apalachicola. Earlier designations include "Playground of the Gulfcoast" and the "Miracle Strip", especially for the area between Fort Walton Beach and Panama City.[5] Coastal regions of the following counties (if not the entirety of the counties themselves) are usually included when referring to the Emerald Coast:

Coastal portions of Escambia County (namely Pensacola Beach) that lie on the western edge, and coastal portions of Bay County that lie on the eastern edge, are also regularly included when referring to the Emerald Coast, but with somewhat less regularity than the three aforementioned counties listed above.[citation needed] However, the agency providing water, sewer, and garbage collection services to unincorporated Escambia County, which is headquartered in Pensacola, is called the Emerald Coast Utility Authority.[6]

Forgotten Coast

Main article: Forgotten Coast
 

The Forgotten Coast is a trademarked term coined in the early 1990s[7] used to refer to the coastal portion of the Florida Panhandle extending from Mexico Beach or southeastern Bay County on the Gulf of Mexico to St. Marks on Apalachee Bay. It is usually not considered a part of the Emerald Coast, which lies directly adjacent to the west.[8] Coastal regions of the following counties (if not the entirety of the counties themselves) are usually included when referring to the Forgotten Coast:

Physical features

The Apalachicola River is the largest river of the Panhandle. It is formed by the junction of several rivers, including the Chattahoochee and the Flint, where the boundaries of Alabama, Georgia, and Florida meet. From there, it flows southward to the town of Apalachicola.

Major estuaries include, from west to east: Perdido Bay, fed by the Perdido River, which forms the western boundary of Florida; Escambia Bay and East Bay, fed by the Escambia River and Blackwater River, respectively; Choctawhatchee Bay, fed by the Choctawhatchee River; and St. Andrews Bay, fed by Econfina Creek. Pensacola Bay, a deepwater port, is formed by the joining of Escambia and East bays. The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, completed in 1949, traverses the lower Panhandle by means of bays, lagoons, sounds, and man-made canals. The barrier islands of Perdido Key and Santa Rosa Island extend from the Pandhandle's western extremity through Fort Walton Beach to Destin.

Britton Hill is the highest natural point in the state at 345 feet (105 meters) above mean sea level.

History

For the colonial history of the area before 1821, see West Florida.

19th century

Throughout the 19th century, the Panhandle was sparsely populated, dotted in places with small farming communities, none of which had as many as a thousand residents. Many Panhandle residents had, in fact, migrated to the area from Alabama and had relatives there; it was also easier to trade with and travel to southern Alabama than to reach East Florida by slow, arduous journey across the thick cypress swamps and dense pine forests of the Panhandle. It was natural for West Floridians to feel that they had more in common with their nearby neighbors in Alabama than with the residents of the peninsula, hundreds of miles away.[9]

In 1821, Pensacola was the only city (in 19th-century terms) in West Florida, with a population estimated to be about 3,000. In the 1850 census, the enumerated population of Pensacola was 2,164 (including 741 slaves and 350 "free Negroes").[10]

Alabama annexation proposals

During the course of the century, proposals for ceding the Florida counties west of the Apalachicola River to Alabama were often raised:

  • In 1811, while Florida was still a Spanish possession, American settlers in the territory sent a petition to Congress asking to be incorporated into the Mississippi Territory, which at that time included present-day Alabama.[11] (See West Florida article.)
  • In 1819, the constitutional convention of Alabama asked Congress to include West Florida in their new state.[11]
  • In 1822, only a year after the U.S. acquired the entire Florida territory from Spain, residents of West Florida sent a petition to the U.S. House of Representatives asking that their section be annexed to Alabama, and Alabama Senator John Williams Walker also promoted the idea.[10]
  • In 1826, the Pensacola Gazette published a number of letters advocating annexation to Alabama, though the editor remarked that some Pensacolians opposed the idea.[10]
  • In 1840, a public meeting in Pensacola produced a demand that West Florida be united with Alabama. In the same year, the territorial Legislature notified Congress that it opposed allowing Alabama to annex West Florida, but in 1844, the year before statehood, the Legislature reversed its stance and asked that West Florida be separated.[10]
  • In 1856, advocates of annexation were able to get a bill passed by the Legislature authorizing a referendum on the issue, but Governor James E. Broome vetoed the measure. The Pensacola Gazette reported that "annexation is desired by a large majority of the people" of the area.[10]
  • In 1858, the Alabama Legislature unsuccessfully tried to open negotiations with Florida on the subject.[11]
  • The annexation issue was eclipsed by the Civil War and the war's effects on the region, but in 1868, with Pensacola now connected by the Panhandle's sole railroad line to the Alabama cities of Mobile and Montgomery, the issue came to a head again and was finally put to a vote of the people. In that year, the Alabama Legislature approved a joint resolution authorizing their Governor to negotiate with the Governor of Florida about the annexation of West Florida. An offer of one million dollars in Alabama state bonds, paying 8 percent interest for thirty years, was included. Both states appointed commissioners to make detailed recommendations on the matter.[12]
  • On November 2, 1869, a referendum was held in the West Florida counties (except Jackson, which was in the throes of bloody racial violence[13]), with a result of 1162 to 661 in favor of annexation.[9] However, political objection developed in Alabama to the high price, and the Legislature took no action on the results of the referendum.[11][14]
  • In 1873, a similar proposal was made in the Alabama Legislature, which the state senate approved, though it did not pass a separate proposal to finance the measure by selling all of Alabama's territory west of the Tombigbee River, including the city of Mobile, to Mississippi.[15] However, nothing came of this action.
  • In 1901, Alabama made yet another offer when the Legislature appointed a commission to negotiate with Florida about annexation, but this attempt, too, was unsuccessful.[11]

The building of the Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad, completed in 1883, finally linked Pensacola and the Panhandle solidly with the rest of the state and ended the region's isolation, although from time to time during the twentieth century there were still occasional calls for annexation that generated some public discussion but no legislative action.

See also: Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad

20th century

In the last quarter of the century, hurricanes that directly struck the area and caused significant damage included Hurricane Eloise in 1975, Hurricane Kate in 1985, and Hurricane Erin and Hurricane Opal, both in 1995.

The area was a prime target of the March 1993 Storm of the Century.

21st century

The Panhandle suffered direct hits from Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and Hurricane Dennis in 2005. Ivan was the most disastrous, making landfall near Gulf Shores, Alabama, with 120 mile-per-hour (193 km/h) winds and a 14-foot (4.3 m) storm surge that devastated Perdido Key and Santa Rosa Island, wrecked the Interstate 10 bridge across Escambia Bay, and destroyed thousands of homes in the region, some as far away as 20 miles (32 km) inland.

On June 23, 2010, oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill landed on Pensacola Beach and Navarre Beach, damaging the fishing and tourism industries, and prompting a massive clean-up effort.[16]

On October 10, 2018, the Panhandle suffered a direct hit from Hurricane Michael, with winds as high as 160 MPH. Michael was one of only four category 5 hurricanes to ever hit the US mainland.[17] Thousands of homes were destroyed, and apartment rents in Panama City increased, with a $500 apartment renting for $1000 in 2019. Recovery from Hurricane Michael was not complete in June 2019, and disaster relief for the Panhandle remained stalled in Congress.[18]

Economy

Historically, the economy of the Panhandle depended mainly on farming, forestry and lumbering, paper mills, import/export shipping at Pensacola and to a lesser extent at Panama City, shipbuilding, and commercial fishing. After World War II, the economy was boosted by the numerous military bases established in the region, as well as the growth of tourism and the hospitality industry.

In addition to military bases, state and local governments, hospitals, schools, and colleges, major private employers in the second half of the twentieth century included Monsanto and Westinghouse plants at Pensacola, the St. Joe Paper Company in Port St. Joe, and Gulf Power, a major electric utility company.

Unlike central and southern Florida, the Panhandle has never been a producer of citrus crops because the area is subject to regular frosts and freezes in wintertime, which destroy citrus fruits.

Transportation

Road

Interstate 10 is the only interstate highway in the Panhandle, connecting the extreme west with North Florida and Jacksonville. Other older east–west routes include U.S. Highway 90 and U.S. Highway 98. Important north–south routes west of the Apalachicola River include U.S. Highway 29, U.S. Highway 331, and U.S. Highway 231, all linking to Alabama and Interstate 65. State Road 20 stretches from Niceville to Tallahassee.

Rail

Freight service is provided by the Class III Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad, which acquired most of the CSX main line from Pensacola to Jacksonville on June 1, 2019. (For the history of this line, see Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad.)

Passenger service ended with the creation of Amtrak in 1971, but was revived with the extension of the Sunset Limited to Orlando beginning in 1993; however, passenger service was discontinued after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in 2005. Other regional short-line railroads serving the Panhandle are the Alabama and Gulf Coast Railway (formerly BNSF Railway, ex-Frisco Railway), the Bay Line Railroad, and the AN Railway.

Air

Major airports include:

Education

See also: List of colleges and universities in Florida

The following institutions of higher learning are located in the Florida Panhandle.

State University System:

Florida College System:

Religiously affiliated:

Politics

The politics of the Florida Panhandle vary considerably depending on location. The western Panhandle, particularly the Emerald Coast, was one of the earliest areas to shake off its Yellow Dog Democrat roots, and since the 1990s has become the most Republican part of Florida. Pensacola, Fort Walton Beach, Destin and Panama City regularly give Republicans close to or over 70% margins in state and national elections. However, Tallahassee and Gadsden County tend to be strongly Democratic. In the 2008 Presidential election, John McCain received 421,287 votes (60.1%) in the Panhandle, while Barack Obama received 279,206 votes (39.9%).

Culture and sports

Counties

The following counties west of the Apalachicola River are always included in references to the Panhandle:

Some or all of the following counties east of the Apalachicola, in the Big Bend subregion, are sometimes considered part of the Panhandle:

Cities and towns

Places marked with an asterisk (*) lie east of the Apalachicola River, and may not be considered part of the Panhandle by some residents or writers.

Population of the major metropolitan areas in the Panhandle:

Beaches

The Panhandle is renowned for the white sand beaches and blue-green waters of its barrier islands fronting the Gulf of Mexico. According to the National Park Service:[19]

The stunning sugar-white beaches of Gulf Islands National Seashore are composed of fine quartz eroded from granite in the Appalachian Mountains. The sand is carried seaward by rivers and creeks and deposited by currents along the shore.

The beach towns in the Panhandle, many of which play host to college students during spring break, are sometimes derisively called the Redneck Riviera.[20] The term was used as the title of a song by country music artist Tom T. Hall on his 1996 album Songs from Sopchoppy. The album takes its name from a town in rural Wakulla County, near Tallahassee.

Tourists have been drawn to the Panhandle since the building of the Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad in the 1880s. Pensacola Beach has been a major tourist attraction since the building of bridges between the mainland and Santa Rosa Island in 1931.[citation needed] After World War II, an increase in both tourism and population of the area led to a proliferation of motels, restaurants, bars, tourist attractions, and amusement parks along the coast, concentrated in Pensacola Beach, Fort Walton Beach, and Panama City Beach. Examples include the Gulfarium marine park and aquarium in Fort Walton Beach,[21] and the former Miracle Strip Amusement Park (1963–2004) in Panama City Beach.

In 1971, the federal government acquired many acres of the coastal islands in Escambia, Santa Rosa, and Okaloosa counties, preserving them from commercial development by establishing the Gulf Islands National Seashore, which also covers some islands off the Mississippi coast. Other beach areas protected by the state of Florida include

Both state and federal parks offer facilities for camping, picnicking, and other recreational pursuits. In addition, some parts of the coastline are federal property belonging to Pensacola Naval Air Station, Eglin Air Force Base, and Tyndall Air Force Base, and so are likewise protected from commercial development.

In addition, seven state aquatic preserves, covering thousands of acres of submerged lands in coastal areas, are located in the Panhandle.[22] A number of other state parks, preserves, and forests are located inland.

The 1970s also saw the beginnings of a number of upscale beach resorts, condominium towers, vacation homes, and planned communities, such as Seaside and Sandestin, so that most of the privately owned areas of the coastline are now heavily developed.

Military bases

Major military bases include the Pensacola Naval Air Station (the home of Naval Aviation in the United States), Eglin Air Force Base and Hurlburt Field near Ft. Walton Beach, Naval Support Activity Panama City in Panama City Beach, and Tyndall Air Force Base near Panama City. Smaller military bases in the Florida panhandle include the Center for Information Warfare Training in Pensacola, Naval Air Station Whiting Field near Milton and Duke Field near Crestview.

The 1983-84 television show Emerald Point N.A.S. was set in a naval air station somewhere in the American South, similar to Pensacola NAS. The 1997-2000 action/adventure series Pensacola: Wings of Gold was explicitly set there.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ ChananEstates.com. . ChananEstates.com. Chanan Estates Property Owners' Association. p. http://www.chananestates.com/index.html. Archived from the original on September 8, 2013. Retrieved April 16, 2013.
  2. ^ The Emerald Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau, Inc. "Official Site". Northwest Florida's Emerald Coast. p. http://www.emeraldcoastfl.com/index.html. Retrieved April 16, 2013.
  3. ^ TripAdvisor, LLC. "Emerald Coast - Florida - Reviews of Emerald Coast". TripAdvisor. p. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g28930-d524800-Reviews-Emerald_Coast-Florida.html. Retrieved April 16, 2013.
  4. ^ Miles Media Group, Inc. "Emerald Coast - SEE-Florida". SEE-Florida. p. http://www.see-florida.com/emerald-coast. Retrieved April 16, 2013.
  5. ^ South Walton Tourist Development Council. "South Walton State Parks - South Walton, Florida". VisitSouthWalton.com | The Official South Walton Tourism Site. VisitSouthWalton.com. p. http://www.visitsouthwalton.com/grayton-beach-state-park. Retrieved April 16, 2013. Grayton Beach State Park is among the priceless natural treasures of Florida's Emerald Coast.

References

  1. ^ "Deep South". The Free Dictionary. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  2. ^ A Newsweek article in 1972, referring to then United States Senator Lawton Chiles, said "In 1958, he was elected to the state legislature from the ultraconservative piney-woods panhandle of Florida."
  3. ^ "Population estimates, July 1, 2019, (V2019)". Census.gov. Retrieved November 30, 2020.
  4. ^ "Who owns 'Emerald Coast'?" July 2, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, Northwest Florida Daily News, June 29, 2011, accessed July 10, 2011.
  5. ^ "The Florida Handbook". Peninsular Publishing Company. May 7, 1985 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ "Services". Emerald Coast Utility Authority. Retrieved April 29, 2017.
  7. ^ United States Patent and Trademark Office Searching on this site reveals that the name was "first used in commerce" in 1992; the ABCofC registered the trademark in 2009.
  8. ^ Reiley, Laura. "The Forgotten Coast", Moon Florida Gulf Coast, Avalon Travel Publishing, 2008, pp. 262–289. ISBN 1-59880-082-5.
  9. ^ a b "The American Annual Cyclopaedia". May 7, 1870 – via Google Books.
  10. ^ a b c d e Herbert J. Doherty, "Ante-bellum Pensacola: 1821–1860, Florida Historical Quarterly, January 1959[permanent dead link]
  11. ^ a b c d e Fleming, Walter Lynwood; Chandler, Julian Alvin Carroll (December 1, 2009). The South in the Building of the Nation (4); Political History, Ed. by F. L. Riley. General Books LLC. ISBN 9781150175084 – via Google Books.
  12. ^ "Alabama Laws and Joint Resolutions of the Legislature of Alabama". J. Boardman. May 7, 1868 – via Google Books.
  13. ^ "自分流はたらきかた改革 - フリーの道は険しいけれど。". www.thejacksoncountywar.com.
  14. ^ Appletons' Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events: Embracing Political, Military, and Ecclesiastical Affairs; Public Documents; Biography, Statistics, Commerce, Finance, Literature, Science, Agriculture, and Mechanical Industry. Appleton. May 7, 1871. p. 9 – via Internet Archive. west florida alabama 1868.
  15. ^ Senate, Alabama Legislature (May 7, 1873). Journal of the Senate of the State of Alabama. p. 721 – via Internet Archive. west florida .
  16. ^ "Oil spill report card: Where are we now?". Pensacola News-Journal. No. Online edition. April 18, 2015. Retrieved September 28, 2017.
  17. ^ Wamsley, Laura (April 19, 2019). "Hurricane Michael Was A Category 5, NOAA Finds — The First Since Andrew In 1992". NPR.org. Retrieved June 1, 2019.
  18. ^ Sullivan, Becky; Caldwell, Noah; Shapiro, Ari (May 31, 2019). "Nearly 8 Months After Hurricane Michael, Florida Panhandle Feels Left Behind". NPR.org. Retrieved June 1, 2019.
  19. ^ ""Directions to the Florida District," Gulf Islands National Seashore, National Park Service, accessed 10 July 2011".
  20. ^ "Alabama Town Says No to 'Redneck Riviera'". ABC News. October 5, 2010.
  21. ^ "Gulfarium Marine Adventure Park". Gulfarium Marine Adventure Park.
  22. ^ . floridadep.gov. Archived from the original on April 17, 2012.

External links

 
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Florida Panhandle.
  • Outdoor Gulf Coast – Online recreation for Northwest Florida
  • Panama City Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau – Official online travel planning resource for Panama City Beach
  • Historic Pensacola Village and T. T. Wentworth, Jr., State Museum

Bibliography

  • DeBolt, Dean. "The Florida Panhandle," pp. 404–445 in The Book Lover's Guide to Florida, ed. Kevin M. McCarthy. Sarasota, Florida: Pineapple Press, 1992. ISBN 978-1-56164-012-6 (Contains an extensive bibliography of fiction and nonfiction works about people and places in the Panhandle.)
  • Hollis, Tim. Florida’s Miracle Strip: From Redneck Riviera to Emerald Coast. University Press of Mississippi, 2004. ISBN 978-1-57806-627-8
  • Jahoda, Gloria. The Other Florida. Scribner, 1967.
  • King, Heidi Tyline. The Pelican Guide to the Florida Panhandle. Pelican Publishing, 1999. ISBN 1-56554-308-4
  • O'Donovan, Michael, and Robin Rowan. Florida's Northwest: First Places, Wild Places, Favorite Places. Terra Nova Publishing, 2005. ISBN 0-9651034-3-9
  • Ziewitz, Kathryn, and June Wiaz. Green Empire: The St. Joe Company and the Remaking of Florida's Panhandle. University Press of Florida, 2006. ISBN 0-8130-2951-1

Coordinates: 30°26′N 85°11′W / 30.43°N 85.19°W / 30.43; -85.19

April 02, 2023
florida, panhandle, list, other, political, entities, with, similar, geographic, extensions, salient, geography, british, colony, 1763, 1783, later, spanish, colony, 1783, 1821, that, included, modern, florida, west, apalachicola, river, well, portions, what, . For a list of other political entities with similar geographic extensions see Salient geography For the British colony 1763 1783 and later the Spanish colony 1783 1821 that included modern day Florida west of the Apalachicola River as well as portions of what are now Alabama Mississippi and Louisiana see West Florida The Florida Panhandle also West Florida and Northwest Florida is the northwestern part of the U S state of Florida it is a salient roughly 200 miles 320 km long and 50 to 100 miles 80 to 161 km wide lying between Alabama on the north and the west Georgia on the north and the Gulf of Mexico to the south Its eastern boundary is arbitrarily defined In terms of population major communities include Tallahassee Pensacola and Panama City Florida counties that may be included in the Panhandle the eastern extent of the Panhandle is arbitrarily defined and may vary U S Coast Survey map or nautical chart of St George Sound Florida the coast part of Tate s Hell State Forest just southwest of Tallahassee along the Florida Panhandle 1859 As is the case with the other eight U S states that have panhandles the geographic meaning of the term is inexact and elastic References to the Florida Panhandle always include the ten counties west of the Apalachicola River a natural geographic boundary which was the historic dividing line between the British colonies of West Florida and East Florida These western counties also lie in the Central Time Zone with the exception of Gulf County which is divided between the Eastern and Central Time zones while the rest of the state is in the Eastern Time Zone References to the Panhandle may also include some or all of eleven counties immediately east of the Apalachicola known as the Big Bend region along the curve of Apalachee Bay Like the rest of North Florida 1 including North Central Florida the Panhandle is more similar in culture and climate to the Deep South than the rest of the state particularly to Central Florida and South Florida in the lower peninsula being known for its conservative politics and piney woods 2 The largest city in the Panhandle is Tallahassee the state capital population 196 169 2020 However the largest population grouping is the Pensacola Metropolitan Area with a population of 511 502 2020 which includes the second and third largest communities in the region Pensacola and Navarre The total population of the Panhandle as of the 2010 Census was 1 407 925 just under 7 5 of Florida s total population as recorded in the same census At roughly 70 persons per square mile its population density is less than one fifth of Florida s as a whole 3 Contents 1 Coastal regions 1 1 Emerald Coast 1 2 Forgotten Coast 2 Physical features 3 History 3 1 19th century 3 1 1 Alabama annexation proposals 3 2 20th century 3 3 21st century 4 Economy 5 Transportation 5 1 Road 5 2 Rail 5 3 Air 6 Education 7 Politics 8 Culture and sports 9 Counties 10 Cities and towns 11 Beaches 12 Military bases 13 See also 14 Notes 15 References 16 External links 17 BibliographyCoastal regions EditEmerald Coast Edit Main article Emerald Coast Beach in Destin Emerald Coast a term coined in 1983 4 refers in general to the beaches and coastal resorts from Pensacola to Port St Joe Emerald Coast 1 but is sometimes used to refer by extension to the Panhandle as a whole especially west of the Apalachicola Earlier designations include Playground of the Gulfcoast and the Miracle Strip especially for the area between Fort Walton Beach and Panama City 5 Coastal regions of the following counties if not the entirety of the counties themselves are usually included when referring to the Emerald Coast Okaloosa County Emerald Coast 2 Emerald Coast 3 Santa Rosa County Emerald Coast 4 Walton County Emerald Coast 5 Coastal portions of Escambia County namely Pensacola Beach that lie on the western edge and coastal portions of Bay County that lie on the eastern edge are also regularly included when referring to the Emerald Coast but with somewhat less regularity than the three aforementioned counties listed above citation needed However the agency providing water sewer and garbage collection services to unincorporated Escambia County which is headquartered in Pensacola is called the Emerald Coast Utility Authority 6 Forgotten Coast Edit Main article Forgotten Coast The Forgotten Coast is a trademarked term coined in the early 1990s 7 used to refer to the coastal portion of the Florida Panhandle extending from Mexico Beach or southeastern Bay County on the Gulf of Mexico to St Marks on Apalachee Bay It is usually not considered a part of the Emerald Coast which lies directly adjacent to the west 8 Coastal regions of the following counties if not the entirety of the counties themselves are usually included when referring to the Forgotten Coast Gulf County Franklin County Wakulla County Small portions of Bay CountyPhysical features EditThe Apalachicola River is the largest river of the Panhandle It is formed by the junction of several rivers including the Chattahoochee and the Flint where the boundaries of Alabama Georgia and Florida meet From there it flows southward to the town of Apalachicola Major estuaries include from west to east Perdido Bay fed by the Perdido River which forms the western boundary of Florida Escambia Bay and East Bay fed by the Escambia River and Blackwater River respectively Choctawhatchee Bay fed by the Choctawhatchee River and St Andrews Bay fed by Econfina Creek Pensacola Bay a deepwater port is formed by the joining of Escambia and East bays The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway completed in 1949 traverses the lower Panhandle by means of bays lagoons sounds and man made canals The barrier islands of Perdido Key and Santa Rosa Island extend from the Pandhandle s western extremity through Fort Walton Beach to Destin Britton Hill is the highest natural point in the state at 345 feet 105 meters above mean sea level History EditFor the colonial history of the area before 1821 see West Florida 19th century Edit Throughout the 19th century the Panhandle was sparsely populated dotted in places with small farming communities none of which had as many as a thousand residents Many Panhandle residents had in fact migrated to the area from Alabama and had relatives there it was also easier to trade with and travel to southern Alabama than to reach East Florida by slow arduous journey across the thick cypress swamps and dense pine forests of the Panhandle It was natural for West Floridians to feel that they had more in common with their nearby neighbors in Alabama than with the residents of the peninsula hundreds of miles away 9 In 1821 Pensacola was the only city in 19th century terms in West Florida with a population estimated to be about 3 000 In the 1850 census the enumerated population of Pensacola was 2 164 including 741 slaves and 350 free Negroes 10 Alabama annexation proposals Edit During the course of the century proposals for ceding the Florida counties west of the Apalachicola River to Alabama were often raised In 1811 while Florida was still a Spanish possession American settlers in the territory sent a petition to Congress asking to be incorporated into the Mississippi Territory which at that time included present day Alabama 11 See West Florida article In 1819 the constitutional convention of Alabama asked Congress to include West Florida in their new state 11 In 1822 only a year after the U S acquired the entire Florida territory from Spain residents of West Florida sent a petition to the U S House of Representatives asking that their section be annexed to Alabama and Alabama Senator John Williams Walker also promoted the idea 10 In 1826 the Pensacola Gazette published a number of letters advocating annexation to Alabama though the editor remarked that some Pensacolians opposed the idea 10 In 1840 a public meeting in Pensacola produced a demand that West Florida be united with Alabama In the same year the territorial Legislature notified Congress that it opposed allowing Alabama to annex West Florida but in 1844 the year before statehood the Legislature reversed its stance and asked that West Florida be separated 10 In 1856 advocates of annexation were able to get a bill passed by the Legislature authorizing a referendum on the issue but Governor James E Broome vetoed the measure The Pensacola Gazette reported that annexation is desired by a large majority of the people of the area 10 In 1858 the Alabama Legislature unsuccessfully tried to open negotiations with Florida on the subject 11 The annexation issue was eclipsed by the Civil War and the war s effects on the region but in 1868 with Pensacola now connected by the Panhandle s sole railroad line to the Alabama cities of Mobile and Montgomery the issue came to a head again and was finally put to a vote of the people In that year the Alabama Legislature approved a joint resolution authorizing their Governor to negotiate with the Governor of Florida about the annexation of West Florida An offer of one million dollars in Alabama state bonds paying 8 percent interest for thirty years was included Both states appointed commissioners to make detailed recommendations on the matter 12 On November 2 1869 a referendum was held in the West Florida counties except Jackson which was in the throes of bloody racial violence 13 with a result of 1162 to 661 in favor of annexation 9 However political objection developed in Alabama to the high price and the Legislature took no action on the results of the referendum 11 14 In 1873 a similar proposal was made in the Alabama Legislature which the state senate approved though it did not pass a separate proposal to finance the measure by selling all of Alabama s territory west of the Tombigbee River including the city of Mobile to Mississippi 15 However nothing came of this action In 1901 Alabama made yet another offer when the Legislature appointed a commission to negotiate with Florida about annexation but this attempt too was unsuccessful 11 The building of the Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad completed in 1883 finally linked Pensacola and the Panhandle solidly with the rest of the state and ended the region s isolation although from time to time during the twentieth century there were still occasional calls for annexation that generated some public discussion but no legislative action See also Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad 20th century Edit In the last quarter of the century hurricanes that directly struck the area and caused significant damage included Hurricane Eloise in 1975 Hurricane Kate in 1985 and Hurricane Erin and Hurricane Opal both in 1995 The area was a prime target of the March 1993 Storm of the Century 21st century Edit The Panhandle suffered direct hits from Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and Hurricane Dennis in 2005 Ivan was the most disastrous making landfall near Gulf Shores Alabama with 120 mile per hour 193 km h winds and a 14 foot 4 3 m storm surge that devastated Perdido Key and Santa Rosa Island wrecked the Interstate 10 bridge across Escambia Bay and destroyed thousands of homes in the region some as far away as 20 miles 32 km inland On June 23 2010 oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill landed on Pensacola Beach and Navarre Beach damaging the fishing and tourism industries and prompting a massive clean up effort 16 On October 10 2018 the Panhandle suffered a direct hit from Hurricane Michael with winds as high as 160 MPH Michael was one of only four category 5 hurricanes to ever hit the US mainland 17 Thousands of homes were destroyed and apartment rents in Panama City increased with a 500 apartment renting for 1000 in 2019 Recovery from Hurricane Michael was not complete in June 2019 and disaster relief for the Panhandle remained stalled in Congress 18 Economy EditHistorically the economy of the Panhandle depended mainly on farming forestry and lumbering paper mills import export shipping at Pensacola and to a lesser extent at Panama City shipbuilding and commercial fishing After World War II the economy was boosted by the numerous military bases established in the region as well as the growth of tourism and the hospitality industry In addition to military bases state and local governments hospitals schools and colleges major private employers in the second half of the twentieth century included Monsanto and Westinghouse plants at Pensacola the St Joe Paper Company in Port St Joe and Gulf Power a major electric utility company Unlike central and southern Florida the Panhandle has never been a producer of citrus crops because the area is subject to regular frosts and freezes in wintertime which destroy citrus fruits Transportation EditRoad Edit Interstate 10 is the only interstate highway in the Panhandle connecting the extreme west with North Florida and Jacksonville Other older east west routes include U S Highway 90 and U S Highway 98 Important north south routes west of the Apalachicola River include U S Highway 29 U S Highway 331 and U S Highway 231 all linking to Alabama and Interstate 65 State Road 20 stretches from Niceville to Tallahassee Rail Edit Freight service is provided by the Class III Florida Gulf amp Atlantic Railroad which acquired most of the CSX main line from Pensacola to Jacksonville on June 1 2019 For the history of this line see Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad Passenger service ended with the creation of Amtrak in 1971 but was revived with the extension of the Sunset Limited to Orlando beginning in 1993 however passenger service was discontinued after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in 2005 Other regional short line railroads serving the Panhandle are the Alabama and Gulf Coast Railway formerly BNSF Railway ex Frisco Railway the Bay Line Railroad and the AN Railway Air Edit Major airports include Pensacola International Airport Destin Fort Walton Beach Airport Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport Tallahassee International Airport Bob Sikes Airport Destin Executive Airport DeFuniak Springs Airport Apalachicola Regional Airport Perry Foley AirportEducation EditSee also List of colleges and universities in Florida The following institutions of higher learning are located in the Florida Panhandle State University System Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University Tallahassee Florida State University Tallahassee University of West Florida Pensacola Florida College System Chipola College Marianna Gulf Coast State College Panama City Northwest Florida State College Niceville Pensacola State College Pensacola Tallahassee Community College Tallahassee Religiously affiliated Baptist College of Florida Graceville Pensacola Christian College Pensacola Politics EditThe politics of the Florida Panhandle vary considerably depending on location The western Panhandle particularly the Emerald Coast was one of the earliest areas to shake off its Yellow Dog Democrat roots and since the 1990s has become the most Republican part of Florida Pensacola Fort Walton Beach Destin and Panama City regularly give Republicans close to or over 70 margins in state and national elections However Tallahassee and Gadsden County tend to be strongly Democratic In the 2008 Presidential election John McCain received 421 287 votes 60 1 in the Panhandle while Barack Obama received 279 206 votes 39 9 Culture and sports EditGreat Gulfcoast Arts Festival Florida A amp M Rattlers Florida State Seminoles Pensacola Blue Wahoos Pensacola Ice Flyers Red Hills Horse Trials Springtime Tallahassee Tallahassee Wine and Food FestivalCounties EditThe following counties west of the Apalachicola River are always included in references to the Panhandle Bay County Calhoun County Escambia County Gulf County Holmes County Jackson County Okaloosa County Santa Rosa County Walton County Washington County Some or all of the following counties east of the Apalachicola in the Big Bend subregion are sometimes considered part of the Panhandle Dixie County Franklin County Gadsden County Hamilton County citation needed Jefferson County Lafayette County citation needed Leon County citation needed Liberty County Madison County citation needed Taylor County Wakulla CountyCities and towns EditPlaces marked with an asterisk lie east of the Apalachicola River and may not be considered part of the Panhandle by some residents or writers Apalachicola Blountstown Bonifay Brent Callaway Carrabelle Cedar Grove Century Chipley Crestview Cross City DeFuniak Springs Destin Fort Walton Beach Gulf Breeze Jay Lynn Haven Madison Marianna Mexico Beach Milton Niceville Panama City Panama City Beach Paxton Pensacola Port St Joe Quincy Springfield Tallahassee Valparaiso Population of the major metropolitan areas in the Panhandle Pensacola Ferry Pass Brent Metropolitan Statistical Area 455 102 2009 Fort Walton Beach Crestview Destin Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area 180 822 2010 Panama City Lynn Haven Panama City Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area 202 236 2020 Tallahassee Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area 367 413 2010 Beaches EditThe Panhandle is renowned for the white sand beaches and blue green waters of its barrier islands fronting the Gulf of Mexico According to the National Park Service 19 The stunning sugar white beaches of Gulf Islands National Seashore are composed of fine quartz eroded from granite in the Appalachian Mountains The sand is carried seaward by rivers and creeks and deposited by currents along the shore The beach towns in the Panhandle many of which play host to college students during spring break are sometimes derisively called the Redneck Riviera 20 The term was used as the title of a song by country music artist Tom T Hall on his 1996 album Songs from Sopchoppy The album takes its name from a town in rural Wakulla County near Tallahassee Tourists have been drawn to the Panhandle since the building of the Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad in the 1880s Pensacola Beach has been a major tourist attraction since the building of bridges between the mainland and Santa Rosa Island in 1931 citation needed After World War II an increase in both tourism and population of the area led to a proliferation of motels restaurants bars tourist attractions and amusement parks along the coast concentrated in Pensacola Beach Fort Walton Beach and Panama City Beach Examples include the Gulfarium marine park and aquarium in Fort Walton Beach 21 and the former Miracle Strip Amusement Park 1963 2004 in Panama City Beach In 1971 the federal government acquired many acres of the coastal islands in Escambia Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties preserving them from commercial development by establishing the Gulf Islands National Seashore which also covers some islands off the Mississippi coast Other beach areas protected by the state of Florida include Perdido Key State Park Big Lagoon State Park Henderson Beach State Park Grayton Beach State Park St Andrews State Park St Joseph Peninsula State Park St George Island State ParkBoth state and federal parks offer facilities for camping picnicking and other recreational pursuits In addition some parts of the coastline are federal property belonging to Pensacola Naval Air Station Eglin Air Force Base and Tyndall Air Force Base and so are likewise protected from commercial development In addition seven state aquatic preserves covering thousands of acres of submerged lands in coastal areas are located in the Panhandle 22 A number of other state parks preserves and forests are located inland The 1970s also saw the beginnings of a number of upscale beach resorts condominium towers vacation homes and planned communities such as Seaside and Sandestin so that most of the privately owned areas of the coastline are now heavily developed Military bases EditMajor military bases include the Pensacola Naval Air Station the home of Naval Aviation in the United States Eglin Air Force Base and Hurlburt Field near Ft Walton Beach Naval Support Activity Panama City in Panama City Beach and Tyndall Air Force Base near Panama City Smaller military bases in the Florida panhandle include the Center for Information Warfare Training in Pensacola Naval Air Station Whiting Field near Milton and Duke Field near Crestview The 1983 84 television show Emerald Point N A S was set in a naval air station somewhere in the American South similar to Pensacola NAS The 1997 2000 action adventure series Pensacola Wings of Gold was explicitly set there See also EditBattle of Santa Rosa Island Bellamy Road Emerald Coast Florida Caverns State Park Florida in the American Civil War Floridan aquifer Forgotten Coast Fort Barrancas Fort McRee Fort Pickens Gulf Wind National Naval Aviation Museum Sunset Limited West FloridaNotes Edit ChananEstates com Chanan Estates in the Emerald Coast ChananEstates com Chanan Estates Property Owners Association p http www chananestates com index html Archived from the original on September 8 2013 Retrieved April 16 2013 The Emerald Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau Inc Official Site Northwest Florida s Emerald Coast p http www emeraldcoastfl com index html Retrieved April 16 2013 TripAdvisor LLC Emerald Coast Florida Reviews of Emerald Coast TripAdvisor p http www tripadvisor com Attraction Review g28930 d524800 Reviews Emerald Coast Florida html Retrieved April 16 2013 Miles Media Group Inc Emerald Coast SEE Florida SEE Florida p http www see florida com emerald coast Retrieved April 16 2013 South Walton Tourist Development Council South Walton State Parks South Walton Florida VisitSouthWalton com The Official South Walton Tourism Site VisitSouthWalton com p http www visitsouthwalton com grayton beach state park Retrieved April 16 2013 Grayton Beach State Park is among the priceless natural treasures of Florida s Emerald Coast References Edit Deep South The Free Dictionary Retrieved May 25 2018 A Newsweek article in 1972 referring to then United States Senator Lawton Chiles said In 1958 he was elected to the state legislature from the ultraconservative piney woods panhandle of Florida Population estimates July 1 2019 V2019 Census gov Retrieved November 30 2020 Who owns Emerald Coast Archived July 2 2011 at the Wayback Machine Northwest Florida Daily News June 29 2011 accessed July 10 2011 The Florida Handbook Peninsular Publishing Company May 7 1985 via Google Books Services Emerald Coast Utility Authority Retrieved April 29 2017 United States Patent and Trademark Office Searching on this site reveals that the name was first used in commerce in 1992 the ABCofC registered the trademark in 2009 Reiley Laura The Forgotten Coast Moon Florida Gulf Coast Avalon Travel Publishing 2008 pp 262 289 ISBN 1 59880 082 5 a b The American Annual Cyclopaedia May 7 1870 via Google Books a b c d e Herbert J Doherty Ante bellum Pensacola 1821 1860 Florida Historical Quarterly January 1959 permanent dead link a b c d e Fleming Walter Lynwood Chandler Julian Alvin Carroll December 1 2009 The South in the Building of the Nation 4 Political History Ed by F L Riley General Books LLC ISBN 9781150175084 via Google Books Alabama Laws and Joint Resolutions of the Legislature of Alabama J Boardman May 7 1868 via Google Books 自分流はたらきかた改革 フリーの道は険しいけれど www thejacksoncountywar com Appletons Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events Embracing Political Military and Ecclesiastical Affairs Public Documents Biography Statistics Commerce Finance Literature Science Agriculture and Mechanical Industry Appleton May 7 1871 p 9 via Internet Archive west florida alabama 1868 Senate Alabama Legislature May 7 1873 Journal of the Senate of the State of Alabama p 721 via Internet Archive west florida Oil spill report card Where are we now Pensacola News Journal No Online edition April 18 2015 Retrieved September 28 2017 Wamsley Laura April 19 2019 Hurricane Michael Was A Category 5 NOAA Finds The First Since Andrew In 1992 NPR org Retrieved June 1 2019 Sullivan Becky Caldwell Noah Shapiro Ari May 31 2019 Nearly 8 Months After Hurricane Michael Florida Panhandle Feels Left Behind NPR org Retrieved June 1 2019 Directions to the Florida District Gulf Islands National Seashore National Park Service accessed 10 July 2011 Alabama Town Says No to Redneck Riviera ABC News October 5 2010 Gulfarium Marine Adventure Park Gulfarium Marine Adventure Park Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection Florida Department of Environmental Protection floridadep gov Archived from the original on April 17 2012 External links Edit Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Florida Panhandle Outdoor Gulf Coast Online recreation for Northwest Florida Panama City Beach Convention amp Visitors Bureau Official online travel planning resource for Panama City Beach Historic Pensacola Village and T T Wentworth Jr State MuseumBibliography EditDeBolt Dean The Florida Panhandle pp 404 445 in The Book Lover s Guide to Florida ed Kevin M McCarthy Sarasota Florida Pineapple Press 1992 ISBN 978 1 56164 012 6 Contains an extensive bibliography of fiction and nonfiction works about people and places in the Panhandle Hollis Tim Florida s Miracle Strip From Redneck Riviera to Emerald Coast University Press of Mississippi 2004 ISBN 978 1 57806 627 8 Jahoda Gloria The Other Florida Scribner 1967 King Heidi Tyline The Pelican Guide to the Florida Panhandle Pelican Publishing 1999 ISBN 1 56554 308 4 O Donovan Michael and Robin Rowan Florida s Northwest First Places Wild Places Favorite Places Terra Nova Publishing 2005 ISBN 0 9651034 3 9 Ziewitz Kathryn and June Wiaz Green Empire The St Joe Company and the Remaking of Florida s Panhandle University Press of Florida 2006 ISBN 0 8130 2951 1 Coordinates 30 26 N 85 11 W 30 43 N 85 19 W 30 43 85 19 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Florida Panhandle amp oldid 1137439398, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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