THE HISTORY of the BLACKWATER Heritage Trail

(Vic Campbell with Richard Collins)

In the rainy months of 1917 the path between the schoolhouse at the Roeville timber camp filled with mud. It was not a great result for the limited conservative wardrobe of the school ma'am to be exposed to the red and brown hues of the natural wet earth. Dessie, who was a widow woman with a recent

Dessie with brother, Harry and Mae

teaching certificate from the Florida State College for Women, stepped up onto the log train rails to make her way to the schoolhouse.

The widow Dessie received funding from the Brock family in Pine Log, Florida. Their son, Thomas, who was a teacher, died of pneumonia before many years of marriage had passed. So, they funded an education to provide Dessie a livelihood. In a letter dated October 1917, Dessie wrote to an admirer in Chumuckla to describe some of the rain issues and the use of the rails to avoid the mud. She would, in late 1918, marry the admirer who was to become my Grandfather.

Jim Campbell and Dessie Lee Howell (Brock) Campbell celebrated the birth of my father, J.Lee Campbell in 1920, in Pace, Florida. From there, another logging rail ran North into the pine forests to transport raw materials for the Pace Lumber Mill, where Jim was a millwright. They lived in a manager's style company house that stood behind what is now Alyssa's emporium of shops.

The muddy road adventures faded from memory but the letter survived in a box discovered by Kittye Campbell Norris some 35 years since the death of Dessie. That railroad ran from the Bagdad Land and Lumber Company, north through Milton and several logging camps (including Roeville) up to Munson. All these main rails had branches that fed logs of Yellow Pine out of the entire landscape.

That Bagdad Land and Lumber Rail is now the base of the Blackwater Heritage Trail. But, before it became the scenic trail it is today, it served another roll. To meet the demand for Naval Aviators in WW11, Whiting Field was established.

The rail was then rebuilt from an unused base to handle larger cars and freight. IT became the main route to deliver aviation gasoline and supplies to Whiting Field. It was a roll it accomplished well for decades, until more efficient deliveries by truck became practical. Then, the rail again fell to disuse. It lay unattended and bare of any traffic. The vigor of Florida vegetation was fast erasing all traces of the once critical lifeline to aviation excellence.

in 1987, the National concept of RAILS TO TRAILS became a thing. Richard Collins - a recent transplant to the area, saw a vision for the old rail to Whiting Field. From there, he began to marshall information and resources to pursue what would be a capstone project of his retirement.

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The LAST Days of the Springs Fish Camp

As Long as the Sky is Blue

and the Grass is Green …

Chumuckla Heritage STORE

ca: 1986 - Press Gazette

You have to hand it to Mom. She insists on the very best, especially in terms of her diet. Even the water she drinks must be as natural as God intended. She requires a sweet taste to her drinking water and it must contain elements of nature in the following proportions: .94 grains of silica, .30 grains of iron and aluminum oxide, 1.02 grains of sodium chloride, .37 grains of potassium sulfate, .27 grains calcium sulfate, .90 grains of magnesium carbonate and 1.34 grains of calcium carbonate.

As luck would have it, the water at Chumuckla Mineral Springs spews forth from the belly of Northwest Florida in those approximate proportions. The spring is only a few miles from home.

Mom overheard me and Pop discuss plans to go to the springs for breakfast with the Nowlings, Dawson and Jane. They manage the leasing of lots there for an absentee landowner. Mom wanted us to be sure and bring back a half dozen gallons of spring water.

Over the past twenty years, since I left home, Chumuckla Springs became a haven for real people. Life loving, reed assisted, limnological pisceofiles (They like to fish in freshwater with cane poles). Fifty seven families live there, some on a permanent basis. About 74.3 percent (rough estimate) are retired Navy chiefs. The rest are civilian locals and other misplaced ratings.

Navy admirals normally retire to haciendas in Coronado, California, near San Diego, Sea World, Nouvelle Cuisine and boutique shopping (espresso coffee while you wait). Navy Chiefs go to places like Chumuckla Springs, where the permanence of their trailer homes is accentuated with colorful decals depicting white tail deer, largemouth bass and mallard ducks. There is a small bait store with a modest supply of cold drinks. It is a three point four mile drive (give or take a mile) to Diamond's Store in Brownsdale. When you run out of coffee, you can get a fresh can of Maxwell House there.

Chief Joe Cottrell was pouring us a cup of coffee as we pulled up to the Nowling's trailer. The Chief and his wife live next door. The grill is fired up driving away some of the dense fog hanging on the humid , early morning air. Just above the coffee pot is a quart of 100% SAE 30 weight VIRGIN motor oil. Didn't know if it was for the coffee or for the salt pork he was about to cook up. Coffee tasted fine, even though it was decaffeinated

The Chief had a big scar from his navel to his chin and two scars inside the thigh of each leg. Said he had multiple arterial bypass surgery recently. Had to eat healthy foods … anymore. No caffeine in his coffee.

Jane came out of the Nowling's trailer right behind Dawson. She had a pan full of salt pork. Said she got it from Jim Reahm who makes the best sausage and salt pork in three counties. She had to go all the way to Jay the evening before to get it.

"Hello Jane, howdy Dawson. How Y'all doing?"

The Chief had a slice of salt pork in front of my face before the steam from my second cup of decaffeinated coffee reached the convex surface of the hardened plastic lenses of my wire rimmed spectacles. Jane added to the offering with grits and scrambled eggs. Like Pavlov's. dog, I drooled. Two minutes and fifty one seconds later, I asked the chief for some more salt pork, and some link sausage.


'

And Miss Jane, can I have some more of them grits, please?"

We ate and we talked. It was like the 'old days. The river environment and the fish camp camaraderie were at work. As the enticing smell of Reahm's sausage worked its way around the camp, more people began to show up. Ken and Louise Colaw came by. Kenny Baker and his son Mike pulled their pickup truck up to the table and entered the conversation.

Ken said he really, got a deal on a side of beef. He wondered if anybody here knew how long he should have it aged.

Pop said, "Yessir, you should age your beef 8 to 10 days to get the best flavor."

Dawson disagreed, "You should age it 25 to 30 days. There should be 'hair' growing on the meat from the aging process. There no better beef than that aged for 25 to 30 days. Tender, oh, so tender."

The talk meandered on, much as the river flowing among the cypress stumps in the swamp behind us.

Dawson began to relate how the fish camp families pitched in with food and and comfort for a search party that had to drag the river for the body of a drowned boy. It was a few years back. The job was a sad one. But the little community of trailer camp retirees felt pride in their contribution to the effort.

Jane told us about the 'spring monster' that lived in the deep hole just off from the boat launch. The giant black 'thing' clearly frightened an experienced diver who examined the area some years ago. The man came up out of the hole gasping for breath,-his face blanched as white as hominy grits. He had seen the 'thing'. Everybody here is convinced the monster is for real. Any day now, there could be a national news break on "The Monster of Chumuckla Springs". Maybe Geraldo Rivera will do a spot on it. There is potential.

Then, Jane wondered aloud,  "Where is 'Big Jim' McGaha? It ain't like him to not be here."

It was surmised that. "Big Jim" might be sick. After all, Jane explained, the man is over a hundred years old. At least, if you figure up all the years he worked in all the jobs he claims to have worked at, he has to be much more than the 87 years allowed by law. "Big Jim", according to Jane, said he wants to live out his life at the springs and 'kick the bucket' right there. She said he’d better hurry up though because it looks like there is a move afoot to close the trailer park down. It may be that everybody will have to move out in a couple of months. 'Big Jim' might have to die fast or die someplace else.

Me and Pop had to get a move on. Pop had to get me to the airport, to catch a plane to North Dakota. From there, I would eventually return to my home in The People's Republic of New Jersey. They may have a place like Chumuckla Springs in New Jersey, but I haven't found it yet. •

"Pop, did you get the spring water for Mom?"
"Nope. Forgot."

"Me too. You'll have to come back later and get some for her. I hope they don't plug up the spring after all those people get moved out."

Vic Campbell -- Press Gazette .. CA-1989
https://photos.app.goo.gl/82tM8f29KBPYmk8R6
Down on the river............. near the springs. (video)



Chumuckla Heritage Store

Jane Nowlng messaged me on Facebook and mentioned this story I wrote many years ago. What a warm thing to have these memories.  Thanks, Jane.   At the time I had been away about 20 years. After 40 years absent we returned to the area.  So ... this story is about 30 years old.  I do wonder what happened to all the people.  The spring is there but it is private property and has been for many years.  A fishing landing nearby is open to the public.

Vic  12ponder.com

Thanks, Dad -- J. Lee Campbell ( Centennial of birth this year)

RULES OF CIVILITY 13-14

 The thing that got out of hand.... and the solution. .....  These stories come from the book . Junction County Road 197 ... (mild adventure for the armchair ruralist) .. each story is recreated in AI fashion to enjoy with others.  

As It Was in the Beginning to Whistle

ME3TV1 GW316 19 CIVILITY RULES by GW

ME3TV.org presents RULES OF CIVILITY by George Washington..   These are collected by rule numbers under tags . ME3TV1-GWROC at me3tv.org .. playlist.

Campbell Family Update 2024 (Christmas)

 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.   ... 

We have received cards and letters and read all of them with great interest. We rejoice with you in your joys and pray for you in your life challenges. You have uniquely blessed our lives; the memories give life warmth and meaning. Thank you.

Our 2024

This year, we chose to return among familiar family and friends to attend what is now the Chumuckla Community Church (Elizabeth Chapel). Alex, Holly, and the in-laws attend there, and we greatly

appreciate the pastor, who delivers down-to-earth wisdom from the Bible and his Marine conditioning every week. 

We had a chance to visit some family and friends - some well, some not so well- and appreciated our time with some amazing people.   On a recent short trip to Chipley, we saw our Godson, Jordan (and Stephanie) Sewell, and visited the Gainer (Carswell) Cousins.  I came away from there with a supply of sprouts of Japanese Yew trees, which they have on the property. They will go somewhere in my small woodland around the house, which I've been adapting into an amateur neighborhood disc golf course.   I've had help to put in a lot of trees and shrubs that will, in time, color up the woods around us. 

It takes a lot of help from a special team of skilled people to get these plants in the ground and keep up the yard because, for whatever reason, I still have fast-acting fatigue when I get near actual work. True Story.  The racing heart and fatigue I have chalked up to my favorite social media theory about heart and circulatory damage from the MRNA vaccines -- of which I am fully loaded -- beginning at the very time I had a heart Ablation in 2020.  I get around OK. But extended effort or short periods of hard effort put me out of action.  The VA, Medicare, or five varieties of Doctors, and Rx have led to no revelations of what THEY think is the problem.  So... I am going with social media. (I checked the facts, of course.)

New Orleans... The New Orleans School of Cooking and WWII Museum were our favorite things. These are worth a visit anytime you are in NOLA. Part of our Ship Reunion Tradition was having our Ship's Plaque displayed for a year by the New Orleans Irish Heritage and Whiskey Museum. Typically, we always leave the plaque with an Irish Pub in whatever town we hold our reunion. A hurricane drove us out of town early. 

Over a few early months of the year, we replaced the carpet in our house with wood-look flooring. It is a lot easier to keep the dust down, but it was a lot of effort. All this without me being able to do much physical effort. It looks GREAT. 

Karen's sister, Toni, finally got moved back to Florida and out of Texas.  She lives in the home they bought from Jon Tinsley before he died. It allows a lot more opportunities for family gatherings over dinner. Others for dinners and shared events are Holly's parents and sisters. We attend many of the local Community theater programs and Church activities together.  This is in addition to the many opportunities to visit and share time with my Brother's and Sister's families.  It really expands the options for things to do and places to go.  Karen also took time now to share her voice with the Chumuckla Church Christmas Cantata. It makes her happy to sing. I just listen. (FAMILY and FRIENDS)

One of the WEEKLY MUSTS is Vic's Saturday morning CRUDDS meetings with buddies who have coffee and share stories. Chumuckla Reprobates Utopian Debate and Discussion Society. Rule one is there are no rules. Rule two is ... see rule one.  We have a great time. And the mix of people varies from week to week. One of the key members is our 93-year-old friend, Dick Miller. Often Dick and Vic and perhaps a guest or two will relax at home and watch a war movie. A collection of local friends from school or fellow veterans will combine appointment trips to the VA Clinic or specialists. Sometimes, Vic hosts the Jay Museum, and sometimes, the CRUDDS meet there.  Vic is also a Board Member for the Coon Hill Cemetery and helps where he can. He also stays active with social media - to bring the unusual history of family or our region to the community.  The region is growing very fast. The newcomers and old-timers seem to like learning the history... although Vic's particular version of history is not always accurate. 

Our longest trips were to North Alabama and to New Orleans - both connected to Vic's shipmates from that short but memorable time in the Navy.  We attended Capt. Bob Brown's memorial in Gadsden. I did not serve under him, but I grew to appreciate the man at reunions. I even had an insightful interview with him on my YouTube channel, me3tv. He was O'Callahan's first C.O.  My actual first ship, C.O. Marvin Smith, is also interviewed on the channel. Another star of Naval leadership and later friendship. He passed away in 2023 (a WW2 vet). 

EXTRA: The New Orleans trip included the annual ship reunion, where we visited with shipmates and the LAST C.O. of the O'Callahan (1989), Gary Schnurrpusch.  My X.O. with O'Callahan was retired Capt. John Heidt. He passed away a few years ago, but his friendship and excellent memory of our combat details were always fascinating to absorb. While in New Orleans, I met a veteran of our command ship, Turner Joy, with whom we fought side by side on the LAST day of Vietnam to the Cease Fire (Jan 27, 1973). His knowledge of most of the totality of events those last days was far beyond what I took away. So now there is an interview with him in my podcast pages. It was a bit more dicey than I had felt at the time. Somehow, 1/2 inch of aluminum between me and the sea felt like total security.  

He put me onto a book that detailed a big part of that last day, the loss of Cdr. Harley Hall, an F4 pilot - was shot down and executed. I only had small parts of that story and always pay respects at the very end of the Vietnam Memorial Wall.  His prior command before this deployment was C.O. of the Blue Angels out of Pensacola.  I am late learning all this from a decades-old book that Jim Chester wrote the forward to. "A Convoluted Conclusion" (an end to the saga of Harley Hall).

Karen, Vic, and LITTLE MAN, 

We wish you the warmest of blessings this year. We are blessed with the best friends, family, and neighbors. Thank you for enriching our lives and being a rich memory in the building blocks of life.