Wakulla County, Florida | |
|---|---|
 Wakulla County Courthouse | |
 Seal | |
 Location within the U.S. state ofFlorida | |
| Coordinates:30°09′N84°23′W / 30.15°N 84.38°W /30.15; -84.38 | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  Florida |
| Founded | March 11, 1843 |
| Named after | Wakulla River |
| Seat | Crawfordville |
| Largest city | Sopchoppy |
| Area | |
• Total | 736 sq mi (1,910 km2) |
| • Land | 606 sq mi (1,570 km2) |
| • Water | 129 sq mi (330 km2) 17.6% |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 33,764 |
• Estimate (2023) | 36,449 |
| • Density | 55.7/sq mi (21.5/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC−5 (Eastern) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−4 (EDT) |
| Congressional district | 2nd |
| Website | www |
Wakulla County is acounty located in theBig Bend region in thenorthern portion of theU.S. state ofFlorida. As of the2020 census, the population was 33,764. Itscounty seat isCrawfordville.[1] Wakulla County is part of theTallahassee, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Wakulla County has a near-absence of any municipal population, with two small municipalities holding about 3% of the population. The county seat, Crawfordville, is one of only two unincorporated county seats among Florida's 67 counties.
In 1528,Pánfilo de Narváez found his way to what would be Wakulla County from the futurePinellas County, Florida, camping at the confluence of theWakulla andSt. Marks rivers. Narváez determined this was a very suitable spot for afort. In 1539,Hernando de Soto's expedition passed throughLa Florida with a similar route.
TheFort San Marcos de Apalache began with a wooden fort in the late 1600s. The vicinity around the fort was not settled until 1733. Spanish colonial officials began constructing a stone fort, which was unfinished in the mid-1760s whenGreat Britain took over.
The British divided Florida intoEast Florida, which included present-day Wakulla County, andWest Florida. The boundary was theApalachicola River; at that time, West Florida extended all the way to theMississippi River. Twenty years later when the Spanish returned, they kept the East and West divisions, with the administrative capitals remaining at St. Augustine and Pensacola, respectively.
The area to become Wakulla County was an active place in the early 19th century. A former British officer namedWilliam Augustus Bowles attempted to unify and lead 400Creek Indians against theSpanish outpost of San Marcos, capturing it. This provoked Spain, and a Spanish flotilla arrived some five weeks later to restore control.
In 1818,General Andrew Jackson invaded the area, capturing Fort San Marcos. Two captive British citizens,Robert Ambrister and Alexander Arbuthnot, were tried, found guilty of inciting Indian raids, and executed under Jackson's authority – causing a diplomatic nightmare between the U.S. andBritain. TheU.S. Armygarrison of 200 infantry and artillery men occupied the fort for the better part of a year (1818–1819).
In 1821, Florida was ceded to the United States and Fort St. Marks, as the Americans called it, was again garrisoned by U.S. troops.
In 1824, the fort was abandoned and turned over to theTerritory of Florida.
By 1839, the fort was returned to the Federal government and amerchant marine hospital was built. The hospital provided care for seamen and areayellow fever victims.
Wakulla County was created from Leon County in 1843. It may (although this is disputed) be named for theTimucuanIndian word for "spring of water" or "mysterious water". This is in reference to Wakulla County's greatest natural attraction,Wakulla Springs, which is one of the world's largest freshwatersprings, both in terms of depth and water flow. In 1974, the water flow was measured at 1.23 billion US gallons (4,700,000 m3) per day—the greatest recorded flow ever for a single spring.
In an 1856 book, adventurer Charles Lanman wrote of the springs:[citation needed]
An adequate idea of this mammoth spring could never be given by pen or pencil; but when once seen, on a bright calm day, it must ever after be a thing to dream about and love. It is the fountain-head of a river... and is of sufficient volume to float a steamboat, if such an affair had yet dared to penetrate this solemn wilderness... It wells up in the very heart of a dense cypress swamp, is nearly round in shape, measures some four hundred feet in diameter, and is in depth about one hundred and fifty feet, having at its bottom an immense horizontal chasm, with a dark portal, from one side of which looms up a limestone cliff, the summit of which is itself nearly fifty feet beneath the spectator, who gazes upon it from the sides of a tiny boat. The water is so astonishlingly clear that even a pin can be seen on the bottom in the deepest places, and of course every animate and inanimate object which it contains is fully exposed to view. The apparent color of the water from the shore is greenish, but as you look perpendicularly into it, it is colorless as air, and the sensation of floating upon it is that of being suspended in a balloon; and the water is so refractive, that when the sun shines brilliantly every object you see is enveloped in the most fascinating prismatic hues.
Another possible origin for the name Wakulla, not as widely accepted, is that it means "mist" or "misting", perhaps in reference to theWakulla Volcano, a 19th-century phenomenon in which a column of smoke could be seen emerging from the swamp for miles.
The town ofPort Leon was once a thriving cotton-shipping hub, with a railroad from Tallahassee that carried over 50,000 tons of cotton a year to be put on ships, usually for shipment direct to Europe. Port Leon was the sixth-largest town in Florida, with 1,500 residents. However, a hurricane and the accompanying storm surge wiped out the entire town. New Port (today known asNewport, Florida) was built two miles (3 km) upstream but never quite achieved the prosperity of Port Leon.[3][4]
During theCivil War, Wakulla County was blockaded from 1861 to 1865 by aUnion Navy squadron at the mouth of theSt. Marks River.Confederates took the old Spanishfort known asSan Marcos de Apalache, or Fort St. Marks, and renamed itFort Ward.
TheBattle of Natural Bridge eventually stopped the Union force that intended to take Fort Ward and nearbyTallahassee, the only Confederate statecapital other thanAustin, Texas which had not been captured. TheUnion was not able to land all of its forces, but they still outnumbered the Confederates, who chose to make their stand at a place where theSt. Marks River goes underground: the "Natural Bridge" referred to. However, theConfederate Army had over a day to prepare its defenses, and theUnion Army retreated. Most of the dead wereAfrican-American Union soldiers.
In Gloria Jahoda's bookThe Other Florida, she writes movingly of the extreme poverty of Wakulla County from the early 1900s to 1966 when Wakulla still had no doctor and no dentist, few stores, and a county newspaper produced just once a month on amimeograph machine.[4]
Today, Wakulla has several doctors and dentists, several supermarkets and big-box retailers, a golf resort, and a thriving seafood business.[5]
The name Wakulla is corrupted from Guacara. Guacara is a Spanish phonetic spelling of an original Indian name, and Wakulla is aMuskhogean pronunciation of Guacara. The Spanish "Gua" is the equivalent of theCreek "wa", and as the Creek alphabet does not exhibit an "R" sound, the second element "cara" would have been pronounced "kala" by the Creeks. The Creek voiceless "L" is always substituted for the Spanish "R". Thus the word Guacara was pronounced Wakala by theSeminoles who are Muskhogean in their origin and language.
Because Wakulla was probably aTimucuan word, it is unlikely that its meaning will ever be known. It may contain the word kala, which signified a "spring of water" in some Indian dialects.[6]. It may refer to theWhip-poor-will, known as waxkula in Creek.[7]
According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 736 square miles (1,910 km2), of which 606 square miles (1,570 km2) is land and 129 square miles (330 km2) (17.6%) is water.[8]
Wakulla County was added to theTallahassee, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in 1973. The county was removed from the Tallahassee MSA in 1983. It was re-added to the MSA (for the second time) in 2003.[9]
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1850 | 1,955 | — | |
| 1860 | 2,839 | 45.2% | |
| 1870 | 2,506 | −11.7% | |
| 1880 | 2,723 | 8.7% | |
| 1890 | 3,117 | 14.5% | |
| 1900 | 5,149 | 65.2% | |
| 1910 | 4,802 | −6.7% | |
| 1920 | 5,129 | 6.8% | |
| 1930 | 5,468 | 6.6% | |
| 1940 | 5,463 | −0.1% | |
| 1950 | 5,258 | −3.8% | |
| 1960 | 5,257 | 0.0% | |
| 1970 | 6,308 | 20.0% | |
| 1980 | 10,887 | 72.6% | |
| 1990 | 14,202 | 30.4% | |
| 2000 | 22,863 | 61.0% | |
| 2010 | 30,776 | 34.6% | |
| 2020 | 33,764 | 9.7% | |
| 2023 (est.) | 36,449 | [10] | 8.0% |
| U.S. Decennial Census[11] 1790-1960[12] 1900-1990[13] 1990-2000[14] 2010-2015[15] 2019[16] | |||
As of the2020 census, the county had a population of 33,764 and 8,362 families residing in the county. The median age was 42.7 years, with 20.5% of residents under the age of 18 and 17.3% aged 65 or older. For every 100 females there were 117.2 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 120.8 males age 18 and over.[17][18]
There were 11,970 households in the county, of which 32.0% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 53.0% were married-couple households, 16.4% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 23.6% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 23.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.[17]
There were 13,633 housing units, of which 12.2% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 81.2% were owner-occupied and 18.8% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.4% and the rental vacancy rate was 7.5%.[17]
30.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 70.0% lived in rural areas.[19]
| Race | Pop 2010 | Pop 2020 | % 2010 | % 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| White (NH) | 24,472 | 25,987 | 79.52% | 76.97% |
| Black or African American (NH) | 4,406 | 4,202 | 14.32% | 12.45% |
| Native American orAlaska Native (NH) | 174 | 154 | 0.57% | 0.46% |
| Asian (NH) | 166 | 198 | 0.54% | 0.59% |
| Pacific Islander (NH) | 17 | 19 | 0.06% | 0.06% |
| Some Other Race (NH) | 29 | 126 | 0.09% | 0.37% |
| Mixed/Multi-Racial (NH) | 496 | 1,501 | 1.61% | 4.45% |
| Hispanic or Latino | 1,016 | 1,577 | 3.3% | 4.67% |
| Total | 30,776 | 33,764 |
As of thecensus[24] of 2000, there were 22,863 people, 8,450 households, and 6,236 families residing in the county. The population density was 38 inhabitants per square mile (15/km2). There were 9,820 housing units at an average density of 16 per square mile (6/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 86.10%White, 11.51%Black orAfrican American, 0.59%Native American, 0.25%Asian, 0.03%Pacific Islander, 0.29% fromother races, and 1.23% from two or more races. 1.94% of the population wereHispanic orLatino of any race.
There were 8,450 households, out of which 35.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.10% were married couples living together, 12.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.20% were non-families. 22.00% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.57 and the average family size was 2.99. In the county, the population was spread out, with 25.60% under the age of 18, 7.60% from 18 to 24, 31.70% from 25 to 44, 24.70% from 45 to 64, and 10.30% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 107.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 106.80 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $37,149, and the median income for a family was $42,222. Males had a median income of $29,845 versus $24,330 for females. Theper capita income for the county was $17,678. About 9.30% of families and 11.30% of the population were below thepoverty line, including 15.40% of those under age 18 and 15.10% of those age 65 or over.
| Year | Republican | Democratic | Third party(ies) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
| 1904 | 39 | 13.78% | 233 | 82.33% | 11 | 3.89% |
| 1908 | 56 | 16.28% | 239 | 69.48% | 49 | 14.24% |
| 1912 | 25 | 8.96% | 215 | 77.06% | 39 | 13.98% |
| 1916 | 121 | 21.49% | 387 | 68.74% | 55 | 9.77% |
| 1920 | 119 | 17.81% | 530 | 79.34% | 19 | 2.84% |
| 1924 | 34 | 8.74% | 332 | 85.35% | 23 | 5.91% |
| 1928 | 66 | 12.18% | 470 | 86.72% | 6 | 1.11% |
| 1932 | 20 | 1.89% | 1,036 | 98.11% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1936 | 45 | 3.08% | 1,417 | 96.92% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1940 | 70 | 4.98% | 1,336 | 95.02% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1944 | 73 | 6.69% | 1,018 | 93.31% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1948 | 72 | 5.22% | 997 | 72.30% | 310 | 22.48% |
| 1952 | 375 | 24.24% | 1,172 | 75.76% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1956 | 393 | 26.79% | 1,074 | 73.21% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1960 | 379 | 24.85% | 1,146 | 75.15% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1964 | 1,270 | 62.78% | 753 | 37.22% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1968 | 247 | 10.49% | 440 | 18.68% | 1,668 | 70.83% |
| 1972 | 2,466 | 82.01% | 539 | 17.92% | 2 | 0.07% |
| 1976 | 1,580 | 38.80% | 2,353 | 57.78% | 139 | 3.41% |
| 1980 | 2,021 | 47.26% | 2,082 | 48.69% | 173 | 4.05% |
| 1984 | 3,088 | 67.75% | 1,470 | 32.25% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1988 | 3,158 | 65.72% | 1,605 | 33.40% | 42 | 0.87% |
| 1992 | 2,586 | 38.52% | 2,320 | 34.55% | 1,808 | 26.93% |
| 1996 | 2,933 | 40.91% | 3,056 | 42.63% | 1,180 | 16.46% |
| 2000 | 4,512 | 52.54% | 3,838 | 44.70% | 237 | 2.76% |
| 2004 | 6,777 | 57.61% | 4,896 | 41.62% | 90 | 0.77% |
| 2008 | 8,877 | 61.75% | 5,311 | 36.94% | 188 | 1.31% |
| 2012 | 9,290 | 63.21% | 5,175 | 35.21% | 232 | 1.58% |
| 2016 | 10,512 | 68.07% | 4,348 | 28.15% | 584 | 3.78% |
| 2020 | 12,874 | 69.79% | 5,351 | 29.01% | 223 | 1.21% |
| 2024 | 14,246 | 71.51% | 5,441 | 27.31% | 236 | 1.18% |
| Wakulla County Government | ||
|---|---|---|
| Position | Name | Party |
| Commissioner | Ralph Thomas | Republican |
| Commissioner | Fred Nichols II | Republican |
| Commissioner | Valerie Russell | Republican |
| Commissioner | Quincee MesserSmith | Republican |
| Commissioner | Josh Lawhon | Republican |
| Sheriff | Jared Miller | Republican |
| County Judge | Brian Miller | Republican |
| Clerk of the Court | Greg James | Republican |
| Property Appraiser | Ed Brimner | Republican |
| School Superintendent | Bobby Pearce | Republican |
| Elections Supervisor | Joe Morgan | Republican |
| Tax Collector | Liza Craze | Republican |
No railroads currently operate within Wakulla County, but it was formerly served by two different railroads.
TheGeorgia, Florida and Alabama Railroad, completed in 1893, passed throughSopchoppy on its route betweenTallahassee andCarrabelle until its abandonment in 1948. South of Sopchoppy, the line followed H.T. Smith Road. The railroad bridge crossing the Ochlocknee River at MacIntyre still exists as pilings blocking all but a portion of the river on the south side.[27][28]
TheTallahassee Railroad, the first railroad in Florida, was completed in 1836 and was abandoned by its successor, theSeaboard Coast Line Railroad, in 1983. Sixteen miles (26 km) of that right-of-way became theTallahassee-St. Marks Historic Railroad State Trail in 1988.[29][30]
TheWakulla County Airport (2J0), located south ofPanacea, is a small public-use airport with a single 2,600-foot (790 m), north–south turf runway.[31] This airfield was originally constructed during World War II, as an emergency landing strip for Army Air Corps aircraft which trained and patrolled along the Gulf Coast, most of which belonged to the 3rd Army Air Corps out of Dale Mabry Field Army Air Base in Tallahassee. After the war, the air strip was turned over to the county for civilian uses.[citation needed]
St. Marks is a small commercial seaport. Panacea andOchlockonee Bay also support small fishing fleets.
Wakulla County is served by the Wakulla school district with the following schools:[32]
The former Sopchoppy Elementary School now serves as the Sopchoppy Education Center, a Pre-K, adult, and second chance school.
The formerShadeville High School served African-American students from 1931 to 1967.
The Wakulla County Public Library is the main library of Wakulla County and is a part of theWilderness Coast Public Libraries.[33]
Places adjacent to Wakulla County, Florida | ||||||||||||||||
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Municipalities and communities ofWakulla County, Florida,United States | ||
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| Unincorporated communities | ||
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| Topics |  Map of North Florida | |
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| Counties | ||
| Major cities | ||
| Cities and towns 50k–100k | ||
| Cities and towns 10k–40k | ||
| Metro areas | ||
| Regions | ||
| International | |
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| National | |
| Geographic | |
| Other | |
