Newport is a small
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...
in
Wakulla County
Wakulla County is a County (United States), county located in the Big Bend (Florida), Big Bend region in the North Florida, northern portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 33, ...
,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
,
United States of America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
, situated where
U.S. Highway 98 meets
State Road 267.
History
1840s
In 1841, the current Newport area and the community of
Port Leon, just south, endured a severe
yellow fever
Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. ...
epidemic
An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time.
Epidemics of infectious ...
. In 1843 Port Leon, located on the St. Marks River, was devastated by a
hurricane
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...
that produced a 10-foot
storm surge. The area still struggles against the same recurring hurricane surges that move up the St. Marks River entrance.
After the hurricane of September 13, 1843, washed away all of the homes, buildings and railroad tracks in
Port Leon promoters Nathaniel Hamlin, James Ormond, Peter H. Swain and several others met a week later and made plans to establish another town.
They spent several days searching for a site safe from the sea, then selected a piece of land on the west side of the
St. Marks River, about two miles below the old town of
Magnolia, Florida. This location offered high ground, fewer swamps, and
springs. It was owned by the Apalachicola Land Co. The organization permitted citizens who had suffered from the storm to draw lots at a cost of $25 and up.
The promoters named this new town Newport and platted it with four streets running east and west. The streets were New, Washington, Market and Adams. Those that extended north and south bore the names Bay, Pine, Elm and West. These street names were remarkably similar to those in
St. Joseph, Florida
St. Joseph was a boomtown that briefly became the largest community in Florida, United States, before being abandoned less than eight years after it was founded. St. Joseph was founded in 1835 on the shores of St. Joseph Bay. A brief period of pros ...
territorial Florida's largest town, about 80 miles to the west down the coast.
A seat of government
Since most of Port Leon was destroyed by the storm, Newport became the seat of government in Wakulla County on Feb. 1, 1844. One of the priorities became removing the debris from the St. Marks River, a project discussed and attempted almost 20 years earlier. Dredging was undertaken, but it failed to really deepen or remove many of the rocks from the river.
Daniel Ladd, Newport's leading cotton merchant, solved the situation by ordering a 100-foot steam
tugboat
A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...
named ''Spray'', later the ''
CSS Spray''. Ladd used this craft to tow vessels into and out of Newport.
Although those involved in the cotton brokerage businesses built several
warehouse
A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities ...
s at Newport, the town shared its shipping with St. Marks further down the river. By that time, the Tallahassee Railroad had rebuilt its tracks that had been destroyed in the storm of 1843, and 40 mules were back pulling cars. A
stage coach transported passengers from the terminal near St. Marks to Newport. Exporting cotton, tobacco and
animal hide
A hide or skin is an animal skin treated for human use.
The word "hide" is related to the German word "Haut" which means skin. The industry defines hides as "skins" of large animals ''e.g''. cow, buffalo; while skins refer to "skins" of smaller an ...
s and importing items such as flour, coffee, whiskey, gunpowder,
quinine
Quinine is a medication used to treat malaria and babesiosis. This includes the treatment of malaria due to '' Plasmodium falciparum'' that is resistant to chloroquine when artesunate is not available. While sometimes used for nocturnal le ...
and other medicines by rail proved expensive.
A plank road
Newport competed as a port with nearby St. Marks that offered a rail connection to Tallahassee that, in the beginning, featured mule-pulled train cars. Inland cotton growers and shippers through the rail terminus at Tallahassee would carry their cargo to these river ports on the St. Marks River from which they would be carried to other ports and processing points along the gulf coast and eastern seaboard.
Although several roads led to Newport, the idea of a "
plank road" became popular in the mid-19th century as an alternative to high railway charges and road-building problems. This type of road was introduced by the Spanish centuries earlier when they created routes of travel by laying logs across low places. Ladd, Ormond, John Denham, William McNaught and several others in Newport backed a plan to build a plank road proposed by Green and Joseph Chaires, wealthy Leon County planters.
The Florida Legislature incorporated the Georgia and
Georgia-Florida Plank Road Company The Florida and Georgia Plank Road Company was one of five such plank road companies incorporated by the Florida legislature in 1850, but was the only one built. (The Jacksonville and Alligator Plank Road Company, incorporated 1851, only constructe ...
in 1851. The road was to run from Newport to
Thomasville, Georgia
Thomasville is the county seat of Thomas County, Georgia, United States. The population was 18,413 at the 2010 United States Census, making it the second largest city in southwest Georgia after Albany.
The city deems itself the "City of Roses" an ...
, but it was completed to only the Tallahassee vicinity. Wagons used this road at a cost of about $1, and it brought competition to the
Tallahassee Railroad.
Eventually, the rail connection from St. Marks was upgraded to accommodate locomotive-pulled trains and the St. Marks port became dominant over Newport with their wood plank road to Tallahassee. Newport dwindled but remains intact with a handful of residents.
1850s
In 1856, the
Pensacola and Georgia Railroad obtained controlling interest in the Tallahassee-St. Marks Railroad. The new company improved the tracks and replaced the mules with a steam locomotive that cut travel time from five hours to two hours.
Attractions
Newport has Newport Springs, a
sulfur spring said to have healing properties. The spring empties into the
St. Marks River. Below the springs there are a series of caves. Wakulla County has taken over maintenance of Newport Springs.
[Florida Photographic Collection in Florida Photographic Collection, Newport, Florida photos, RC00182]
Photo gallery
File:Newport Florida rc13686.jpg, Steamboat ''Walkatomica
''Walkatomica'' was a steam boat that operated 1885-1898 around St. Marks, Florida.
''Walkatomica'' was built in Tallahassee by Capt. William P. Slusser. Its construction commenced in late January and February 1885. It was inspected on June 13, ...
'' loaded with passengers running on the waterway (1885)
File:Newport Florida ge0668.jpg, Newport springs and swimming pool (1921)
File:Newport Florida rc00182.jpg, Houses at sulphur springs (1920s)
File:Newport Florida RC01254.png, Florida State College for Women "F Club" (1920)
Nearby attractions
*
St. Marks Lighthouse
References
{{authority control
Unincorporated communities in Wakulla County, Florida
Tallahassee metropolitan area
Unincorporated communities in Florida
Former municipalities in Florida
Former county seats in Florida