Bristol is a city in and the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

Liberty County, Florida Liberty County is a county located in the state of Florida, part of the Big Bend region. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,974, making it the least populous county in Florida. Its county seat is Bristol. Torreya State Park and the ...

, United States. It is the only incorporated city in Liberty County. The population was 918 at the 2020 census.

Geography

The approximate coordinates for the City of Bristol is located in northwestern Liberty County at , in the

Florida Panhandle The Florida panhandle (also known as West Florida and Northwest Florida) is the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Florida. It is a Salient (geography), salient roughly long, bordered by Alabama on the west and north, Georgia (U.S. state ...

. It sits atop a bluff overlooking the east side of the

Apalachicola River The Apalachicola River is a river, approximately long, in the state of Florida. The river's large drainage basin, watershed, known as the ACF River Basin, Apalachicola, Chattahoochee and Flint (ACF) River Basin, drains an area of approximately ...

Florida State Road 20 State Road 20 (SR 20) is a east-to-west route across northern Florida and the Florida Panhandle in the United States. Route description Okaloosa County (Niceville and Bluewater Bay) SR 20 starts at SR 85 in Niceville as John Sims Parkwa ...

passes through the city, leading west to Blountstown and east to

Tallahassee Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of and the only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2024, the est ...

, the state capital.

Florida State Road 12 State Road 12 (SR 12) is an east–west route in the Florida Panhandle, running from SR 20 in Bristol to U.S. Route 27 (US 27) in Havana. The route continues as County Road 12 (CR 12) on both ends, on the western end running sou ...

leads northeast from Bristol to

Greensboro Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina, af ...

. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, Bristol has a total area of , all land.

Climate

Like all of

North Florida North Florida is a Regions of the United States#Florida, region of the U.S. state of Florida comprising the northernmost part of the state. Along with South Florida and Central Florida, it is one of Florida's three most common "directional" regi ...

, the climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild winters. According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

, the City of Bristol has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

zone (''Cfa'').

Demographics

2010 and 2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 918 people, 352 households, and 210 families residing in the city. As of the 2010 United States census, there were 996 people, 322 households, and 183 families residing in the city.

2000 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 845 people, 326 households, and 235 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 393 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 87.22%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 3.79%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 1.78% Native American, 5.44% from other races, and 1.78% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 5.80% of the population. There were 326 households, out of which 30.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.8% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 14.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.9% were non-families. 25.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 2.91. In the city, the population was spread out, with 24.9% under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 25.6% from 25 to 44, 24.5% from 45 to 64, and 16.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 88.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.3 males. The median income for a household in the city was $31,607, and the median income for a family was $36,932. Males had a median income of $26,473 versus $22,500 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $17,949. About 14.8% of families and 19.8% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 24.9% of those under age 18 and 15.5% of those age 65 or over.

Education

All public schools in Bristol are served by Liberty County School District. Two schools are based in Bristol: * Liberty County High School *W.R. Tolar Elementary and Middle School (K-8).

Veterans Memorial Park

One notable feature of the park is the

narrow-gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curv ...

Veterans Memorial Railroad, operating multiple types of locomotives including a coal-powered steam locomotive built by

Crown Metal Products Crown Metal Products was a manufacturer of railroad rolling stock based in Wyano, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Ken Williams in 1946 and initially sold pot cleaners and then electric fence wires and other products. In 1959, the compan ...

Claimed Garden of Eden site

A widely reported claim was once made by Elvy E. Callaway that the site of the Biblical

Garden of Eden In Abrahamic religions, the Garden of Eden (; ; ) or Garden of God ( and ), also called the Terrestrial Paradise, is the biblical paradise described in Genesis 2–3 and Ezekiel 28 and 31.. The location of Eden is described in the Book of Ge ...

lay in northern Liberty County. He cited as evidence the

, with its four heads, and local sources of

torreya ''Torreya'' is a genus of conifers comprising six or seven species placed in the family Taxaceae, though sometimes formerly placed in Cephalotaxaceae. Four species are native to eastern Asia; the other two are native to North America. They a ...

(which Callaway claimed was gopher wood, the material said to have been used by

Noah Noah (; , also Noach) appears as the last of the Antediluvian Patriarchs (Bible), patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5–9), the Quran and Baháʼí literature, ...

in constructing his ark).Gloria Jahoda, ''The Other Florida'', chap. 4, "The Garden of Eden."

References

External links

''The Calhoun-Liberty Journal''
local newspaper
''The Calhoun-Liberty Journal'' full text and images
available at no cost i
Florida Digital Newspaper LibraryVeterans Memorial Railroad
{{authority control Cities in Liberty County, Florida County seats in Florida Cities in Florida Former census-designated places in Florida Populated places established in 1859 1859 establishments in Florida