Caching in Apalachicola and a Milestone 2/17/2008

We left early Sunday morning for a day of caching Apalachicola and hopefully a nice day of sightseeing also. Well it turned out to be both with a little extra nicety which was our 1000th cache find. We started out with a cache located off the path of the old turn-style John Gorrie bridge which was replaced in the 1980's. Next it was on into Apalachicola and a cache along the waterfront in a small park under the bridge. As we were looking for the cache a truck stopped and a lady got and asked what we were doing. Well she knew what we were doing as she was probably the most active cacher in this area and has hidden almost all of the caches we have been looking for since we got there. Her caching name was bluet and her real name was Lois, so we introduced ourselves and chatted for awhile and we told her we were going to make one of her caches our 1000th find today (at least we hopped we would). She said she had better go and check on it as it hadn't been found in awhile and after she checked she would call us. Well as we were looking for the cache she spotted it on the ground as it had been weed whacked from its hiding spot so we thanked her and signed it and replaced it. We left and went on to the next cache which was at the Old Franklin County Jail which is now boarded up as they are using a new jail in Eastpoint.
Then it was on to the waterfront and a cache hidden there and after finding it we looked around at all the old buildings, the carved wooden statues and the fishing fleet. Some of the buildings we saw were the J. E. Grady Building which was built in the 1840's and used as a cotton warehouse till 1884 when it was turned into a chandlery which stocked everything from groceries to hardware. Grady's primary customers were the lumber mills as well as the ships that exported the cypress and pine lumber that was abundant in Franklin County. In 1900 a domestic fire destroyed 71 of the buildings in the downtown area. The Grady Building was rebuilt that same year and a French Consulate was established on the second floor as well as a Captain of the Port and US Customs offices. They closed their doors in 1933 and rapidly deteriorated until it was bought in 1995 and reopened as the present Grady Market in 1998. It now features numerous boutiques and emporiums specializing in antiques, clothing, gourmet items and unique gifts. The second floor of the building features 4 luxury vacations suites with kitchens and living areas and is the riverfronts premier accommodation.
Another of the buildings we saw was the Apalachicola Exchange was was a 30' x 80' brick building built in 1835. Throughout the mid 1800's it was used as a boarding house and tavern. By the late 1800's it was know as the "Oriental Saloon" but was destroyed by the devastating fire in 1900. It was rebuilt in 1905 and operated as a tavern under the name of "The Old Exchange". In 1929 the beer bottles gave way to soda bottles and it opened as a Nehigh Bottling Plant until it closed in 1939. In 1939 it opened again as a barrel factory suppling barrels to the local seafood packing houses which used them to pack the seafood in ice in the barrel. That flourished until 1950's. During the 1960's it operated as the Econo Wash Coin Operated Laundry but closed later and is scheduled for a restoration project soon.
Some of the other buildings we saw were the Owl Cafe a gourmet restaurant, winery and gift shop, Riverfront Therapy, a small house located on the river that did therapy, The Tin Shed Antiques, The First Sponge Exchange 1831 which later died and moved away, The Dixie Theater which was built in 1912 which now operates as a Professional Theater, Fort Coombs-Franklin Guard, which is a company of infantry organized in Apalachicola in 1884 by J. H. coombs and Fred Betterfield who erected the first building in town to be used as an armory in 1898, The Gibson Inn built in 1907 and is a small Victorian bed and breakfast, Orman Cottage which is for sale for $715,000 and was built in 1847, the Raney House built in the 1830's and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is now a museum, Old Franklin County Jail and Trinity Episcopal Church which was first organized in 1836.
My favorite was Dolores Sweet Shoppe and Restaurant located in the historic district and I trust I don't have to tell you why.
Then we did a cache located in front of an old building in the historic district, then it was on to a cache located at the burial site of Dr. John Gorrie who was an early pioneer in the invention of the manufacture of ice, refrigeration and air conditioning. He was granted the first U. S. patent for mechanical refrigeration on May 6, 1851. At times in Apalachicola he served as a physician, postmaster, president of a bank, mayor, secretary of the Masonic Lodge and vestryman of the church. Then it was on to a cache located under the foundation of a new museum and then the saga of our 1000th find starts.
It was a puzzle cache by Lois (bluet) and involved finding the location of 4 different pictures of houses or locations in the town of Apalachicola. We started ok finding 2 of them fairly quickly but then it took us awhile to find a third. After driving around looking for the 4th we finally called Lois and asked for some help, well she told us to meet her at a certain location and she would take our picture at the site seeing as it was our 1000th find. We met her and she had made a Certificate of Congratulations and left it in the cache for us, so so nice of her to do this. Well we chatted for awhile and took some pictures and we said goodbye and told her we would talk to her before we left. Before I close we both would like to say it was so nice meeting you Lois and we would like to thank you for your help on some of the caches and for the certificate you bothered to do for us on our 1000th find....THANK YOU SO MUCH. We were off to our last cache one hidden in a tree near the end of the bridge to Apalachicola and then we were off back to the RV and another tornado watch for the evening. We ate and battened down the hatches for another, what would turn out to be a long night. Well time to say goodnight and we love you all.



Picture List: 1-bluest certificate, 2-Us with our 1000th cache, 3-Raney House & Museum, 4-Orman Cottage, 5-Wood Carving on Waterfront, 6-Riverfront Therapy House, 7-The First Sponge Exchange, 8-The Grady Market, 9 & 10-2 of the older churches in Apalachicola, 11 & 12-Trinity Episcopal Church, 13-Gibson Inn, 14-Mom, Muffy & Raggs, 15-Old Shrimp Boat, 16-Fort Coombs-Franklin Guard, 17-Dolores Sweet Shoppe, 18-Dr John Gorrie burial site, 19-Apalachicola Exchange Bldg. 20-Cotton Exchange, 21-The Dixie Theater.