Road Trip to Slocomb, Alabama to fulfill promises and visit ancestors.
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Leave by 3am, if possible. Drive ~2 hours to your house - 2406 Herbison Dr.
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Leave by 5:30am, if possible. Drive 6 hours, 15 minutes to the U.S. Arsenal-Officers Quarters at 100 North Main Street, Chattahoochee, FL. Try to arrive by 12:30pm.
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The U.S. Arsenal-Officers Quarters (also known as the Mt. Vernon Arsenal or Chattahoochee Arsenal) is a historic site in Chattahoochee, Florida. It is located at 100 North Main Street, part of the Florida State Hospital on U.S. 90. On July 2, 1973, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
Leave by 1pm and drive about 5 minutes to 269 River Landing Rd., Chattahoochee, FL to visit the park.
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Take 20 minutes or so to take pictures of Victory Bridge or whatever. Leave by 1:30pm and drive 5 minutes to Jim Woodruff Dam at 1 Jim Woodruff Dam Access Rd.
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Lake Seminole is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-managed reservoir located in the southwest corner of Georgia along the border of Florida. The Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers join in the lake, before flowing from the Jim Woodruff Lock and Dam, as the Apalachicola River. The 37,500-acre lake has a shoreline of 376 mi.
Authorized by Congress in the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1946, as the Jim Woodruff Lock and Dam Project, construction began the following year and was complete by 1952. The dam is a hydroelectric and navigational dam named in honor of James W. Woodruff, Sr., a Georgia businessman who spearheaded the development of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint Project.
Today, the lake and more than 22,000 acres of surrounding land provide excellent recreational opportunities for boating, camping, hunting and a world-class fishing experience. Some of the primary species of fish in Lake Seminole include largemouth bass, crappie, chain pickerel, catfish, and striped bass. American alligators, snakes and various waterfowl are also present in the lake, which is known for its duck hunting.
Leave by 2 or 2:30pm and drive about an hour to 4057 Highway 162, Marianna, FL for our Bellamy Bridge hike.
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The Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail is a one-half mile nature trail that starts from CR-162 in Jackson County, and leads to the oldest bridge of its type in Florida. Bellamy Bridge was built in 1914 on the site of a previous wooden bridge that dated back to 1840. It is one to the ten oldest bridges in Florida and is home to one of Florida’s best-known ghost stories. In fact, many believe it to be “Florida’s Most Haunted Bridge.”
The ghost story revolves around a young woman named Elizabeth Jane Bellamy who died in Jackson County on May 11, 1837. Her restless spirit is said to haunt the bridge and surrounding floodplain swamp in an eternal search for her beloved husband, Dr. Samuel C. Bellamy.
Samuel and Elizabeth, the story goes, were very much in love. She died as a young woman after promising to love him “forever and always.” He never recovered from her death and spent the next 15 years in mourning before taking his own life on the day after Christmas. Samuel’s final wish was to be buried beside Elizabeth, but according to the beliefs of the times he could not be buried in consecrated ground because he had taken his own life. Samuel was buried miles away in Chattahoochee, Florida, in a grave that has been lost to time.
According to the legend, Elizabeth’s spirit came back at the moment of Samuel’s death. She had promised to love him “forever and always” and has been walking the swamps around Bellamy Bridge in search of him for more than 160 years. Samuel has yet to appear and Elizabeth’s long wait continues.
Her ghost has been reported in the form of unusual blue and white lights, a misty shadow, and even the faint form of a young woman dressed in white.
Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail is located at 4057 County Road 162, Marianna, Florida. It is free to visit and open to the public during daylight hours 365 days each year.
Geocache seems to be gone but let's plant a letterbox here!
While we're here, lets see if we can find Raven's letterbox.
Clue: The trailhead for the BELLAMY BRIDGE HERITAGE TRAIL is on JACOB ROAD a few miles N of Marianna, FL.
Follow the trail all the way to the bridge. Read the signs relating the history of this location.
From the nearby bench, about 20 steps S there is a ginormous tree. LBX is in an opening at the bottom of this tree on the side away from the river.
Leave by 4:30pm and drive about an hour to 2841 Ross Clark Cir S.W, Dothan, AL to check into our hotel.
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Check into the hotel and unload. Chill for the night or do whatever we feel like doing.
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Leave the hotel by 8am and drive about 10 minutes to 201-209 N College St, Dothan, AL 36303 to see the World's Smallest City Block and take a picture or two.
Leave here by 8:20ish and drive about an hour to 106 Railroad St, Enterprise, AL to visit The Depot Museum.
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The museum is free to visit. It is an old railroad station containing many artifacts relating to the area. We'll probably spend an hour or two here, tops.
Next, just walk on over to the Boll Weevil Monument in Downtown Square.
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Let's plant a letterbox around here! We'll have to come up with a clever way describing how to find it.
Statue erected in 1919 in honor of the boll weevil, which brought both destruction and renewal to local farmers.
Next, walk on over to the Little Red Schoolhouse, next to The Depot Museum.
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The red schoolhouse was built in 1976 by Enterprise High School vocational education students. The project was the city's way of commemorating the nation's bicentennial celebration. The colonial schoolhouse is a replica of a one-room schoolhouse from days of old.
Next, drive about 10 minutes to 4815 Alabama Highway 51, New Brockton, Alabama to snag a picture of the Helms Historic Plaque.
Helms Historic Plaque
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Chartered as Clintonville Male and Female Academy. Building erected 1860: occupied January, 1861. The first school in Coffee County to teach beyond the sixth grade. Clintonville, for many years, was recognized as the cultural and educational center of the county.
This area was first known as Indigo Head. In 1845 one of the first voting precincts was located here. Clintonville post office established June 16, 1849.
Some of pioneer families were – Fleming, Brooks, Hutchison, Gunter, Sawyer, Goynes, Watson, Moates, Carmichael, Warren, Brock, Harding, Wilks, Peacock, and Helms.
Drive about 40 minutes to 711 Bailey Road, Slocomb, Alabama to visit Panther Creek Cemetery.
Panther Creek Baptist Church Cemetery
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Take pictures and gps tag as many graves as you can within an hour or so. BillionGraves doesn't have any records or images for this cemetery. Get pictures of the entrance.
Drive another 10 minutes to 5099 Alabama Highway 123, Hartford, Alabama to visit Tabernacle Methodist.
Tabernacle Methodist
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This cemetery is completely missing from Billion Graves. It shows the church only. Get pictures of the entrance and the graves.
Drive 20 minutes to 2616 County Road 70, Malvern, Alabama, to visit Bethlehem Church Cemetery.
Bethlehem Church Cemetery
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This cemetery has 25 images on BillionGraves. The Dothan Downtown Tour is about 20 minutes away. Leave here no later than 6:15pm.
Drive to 271 E Main St., Dothan, Alabama for our ghost tour.
Selma Baptist Church Cemetery
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Leave the hotel when we wake up.
Drive 10 minutes or so to 3255 South Park Avenue, Dothan, Alabama.
This cemetery has 348 images on Billion Graves, so don't bother tagging here unless you're in a section that hasn't been done yet.
Drive about 5 minutes to 2390 Hartford Highway, Dothan, Alabama.
Memory Hill Cemetery
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Memory Hill has 1430 images on Billion Graves, so don't bother tagging here unless you're in a section that hasn't been done yet.
Drive 1 hour to 205, Indian Mounds Rd, Blakely, GA.
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This historically significant park is the oldest and largest Woodland Indian site in the southeastern United States, occupied by American Indians from 350 to 750 a.d. Georgia’s oldest great temple mound, standing 57 feet high, dominates two smaller burial mounds and several ceremonial mounds. The park’s museum is built around an excavated mound, providing an unusual setting for learning who these people were and how they lived. Inside, visitors will find numerous artifacts and a film. Kolomoki Mounds is also known for its wide range of outdoor activities. Two lakes provide fishing and boating, and a campground is nestled under hardwoods and pines. Hikers can choose from two scenic trails. The Spruce Pine Trail offers views of lakes Yahola and Kolomoki, while the Trillium Trail meanders through the forest. Children can enjoy the playground, pedal boats and miniature golf.
Drive a little over 2 hours to 238 Eddie Martin Road, Buena Vista, GA.
