By Doug Alderson
Some interesting historical facts were revealed at the recent Torreya State Park gathering of volunteers with Apalachicola Riverkeeper, Friends of Torreya State Park, and the Florida Trail Association. After a fall color loop hike, the group was treated to a fascinating talk by Andrew Waber, historian with the Florida Department of State, pertaining to the park’s history. Andrew began with the early Native American occupation and steamboat era, but the bulk of his talk focused on the park’s creation by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s and early 40s.
While the park was initially created to protect the rare Torreya tree, it seems that the movers and shakers for the park had big designs for it to be a “lost cause” type of attraction with a plantation home, slave cabins, and cotton fields. The vision was only partly fulfilled when the Greek Revival style Gregory Mansion was moved piece by piece by CCC workers from Ocheesee Landing across the river to its current location atop Neal’s Bluff in the park. Work at the park would often start and stop as workers were drawn to projects in other locations, such as Florida Caverns. Many organizers concluded that Torreya was just too remote to draw large numbers of visitors.
Since at least 10 percent of the CCC was required to be made up of African Americans, an African American unit did much of the early work at the park, Company 4453. This fact was largely kept hidden due to local opposition. Two African American workers, Vernon Sands and George Spinks, drowned while hauling gravel to the park in an unstable wooden barge on the river. Only Spinks’ body was found. They were the only known CCC fatalities in Florida. Ironically, the park was never open to African Americans during the discriminatory Jim Crow era, which ended in 1964 with passage of the federal Civil Rights Act.
Just south of the park, E.E. Calloway of Bristol created a religious attraction in the 1950s called the Garden of Eden in which he maintained the area was the original Garden of Eden in the Old Testament. Noah, he believed, built his massive ark out of Torreya trees, locally known as gopher wood. Interestingly, in 1967, a bill was introduced in the Florida Legislature requiring an exact replica of Noah’s Ark to be built at Torreya State Park out of Torreya trees. If enacted, nearly every surviving Torreya tree would have been wiped out in the construction. Fortunately, the bill took on water and sank once it reached the Governor’s desk.
Here are some other interesting historical tidbits Andrew shared:
*A few original CCC buildings survive in the park—an old barracks in the campground, a pump house in the picnic area, and the shop building and warehouse in the work area.
*CCC organizers intentionally lined up jobs that required a lot of man hours in order to provide valuable work experience.
*CCC companies made up of older WWI veterans did more complex work since many were skilled in various trades. The famous stone bridge in the park was built by one of these units.
*An early African American cemetery lies within the park. More information is sought about its size, extent, and origin.
Andrew is currently working to update the park’s federal historic designation.
