Have you ever wondered why Historic homes of the Antebellum south all have some hint of Soft blue or green? If you have walked the streets of South Carolina, and surrounding southern states, you have undoubtedly come across the beautifully painted blue porch ceilings dotting the roadways. This tradition has some unknown roots which are sure to inspire awe. Before you take on your next porch painting project, think about using 'Haint' Blue instead. Dive in with me and explore it's mysterious roots.
The Gullah Geechee people were descendants of the African Slaves that worked the Rice plantations in South Carolina and Georgia. Many of their ancestors came from Angola which is were the Gullah name is derived. They developed a creole language, also known as the Gullah language, and a culture which was rich in African influences that made them distinctive among African Americans. Haints are spirits trapped between the world of the dead,. It is believed by the Gullah Geechee people that haints are angry ghosts that cannot cross water. Instead of building moats around every home, they decided to dig a pit and mix up a lye rich watery blue paint also not limited to light green hues, like mint and sea foam green as well. They would paint all of the openings to their homes around the windows frames, the doors, the porch ceilings you name it. So this watery paint was believed to of made the spirits want to flee without harming the home or it's owners. It is unknown whether or not the well known New England Colonial Blue, is in anyway related to this same use, but it is interesting that all of the early pioneers chose various shades of blue for one way or another. Even in the common day, the use of this color is helpful in warding off a different kind of plaguing "demon", the Carpenter Bee. It is said that the use of the blue on the porch ceiling will trick the bee into thinking that the porch is uncovered and therefore, not a suitable home to start nesting and biting into. It is interesting how things seemingly rooted in superstition end up staying with us for one reason or another. Now for anyone who has traveled to the true south, you will see these colors play out on a variety of historical homes across the southern borders. What's funny to me is half of these people flying the rebel flag and pretending to be a good ol' boy are living in homes with paint jobs representing a culture they don't necessarily stand for, hypocrisy at it's finest. It is high time that we start paying attention to, and preserving our past. The historical roots of these paint jobs, have been passed down to us from our African relatives who found their homes here in the Antebellum South, not so long ago. I'm for the flying of the confederate flag and for honoring the confederate statues, because I am of the belief that we are better off if our mistakes are known, so that we are never doomed to repeat them. "You cannot judge the past with the eyes of the future" (Amanda Maltz), meaning, you cannot judge the actions of those who stepped on this earth before you. Like you, we are all human, we are all open to making mistakes and making false judgements, but we are also all capable of growth and progression. Those who were forced to be born of the tough generations before us, thought that what they believed was right, just as we do now. Take it all with a grain of salt, let's never forget history or repeat it's misgivings. Let's choose not be as ignorant anymore. #hikedontwalk #historicarchaeology #haintblue #haintgreen #historic #knowledgeiskey #southcarolina #Georgia #Tennessee #northcarolina #Alabama #civilwar #africanhistory #gullahgeechee #mikethehikingguide Thanks for reading!! Mike
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Sept 13 1986 Gatlinburg, Tennessee would be changed forever Gatlinburg, Tennessee has been long known as a family tourist attraction for many years, it offers wholesome fun for the entire family, from 8 to 80. Home to Dollywood, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Various driving tours which were a cult favorite in the 70s. Beneath the foothills of the mountains, in this sleepy little town, mystery has brewed, celebrity has been fostered and odd or unexplained murder has been the ever increasing trend.
One such murder is that of the Rocky Top Village Inn. They had done some business in Gatlinburg for some thirty-six years. Originally opened by the famous songwriting power duo Felice & Boudeleaux Bryant. who wrote some of the most popular songs in the history of Rock & Roll and Country music. They produced hits for Eddy Arnold, Carl Smith, Buddy Holly, Jim Reeves, Roy Orbison, Charley Pride, Leo Sayer, and Ruth Brown. They settled in Gatlinburg, Tennessee and opened the Rocky Top Village Inn. Little did they know what awful events would occur years later in their beloved quaint town of Gatlinburg, Tennessee. 1986 just so happens to be the year Dolly Parton opens Dollywood, bringing up to 50,000 visitors per day to the area. Gatlinburg in 2017 reported a population of 4,300 in the census, can you imagine how many people lived there in 1986? What some 1,500 people maybe? Brutal double murder of this magnitude would of paralyzed the town. Melissa "Missy" Suttles Hill and Troy Dale Valentine are the key players and sadly victims here, a 21 year-old night clerk, and a 36 year-old security guard, working at the Rocky Top Village Inn off Airport Rd in Gatlinburg, Tn. The hotel has since been demolished and rebuilt and is the site of a newly built Courtyard Marriot. The criminals involved here Kimberly Pelley, Eddie "Tattoo" Leroy Harris, Joseph DeModica, and Rufus Doby( Transvestite name: Ashley Silvers ). Ed Harris and Joe DeModica had met while doing time in prison previously, Ed got his name Tattoo Eddie from the 134 Tattoos he had acquired. To add to the oddity of this story, Rufus Doby the other key player was also known as Ashley Silvers and survived as a nomadic transsexual. Eddie was always hustling on the streets of Atlanta But they group ended up meeting together in Fort Lauderdale Florida in August of 1986, they then headed to Daytona, FL and then to Georgia where they picked up Eddie's girlfriend Kimberly Pelley. The foursome then drove on to Knoxville where they sought work as performers and strippers at The Pepper Tree in Knoxville. That night DeModica borrowed money from a friend for the purpose of obtaining a motel room for the night. On Monday the week of the murders, the foursome (Harris, Pelley, DeModica and Doby(Silvers)) went to the Knoxville residence of Tracey Clark, a friend of DeModica. With Clark's permission, they slept in the car in her driveway. The group also spent Friday night in Knoxville at the apartment of Tim Farmer, another one of DeModica's friends. Harris and DeModica told Farmer that they intended to return to Gatlinburg on Saturday and would not be working that night at The Pepper Tree. On that Saturday afternoon, September 13, Harris, Pelley, DeModica, and Silvers left Farmer's apartment. Later that day in Dandridge, they tried to sell off a leather coat, a mink coat, and a radio they had stolen from Farmer to Johnnie Shultz, another of DeModica's acquaintances. She refused to purchase the merchandise, believing it to be stolen. They did sell the radio at a service station and the leather coat at a bar. In DeModica's Testimony he stated he saw handcuffs from the rearview mirror in Eddie's vehicle, and that Eddie and Kim told them their was a gun in the Toyota. While in Knoxville DeModica said Harris wore two knives on his belt one very large one with a serrated edge. Which would place crucial after the autopsy findings. September 13, 1986 after a long day in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, at Laurel Falls the killers spent the day contemplating how they would get money by robbing nearby businesses in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Instead Tattoo Eddie drove them to the Rocky Top Village Inn where they would get a room for the night. From the way it has been told from testimonials, Kimberly went in and talked to the Front desk clerk, Kimberly and Melissa( front desk clerk ) emerged from the building where the Clerk showed Kimberly a room and Ed had joined them. Scuffled sounds and noises could be heard from the room and then a low scream. Mellissa was stabbed multiple times and shot in the head. A golf cart rolls up on scene where Troy Dale Valentine has been alerted by the Hotel Clerk's husband who was worried about his wife. He had been in contact with her all night long via the phone. Their last conversation was that she was heading to the rear of the building to finish the night audit and she would return by a certain time and call. She did not do so and her husband phoned security. When Troy Dale Valentine had arrived Melissa had just been shot and killed, Kimberly Pelley clubbed the guard with his own flash light, he was then forced into the room and stabbed repeatedly and shot between the eyes. Melissa Hill's husband was a dispatcher with Sevierville Police Department, Melissa had the 3pm-11pm shift that night, he had last talked to her at 10:30pm, when he called back a few minutes later there was no answer. Melissa's purse was missing and approx. $499 stolen from it and the hotel cash deposit. Three days later a letter was left in a Maggie Valley, Nc phone booth right outside a nearby Police station. The letter which included a small pocket knife that had belonged to Melissa Hill. The letter written by Tattoo Eddie contained information only the killers would of known. On Dec, 16 1987 Harris was arrested in Atlanta, Ga. 1988 Harris was sentenced to Die but in 2002 determined to be mentally unstable and could not be executed. He was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences. Good ol' Ed got his karma punishment in early March 2015 where he was killed in a prison fight at the Wartburg Correctional Facility. Joe DeModica received a life sentence as well as Kimberly Pelley. Rufus Doby plead guilty and has since been released. Research shows Kimberly Pelley has also been released and has been reported to be living in the Nashville, Tennessee area. Arcadia, Florida
So who is Bone Mizell, you may ask? Why should you care? Ever wonder where the term Florida Cracker came from? Or why one city honors a sculpture of his iron brass boot? This cowboy was a true legend in ever sense of the term. So stick around, and live the life of this Florida legend. Bone was born in Horse Creek, FL in 1863. The 8th of 12 children born to Morgan Mizell and Mary Fletcher Tucker. Bone's daddy admired Napoleon Bonaparte the famous French emperor. So he gave his son the name Morgan Bonaparte Mizell. Bone stood nearly 6ft 5inches tall compared to a 5ft tall Napoleon lol. Bone's horse was a small Florida bred horse known as a Marsh-Tackie. Bone Mizell loved to play pranks and drink his share of Moonshine. John Underhill was known as Bone's best friend another well known Cracker Cowboy. According to legend, the term Cracker Cowboy got their name from the loud cracks a cowboys whip would make when being snapped. In 1895 a painting by Frederic Remington of Bone Mizell was featured in August 1895 issue of Harper's New Monthly Magazine and entitled it " A Cracker Cowboy". Florida Native born son's and daughter's are now considered and called "Crackers" to this day. Bone did stray from being a rough cowboy for a short time, opening a grocery store in his home town and slowing down just a bit. If people paid in cash he did well, but Bone often gave credit to those without cash and if you owed him he would put a black mark on the wall. One day those walls were filled up with black marks, and Bone could no longer remember who owed what and from who? He promptly closed his doors and returned back to the palmetto pastures. Back to herding cattle for Bone. He never once claimed to own a home for he was said to have only slept in the beds of bordellos that flourished in the small towns of Florida after the Civil War. Judge Ziba King had the largest array of cattle some 50,000 head of cattle worth $500,000. Ziba King thought so highly of Bone he would end up making him one of his top wranglers and lead foreman. There are many accounts of Bone being arrested many times for cattle thieving and re-branding. No matter what it seemed, Bone always ended up slipping through the cracks. Bone was down on his luck and decided the cure would be to herd some cattle to Arcadia, and so he did. Shortly there after he was arrested for brand altering and on March 15, 1895 he appeared before the judge in a hung over dirty fashion. Of course Bone wasn't worried he knew the local were in his pocket. Officials always went out of their way to get Bone off his charges. One of Bone's most outlandish pranks involved his best friends corpse and a little train ride. Sometime around 1890 Bone's old friend John Underhill passed away at a cow camp in Lee County, FL. Not long after his friend's death, a Jewish boy from New Orleans drifted out into cow country. He became friends with Bone but failing in health from hard labor and the traveling he had done, the boy died at the cow camp as well. Bone buried the young boy right next to his friend John Underhill. Some years later the boy's parents heard of the death and sent money to the undertaker to have the body exhumed and sent back to the family plot. The undertaker hired Bone Mizell, he rode out to the graves and had two thoughts on his mind: The young boy grew weary of travel and never wanted to see the inside of a train again. On the other hand John his old buddy always wanted to go ride on a train, he just never had the money for a ticket. So Bone switched corpses and John finally got his ride. Bone Mizell was arrested for rustling in neighboring Lee County and now he did worry because he had no one in Lee County on his side. During the trial, many Desoto friends attempted to tamper with the jury deliberation. They threw a large rock through a window with a rope and basket tied to it. Inside the basket was food and whiskey. But it didn't help Bone was found guilty March 2, 1896. Sentenced to two year hard labor in the state pen. Desoto county tried relentlessly to petition the release of Bone Mizell and to have him pardoned. They were told not until he served time. So they sent Bone off at the train station giving him a send off only a hero would have received. When he arrived at the Prison it was a hero's welcome, he was a celebrity in his day. He was given the grand tour of the prison and wined and dined. Bone was placed on a train back to Arcadia the next day. It was considered time served. He was eventually pardoned from the Lee County conviction. Bone's brother Jess Mizell was the Sheriff in Manatee County and ended up being killed in a gunfight. Much to the surprise of historians, Bone was never violent. He never took part in the family feud of the Barber-Mizell's documented to have occured in the 1870s, even though it was sparked by the assassination of his cousin David Mizell. A last attempt was made by friends and family to dry old Bone Mizell out from his moonshine loving ways. Friend Ziba King sent Bone to a Sanitarium in Hot Springs, Arkansas July 14,1921. Unfortunately, Mizell Died at the age of 58 with his "boots on". He was at the Fort Ogden train depot/telegraph house on a bench when he died. Ironically waiting on a money order from Ziba King. The Atlantic Coast Line attendant and the coroner are the only names found on the death certificate that reads "Moonshine - went to sleep and did not wake up" Bone Mizell is buried nearby Arcadia in Joshua Creek Cemetery. Panda and I were lucky enough to visit his resting place, and found small trinkets left for him as a memorial, paying homage to the cowboy's wild ways. The cemetery was quiet and peaceful, Bone is resting in luxury, while his brass boot sits in the center of town. Many pass it by, never knowing a thing about the man whose feet once filled it. But lucky for you, now you know! Old Venus was a town of agriculture workers, cattle drivers, and the remains of the turpentine industry. The town has been documented with many other present ghost towns in Florida ,as a bustling town from 1850 to the 1930s. The U.S. government opened the northern half of Florida to free range cattle grazing in 1859. At this time, most of Southern Florida was still Seminole territory. To keep peace between the tribes and the settlers, the government built a chain of forts along the divide. Because squatters and homesteaders clustered around those forts for protection, Florida still has an abundance of towns and cities with the word fort in their names. The old town was just West of the Rail road track and East of the current Baptist Church. There, the remaining foundation of the Venus General Store can be seen on the North side of the road. Its remnants appear right before you get to the tracks. Notice the concrete curbs of where the city once stood to your right. Across the street was a school and church. Some bricks and broken concrete can be found on the property, and ruins of the sign that once stood there. Further down CR 731 you will find the Old Albritton Store and some old home sites which date back to a time long gone.. The old town supposedly burned long ago. Old Venus began as an area called Fisheating Creek. It was located at the junction of two military trails. Cattle drivers who traveled those trails began settling in Venus in the mid-1800s. There is still an unincorporated area known as Venus, and a considerable number of people have remained living there, though most are now scattered on cattle ranches and citrus farms. At one time, a few miles from the current Venus, there was an actual thriving town that county records list as Highlands County's oldest settlement. As the settlement grew into a town, its name was changed to Venus by a sawmill owner who regularly traveled to Arcadia for supplies. It was said the mill owner liked to make the two-day trip traveling at night. He found his way home by following the bright planet, so Venus came to represent home. The town applied for a post office in 1891, with storekeeper James Willoughby Bailey listed as Venus' first postmaster. It wasn't until 1889 that the county approved a school in Venus and hired a teacher, Isaac Winegrove of Orlando. Winegrove walked all the way from Orlando to Venus because there was no railroad service then and he didn't own a horse. Eventually the railroad would come and run right through Venus from the North to South. During the 1920s Venus grew rapidly as the sawmills provided steady employment. Many two-story homes were built with stores on the ground floor and living space attached above. Carolyn Hargrove, who now lives in Lake Placid, grew up in Old Venus and eventually served as its postmaster. Her parents moved to Venus in 1926 when her father became manager of a turpentine operation. He would later run his own sawmill and dabbled in cattle ranching. "Venus was a real town then," she said. "We had three grocery stores, a gas station, even a boarding house." She adds, "We were especially proud of our three-room brick schoolhouse." When the stock market crashed in 1929, the growing town of Venus had just invested in concrete curbs and poured several concrete foundations for new businesses. In the meantime Mr. John Ringling was building the most expensive home in the world in Sarasota, FL "The Ca D'Zan". Over the next few years, local sawmills folded and people began moving away to find work. All of the Venus stores closed one by one, and the number of local children dipped so low that the school eventually closed its doors in 1933. Amanda and I headed out from Fort Myers (note the name fort in it) and took the old route to Redneck Yacht Club where SR31 takes you to CR74 until you see Tasmania Rd which is the old site of the ghost town Tasmania. Turn left and take the scenic ride out to Venus. We flew over some train tracks and realized hmm we just passed the town no? We sure did, put the car in reverse and back we went to find on your right hand side the site of the old general store. Across the street what would have been the old school site. We were amazed to find that we could see the curbing running clearly down the main street in the town. It sure is mind blowing to think that right after the curbs were cast and placed, it's city would soon sit vacant, with the figurative bones of concrete strewn about the town. An iconic cracker house can be seen when driving out to the old town and it has been photographed for years, lately it's in severe disrepair and one side has collapsed. You could hear a pin drop in this place, just mossy trees blowing in the wind. A historic almost lonely feeling resides here. I can still appreciate what once was, and the people that may have faced many hardships working and inhabiting this land. While driving home I always put on some of my favorite music and try to imagine the people and the laughter that once filled these streets. Nothing is more sobering than to remember, that soon, we will all be relegated to the past and our homes may too be nothing but memories, just like these ghost towns. Little remains of this bustling turpentine, cattle driven town and what does remain is still on private property. Some has been parceled off as a museum, in the new sprawling and self sustaining "city" of Babcock. Private cattle and turpentine land which has faded into the monotony of the Floridian Spanish architecture. Rows upon rows of terracotta roofs, and stucco siding. Will those who migrate here for retirement ever know the heights of the joy, and the troubles these lands have faced? Still, remnants exist on small family ranches and it is up to them to ensure that they will remain in family hands until the end of time. How many more of these sites exist in the swampland of SWFL? Until those interested seek out history, and ask for permission we may never know. C'est La vie! -Mike
Coordinates: 27°4'8"N 81°21'42"W Venus, Florida #hikedontwalk #historicarchaeology #abandonedflorida #ghosttown101 #roadamerica #mikethehikingguide #discoveramerica #venus #venusinusa #turpentineindustry Nichols Florida Bone Valley Founded in 1905 and named for the Fort that sat in it's original location called Fort Nichols. It was used for many years in the Seminole Wars as a fort. At this time, a man by the name of C.J Memminger appointed Paul Hamilton Fuller as his general manager of operations. He was employed to create a mining community and mine in Nichols, FL. The Amie Chapel Missionary Church is one of two buildings standing in the town, and a stone marker reads " Church Organized in 1904 and rebuilt in 1952". The post office continues to be open although the town and community was phased out in late 1950's. Nichols was once home to four hundred people, and only two other mining towns in Florida had more residents, Brewster and Pierce. In 1895 there were over v400 mining companies in Florida. In 1900 that number dropped to 81 and in 1911 about 30 operations remained, 17 of which were operated in Central, Fl. In the beginning the mining was done by hand. These companies were consolidated and sold to larger companies by late 1930's only three companies were left mining the hard rock district around Marion County and six were operating in the Pebble District of Central Florida. Check out the Gallery below before reading further! This adventure starts some five years ago after seeing a flikr account that had included photographs of this mine. I tried for quite some time to track this place down, scanning google earth you name it, I searched it. Not until some years later while exploring the ghost town of Brewster, Florida did we make this awesome discovery. To say my mind was blown is really putting it lightly. We knew we would have to put some planning into this explore and that we would have to return another time.
We chose memorial day to hit two locations across Florida. One being Carlstrom Field a historic airfield in Southwest Florida that turned into a mental facility after the war efforts. This location later became known as G Pierce Woods Hospital... but just you wait, with the murder, mayhem and insanity that occurred there, that is another blog post in itself. I promise I will soon tell you all about the horrific things that happened there, all at the hands of Dr. Walter Freeman the "Ice Pick Lobotomist". Armed with our knowledge and our desire for exploration, we headed out from Fort Myers, Fl and headed north traveling past so many of the sites of our previous explorations. On our way we passed through what was known as Brewster, we even took the "Old" highway which was pretty rough on the shocks. All that's left in Brewster is a tall stack and this old road. Crossing the train tracks we came to a Post Office which had seemed to be the only building in existence. Up the road we stashed the vehicle and hiked in, we first arrived to the guard shack which reminded us of something out of "The Walking Dead". The gates are definitely locked but with a little maneuvering we were able to hike are way in. A good 3/4 mile walk to the old intersection of the town, you can clearly see the four way stop and in my mind I can imagine the bustling Mining community that boomed here. Off to our right we could see a power plant building that oddly enough while scouting around this building my gut told me to stay away. It was obvious this building still had power was maybe used for storage and was possibly alarmed. A storm which seemed to come out of nowhere culminated and hung over the top of this god forsaken wasteland, as if to keep us from proceeding, as we had read it had to many explorers/photographers prior. We headed over to what looked like a processing plant on the train tracks which had chutes and conveyors for bringing phosphate to the rail cars. Out of no where it seemed as if the temperature dropped and that clouds were rumbling over head. It was beginning to look like we needed to seek shelter in the very building we were about to explore. High winds pelted the sides of the building while we were there, making us feel as if it the building came alive. Metal siding banging and moving all around, but never was there a drop of rain. We found a side entrance and walked right in, we found old file cabinets filled with old banking info. Even though the cat walks were in sketchy shape we ventured up to the highest level to the control room. One of the coolest rooms I have been in as a explorer, it reminds me of something from the atomic age. Then came the wasps, seems we weren't actually alone after all after getting the pictures we wanted we took the hell out of there as fast as we could! Panda led us through the main massive building on the property some type of drying area or dry bin building I would imagine after all of my research into the subject this building resembles a lot like the Old Prairie Dry Bin. Time felt like it didn't even exist we thought it would be a good idea to split up, hmm never is that a good idea when there is only two in your party. Only after about 20 minutes I heard Amanda calling for me. I ran out to what was the old road near the intersection and I see her way off in the woods in what looks like a modern building, which we will call the Admin building. She had one of those I just seen a ghost looks on her face, I asked "what was up??". Amanda said "This place is creepy come check it out". Instantly we walked up to the metal framed doors where all the glass was shattered out onto the ground. You could feel a blast of chilled air coming out of the building like a cooler and in Central Florida its hot and humid 24/7. We had walked into the belly of the beast, finding the damn blue prints to the factory on the floor rolled up and left to rot. This was obvious, we had stumbled onto the offices for the mining facility all of the furniture was tossed into the individual offices blocking there entrances. We found a storage closet with a safe in it, so awesome but no sadly we could not get it open. All my treasure hunters out there are probably saying what if and you should of done this, but no thanks we were over our heads being here in the first place. Last thing I want to do is steal from a site. I highly doubt there was anything left of value in the safe regardless. Left the safe and headed down the hallway not knowing what was around each corner this building had a vibe unlike any other building on the property or even any building we have been into. We rounded the corner to find one chair on it's own facing us like someone was sitting there. Even though no one was sitting there something told us to get the hell out of there. We took off out of there the most modern building on the property go figure and headed out into the tall grass where we came across a research laboratory overgrown by weeds. Zigzagging back through the grass we came to huge hangar type building where we found a old welding rod storage cabinet. A old rigid lathe, and signs of people still coming here possibly mowing the fields and this being the storage place or place to work on tractors maybe? Amanda found me outside in the winds filming and told me "Do you realize how long we have been here?" It had been three hours I was in a whirl wind of fascination and didn't want to leave anytime soon. That's the scary part I knew it was time to get out of there. We flanked our original way into the facility so we weren't so obvious if someone was watching, there was a lot of open area. At one point I had to leave Amanda for the car so I could come back and grab her. We got back to her position and she came running to the vehicle yelling " GO, GO GO, GO ". She saw a security office with his vehicle on the train track set up with binoculars scanning the old mining site. I quickly got the car to the main intersection of this literal ghost town, and I had arrived at the three way stop with the security vehicle. I waved him by first and he did not acknowledge me. I made my turn right to head south and he pulled a fast U-turn behind us and kept his distance. In this instance we had no cellular service, no maps I had missed my turn onto that "Old" rough highway we took. Miles down the road I had got signal back and I decided to pull off, when doing so I see behind me like a half mile back the white truck had pulled over too keeping his distance. I immediately found the nearest road on the map and popped the clutch in the old 99 Mazda Miata and buzzed out of there faster than that car has ever gone. Lost the truck in the distance not knowing if he had our plate number or what. This adventure was kept secret from our friends and family for quite sometime. Months later I had posted a anonymous picture on Facebook and it got many replies. Everyone of course wanting to know where. One man knew and sent me a private message. He had told me he was into photography and that he had been to this site years before. He said it was one of the grandest places he had visited and after spending a couple hours there he said a helicopter had landed in the nearby field and armed men in military fatigues detained him for what he said was hours it seemed. They went back and forth with what to do with him and he had said they were armed with small machine guns. He was eventually was let go and told me he would never go back to this place and gave me a warning that I should be careful in doing what we do. What is this place being used for? Some secret military training facility now? Were we possibly caught on trail camera's? I will always wonder and most likely sadly won't be returning. Tread lightly and carefully and remember hike don't walk. Be safe friends. -Mike #nichols #mine #phosphate #bonevalley #florida #ghosttown #usa #blogger #historyrules #historicarchaeology #mikethehikingguide Old Prairie Dry Bin Florida Phosphate mining dates back to the deposits of the phosphate found in Hawthorne in Alachua County in 1883. Phosphate ore was once collected from the sandbars of the Peace River, and then barged down the river to a drying works. Usually operated by three men the drying works would of been manual hand labor. Steam shovel invention came about in the 20th century and the innovation was able to do the work of eighty men. As technology and techniques revolutionized phosphate mining, it expanded everywhere in Florida. Majority of Phosphate deposits are found in Central Florida in area known as Bone Valley. Florida has the largest known deposits of phosphate in the United States Of America, and Florida alone produces 75% of the nations phosphate supply and 25% globally. Located on Prairie Mine Rd in Mulberry, Florida this structure was made of 28,000 tons of steel reinforced concreted. Built in 1909 by Prairie Pebble Phosphate Co. Called a dry bin it was storage for phosphate until newly mined phosphate ore dried out. This 40,000 Sq ft building was shutdown in 1964, new innovation and technology rendered it obsolete. Since it's closing, thieves have stripped most of the steel from the building. There is trash thrown everywhere on the grounds. The building is highly unstable and parts of the concrete walls are crumbling down onto the surface below. JVS contracting bought the property in May 2014. They are establishing a concrete crushing plant on the site. Old Prairie Dry Bin was demolished in September 2014. Of course, Panda and I made the journey to Mulberry, Fl before the demolition had occurred. This was obviously a strategic spot for the operation the Old Prairie Dry Bin sat right on the train tracks connecting it to the rest of the world. Check out our gallery below. #hikedontwalk #mulberry #bonevalley #mosaic #phosphate #historic #florida #historicarchaeology #bloglife #abandonedexplore #explorersHQ #mikethehikingguide
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