[NativeFloridan]

The Florida Panhandle- A Southern Tradition



"Last night as we crossed the bridge, I rolled down my window just to smell the air.

Salty, clean, humid, with the faint smells of fresh gulf shrimp and grouper- this is Destin.

We've lived along the Florida Panhandle several times through the years and I've fallen in love with it. Don't tell Mama, but it is more like home to me than the red clay of Georgia. (I think she already knows.)

The Florida Panhandle has its own charm. There's an eclectic mix of foods and traditions of The South with the beach bum attitude of Florida.

Here, the Live Oaks make cool canopies over roads. Mullet is fried up with hush puppies at local diners where they serve sweet tea. Panhandle natives still do not wear white after Labor Day and their accents are distinctly Southern.

Every summer you can read license plates from Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee from cars filled with families spending summer vacations here. They return like migrating birds each year to their favorite places like Destin, Mexico Beach, Panama City, Ft. Walton Beach and Pensacola.

I remember church youth trips to Panama City, spending hours on the beach forgetting sunscreen, and giggling with friends at the theme park on Miracle Strip Parkway. Another panhandle tradition is spending a day at Big Kahuna's, a water park in the Heart of Destin.

Today, the panhandle looks a little different. There are more fusion restaurants and transplanted palm trees. But if you look, you will find the old menus, people, and traditions which still make this area beautifully unique.

Like the Live Oaks gracing old neighborhood streets, the panhandle is still rooted in Southern beach charm. This is the reason families flock to these beaches each year for seafood festivals, fishing rodeos, and family reunions on the Fourth of July.

And the view ain't bad either."

I Found this article by a girl from Georgia named Melanie on her blog Melanie @ This Ain't New York

[P Andrews]

My opinion is as always, I have lived in south Florida since 1964, IN SOUTH FLORIDA. I have spent my years traveling through Miami Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties. As well as Martin, St. Lucie, and Indian River, and Brevard, (to go clamming in the river) Took SR -80 across state through Belle Glade, South Bay, Labelle, Clewiston, and Olga, to make regular trips to Englewood, to see family.
I have never found any reason to feel unwelcomed, where ever I traveled, this state is the ultimate melting pot BUT it is what YOU make of it.
IF YOU go somewhere, and you already have that (chip) on your shoulder that you are going to have a problem, and meet with a negative response from people, you've already set yourself up for that type of outcome.
We love meeting new people here but we are firm in our feelings about "pulling your own weight"
We are sick of everyone thinking that they can come to Florida and live off the "Land" this land is made up of Florida residents that HATE supporting people that Don't belong here!!! But that is all.
Florida is a melting pot that welcomes all that want a place to call there own, and are willing to work to find their place, "live and let live".
"We are diverse, and have something to satisfy everyone's interests, (except snowboarders) but, we are open minded and will take it under advisement!"
Welcome, to Palm Beach County!!!!!!

[grapico]

it's southern, but it is nothing like alabama/mississippi/georgia/arkansas w/ their extreme poverty levels widespread, and in which, pretty much everybody is southern, which I do not care for.

it is also not fully southern, its transplant mixed b/c of universities/beaches at this point. gainesville, tallahassee b/c of universities and state government, jacksonville b/c of major city, and pensacola/panama city/fwb/destin all have their fair share of transplants due to the military bases and significant snowbird populations/beach real estate . the other cities like quincy, marianna, crestview, lake city, you will probably get full on southern.

<---native Floridian.

[ILoveTheChain]

Originally Posted by P Andrews

My opinion is as always, I have lived in south Florida since 1964, IN SOUTH FLORIDA. I have spent my years traveling through Miami Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties. As well as Martin, St. Lucie, and Indian River, and Brevard, (to go clamming in the river) Took SR -80 across state through Belle Glade, South Bay, Labelle, Clewiston, and Olga, to make regular trips to Englewood, to see family.
I have never found any reason to feel unwelcomed, where ever I traveled, this state is the ultimate melting pot BUT it is what YOU make of it.
IF YOU go somewhere, and you already have that (chip) on your shoulder that you are going to have a problem, and meet with a negative response from people, you've already set yourself up for that type of outcome.
We love meeting new people here but we are firm in our feelings about "pulling your own weight"
We are sick of everyone thinking that they can come to Florida and live off the "Land" this land is made up of Florida residents that HATE supporting people that Don't belong here!!! But that is all.
Florida is a melting pot that welcomes all that want a place to call there own, and are willing to work to find their place, "live and let live".
"We are diverse, and have something to satisfy everyone's interests, (except snowboarders) but, we are open minded and will take it under advisement!"
Welcome, to Palm Beach County!!!!!!

Yup. I have never felt uncomfortable in any area of Florida. Certain neighborhoods yes, but not certain areas. P'Cola, Destin, Flora-Ala, Tallahassee, Cherry Lake, Lake City, Jax, G-ville, Daytona, Poke County, Tampa, Mickey Mouse Land, Deland, Miami, Miami Beach, West Palm, Broward, Key West, Ft. Myers, Sanibel, Little Gasparilla, Tampa, Clearwater Beach, Cedar Key, and Inverness are all Florida. But all the places listed are distinctly different.

[P Andrews]

Absolutely correct, we like many places do have neighborhoods that may make people that do not live in the neighborhood, feel uncomfortable, and maybe even unwelcome, but those places are not areas that you would purposely travel into.
And are generally areas you, would not find unless you went looking for them, or got really lost
We are a state that is very accustomed to new-comers to our area, and for the most part are very accepting. Unlike a lot of places we are a transient area, people just passing through all the time. New residents blend in very easily.

[southernnaturelover]

Originally Posted by grapico

it's southern, but it is nothing like alabama/mississippi/georgia/arkansas w/ their extreme poverty levels widespread, and in which, pretty much everybody is southern, which I do not care for.

I don't see any more poverty in Alabama or Georgia than I see in Florida.

[NativeFloridan]

This was taken off the Calhoun County Wikapedia page:

"As is universal in the Florida Panhandle, a majority of Calhoun County's residents remain much more attached to Southern culture and lifestyle habits than is common in the Central and Southern regions of the state influenced by large amounts of migration, and the area holds much more in common with states such as Alabama, Georgia, or Mississippi than with much of Florida."

[NativeFloridan]

I found this too on county Wikapedia page..this one for Jackson County:

From 1869-71, Jackson County was the center of a low-level guerrilla war known as the Jackson County War. Members of the Ku Klux Klan consisting of Confederate Army veterans assassinated over 150 Republican Party officials and prominent African-Americans as part of a successful campaign to retain conservative white Democratic power.[5]

[NativeFloridan]

Some old plantation homes in Marianna...

000_0237.jpg (image)

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oEQ2jC0iSk...0/stlukes3.jpg

Ely-Criglar House Marianna FL | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/30652018@N08/2866680368/in/photostream/ - broken link)

Walton County Florida Courthouse with Confederate Flag Flying today

http://www.flpublicarchaeology.org/c...&q=75&wmk=FPAN logo-white-outlined

[teddyduck]

Originally Posted by Gatornation

What city did you live in?

I lived in Pensacola