Culture and Heritage

Scots

     "The DeFuniak Springs First Presbyterian Church, organized in November, 1883, was spearheaded by Dr. Daniel L. Campbell, a member of one of the Scottish families who settled in Euchee Valley. Dr. Campbell became a permanent resident of DeFuniak Springs about the time the Louisville and Nashville Railroad designated 'Open Pond' as the location of one of its stations in 1881 or 1882.  Read more about this on one of the Carol Middleton sites on line.  To learn more about this topic use your browser's search engine or go to Google.com, Yahoo.com, Dogpile.com or another such search engine and type in the title of the page (in this case Carol Middleton) or story. You may also use "keywords" (words one might expect to find in the page or article, such as Euchee Valley, Florida), or the author's name.

     Eucheeanna Community, the first Scottish settlement in territorial Florida, was named in honor of the Euchee Indians.  Eucheeanna consisted of a school, court house, jail, Masonic and Odd Fellows halls, general stores, a sawmill and a grist mill.  In 1868, Eucheeanna was the county seat for Walton County until the court house was burned by an arsonist in May, 1885. On May 27, 1886, a commission approved moving the Walton County seat to DeFuniak Springs. The Civil War came to Eucheeanna on September 23, 1864 when the federal troops, under General Ashboth, came to raze and plunder on their way to Marianna and Tallahassee.

      John Forbes Innerarity 1813 - 1868 was a Scottish orthodox physician, born in Mobile, America,who converted to homeopathy and returned to America .  John  married  Frances Hamilton W. Scarborough Johnson, 1816 - 1880. They had 13 children.   

    Pace Presbyterian Church near Milton, FL has had an Annual Scottish Festival on church grounds for several years. The address is  4587 Woodbine Rd. Pace, FL.  (Search on the church name, location)

     Scottish Emigration to Colonial America, 1607 - 1785 by David Dobson. On page 167 there is a  discussion of the Scottish influence  in West Florida.

The Scottish Festival and Highland Games, Panama City, FL.
 http://www.panamacityhighlandgames.com

Florida Chautauqua

     The original Chautauqua Institution was founded in 1874 on Lake Chautauqua in western New York state. The first Florida Chautauqua convened on the banks of Lake DeFuniak in 1885. It was the second Chautauqua founded in America and was one of many nationwide attracted noted educators and famous lecturers. The Hall of Brotherhood, containing an auditorium seating 4,000 people was completed in 1910 at a cost of $28,000. By the beginning of the 20th century the national Chautauqua movement had declined and the Florida Chautauqua closed in 1920. The Hall of Brotherhood was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, but in 1975 a hurricane destroyed the auditorium wing and severely damaged the rest of the structure. Since then, there has been an ongoing program to fully restore the building.

DeFuniak Chatauqua:  Recent Speaker:

     Candace Leslie.  Mrs. Leslie is a widely published travel author. She has contributed several guidebooks on Florida and her articles have appeared in Texas Highways, Coast to Coast, and Scottish Life and various other magazines and newspapers. She authored an article about DeFuniak Springs and the Chautauqua for Victorian Homes in 2002. She has also written curriculum materials for the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Spanish Culture

     Brenda Rees.  She has a B.A. from Sam Houston State University, a M.Ed. from Texas A&M University, additional history work at University of West Florida, and Florida Master Naturalist Certificate. She was a presenter at the 2006 Gulf South History and Humanities Conference and has been a frequent presenter at the Florida Chautauqua Assembly in recent years of Shaping Florida,John Wesley in Spanish Florida and the debut of A Portrayal of Octavia Walton Le Vert. Other original events include the Walton County 200 Countdown Celebration and the unveiling of George Walton, Jr.'s picture. The T.T. Wentworth, Jr. State Museum in Pensacola is named for her great uncle. Family members have been active in Florida for nearly 200 years.

   Hernando de Soto (c. 1496 - 1542) -Spanish explorer. Explored Florida, mainly northwest Florida, and discovered the Mississippi River.

 
French Culture 

      “A Foothold in Florida, The Eye-Witness Account of Four Voyages made by the French to that Region....”  Sarah Lawson and John W. Faupel, editors. 1992 East Grinstead, West Sussex, England: Antique Atlas Publ..