Greetings from Muskogee, FL & the Alabama State Line

Run Stats:
Day: 37
Miles Completed: 142.6
Miles to San Diego: 1957.4
Avg Miles/Day: 4.0
# of marathons completed: 5.4
Shoes: Skora Fit
Playlist Favs: Catalyst Podcast, Chicago

Bible verse of the day: Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." - Mark 10:21 (NIV)

Run Reflections & Muskogee: When I complete my planned run this afternoon, I will have reached a distance that puts me about at the FL-AL line on I-10. It's a beautiful day for a run, sunny and cool, with light winds. Temps should be in the mid 50's when I head out. In looking at the map, the closest town to this is location is Muskogee, FL. It wasn't a location option for the travelpod map so I had to choose the next closest (and larger) city of Loxley, AL. Hope that makes sense. For this post, I want to share a little about Muskogee though.

According to one of my main sources, wikipedia, Muskogee is a ghost town located twenty miles northwest of Pensacola in Escambia County along the Period River. The town is named after the Muskogee Lumber Company and was founded in 1857 by a group of lumbermen to harvest timber from the surrounding pine forests. The term "ghost town" doesn't mean there are actually ghosts there. Rather, it simply refers to an abandoned village, town or city.

In 1889 Southern States Land and Lumber brought the founding company and continued the thriving lumber business. They had pines brought to mills rom Florida and Alabama by river, oxcart and rail. At the peak of production, the lodging camps and associated mills employed over 1000 men from the area. The town had a commissary and other stores and schools to serve the children of the families. In the mid- to late-1920's when the pine supply was depleted, Southern States abandoned the mills and sold the town and surrounding acres. Gradually the residents moved away to other places where there was work and a future.

Although the town is no more, there are still remnants of the town today including the town cemetery. In researching Muskogee, I found several web sites with lots of pictures and stories about life in Muskogee back in the day. One of these was "Muskogee, Florida - The Life and Times of a Florida Ghost Town". This site contains many pictures, stories, maps and history of some of the families who lived there. I've included one picture from the site as an example. I loved seeing a glimpse of the past and the focus on the family events. I also enjoyed reading some of the stories, particularly to see the style of writing and the things that mattered to them back then. If interested, the web site is: pensacolalinks/muscogee/muscogeehome.ht m

I hope you enjoyed this blast from the past. I'm excited to see what stories and info will be revealed in Alabama. I am hoping to have a very special guest share some insights on growing up in Mobile when I get there.

Cheers,

Pat