History & Legends @ Tateshell.com

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History & Legends

Worlds Smallest Police Station Worlds smallest police station in Carrabelle is a blue phone booth on the main drag of Highway 98. The phone booth was installed in 1963 to keep policemen out of the rain. Over the years it has been featured on several television shows such as "Real People", "Ripley's Believe It or Not", "The Today Show", and "Johnny Carson".
Camp Gordon Johnson Camp Gordon Johnston opened in 1942 for the sole purpose of training amphibious soldiers and their support groups in WW II, this camp trained a quarter of a million men, closing in June of 1946.
Doctor John Gorrie and the ice-machine. Gorrie served as mayor, postmaster, city treasurer, council member, bank director and founder of Trinity Church. His most significant work however, was in medicine. Although he did not know that yellow fever was spread by mosquitoes, he had observed that outbreaks of the disease seemed to be influenced by heat—"Nature would terminate the fevers by changing the seasons," he noted. He devised a method of cooling his infirmary. He would suspend a pan of ice from the ceiling and make an opening through it so air could escape through the chimney. But he still faced one problem. The cooling mechanism required ice, and supplies were limited. So Doctor Gorrie invented a machine that produced ice, laying the groundwork for modern refrigeration and air-conditioning. He used the principals of when a liquid evaporates into a gas, it does so at a particular temperature, which varies depending on the amount of pressure it is under. As it evaporates, the liquid extracts heat from the surroundings, cooling them. Likewise, when a gas is compressed, it is heated; when the pressure is removed, and the gas expands, it absorbs heat, cooling its surroundings. Having found both funding—from a Boston investor who remains unknown—and a manufacturing company willing to produce the contraption, Gorrie became the first person to create a commercially available refrigeration machine. A replica of Gorrie's ice-machine, built from the specifications of his 1851 patent, is on display in the museum. The visitor center is open from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The center is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. John Gorrie State Museum is located on Sixth Street, one block off U.S. 319-98 in Apalachicola, off U.S. 98.
	Tate's Hell Tate's Hell is a dense area of woods, swamp and bayou north of Carrabelle that has been known since 1875 as Tate’s Hell. There are various twists to the legend, but the most widely accepted version of the story concerns 45 year old Cebe Tate, who lived in Sumatra and raised cattle. He set off into the swamp one day in search of a panther which was killing his cattle, with two of his hunting dogs. After a few hours searching for the panther Tate gets separated from his dogs and became lost and disoriented. Realizing he is lost, he take a rest at the base of a big tree and there he is snake bitten. Tate wandered the swamps for days snake bitten and ate up by mosquitoes. When he finally emerged somewhere near Carrabelle, some 25 miles from Sumatra. Upon walking up to two men, Tate is reported to have said, "my name is Tate, and I’ve just been in Hell." and after he spoke those words he falls and died at the men's feet.
King Retsyo "Oyster backwards" The story of King Retsyo begins, with Chief Retsyo and the fact that he was unable produce a male heir to the throne. As it was the Kings royal obligation to produce a male heir to the throne, and since the King was unable to produce an heir he would be put to death. Facing certain death Chief Retsyo fled to Apalachicola Bay where he spent several years in self-exile. During that period he discovered the area was overwhelmed with those slimy shelled creatures we all know as oysters. And quite by accident, one day the king ate one of these little bivalves and found it to be incredibly refreshing, tasty and much to his liking. Over time, the chief consumed copious amounts of the bay's shelled residents until he began to notice that he also had a very strong craving for companionship with the opposite sex. Being a man of action, Chief Retsyo returned to his village and convinced 144 maidens to return with him to live with him at the Bay. Interestingly enough, it was not long after Chief Retsyo returned to his place of exile that every maiden showed signs of pregnancy and in time delivered sons within several days of each other. Now the Chief had more than adequately redeemed himself and soon returned to the main tribe to be hailed a hero. The elders accepted him back into their fold, eagerly claiming him as the tribe's sole leader and putting him back on the throne to rule once more. As King he led his tribe to Apalachicola Bay where its members thrived and grew from that time on.
	Fort Gadsden For history or Civil War buffs a visit to Fort Gadsden Historic Site is a must. Fort Gadsden has been part of Florida's history since the early 1800's. Originally built by the British as a base from which to recruit Native and African Americans during the War of 1812, it was abandon in 1815. At the time, Garcon, a Black military leader, assumed command of the Fort and it became a stronghold for several hundred fugitive slaves, with hundreds more living nearby as well as a few Seminoles and Choctaws who had resisted Indian removal. On July 27, 1816, Col. Duncan Clinch from Fort Scott in Georgia attacked what had become known as the “Negro Fort”. The Negro Fort was taken after a bloody bombardment and was completely destroyed in the attack by United States military forces. In 1818, Andrew Jackson instructed Lt. James Gadsden (for whom the fort is now named) to build new fortifications at the Negro Fort site as a supply base. Lt. Gadsden maintained the Fort until 1821. After that, Fort Gadsden was virtually forgotten until 1862 when the Confederate Army took control of the Fort. Via the Apalachicola River, then it became a supply resource for Confederate troops in the north. After the Civil War, Fort Gadsden faded into history. Today Fort Gadsden Historic Site is managed by the U.S. Forest Service and is located in the Apalachicola National Forest. The Fort is in the Northern part of Franklin County and rests beside the Apalachicola River. Fort Gadsden Historic Site is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The site has been recognized as an important piece of our National heritage and warrants special protection.