Battle of Marianna Tours set for September 27th

The Blue Springs Society of the Children of the American Revolution is offering a unique opportunity to learn more about one of the most important events in the history of Jackson County.

Next Saturday (Sept. 27th), the C.A.R. will host guided tours of the site of the Battle of Marianna.

The tours begin at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. at the historic Russ House (Jackson County Chamber of Commerce) on West Lafayette Street in Marianna.

Each tour will last 60-90 minutes and will give participants the opportunity to learn more about the battle and visit some of the key sites associated with the fighting, including St. Luke's Episcopal Church. The cost to participate is $5 (12 and under are free), with 100% of the proceeds benefiting the C.A.R. in its effort to stimulate interest in history among Jackson County's school students.

If you have questions, please feel free to email me by visiting www.twoeggfla.com/contactus.

Bellamy Bridge, Part Seven

This is part seven of an eight part series on the Ghost of Bellamy Bridge. To read the other parts first, please scroll down the page.

In our last post, we explored how Southern writer Caroline Lee Hentz wrote a novel years before the Civil War that told a story very similar to Jackson County's legend of Bellamy Bridge. According to Mrs. Hentz, her story was based on a real event that took place at a plantation near Columbus, Georgia. She indicated that she had based the character of "Mrs. Bellamy" in her book on a real person, a friend of her's during her residency in Columbus.

Shortly after writing Marcus Warland, Caroline Hentz moved to Florida. She lived for a time at the small resort community of St. Andrews (today's Panama City) before moving to Marianna to live with her son, Charles, in the Hunter house across Lafayette Street from St. Luke's Episcopal Church. Mrs. Hentz died in 1856 and was buried at St. Luke's.

Because she spent her last days in Jackson County, over time she became closely associated with Marianna. Many local residents came to believe, incorrectly, that her books had been based on her observations of life in and around the area. The spring in Marcus Warland, for example, was assumed to be a representation of Jackson County's Blue Spring. In reality, the description was based on a similar spring in Georgia.

The same was true of Mrs. Hentz' account of a tragic wedding night fire on the "Bellamy plantation." Although she was not describing the Bellamy plantation of Jackson County when she wrote the book, the story came to be associated with Samuel and Elizabeth Bellamy and, particularly, Elizabeth's lonely grave near Bellamy Bridge.

Over time, the memory of Caroline Hentz and her books faded, but her sad story of the tragic death of a young bride survived as part of the folklore of Jackson County. The identity of the victim, over time, was altered from a young slave named Cora to Elizabeth Bellamy and so was born the story of the Ghost of Bellamy Bridge.

It is a strange case of a real story in Georgia being used as the basis in a book of fiction that, in turn, finally evolved into a Florida legend.

Our series on the Ghost of Bellamy Bridge will conclude in the next post, which will feature an actual photograph of the "ghost." In the meantime, if you would like to read more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/bellamybridge.

Bellamy Bridge, Part Four

This is part four of a series on the true story behind the legend of the Ghost of Bellamy Bridge, Florida. To read the previous posts first, please scroll down the page.

This photograph was taken on the Baker Creek Road northwest of Marianna on land that was once the Rock Cave plantation of Samuel and Elizabeth Bellamy. The groves of planted pines in the distance were once fields of cotton and sugar cane.

The couple's early life in Florida was very promising. The plantation quickly emerged as one of the most successful in Jackson County and Dr. Bellamy was readily accepted into Jackson County's social and political life. In late 1835, Elizabeth gave birth to a baby boy. The couple named him Alexander, in honor of Samuel's ancestors.

The rich bottomlands along Baker Creek and the Chipola River were ideal for growing and cotton and sugar cane. Tragically, though, they were also breeding grounds for clouds of mosquitos during the 1830s. These mosquitos carried a variety of fevers and diseases, including malaria. On December 6, 1836, Hardy Bryan Croom (a noted scientist and Elizabeth's half-brother) wrote in a letter to family that Samuel, Elizabeth and baby Alexander were all sick with malaria.

Often called the "remitting fever," because patients would appear to recover, only to suddenly relapse and die, malaria was one of the most common causes of death in antebellum Florida. Samuel eventually recovered from the fever, but Elizabeth and the baby did not. Elizabeth Bellamy died at Rock Cave Plantation on May 11, 1837. She was not the victim of a tragic wedding night fire, but of a deadly fever. Baby Alexander died one week later. He was only 18 months old.

Devestated by grief, Samuel buried his wife and son on the plantation of his brother, Dr. Edward C. Bellamy, near today's Bellamy Bridge. There the graves would be tended by Elizabeth's sister, Ann, and Samuel could visit as often as he liked. He briefly considered moving Elizabeth back to a family burial ground in North Carolina, but appears to have abandoned the idea as time passed.

It might appear, based these facts, that the legend of the Ghost of Bellamy Bridge is nothing more than a tall tale, made up long ago to explain a lonely tombstone near the Chipola River. But if so, where did the unusual tale of a tragic wedding night fire originate?

In fact, the story of Samuel and Elizabeth Bellamy was just beginning. Over the next twenty years a fascinating series of events would lead to the rise of the legend. Our look at the story behind the Bellamy Bridge ghost legend will continue in the next post. In the meantime, you can read more by visiting www.exploresouthernhistory.com/bellamybridge.

The entire story can also be found in my book, Two Egg, Florida: A Collection of Ghost Stories, Legends and Unusual Facts. The book is available at Chipola River Book and Tea on Lafayette Street in Marianna (on the same block as the Gazebo Restaurant) or for order by clicking here.

Bellamy Bridge, Part Three

This is part three of a series on the Ghost of Bellamy Bridge. If you would like to read the previous posts first, just scroll down the page!

A short time after their 1834 wedding, Samuel and Elizabeth joined with Edward and Ann in beginning a long trek to the Chipola country of Florida. The Crooms were already established in the new Territory and the two new Bellamy families were joining them. According to documents later filed before Florida's Supreme Court, they left North Carolina with everything needed to start new plantations in Jackson County: supplies, overseers, livestock and dozens of slaves.

Dr. Edward Bellamy had purchased the Fort Plantation, a farm carved from the wilderness the previous decade in the rich Chipola River valley at the site of today's Bellamy Bridge. This is the area of Jackson County still known as the "Bellamy Plantation," but it was the farm of Edward and Ann Bellamy.

Dr. Samuel Bellamy and his new wife, Elizabeth, actually acquired their land at a place called "Rock Cave" on the opposite side of the Chipola and closer to the new city of Marianna. Samuel and Elizabth's Rock Cave Plantation was in the Baker Creek settlement, named for a small stream (seen here) that rises northeast of Cottondale and flows north and east, eventually joining with other creeks and flowing into the Chipola River upstream from Marianna.

Although legend holds that Samuel built the magnificent new mansion in Marianna for Elizabeth, they actually lived out at Rock Cave. Through backbreaking labor, his gangs of enslaved laborers cleared fields and built a large home for the couple, along with all of the other necessary buildings of the plantation. It soon became one of the most successful plantations in Jackson County and was the source for the first bargeload of Sea Island cotton to navigate the Chipola River and safely reach Apalachicola.

Our series on the true story behind the legend of the Ghost of Bellamy Bridge will continue. In the meantime if you would like to read more, just follow this link to visit my Bellamy Bridge site.

Bellamy Bridge, Part Two

This is part two of a continuing series on the true story behind Jackson County's famed legend of the "Ghost of Bellamy Bridge." If you would like to read part one first, just scroll down the page.

As I explained in my last post, the legend of Bellamy Bridge is certainly colorful, but is it true?

The story first began to appear in local newspapers roughly 100 years ago, indicating that it was well known by the beginning of the 20th century. Interviews with senior residents of the area confirm this.

Fortunately, the events related in the legend involved people who were prominent and well-known in their day. As a result, their true stories can still be traced.

Dr. Samuel C. Bellamy grew up in North Carolina and attended medical school at the University of Pennsylvania. His brother, Dr. Edward C. Bellamy, was also a physician and the two men were close during their youth.

The Bellamy family was prominent in North Carolina at this time and closely associated with another prominent clan, the Croom family. Dr. Edward Bellamy fell in love with Ann Croom, the daughter of Gen. William Croom, and the two were married in North Carolina during the early 1830s. Not long after, Dr. Samuel Bellamy began to court Ann's sister, Elizabeth "Betsy" Bellamy. At this point, the story begins to diverge from the legend.

Newspaper records confirm that Samuel and Elizabeth Bellamy were married in North Carolina on July 15, 1834, three years before the date of the supposed Florida wedding (and tragic reception).

On the surface the discovery of proof that Samuel and Elizabeth were married in North Carolina three years before legend holds she died on her wedding day in Florida might seem to disprove the legend of the ghost of Bellamy Bridge, but true history reveals there is much more to the story.

I'll continue this fascinating true story in the next post. Until then, if you would like to read more and see an actual photo of the "ghost" of Bellamy Bridge, please click here.

The complete story can be read in my book, Two Egg, Florida: A Collection of Ghost Stories, Legends and Unusual Facts, now available through www.barnesandnoble.com, www.amazon.com, or for order through your favorite bookstore. It can also be purchased in downtown Marianna at Chipola River Book and Tea (on Lafayette Street across from the Battle of Marianna monument).

Prints available of Dellwood Methodist Church

Framed prints of my black and white photograph of the historic Dellwood Methodist Church are now available for purchase at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/dalecox.

Matted and framed in your choice of oak, black wood or black aluminum gallery faming, these prints are available for $65.

Black and white prints of the Russ House in Marianna are also availabel, and other images from my photography collection will be coming soon.