DeFuniak Springs, Florida

I lived in Florida for 18 years. Before that, I read a chapter about it in the Reader's Digest's book, America From the Road, entitled 'A Land Like No Other'. If you're a writer, you've no doubt heard of the importance of "the hook". Well, I was hooked by that title, and once I moved there, by Florida. I read about it voraciously and made it my goal to visit every corner of that strangely shaped state. One place that always intrigued me was DeFuniak Springs, in the panhandle, between Pensacola and Tallahassee. At the time, I lived eight or nine hours away, in Ft. Lauderdale. I tried to visit DeFuniak Springs several times, but something always happened to prevent me.

  Perhaps that intrigue stemmed from its claim of being the home of one of only two perfectly round lakes in the world, the Victorian homes that line it, or the area's rich history, including the fact that it was the winter home of the Chautauqua movement from 1885 to the early 1900's. People from all over America converged there by train, paid a gate fee and attended keynote speeches and sessions relating to art, education, recreation and religion. 

Today, only a handful of Chautauqua communities are left, but the idea of Chautauqua is experiencing a rebirth. The North Carolina mountain town of Andrews, 20 minutes from my home, hosts Chautauqua Andrews twice a year, which I've enjoyed attending several times. 

DeFuniak Springs Chautauqua Hall of Brotherhood on Circle Drive

Devotees have put together the Chautauqua Trail of towns, including DeFuniak Springs, home of Florida Chautauqua, to help people find them.

Hotel DeFuniak and Bogey's Restaurant


Finally, I was successful in visiting DeFuniak Springs, and I enjoyed it as much as I had hoped I would. I booked a room at the Hotel DeFuniak, which terms itself a small boutique hotel, and has received 4&1/2 stars from TripAdvisor reviewers, earning it their "Seal of Excellence". Well deserved, I might add.

Hotel DeFuniak lobby

After fortifying myself with the delicious full breakfast that was included in the moderate room rate, which I enjoyed in the charming dining room that is attached to both the hotel lobby and Bogey's Restaurant, the venue for the excellent dinner that I enjoyed the night of my arrival, I set out to explore.

My first stop was at the Visitors Center, where I picked up a Walking Tour of historic Circle Drive brochure, listing 39 buildings and homes of interest around the lake. 

I had brought my bicycle with me, anticipating rides on the flat terrain of Florida, and I was not disappointed here. I enjoyed the sun, balmy breezes and birdsong as I happily pedaled along, with a few stops to take photos.

650 Circle Drive, built for Judge Angus Graham Campbell, c 1905

Magnolia Grandiflora, with a spreading crown of 72 feet, the 8th largest of Florida's champion trees

Plantation style house

Brick house and oak tree

At 3 Circle Drive, stands the Walton-DeFuniak Library, the oldest structure in Florida built as a library and still serving that purpose.

In the 1880's, Wallace Bruce, who moved to DeFuniak Springs around 1890, was the ambassador to Scotland and lived in Edinburgh. His son, Kenneth, began collecting European armor, which is housed in the library. Some of the pieces date back as far as the Crusades (1100-1300 AD). Sadly,I was "foiled" in my attempt to see the collection. The librarian told me that they had closed that part of the library until they could get the bat infestation there under control! I had to console myself by enjoying the library's reading garden.

Too soon, I had to leave DeFuniak Springs for my next stop, Madison, Florida. Next time, I hope to stay longer and to see that armor collection. If you go, you might consider picking up these guidebooks:

Scenic Driving Florida, by Jan Annino Godown, and

Off the Beaten Path Florida, a guide to unique places, by Diana & Bill Gleaner, 

both of which can be ordered through our local vendor, Curiosity Shop Bookstore.

Georgia's Kolomoki Mounds State Park

My imagination has always been fired by thoughts of native American cultures before the advent of the Europeans. When I learned that Kolomoki Mounds was one of Georgia's largest prehistoric mound complexes, and that the state park was just a little over an hour south of Providence Canyon, I included it in my itinerary for the Florida trip. The park, like Providence Canyon, is easily accessible from US 27. A good map or GPS is advisable, as once you turn off US  27 just north of Blakely, the road snakes through a small town and farmland on the way to the park. I approached from the east, driving past Mounds A (or the Great Temple Mound) and D to the Visitor's Center.

Sign at Visitor's Center

Just as the sign says, the Visitor's Center incorporates a museum and an excavated portion of Mound E. The smell of earth was strong as I walked along the wooden walkways and sat on the bleachers to watch an informational film about the complex, the excavation process, and the burial it revealed. The scene below, left just as it was found by the excavators, other than the plastic copies of the bones, had a profound impact on me. More than a thousand years ago an important chief, seen in the lower left, died naturally, but the skeleton in the upper right was of a wife who was probably strangled and buried here so that the chief would not be alone in the afterlife. Do you suppose that was in the pre-nup?

The film explained that the mounds were constructed with clay that was carried to the sites by baskets. This burial mound (E) was dome shaped, about 11 feet high and constructed from soil and rocks with a final capping layer of red clay and rocks. Fifty-four complete pottery vessels were found by the excavators. Mound D, not displayed, contained 77 burials and a cache of ceremonial pottery, pieces of which are on display in the museum. Unique to Kolomoki is the effigy pottery in the shapes of various animals including deer, quail and owls. 

Mound A, or the Great Temple Mound

 The largest of Kolomoki’s nine mounds is Mound A, or the Great Temple Mound, which rises to a height of 57 feet. With a base larger than a football field, it has the distinction of being the Indian mound with the largest land base in Georgia. It originally would have been swept clear of any vegetation and covered with different colored clays. The final capping layer was made from red clay, although years before it was completely covered with white clay. Since there is no evidence of structures on its top, theories state that it may have served solely as a ceremonial platform or stage for public rituals. 

Interesting to me, since my husband is an amateur astronomer, is the idea that it may have served as a platform for astronomical observations, since pottery from this time period suggests such observations were being made and that accurate calendars were being produced. Astronomical alignments have been noted for several mounds at the Kolomoki site. Mounds A, D, and E which form the central axis of the site form an alignment with the sun at the spring equinox. Mounds F and D form an alignment with the sun at the summer solstice. Other mounds were thought to have been aligned in order to predict the arrival of these solar events.*

Although it looked daunting, I climbed up the stairs seen in the photo. By hanging onto the railing and not looking up, I was soon at the top, rewarded with this view. 

View the the west , including Mound D, from the top of Mound A

I was intrigued to learn that Kolomoki is one of the  native American sites that was abandoned well before the Europeans arrived. Without written records, the reason for this can only be a matter for speculation, but interesting ideas are presented in the reference material cited at the end of this post. I shot one more photo as I left the park, with my mind full of what I had seen and wishing that I could go back in time to observe this "highly complex culture that was rich in art, craft and tradition".

View of Mounds A and D from the road

*http://lostworlds.org/kolomoki_mounds/