Live in Crawfordville

11/09/2026

Harleys aren't the only thing riding into St. Marks for a bite to eat anymore. 🏍️🚲

Every weekend you hear them rumbling down to the river for seafood and a cold drink. Now the cyclists are getting their own front door.

A new Florida Wildlife Corridor trailhead is planned right behind St. Marks City Hall, where the Florida National Scenic Trail meets the historic St. Marks rail trail.

🚲 What's coming: a new parking lot, a water fountain, a bike repair station and an information kiosk

🤝 Who's behind it: the City of St. Marks, Trust for Public Land, Florida Trail Association, the U.S. Forest Service, the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge and the Disney Conservation Fund, through the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation

📅 The goal is to finish by December 2027
Two wheels or two pedals, everybody's riding in for seafood. 🦐

Who's riding the trail all the way to St. Marks first? Tag your riding buddy 👇

11/09/2026

If you grew up here, you've sat at this counter. 🍦

The longest marble soda fountain ever built isn't in New York or Chicago. It's in Wakulla County.

You know the kind of place. Chandeliers overhead, tall arched windows, a row of stools at a cool marble counter, and a root b**r float sweating in front of you while the spring sits just outside.

That's the Soda Parlor at The Lodge at Wakulla Springs, 550 Wakulla Park Drive.

📏 The counter is 70 feet, 6 inches long.

💎 The front was made from one piece of marble, cut and book matched so the pattern lines up at every joint. The top was cut into lengths for the trip and set back in the order it came out of the ground, so the grain still matches.

🥤 Trained soda jerks still serve root b**r floats, cherry phosphates, ginger yips and sundaes, plus hot dogs, chili and sandwiches.

🏛️ Edward Ball wanted the Lodge to belong to the neighbors too, not just wealthy visitors, so he gave the soda fountain as much care as the dining room.

Some things are worth keeping exactly the way they are. ✨

When did you last pull up a stool at that counter, and what did you order? 👇

11/08/2026

A little beach time without leaving Wakulla County? Shell Point is right down the road. 🏖️

Shell Point Beach is a Wakulla County park at 117 Beaty Taff Drive, at the very end of Shell Point Road.

Parking is free and there's no entrance fee.
You get pavilions, a playground, a volleyball court, a kayak launch, and a Mobi-Mat so wheelchairs and walkers can get across the sand. Leashed dogs are welcome.

🕕 Open 6 AM to midnight

Pack a chair, bring a picnic, and enjoy the bay. 🌅

Sunrise, sunset, or a lazy afternoon? When's your favorite time at Shell Point? 👇

11/08/2026

In the South, a hamaknocker is a troublemaker. In Crawfordville, it's lunch. 🐷🔥

You know the kind of BBQ joint you smell before you see it. A smoker out by the road, red-checkered paper, a pile of pulled pork, and a cup of mac and cheese nobody at the table is sharing.

Hamaknockers BBQ is at 2837 Coastal Highway in Crawfordville, a family-owned spot that's been smoking meat since 2004. Pick from 11 homemade sauces and you'll be planning the next trip before you leave the parking lot.

🕚 Sundays, 11 AM to 8 PM

The good kind of trouble. 😉

Pulled pork, wings, or a little of everything? What's your order? 👇

11/08/2026

Fishin’, huntin’, workin’—and a little law-evadin’. These aren’t your average hometown stories. 👀

Before Leo Lovel put Spring Creek into books, he helped put its catch on the dinner table. 🐟

Leo had been fishing around Shell Point, and he and his wife, Mary Jane, visited nearby Spring Creek Restaurant. When it came up for sale, the family took a chance. In 1977, Leo, his parents, and his grandmother bought it together.

What followed was a family operation in every sense. ❤️

🍳 His mother, Carolyn, cooked the family recipes.
�🍽️ His father, Ben, managed the restaurant.
�🦐 Leo became a commercial fisherman, bringing in mullet, shrimp, amberjack and cobia to supply the kitchen.

If you ever made that drive for a seafood dinner, there was a whole working waterfront behind what landed on your plate. Boats, nets, tides—and people with stories worth telling. 🚤
Leo wrote those stories down.

📖 Spring Creek Chronicles and Spring Creek Chronicles II preserve a world of commercial fishin’, huntin’, workin’, and the people along North Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Just look at the chapter titles:
🐟 “My Old Mullet Skiff”�🌫️ “February Foggy Day”�🛶 “Just A Day At the Office”

Not quite the office most folks picture. 😉
And just like the restaurant, the books became a family undertaking. Leo wrote them, his son Clay illustrated them, and his son Ben edited them. ✍️🎨

There’s another part of his story worth knowing: WFSU reported that Leo wanted to encourage local schoolchildren to read and write through a project called the All Florida Reader. 📚

He wasn’t just saving the stories he remembered. He wanted young people to discover they had stories worth telling, too.
These books hold a piece of Wakulla County that doesn’t fit neatly on a postcard—the work, the characters, the adventures, and the everyday life of a fishing community. 🌾🌊

👏 A big thank-you to Chris Griffin for sending over these photos of the books and giving us a reason to revisit this piece of local history!

Have you read either book, known Leo, or shared a meal at Spring Creek Restaurant? What story or memory comes to mind? 👇

11/08/2026

TODAY is the day, Crawfordville! 🏡☀️

13 homes are open this afternoon for the Fall Open House Event, most from 1 to 4 or 1 to 5.

🎁 Visit at least 5 and you're entered to win $125 gift cards to Trident and Tropical Trader 🍤🍹

Perfect Sunday afternoon drive. Bring the family, grab a coffee, and go see how your neighbors decorate 😄

Full list of addresses in the flyer.

👇 Who's going?

11/08/2026

In 2016, the St. Marks Lighthouse went dark for the first time since the Civil War. It didn't stay that way. 🌅

You know the drive. Marsh grass on both sides, the road through the refuge going on forever, and then that white tower standing at the edge of Apalachee Bay like it's been waiting on you.

It has been. The St. Marks Lighthouse was rebuilt on this spot in 1842 and has outlasted hurricanes and a war. Its original 1867 Fresnel lens came down for safekeeping and is now on display at the refuge Visitor Center.

After a big restoration of the tower and keeper's house, a replica lens went up in 2019, and the light shines again seasonally.

🏠 The keeper's quarters are usually open Friday to Sunday, 11 AM to 3 PM. Call the Visitor Center first: 850-925-6121.

📜 One keeper, John Gresham, served longer than anyone, and his kids were taught by a schoolteacher who lived right there at the lighthouse.

Still standing watch. ⚓

Who was the first person you ever took to see the lighthouse? 👇

11/07/2026

Three Crawfordville homes closed in October with Rick Shays of Superior Realty Group representing the sellers. 🏡

🏡 Shelby Drive: closed at $439,000
�🏡 Stokely Road: closed at $529,000
�🏡 Springdale Drive: closed at $409,000

Curious what homes on your street are selling for?

Rick Shays with Superior Realty Group can walk you through it.

Which Crawfordville neighborhood would you pick? 👇

11/07/2026

They catch what lands on your plate. Including the invasive lionfish. 🦞🔱

You know the kind of dinner that makes the drive worth it.

Floor-to-ceiling windows over the bay.

Oyster beds at low tide. 🦪

A plate that tastes like this coast, not a freezer truck.

Trident is at 107 Mississippi Ave in Panacea, from brothers Jesse and Tyler Rice (the Backwoods Crossing team) with Taylor Harrell. 😎

Their sea-to-table crew works with poles, cast nets and spears, chasing lionfish, sea trout, mullet, Spanish lobster, mackerel, flounder and more.🤤

🕓 Wednesday and Thursday 5 to 9 PM
�🕓 Friday to Sunday 11 AM to 9 PM

By land or by sea, the bay is the best seat in the house. 🌅

Been yet? What should a first-timer order? 👇

08/08/2026