Clark's Place, St. Andrews Bay, Panama City, Florida
From George Mortimer West
The early settlement of St. Andrews, along the bluff by Governor Clark's place, was made by those from the interior who wished for a home on the bay during the summer months. At other times the houses were deserted, and only a few fishermen resided here. These early settlers included the families of Simmons J. Baker, Capt. Wynne, Capt. Billy Wynne, Felix G. Long, Mr. Godwin, David Blackshear, Jesse Coe, Marmaduke N. Dickson, Messrs. Russ, Robinson, and a few others, nearly all from Jackson county. The tavern, as the Clark house was called, was also occupied, and one of the first to live there was Major Armstead and family.
In the reminiscences of Dr. J.W. Keyes, published many years ago in a Wewahitchka paper, he refers to Major Armstead keeping the hotel there in 1841-42, and gives us the only particulars we have found of one of the early settlers of St. Andrews, who was a rather remarkable character. The Doctor's narrative is as follows:
"In the olden time the mail was brought on horse from Marianna once a week. In the winter of '41 or spring of '42, there began to arrive in the mail, the London Times, the Limerick Chronicle, Punch, the three British Reviews and other magazines; the North American Review and the daily New York Herald. Week after week they came, with letters from London, Dublin, New York and New Orleans.
One fair day a new little sloop of about a ton and a half came gracefully up from the Pass with one man on board. Major Armstead was keeping the hotel, and to him the master of the sloop applied for board and lodging for one month. He registered as David R. Blood, and proved to be the party to whom the mail matter above mentioned was addressed.
Before the month expired Mr. Blood concluded to remain another month and one of Major Armstead's daughters had named the black-coated sloop, 'Widow,' and dubbed the owner 'Captain.' no small boat ever sailed the waters of St. Andrews Bay, or resident upon its beach became more widely known than the Widow and Captain Blood...for his visit of one month extended to twelve years...
Old residents, both white and negro, have told the writer of being at Governor Clark's house, and spoke of their children who were at home; also of trees that were planted by the governor. One of these, a fig tree, it is said was planted at the corner of the kitchen in 1827, and is still thriving, a large purple fig, from the cuttings of which came most of the figs of this variety grown about the bay. The mint garden also dates form the governor's days here. Two grandchildren, as shown by the white marble slab above their graves, near the residence of the governor, died and were buried here...There was a charm about that seaside home which the governor sought for "peaceful quietude," that those of the present day cannot realize. Surrounded by some of their children, often visited by old friends from Georgia, where the governor had been scarcely less idolized by his people than was General Jackson in Tennessee, looking out from the broad verandah of his home upon the beautiful waters of St. Andrews Bay, enjoying the sailing, fishing, and bathing that it and Gulf beach afforded, life was idyllic...The nearest postoffice was Webbville, some sixty miles distant.
The house that the governor built was one of those destroyed when the town of St. Andrews was shelled by a Federal gunboat, in December of 1863. Although not a house in the place escaped destruction, and cannon balls cut off many trees, no damage was done to the monument that stood in the midst of the little hamlet.
Although his handiwork has been destroyed and his memory is almost a forgotten page of history, yet about his old home and by his grave the mocking birds continue to usher in the day with their matins and greet the evening star with their vespers; the whip-poor-will repeats its plaintive notes throughout the night from the magnolias and cedars, the waters ripple upon the sandy beach, and the storm tides send forth their deeper notes from the shores of the Gulf as they did when Governor Clark and his estimable and pious wife were charmed and solaced by these sounds from Nature's choristers. The world may have forgotten this remarkable man, but these songsters and the endless rush of the waters have never failed to chant their requiem over the secluded, forgotten and uncared-for grave of this earnest patriot, devoted friend and affectionate parent; Nature's never-ending tribute to an honest, courageous and virile man.
The next family to settle within the limits of St. Andrews, after Governor Clark's, was that of William Loftin.
Sources
- George Mortimer West, A History of Panama City,
- " St. Andrews, Florida,
- "John Clark (1766-1832)," New Georgia Encyclopedia.
- Georgia State Archives Roster of State Governors
- Georgia Governor's Gravesites Field Guide (1776-2003)
- Georgia Secretary of State official website
- John Clark House historical marker
- James F. Cook, The Governors of Georgia, 1754-2004, 3d ed. (Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 2005).
- Carl Augustus Ross, "The Public Life and Accomplishments of John Clark" (master's thesis, University of Georgia, 1957).
