By DOTTY NIST
The anniversary of Walton County’s founding was celebrated on Dec. 29, as has been the tradition since 2004. Brenda Rees, initiator of the event, hosted the celebration at her Eastern Lake home.
The eighth county to be created in Florida, Walton County dates back to 1824.
This year’s event was dedicated to Henry Marie Brackenridge who, Rees told guests, was perhaps one of the most influential and famous people to reside in Walton County, although he is little known today.
Rees explained that Brackenridge, who lived at Alaqua, was a lawyer and served as the first judge for West Florida, holding court on his Walton County property. The property was known as the “Parks of Alaqua” and was transferred to Brackenridge in 1829 by a land grant signed by President Andrew Jackson. Rees noted that Alaqua was Walton County’s first county seat.
On behalf of President James Monroe, Brackenridge had traveled in 1817 on a government mission to South America to research and report on political conditions. His report favoring independence for Spanish colonies put forth ideas that are said to have influenced what would later become known as the Monroe Doctrine.
Known as Florida’s first forester, Brackenridge experimented with cultivation of the live oak tree, which was used extensively for shipbuilding before the days of iron and steel warships. He is also reported to have been an avid gardener, planting corn, beans, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, watermelons, ornamental shrubs, and fruit trees, including orange trees, for which he was known to have a real passion.
Refreshments at the event honored plants and trees selected for cultivation by Brackenridge.
Point Washington resident Frank Day credited Brackenridge for his role in uniting Florida and for his development projects in Pensacola. “He was a very colorful gentleman,” Day said. He encouraged others to read Brackenridge’s letters to his wife, Caroline.
“He wrote her from Alaqua,” Rees said.
A tradition for the event has been the recital of “Octavia,” a poem written by Edgar Allan Poe for Octavia Walton Le Vert, daughter of Walton County namesake George Walton, Jr., followed by a sunset toast overlooking Eastern Lake. This year overcast conditions obscured the sunset, but the recital and toast did proceed.
Nine years remain in the countdown to Walton County’s bicentennial.