Plying the Waters of Time

The communities of Apalachicola, Carrabelle, and surrounding Franklin County have been intimately tied to the sea. This connection has existed from prehistoric times to the present. However, the strongest ties to the sea existed throughout the nineteenth century into the early part of the twentieth. This connection to maritime cultural environment has had a profound influence on the lives of the people who lived in this region. Shedding light on the lives of the people who lived in this region and the social and cultural processes at work within these communities is critical to understanding the submerged cultural resources. This study develops a multi-faceted/multi-scalier approach to understanding these processes. In particular, a model, based on economic principles, is developed so that it is possible to tease out the human behavior occurring within the region. Utilizing this model, coupled with the historic and archaeological record, the study demonstrates the critical social and cultural processes at work within these communities on local, regional, and global levels. As part of the overall study, the dissertation also focuses on the remains of a shipwreck resting on the backside of Dog Island. This invaluable submerged archaeological resource provides further insight into the local social and cultural processes at work within the region. The dissertation concludes by demonstrating that the remains of this shipwreck are symbolic of the local labor. As such, these vestiges of human labor represent the maritime microcosm that existed throughout the region during the nineteenth and early twentieth century.