Our Chamber of Commerce is located in the old courthouse at 23 High Drive in Crawfordville, the community with the largest population and commercial presence in this rural county. We invite you to be a part of growing Wakulla County business, join the Chamber of Commerce! Informational visitor and relocation packages are available upon request. Enjoying life in Wakulla includes many fine attractions and commerce, as well as the finest recreation and seafood to be found in North Florida.
Our office hours are Monday through Friday 8 am to 4:30 pm.
Phone: (850) 926-1848 Fax (850) 926-2050
You may also reach us by email wakullacochamber@embarqmail.com
In 1843 when Wakulla County was first carved out of Leon County, the designated site of the courthouse was the town of Port Leon on the east bank of the St. Marks River.
No sooner had the town been chosen than it was destroyed by a hurricane and tidal wave. Most of the refugees of Port Leon then moved upriver and founded the town of New Port on the west bank and a frame courthouse was erected in 1844 on a square. Nearby was a wooden jail and a scaffold for public hangings. During this period New Port was a bustling river port with an extensive cotton export trade and courthouse clerks were kept busy recording land sales, ships cargoes, and timber production.
In 1865 at the end of the Civil War, the legislative delegation voted to move the county seat to Shell Point, which later became known as Crawfordville after Senator John L. Crawford. The courthouse was assembled on the town square in Crawfordville and surrounded by a picket fence. In front was a well. Nearby another scaffold was erected and people would bring picnic lunches and their children when a hanging was performed.
During the 1870s and 1880s many people moved down from the Carolinas and Georgia to farm, timber, and fish in Wakulla County and filled the southern and western areas. Clerks were kept busy recording new land sales and the courtroom held judge, jury, defendants, and spectators in cases involving murder, larceny, assault, and desertion. In 1892, a man who had borrowed money on cattle and didn’t want to pay back what he owed or give back the cattle either, used a kerosene lamp to burn down the courthouse. He was convicted because he forgot to remove the lamp and it was used for evidence.
On December 19, 1892, the Board of County Commissioners met and the plans for the old courthouse, which still stands, were made and adopted. Construction began onAugust 7, 1893 by G.W. Tully and Thomas Mc Glynn and was completed August of 1894. The specifications called for it to be made of the best heart of pine. The wood was chosen by swinging an axe into the tree and only if the throat of the axe hit the heart of the tree was it considered suitable for use. The rostrum was built of birds eye pine and mullet shaped weathervane was hand carved from cypress.
It was common to see livestock on the square where the courthouse building stood. The incessant climbing nature of the goats led to their cluttering the courthouse steps often. Adjacent to the courthouse stood a three story water tower and underneath it an old safe was placed on its side making a watering trough for livestock. The gas driven pump from the water tank to the trough was not always dependable and the trough was often filled to overflowing. People began to complain of the mess made by the cattle when they came to drink. As recently as 1940, a sow gave birth to a litter under the building. The pigs would wallow in used motor oil from a nearby garage and rub grime onto the bottom of the courthouse. To eliminate this, the Spanish Bayonets were planted around the base of the building. Two outhouse buildings stood behind the building. It was common knowledge in those days, without benefit of markings, that the facility to the right was for gentlemen and to the left was the ladies.
In 1948 after the war, the county commissioners adopted a commission to build the current courthouse building and the old courthouse was moved a distance of approximately 500 from the center of Crawfordville to its present location. This move was made by placing wooden rollers under the building and laying timbers down so the wheels would not get stuck. A timber was buried several feet in front of the building and it was pulled toward it with a hand-wrench. As a testimony of the solid structure of the building, it is told of how when one corner was jacked-up to place a roller under that three corners were lifted leaving the building resting on one corner. There was a cement vault which stood outside the courthouse which was so great in weight and size that it was buried there and remains buried on the same square where the current courthouse building stands.
The Old Wakulla Courthouse is included in the National Register of Historic Places, United States Department of Interior. An extraction from the Statement of Significance for the National Register states the following:
The Old Wakulla County Courthouse is a rare example of the very functional and simple public buildings constructed in Florida during the latter part of the nineteenth century. Of three existing wooden courthouses in the state, this one is the least altered. Many counties did not have the finances of the need for large, elaborate buildings and structures such as the Wakulla County Courthouse, which served the needs of the county residents. In fact, it functioned as a courthouse longer than most others in the state. Local tradition suggests that the midpoint of the central hall on the first floor served as the bench mark for all surveys in the town of Crawfordville. This point is indicated by mitered boards which converge on the central point where once a round copper plate was placed as a marker. Additional credence was added to this tradition by the fact that G.W. Tully, the contractor, was a surveyor.
As quoted by one Historical Sites Specialist, Much of the character of the Old Wakulla County Courthouse is derived from the configuration of the steeply pitched roof. The four intersection gables and the central belvedere (cupola) add prominence to the otherwise simple, square, frame building.
