Discover your Florida history through museums and archaeological sites in this unique
Geocaches have been hidden at several participating sites arcross Northwest Florida. All the sites on this geotrail are connected to Florida archaeology and are featured in the Road Trip Through Florida Archaeology exhibit at the Destination Archaeology Resource Center in
Pensacola, FL. The first 300 participants to locate at least 10 DARC geocaches will receive a traceable, special edition geocoin produced specifically for the DARC geotrail.
REBEL RAIDERS
Image courtesy of the State Archives of Florida
The Old Chimney property is part of a land grant to Emanual Bonifay in 1813. The chimney was built in the mid-1850’s on land acquired by Henry Hyer in January of 1854. It was part of the steam power plant for the “Hyer-Knowles Planing Mill” which was in operation by 1857. The original bricks for the chimney were hand made by slaves in one the nearby brick factories that lined the west coast ofEscambiaBay. In March 1862, General Braxton Bragg was evacuating the Confederate forces holding mine Pensacola when Confederate Secretary of War JudahP. Benjamin ordered the destruction of everything that could be of use to the advancing Union forces. His instructions were to “Destroy all machinery private and public which could be useful to the enemy; especially disable the sawmills in and around the Bay, and burn the lumber”. He set March 10 as the deadline for the demolition. The Hyer-Knowles Mill (except for the brick chimney) was destroyed that night. Local legend has been that the Hyer-Knowles machinery was loaded onto barges in an attempt to save as much as possible. Confederate memos say thunderstorms and large waves sweptEscambiaBaythat night of March 10, 1863. The Hyer-Knowles machinery on the barges sank to the bottom of the bay. Thus the chimney serves as a physical reminder of the internal struggles of our nation during the Civil War.
Today the property is configured as a “mini” or “ribbon” park functioning as a roadside rest area with parking spaces and brick walkways. It is located on a portion of Highway 90 that is Scenic Highway in Pensacola, Florida. The highway is the first Florida State “Scenic Highway” designated on April 13, 1998 as Pensacola Scenic Bluffs Highway.
- Text courtesy of the Scenic Highway Foundation