Have you ever heard of Eucheeanna? It was the first permanent settlement in Walton County. Northwest Florida Daily News 9 APR 1990 1A Eucheeana lives on in memories as Walton Countys 1st settlement By BILL RUNGE EUCHEEANNA - If you blink once you might miss it. Theres no sign, no town, no indication this area six miles southeast of DeFuniak Springs was Walton Countys first settlement. But even though the town is gone, Eucheeanna is still listed on some maps. The second county seat and the first place white people settled in Walton County exists now only in memories handed down from one generation to the next. Eucheeanna survived during the early years of Walton County because its fertile valley gave birth to the dreams of Scottish settlers looking for new land. It died when horse and buggy gave way to the iron horse and the railroad moved the focus of the county six miles to the northwest to DeFuniak Springs. There is disagreement between a historian and the fifth generation of one pioneer family on how white men first found Walton County. In The History of Walton County by John McKinnon, the first white men came from Bluff Springs in Escambia County. They were Neill McLendon, Daniel Douglas Campbell and John Folk. All were from Richmund County, S.C., and looking for a place to settle in Florida. William Campbell, a direct descendant of Daniel Douglas Campbell, lives near Eucheeanna. Campbell said his great great-grandfather first came to Walton County on horseback from Pensacola. He followed the perimeter of Choctawhatchee Bay and then traveled north along Bruce Creek. Campbell said his grandfather, Angus Campbell would often tell stories about the early days of Eucheeanna. It wasnt until the second trip here that they brought their families to Bluff Springs, Campbell said. Daniel stayed in Walton County when McLendon returned to South Carolina for his brother, his family and John Folk. Campbell said McKinnons writings on the first white settlers more aptly describes McLendons second trip to Walton County. They all agree that McLendons meeting with Sam Story, chief of the Euchee Indians, paved the way for white settlers in Walton County. Story met McLendon in Pensacola on his first trip there. They were introduced by a Scottish trader named McIntosh who lived at Pensacola. The two men became immediate friends and Story invited McLendon to his headquarters near Bruce Creek. McLendon and Campbell went to visit the Euchee Valley and immediately made plans for families and friends to move there. That winter, Campbell, a bachelor, stayed in the valley to protect their interests while McLendon left to go retrieve his family. News of the valley spread swiftly among the Scottish people in South Carolina. Among the early settlers was Col. John McKinnon, a signer of the Florida Constitution. There were also McLeans, McLendons, McCaskills and Gunns, Gillises, Campbells, Edges and McBrooms. They all settled in the Euchee Valley, a fertile area 12 miles wide and 25 miles long. And Eucheeanna was born. The town was named after Nancy Anna McLean and the Euchee Indians. Walton County also was born in 1824, encompassing current Walton and Okaloosa counties as well as areas both east and west. The Euchee Indians did not stay long after white men came to the valley. Many left when Story died sometime in the 1820s, while others were forced out of Florida in 1832 after the Florida Legislature passed a law banning Indians as state residents. The fertile valley continued to attract settlers although some left. McLendon, for example, moved to Texas where he was known as John McClellan and where a county was named after him. The people here were very picky about who they let settle here, Campbell said. If they didnt like you or you werent some kind of kin, they chased you out. The first census in 1850 revealed there were 1,207 residents in Walton County. In 1845, the county seat was moved from Alaqua, which was located six miles southwest of DeFuniak Springs, to Eucheeanna. The courthouse, jail, community building and a grist mill were located near where McKinnons Bridge Road and Red Hill Bridge Road now intersect just south of County Road 280. Nearby in a wooded area was a pine tree, with a crook in its trunk. It was used for hangings. About two miles south of that intersection is McLendons first settlement, noted by a cement marker in the front yard of Curtis McBrooms current home. Eucheeanna wasnt like most towns today, said Walton County historian Harold Gillis. There werent very many homesites in town. They lived around the town and came into town for supplies. There was a commissary in Eucheeanna and it was a business district. Of course, the sheriff lived in town because his house was next to the jail. Eucheeanna continued to be the center of government activity in Walton County. During the Florida Legislatures debate over whether to secede from the Union, Walton County resident John Morrison spoke out against the effort. But once secession took place, the men of Walton County quickly joined forces with the Confederate effort. The Civil War even came to Eucheeanna, although no shots were fired. Union troops from Pensacola were on their way to Marianna when they stopped for the night at Eucheeanna on Sept. 23, 1864. While they were there, they rounded up eight Walton County men, put them in jail, and pillaged area farmhouses and barns of chickens, ducks, turkeys, beef, hams and other food. Eucheeanna continued to thrive. A Civil War monument, marking Walton Countys dead, was erected. A debate over where the monument should be located - either in front of the courthouse or at the Euchee Valley Presbyterian Church - eventually ended up in the state appeals court. The monument now rests comfortably on the courthouse lawn in DeFuniak Springs. In the 1880s, DeFuniak Springs began to develop. The Louisville & Nashville Railroad picked DeFuniak as a stopping point for its Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad. In 1885, the Chautauqua was first staged in DeFuniak. That same year there was talk of moving the courthouse to DeFuniak Springs. In April, the courthouse in Eucheeanna burned down and many of the records were destroyed. There is reason to believe that the courthouse fire was no accident, Gillis said. In fact theres some old folks around here that could probably tell you who actually had the torch. The County Commission then rented office space from A.L. McCaskill in Eucheeanna for $6 a month until a decision could be made on the new courthouse. The question was put to a vote in 1886 and DeFuniak Springs became the new county seat by a 3-1 vote. That started Eucheeannas demise as people moved to DeFuniak from the valley. As DeFuniak Springs grew, Eucheeanna died. Theres literally nothing left of the town, and weve been able to pinpoint locations by talking with some of the older folks, Gillis said driving through the area. A wealth of the areas history is buried in the churchs cemetery. The church was founded in 1828 and is the oldest Presbyterian church in Florida. The church building now contains some of the same timbers used in the first log cabin church built in 1828. Buried in its cemetery are Daniel D. Campbell, Col. John McKinnon and a host of others who played key roles in Walton Countys beginning. This 1838 photo of Colonel John L. McKinnon is courtesy of the Florida Archives, Florida Memory Collection. Colonel McKinnon was a member of the Florida House and signer of the Florida Constitution on January 11, 1839.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Nov 2013 17:17:00 +0000
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