People of the Apalachicola Project: August Newsletter

The project field team poses for a photo in Dr. Julian G. Bruce St. George Island State Park during the final day of work in July 2024 (left to right: M. Thomin, N. Grinnan, B. Brooks). August 2024 Newsletter As of August, the “People of the Apalachicola” project has officially concluded its fieldwork! Since January 2024, we’ve spent over eight weeks enjoying our efforts to monitor and record archaeological sites in tremendously varying environments throughout the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve. We worked in the cold, the heat, the wind, and the rain with both high tides and low tides. The rigor of this work is not to be understated and I want to sincerely thank project field crew members Mike Thomin (Northwest Florida Maritime Landscape Alliance for Preservation) and Bria Brooks (Florida Public Archaeology Network) for their incredible efforts! If you are reading this e-mail, it is very likely that you’ve been following the trajectory of this project for several months. As we begin to organize data collected from the field, our “Community Conversations on Heritage at Risk,” and our online Qualtrics survey, please know that our findings (aside from sensitive archaeological site information) will be made publicly available. Please continue to follow our newsletters over the next several months as we tease several of the project’s outcomes! We will also share a link to publicly accessible data when our work has been completed. For now, we have one request: HELP US GET MUCH-NEEDED INPUT! If you couldn’t make it to one of our Community Conversation workshops or still have more to say, we want to hear from you! This survey will help us understand the ways in which the local community values cultural resources like archaeological sites, historic structures, historic cemeteries, and more. A Qualtrics online survey will collect responses; the survey contains 20 questions and takes only about 15 minutes to complete. Please help us out! Finally, as hurricane season is upon us, stay safe and prepare adequately. Although other portions of the state were more heavily affected by Hurricane Debby, please always feel free to reach out to us or to the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve (850.670.7700) if you see that an archaeological site has been exposed and negatively impacted. The best thing to do in these cases is to not move or pick anything up, but to take a photograph, get GPS coordinates, and contact someone for assistance! “People of the Apalachicola” Project Sneak Peek Video Created by project Collaborative Lead Mike Thomin, this short video highlights the goals of our work, the methods we are using to conduct our research, and how we hope to produce positive outcomes for the Apalachicola area community! Features include our partners at the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve (Anita Grove and Megan Lamb), as well as the project’s field team (Bria Brooks, Nicole Grinnan, and Mike Thomin). We are also very grateful for the generosity of Jeff Dutrow and the Flying Fish in sharing their music with us. This sneak peek and the many others can be found on the National Estuarine Research Reserve System’s Science Collaborative YouTube Channel. Project Partner Highlight: Joshua Hodson State Parks Manager, Florida Department of Environmental Protection As the Manager of St. George Island, the John Gorrie Museum, and the Orman House State Parks, Joshua Hodson is responsible for overseeing the operations, staff, volunteers, and resource management of these areas.  Although not originally from the Panhandle, it has been his home for 18 years and he thoroughly enjoy the climate, community, and culture of the Forgotten Coast area. Joshua has been a tremendous supporter of the “People of the Apalachicola” project from the beginning and has kindly helped coordinate project fieldwork in the Parks he manages. Past Events: SciCafe Recordings Now Available! “Studying Marronage through Underwater Archaeology” by Bria Brooks (UWF) Stream this free virtual program, hosted by the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve, to learn more about project team member Bria Brooks’s research to highlight the stories and legacies of Prospect Bluff’s 19th-century Maroon community. Click here to stream! “‘People of the Apalachicola:’ A Community-Driven Archaeology Project” by Nicole Grinnan (UWF) Stream this free virtual program, hosted by the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve, to learn more about how University of West Florida and the Florida Public Archaeology Network archaeologists are working to record and preserve over 12,000 years of human history in the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve. Click here to stream! FPAN Project Page NERRS Science Collaborative Project Page Contact Us This work is sponsored by the National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERS) Science Collaborative, which supports collaborative research that addresses coastal management problems important to the reserves. The Science Collaborative is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and managed by the University of Michigan Water Center (NA19NOS4190058).

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