29th Annual Trinity Episcopal Church Historic Apalachicola Home & Garden Tour

THE HISTORIC APALACHICOLA HOME & GARDEN TOUR
IS HELD ANNUALLY ON THE FIRST WEEKEND IN MAY

Tickets are available at Apalachicola Historic Home Tour (apalachicolahometour.org)

During most of the nineteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth century, Apalachicola was one of Florida’s most important Gulf Coast ports, first (1830-1860), as a major cotton trading center; and later (1870-1930), as a lumber producing and seafood processing center.

The Apalachicola Historic District, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, includes most of the 1836 town plan and a remarkable concentration of nineteenth and early twentieth century buildings, both residential and commercial.

Little is known about the town of Apalachicola (originally West Point) before 1825, but maritime trade was sufficient for it to be named a United States customs district in 1823. Six years later, it was incorporated as a city.

Apalachicola owes its early prosperity to its strategic coastal location at the mouth of the tri-river system (Flint, Chattahoochee, and Apalachicola) which extends hundreds of miles north into eastern Alabama and western Georgia. Before the Civil War, downriver cotton trade from these rich cotton-producing areas dominated the economy. Apalachicola became Florida’s largest cotton port and the third largest on the Gulf behind New Orleans and Mobile.

Because of its location, the local fishing industry has always been an intrinsic part of Apalachicola. Fish and oysters, along with locally processed sponges, were marketed in the town since its earliest years. The seafood industry continues to the present day, along with tourism.

For the authentic visitor experience it offers, Apalachicola is considered a Distinctive Destination by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.