The bay country-- of northwest Florida

the long version

This book draws its title from the name given this location by early visitors. During the first decades of the 1800s, those travelling to the "seashore" knew the place as St. Andrew Bay. But many preferred to call it "the Bay Country," with country common at that time for the names of less populated regions and areas. Every effort has been made to record the information as accurately as possible. But errors do occur in primary sources and newspaper articles. Memories of individuals dim in recollections. People remember incidents and events in different ways. Early visitors knew the location only as St. Andrews, but the post office listed the town as St. Andrew's, then in 1902 changed the spelling to St. Andrew. St. Andrew Bay was God's miracle -- a magnificent landlocked harbor, filled with almost every type of fish, shellfish, turtles, birds and wild animals. Yet St. Andrews Bay remained a place that early explorers bypassed as they plied the Gulf, believing its crooked entrance led to nothing more than an inland river. Real development began only after Florida became a territory in 1821. - Foreword.