Archaeology and History of Tupelo Honey Production in Northwest Florida Kelly S
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University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 3-30-2004 Apalachicola’s Gold: Archaeology and History of Tupelo Honey Production in Northwest Florida Kelly S. Hockersmith University of South Florida Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the American Studies Commons Scholar Commons Citation Hockersmith, Kelly S., "Apalachicola’s Gold: Archaeology and History of Tupelo Honey Production in Northwest Florida" (2004). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/1080 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Apalachicola’s Gold: Archaeology and History of Tupelo Honey Production in Northwest Florida by Kelly S. Hockersmith A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Anthropology College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Major Professor: Nancy Marie White, Ph.D. Brent R. Weisman, Ph.D. Philip Levy, Ph.D. Date of Approval: March 30, 2004 Keywords: historical archaeology, beekeeping, apiary, gulf county, wewahitchka © Copyright 2004 , Kelly S. Hockersmith Acknowledgements Many thanks to Jimmy Moses, Pat Millender, Roy Ogles, and George Watkins of the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve for your assistance, humor, and grand knowledge. Thanks to Dorothy Ward for her generous donation. Thanks are also due to George Core, the Lanier family, and Beth Moses for wonderful insight and many unforgettable stories of the good-old sweet days. Thanks to all USF graduate students who participated in my project, and special thanks to April Buffington, Rae Harper, Chris Smith, and Anya Frashuer for their field assistance. Thanks to USF alum Karen Mayo for her help in this adventure. Thanks to USF Department of Anthropology Professor Brent R. Weisman, and Department of History Professor Philip Levy for being on my committee, offering important recommendations, and guiding me through my thesis. A debt of gratitude to my major professor Nancy Marie White for being a great mentor, and presenting to me such a sweet project and thesis topic. Most of all, thank you for expanding my archaeological knowledge and introducing me to the swamps of northwest Florida. A heartfelt thanks to my family for all their support. Thanks to my mother Roxanne Hockersmith for diligently searching for and finding the missing link. Last but certainly not least, thank you to my partner, Tony Drzewiecki for reading numerous versions of this thesis, for being patient, and accepting throughout the whole graduate experience. Table of Contents List of Tables iii List of Figures v Abstract ix Chapter One: Introduction 1 The Project 5 Chapter Two: Environment 7 Physiography 10 Geomorphology 12 Chapter Three: Regional History 14 Chapter Four: Florida Honey 23 Tupelo Honey 25 Chapter Five: History of Beekeeping 33 Beekeeping in Florida 38 Chapter Six: Methods 43 Historical Research 43 Archaeology 46 Depot Creek Shell Mound Apiary (8Gu56) 48 Clark Creek Shell Mound Apiary (8Gu60) 54 Lower Chipola Apiary (8Gu104) 60 Oral History 66 Chapter Seven: Land Use and Settlement Patterns 75 Social Dimensions 81 Chapter Eight: Classification System and Patterns, for Historic Artifact Assemblages at Depot Creek and Clark Creek Shell Mound Apiaries 83 Orser’s Millwood Classification 84 i Depot Creek Shell Mound Apiary (8Gu56) 85 Foodways 86 Household/Structural 86 Personal 86 Labor 87 Unidentified Functionally 87 Clark Creek Shell Mound Apiary (8Gu60) 91 Foodways 91 Clothing 92 Household/Structural 92 Personal 92 Labor 92 Unidentified Functionally 93 Pattern Recognition 100 Chapter Nine: Cultural Material 104 Nails 104 Early Machine-Cut Nails 107 Modern Machine-Cut Nails 108 Wire Nails 110 Indeterminate Nails 111 Nail Analysis 111 Glass 120 Ceramics 125 Refined Ceramics 127 Coarse Ceramics 131 Buttons 134 Shell Buttons 136 Prosser Buttons 136 Metal Buttons 137 Plastic Buttons 138 Metal 138 Miscellaneous 139 Context for Artifact Deposition 143 Chapter Ten: Summary, Conclusions, and Future Research 146 Archaeological Significance 148 References Cited 149 Appendices 158 Appendix A: Excerpts Concerning the Honey Industry from an Interview with George Core 159 ii List of Tables Table 1 Summary of known apiaries of the Apalachicola River Valley 80 Table 2 Orser’s 1988 Millwood typology with artifact examples 84 Table 3 South’s 1977 artifact groups and related classes 85 Table 4 Summary of artifact functional categories/subcategories and provenience from Depot Creek shell mound (8Gu56) 88 Table 5 Summary of artifact functional categories/subcategories and provenience from Clark Creek shell mound (8Gu60) 94 Table 6 Comparison of South’s (1977) Carolina and Frontier artifact patterns with Depot Creek and Clark Creek shell mound apiaries 100 Table 7 Summary of nails from Depot Creek shell mound apiary 105 Table 8 Summary of nails from Clark Creek shell mound apiary 106 Table 9 Pennyweight system for measuring nails 112 Table 10 Description of nails from Depot Creek shell mound apiary 113 Table 11 Description of nails from Clark Creek shell mound apiary 114 Table 12 Frequencies and percentages of nail types from Depot Creek shell mound apiary 118 Table 13 Frequencies and percentages of nail types from Clark Creek shell mound apiary 118 Table 14 American nail production 1886-1954 119 Table 15 Frequencies and percentages of glass by color from Depot Creek shell mound apiary 121 iii Table 16 Frequencies and percentages of glass by color from Clark Creek shell mound apiary 121 Table 17 Frequencies, percentages, and function of historic ceramics from Depot Creek shell mound apiary 126 Table 18 Frequencies, percentages, and function of historic ceramics from Clark Creek shell mound apiary 126 Table 19 Summary of buttons from Clark Creek shell mound apiary 135 Table 20 Artifacts usable for dating apiaries at Depot Creek and Clark Creek shell mounds 145 iv List of Figures Figure 1. Map showing the Apalachicola River Valley and project area 3 Figure 2. Gulf County map showing historical apiary sites investigated in 2002 and 2003 4 Figure 3. Tupelo stands along edge of the Apalachicola River 8 Figure 4. View of swamp along the banks of Clark Creek and at Lower Chipola Apiary (8Gu104) 9 Figure 5. Physiographic areas of the Apalachicola River Valley 11 Figure 6. One of the last steamers to service the Chattahoochee-Apalachicola River, the John W. Callahan 22 Figure 7. Tupelo blossom 27 Figure 8. A platform used to guard hives from high water and ants 30 Figure 9. Lanier family honey house along Chipola River circa 1940 30 Figure 10. Workers at Whitfield’s Apiary 31 Figure 11. Workers loading barrels of honey onto a barge from a platform along the Apalachicola River 32 Figure 12. Langstroth’s original movable-frame hive 34 Figure 13. Illustration of Langstroth’s extractor 35 Figure 14. Lake Wimico 1852 plat map showing dense swamp, marshy areas, and Depot Creek 45 Figure 15. Depot Creek shell mound view of vegetation, cleared shell mound, and scattered artifacts 47 v Figure 16. Infrared aerial photographs of Depot Creek and Clark Creek, and their surrounding swamp area 47 Figure 17. United States Geological Survey (USGS) quadrangle map, Lake Wimico, Florida, 1945 49 Figure 18. Map of Depot Creek shell mound apiary 50 Figure 19. Dock at the edge of Depot Creek 51 Figure 20. Brick fireplace at Depot Creek shell mound 52 Figure 21. United States Geological Survey (USGS) quadrangle map, Jackson River, Florida, 1943 55 Figure 22. Map of Clark Creek shell mound apiary 56 Figure 23. Ruins of a boardwalk and a boat dock at Clark Creek shell mound apiary 58 Figure 24. Historic tub from honey extractor and steel drum at Clark Creek shell mound apiary 59 Figure 25. United States Geological Survey (USGS) quadrangle map, Wewahitchka, Florida, 1943-44, showing Lower Chipola Apiary 62 Figure 26. An abandoned honey house at Lower Chipola Apiary 63 Figure 27. Interior of honey house and scattered wooden honey-making equipment 64 Figure 28. A queen bee cage recovered from White’s remote areas survey in 1998 65 Figure 29. Ben Lanier at his honey house; L.L. Lanier Jr. and wife Martha 67 Figure 30. War Department (Corps of Engineers) Apalachicola River System Topographic 1943 aerial photograph showing Myrtle’s and Lanier’s apiaries 68 Figure 31. L.L. Lanier Sr. and L.L. Lanier Jr. are shown tending bees in a photograph that appeared in The Saturday Evening Post 69 Figure 32. Workers unloading hives from tug boat onto a barge 71 vi Figure 33. War Department (Corps of Engineers) Apalachicola River System Topographic Survey 1943 aerial photograph 77 Figure 34. War Department (Corps of Engineers) Apalachicola River System Topographic Survey 1943 aerial photographs 78 Figure 35. War Department (Corps of Engineers) Apalachicola River System Topographic Survey 1943 aerial photographs 79 Figure 36. Graph depicting differences between Depot Creek and Clark Creek shell mound apiaries in artifact functional category percentages 98 Figure 37. Early machine-cut nail from Depot Creek shell mound apiary 108 Figure 38. Modern machine-cut nails from Depot Creek shell mound apiary 109 Figure 39. Wire nails found at Depot Creek shell mound apiary 111 Figure 40. Solarized bottle finishes, from Depot Creek shell mound apiary 123 Figure 41. An amber bottle finish and a base of a Clorox bottle with a diamond trademark from Clark Creek shell mound apiary 125 Figure 42. A whiteware rim sherd with blue floral design from Clark Creek shell mound apiary 127 Figure 43. A whiteware teacup and plate with a molded design from Clark Creek shell mound apiary 128 Figure 44. An ironstone (semi-porcelain) serving bowl sherds from Clark Creek shell mound apiary 129 Figure 45.