Marianna,Florida

[bdtex]

Marianna,Florida,population 9052 in 2016,is located 133 miles east of Pensacola and 66 miles west of Tallahassee. It is easily accessible via IH-10 and US-90. It is the county seat of Jackson County,Florida. The Jackson County Visitors Center is located in the historic Russ House in Marianna. I visited there on Friday,April 13,2018 for reasons I will get to downthread. Unbeknownst to me before my trip to Florida last week,Marianna is a very historic town. Admission to the Visitor Center is free but donations are accepted. The staff is very friendly and helpful. There are number of helpful and informative brochures and maps available therein at no cost. The house is available to rent for special functions. My guess is that the Jackson County Historical Society probably meets there too.

http://visitjacksoncountyfla.com/heritage/rent-the-russ-house/

http://visitjacksoncountyfla.com/

 

[bdtex]

I was there with family members and we took a brief,self-guided tour of the Russ House. I didn't take many pictures of the interior.:

 

[bdtex]

Staff on duty that day took a family picture for me. From left to right: my uncle,aunt,myself and my mother.

 

[bdtex]

Across the street from The Russ House/Visitors Center is Jim's Buffet & Grill which we ate at later in the day. Very good,country cooking buffet restaurant. Reasonably priced,great service and comfortable. Talked to the day manager after we ate. The restaurant has been in business under the same name for over 40 years.


http://www.mariannabuffet.com/

 

[bdtex]

According to the tour guide of historic sites in Marianna,there are 7 houses/structures in town that date from the 1840's-1864. One of them is a B&B. There are a number of others built later in the 1800's - early 1900's. Because of time constraints,we did not get to visit all sites on the town historic tour.

 

[donna]

Thanks for sharing. Beautiful house and love the porches.

 

[captaindrew]

Looks like a nice place

 

[East Tennessee Roots]

I was there with family members and we took a brief,self-guided tour of the Russ House. I didn't take many pictures of the interior.:

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https://civilwartalk.com/threads/a-fallen-patriot-and-grandfather-of-rebels.87712/#post-690859

 

[bdtex]

Looks like a nice place

It is. More posts as time permits. This thread will take awhile.

 

[bdtex]

Ok. So the reason I was visiting Marianna....I took my 80 year old mother to Florida to visit her 63 year old bother(my uncle) and her sister-in-law(my aunt) last Wednesday. She had not seen them since December 2016. The last time I saw them was when their sister,who was the middle child,died in 2006. They live now in Sneads,FLA which is 20 miles east of Marianna on US-90. My mother and her family lived most of their lives in Crestview,FLA which is 86 miles west of Marianna on IH-10 and US-90. 3 of my cousins still live there. My aunt lived there in Sneads much of her life and her family was po' folks. Both my uncle and aunt have health issues and are on disability. They don't have much. They live in a senior apartment facility and have limited income and mobility. Anyhoo...my aunt is a Civil War enthusiast too with little means and the second day we were there(Thursday) she was telling me about the Battle of Marianna from links online. Even though she had lived closeby most of her life,she had never been to Marianna for Civil War purposes. I did some research myself that night about it and we decided to go there the next day. Before my mother and I left for our trip,I had searched that area of Florida and nearby Alabama on the old CivilWarTraveler.com website for places to see closeby and there was,and still is,nothing there on the Battle Of Marianna. Oh yeah...before I proceed. My uncle drinks instant coffee. They don't even have a coffee maker. Sneads,FLA is a small town. There is no Starbucks there. Not even a donut shop. I was the first one up every morning and made a coupla trips for coffee each morning to a nearby convenience store. This house was right next to it:

 

[JOHN42768]

Intriguing building

 

[bdtex]

Lemme add that this was a I didn't know what I didn't know scenario. I had never been any further east in Florida than Crestview where my mom's family was. I knew nothing about the area we were traveling to and I really didn't expect that we would be doing anything like what we did in Marianna.

 

[Podad]

We came through Marianna about 10 days ago coming home from Panama City. We don't usually go that way. But you have given me reason to go that way again.
I will check out the place next trip.

 

[bdtex]

Before I move on,lemme give y'all a Civil War Traveler's Companion tip. When traveling with your 80 year old mom who has middle stage dementia,be consciously aware of the location of her purse at all times. We left the Houston area about 7am last Wednesday. Eleven miles east of Lake Charles on IH-10 is the town of Iowa,LA. There is a Pilot Flying J truck stop on the interstate in Iowa that I always stop at when traveling through there. It's about 2.5 hours away and I stop there to use the restroom,get a cup of coffee and gas up. Mom and I stopped there then continued eastward. Next stop was on the eastern outskirts of Baton Rouge at a Golden Corral for lunch. We got out of my truck and she couldn't find her purse. Yep...she left it at the Flying J. Went in to Golden Corral and used the bathroom and I called the Flying J. Someone had found her purse and turned it in. I didn't get mad. Just did what we had to do. We saddled up and headed back to the Flying J. It was exactly 120 miles back. Got her purse with not a thing missing,used the restroom and gassed up again and rolled eastward again. Caught the afternoon traffic in Baton Rouge this time. Stopped at Golden Corral again, for supper this time. At 7pm,we were still in Louisiana. The detour added around 5 hours to the trip. Made it to Sneads shortly before midnight. I was whooped. When I went to bed,my mom and her brother were still talking in the living room. My heart was full.

 

[mofederal]

I like the Russ house. Nice architecture. I wonder what it looks like under the changes.

 

[bdtex]

The Battle Of Marianna occurred on September 27,1864. Below is a webpage on the battle that I bookmarked the Thursday night before our visit.

http://visitjacksoncountyfla.com/heritage/battle-of-marianna/

I also searched our forum upon returning from our trip and found this short thread from 2014 about the battle:

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/the-alamo-of-florida.104579/#post-959778

 

[bdtex]

I also found a short YouTube video about the Battle Of Marianna. The gentleman in the video is a local historian. More about him later downthread:

 

[donna]

What a wonderful trip to do with your mother. It is so thoughtful of you for them to see each other again. I know they must be so grateful to you. God bless you for this act of real kindness. I know you all enjoy the sites too.

Hearing about this, just made my day.

 

[donna]

I just gave away several coffee makers, wish I could have sent one of them to your Uncle and Aunt. One was a small one that my husband kept in his office. Now work had Kurig and he uses that all the time.

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

What a wonderful trip to do with your mother. It is so thoughtful of you for them to see each other again. I know they must be so grateful to you. God bless you for this act of real kindness. I know you all enjoy the sites too.

Hearing about this, just made my day.

This! It makes my day to know you are kind and good.