DeFUNIAK SPRINGS — All across Walton County are traces of ancestry, heritage and history waiting to be found, and local archeologist Gregory Mikell thinks he is up to the challenge.
Mikell, who has worked in Walton County for years, is beginning the process to move forward with discovering and documenting the lost communities of Walton County.
“I’ve been wanting to do an archeological study in Walton County for years,” Mikell said. “In doing historic background, I’ve gathered some data and found that there really are some lost towns.
“I want to try and get the funding and landowner permission to go to these places and see what we can find out.”
Mikell said one town, Eucheeanna, was the seed of the county in the late 1800s. It was recorded as an archeological site in 2000, but further exploration has been small if there has been any.
Mikell’s proposal, which has been approved by Walton County Commissioners, asks that the county support his request for funding to continue to explore the sites of small towns throughout the community.
Those towns include Knox Hill, Mossy Bend, Alaqua and LeGrange City. He’s also interested in ferry stations on Choctawhatchee River and stage coach lines that went throughout the county.
“I am proposing to seek support and funding in order to document the towns and communities … through an assimilation of historic documents and records, recorded folklore, informant interviews and archeological investigation,” Mikell said in his proposal.
Commissioner Scott Brannon said the archeological study will add an important element to the county.
“Our generation has a responsibility to tell the story of past generations,” Brannon said. “We need to tell the story of our county’s heritage and history. This is a great project and there’s been a lot of community excitement about it.”
