The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1907-08-11

PackaPd'S portrayal OF the place as ne
saw it is as follows:
Word Picture of Mariana.
"a stranger, sojOurning in West
Florida, will be charmed at first sight
with Mariana, an ante-bellum town,
picturesquely tucked away among the
hills of Jackson county, close to the
end of the Pensacola and Atlantic di-
vision of the Louisville & Nashville
railroad.
In the region of the 'piney woods
an old plantation section, it is uaex-
pected and carries with it suggestions
of that happy and comfortable exist
ence that characterized the South be-
fore the war.
odd colonial places, with huge
columns propping the wide galleries;
rambling homes of by-gone planters
smOthered in ancient greenery; quaint
gardens of Southern bloOm-and dar-
keys of the last generation are TO be
found in Mariana, mingled pleasant
ly with the newer civilization of the
growing town. Magnohas, heavy with
bloom, grand oaks, perfumed bay
trees, lordly pecans, great clumps OF
pink and white oleanders, rose vines
and ivies embower the homes In Mari
anna in living green, and after one
has wandered up and down the shaded
streets and followed the winding
drives along the beautiful Chipola
river. faHked on both sides by mann
moth trees, tangled in Spanish moss,
he is apt to agree enthusiastically
with the townspe0ple who are proud
of their old civilization and of their
own homes and rich agricultural lands.
10 fhn IS
Jackson county, which is the finest
farming county in Florida. The popu-
lation is about l 500, which does not
include the settlements Immediately
outside of the corporation which would
add two or three hundred more The
town it situated on the top of a hill,
every road leading out of it goes down
decline Of probably forty or fifty
feet, thus rendering excellent drainage
as Well as adding to the beauty of the
landscape.
A quaint and truly Southern brsi-
ness street in Mariana attracts the
northern eye with its row Of low,
gaIlerled buildings Here is transac-
ted most of the towns business and
stores of mixed merchandise, whose
sales amount to S75O,OOO.OO annually.
attract the farming population for
miles around.
In the cotton season the streets
are picturesque with great loaded
wagons and hundreds of bales are
dumped in the public square much as
they are on the New Orleans levees.
Jackson county is the largest cotton
producing county in Florida, Welding
annually from 20 to 25 per cent of the
Florida cotton output OF this II
raises about $4,000 bales of short cot
ton and 1000 bales of sea island cot
ton Mariana receives from 5000 TO
5000 bales from other points in the
county.
THE rich agricultural lands of this
section are the chief support Of this
charming little city in the hills, and
the county being rich and prosperous
naturally the town is also. MANY
wealthy families reside here. cuItiva-
ted, refined people whose homes are
not only spacious, but of fine taste
and bespeak every comfort and luxury
Mariana has every reason to be self
satisfied and very little effort has been
made to interest settlers from the
north IN locating here. Recently. how
ever, the business men and large land
owners have awakened to the progress
OF the South which is bearing down
upon them and have decided to ioin
their sister counties in exploiting their
advantages and resources"