PERDIDO WHAT? PERDIDO KEY?

Oh.... Well, I remember when...

By Baker Holman

Continued (5)

Harvell Kee, son of George Ray Kee, was bridge tender at the canal drawbridge for twenty-six years, dating from the time when the drawbridge was hand-cranked using concrete counterbalances, and progressing through years when a Ford engine connected to belts drew up the bridge. George Ray Kee's descendants are still in the area, and have many interesting memories of earlier days.

At one time, two black commercial fishermen brothers, Monroe and Noland Hill, and the Wingate family were the only black families in the area. It was rumored that the Hill brothers had a moonshine still at Goat Bayou on Goat Island; hogs and goats were said to feed on the mash from their still. Like many commercial fishermen, the Hill brothers went barefoot most of the year. They were so well liked by people in the area that, when they were walking, someone always stopped to pick them up. The Wingate family owned a beach on Big Lagoon, and are still prominent in the community.

Have you been on Lillian Highway where it forks off Highway 90 at Dogtrack Road? Did you notice the sign, "Millview?" This was once a flourishing community with a population of some 5,000 people. Why were so many people there? Lumber. Trees were felled up the Perdido River, logs floated down to the bay, and cut into lumber at the sawmills. Red Mill and Seminole Mill were on the bay, and Robinson's Mill was on a canal dug for floating logs to the mill. As you travel on Lillian you can see pilings from the sawmills, still standing after all these years.

There was even a train, the Perdido Bay Railroad Company, which went to Millview carrying people and supplies in, and people and lumber out. All mail in the large area around Perdido Bay was delivered by McPherson's mail and passenger boat, named the "Mexijuana." McPherson served small communities from Millview to Josephine, Alabama. As the timber was depleted, the sawmills closed, and eventually most of the people left to seek work elsewhere.

Well, that's enough history for now. Perdido Bay is no longer "lost," it's "found." I hope that these accounts of the past will help make you aware of the heritage of one of God's beautiful places, the Perdido Bay area.

THE END