Welcome to the SoBros Book Club, on which I will share some book recommendations for those of you who enjoy taking in the written word. Today, we’re discussing Remembering Florida’s Forgotten Coast by J. Kent Thompson.
I don’t know about you guys, but after making it through these cold winter months, I can always go for a mental trip to sunny, sweaty Florida. That’s exactly what we’re going to do here. Let’s go down to Apalachicola! My wife and I made our first trip to the Forgotten Coast last Memorial Day weekend. We were looking for a quick getaway, which…Apalachicola isn’t exactly from Nashville…but, she wanted a beach! She had been dying to feel the sand beneath her toes. We looked at our usual touristy spots – Gulf Shores, Panama City Beach, etc., and decided that we wanted to get off the beaten path a little bit. I’d always heard about Apalachicola from that Tim McGraw song, so I looked it up out of curiosity, and here we are.
It’s a great spot. But, I’m the type of guy who wants to go into every town’s book shop and peruse the local author section. I’ve ended up with some books from far corners of obscurity that way, but I’ve found that you can always get a good sense of the soul of a town in that part of the book store. That’s how I landed on Thompson’s Remembering Florida’s Forgotten Coast.
Come experience the beauty of North Florida’s beaches, attend a womanless beauty pageant or ride on a twelve car ferry to one of Florida’s barrier Islands. Drive the beach in search of a loggerhead turtle laying her eggs late at night and tell ghost stories around a campfire. This book focuses on a little known area of North Florida’s coast. These are stories of the people and events that make up one of Florida’s hidden secrets–it’s crown jewel called the Forgotten Coast.
If you’ve hung out with me here in the SoBros Book Club before, then you know that I can be a bit of a history buff on occasion. This book feels like equal parts North Florida history and home movies.
Thompson spends some time early on in the book discussing the region’s history, how it became known as the Forgotten Coast, and how far the region actually spans. Then, he shares a wealth of his own experiences growing up in the region. I appreciated that – he paints a scene with the glowing light of a fondness one can only find in home. Now, I should say that I could certainly see how one would find this book boring – if you’re not into history content and the idea of watching someone else’s home movies sounds boring to you, you probably shouldn’t pick this book up.
But, I loved it. Thompson broke down regions and stories in a digestible way that allowed me, a notoriously slow reader, to pick it up, read for a few minutes, and put it down without losing my place and inevitably having to go back and re-read stuff. It feels like a trip back in time to a bygone era, and I came away from reading it with an entirely new sense of appreciation for that region of Florida.
I love what I’ve seen of The Forgotten Coast so far. It’s way more my speed than the fervent frenetic nature of Panama City Beach. I love the smaller crowds, the greater presence of nature, and yeah, going to a restaurant that doesn’t have an hour-long wait just to get a table helps too! I highly recommend a few days in Apalachicola and St. George Island. If you go this summer, be sure to stop by Downtown Books and Purl to pick up a copy of this book, and then go have a few pints at Oyster City Brewing.
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, second on Football & Other F Words, analyst for Stacking The Inbox, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, the NFL Draft, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.
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