Tag Archives: Purple Petunia

The Myth of Ancient Floridian Giants

Posted on June 25, 2022 | Leave a comment

Click below for this week’s story, or navigate the city through the search bar or the direction buttons at the top of the page:

The fiction that the Timucua and other indigenous Florida peoples were seven to nine feet tall spread rapidly in the 1950s. My mother believed it, told me we were descended. Another fiction. Willie Browne and Father Dearing believed it. D.B. McKay — Tampa mayor, newspaper editor, and chief organizer of the White Municipal Party — believed nine foot tall ancient Floridians populated the Garden of Eden. So where did these ideas come from?

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged A Land Remembered, Athore, Cross and Sword, Cross and Sword: A Symphonic Drama of the Spanish Settlement of Florida, D.B. McKay, Father Frank Dearing, Fiction Fix, First Presbyterian Church Jacksonville, Fort Caroline, Fort Caroline National Memorial, Garden of Eden Florida, Great Fire of 1901, In Abraham's Bosom, Jacque Le Moyne, jaxpsychogeo, Jean Ribault, Juan Alonso Cavale, Mocama, Mocama Indians, Oriba, Patrick D. Smith, Patrick D. Smith A Land Remembered, Paul Green, Purple Petunia, René Goulaine de Laudonnière, Saturiwa, Theodor de Bry, Tim Gilmore, Timucua, Timucuan Indians, Timucuan Village U.S. Capitol, Wesley B. Plott, White Municipal Party, William Sears, William Sears archaeologist, Willie Browne

Wesley Plott’s Downtown Bottlescape

Posted on August 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

Click below for this week’s story, or navigate the city through the search bar or the direction buttons at the top of the page:

He knew all the best places to dig downtown, in Springfield and in Riverside for hundred year old bottles. He found Indian pottery, toys, newspapers, parts of skulls and Civil War munitions. His 40 year old 50 page book, Antique Bottles Found in Northeast Florida, contains chapters called “Locating Dumps,” “Known Bottle Dumps” and “Hidden Treasures Just for You!” He also claims to have unearthed an ancient body, then reburied it, downtown on Adams Street. Click below for the story.

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged A Century of Medicine in Jacksonville and Duval County, A.S. Baldwin, Antique Bottle Club of Jacksonville, bottle collecting Northeast Florida, Dr. A.S. Baldwin, Duval County Board of Health, Florida history, Henry John Klutho Park, Independent Life Building, Jacksonville Free Public Library, Jacksonville history, jaxpsychogeo, McCoys Creek, Old St. Luke's Hospital, Purple Petunia, Springfield Jacksonville, Tim Gilmore, Timucua, Timucuan Indians, Tudor Revival, Webster Merritt, Wesley B. Plott, Windsor Hotel

The Purple Petunia Goes Postmodern

Posted on July 18, 2020 | Leave a comment

Click below for this week’s story, or navigate the city through the search bar or the direction buttons at the top of the page:

Eight years ago, I first wrote about The Purple Petunia, an antique store and flower shop in an old “Tudor style” service station. Now Andrew Suslak and Brandon Merkle are turning “the Petunia” into Post Modern Brewing, reviving a storied Riverside address. So here’s a revised and fuller story, telling of Wesley B. Plott, digger of old bottles from lost dumps, mercurial antique dealer, breaker of old lamps, shooter of intruders and accidental environmental activist, who lived his last days alone in a small back room of “the Petunia.” Here’s to the Petunia going postmodern!

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged Algonquin Antiques, Andrew Suslak, Anne Plott, Barter House, Bill Delaney, Bob Phelps, bottle collecting, bottle collecting Florida, Brandon Merkle, Cedar Point, Clapboard Creek, Diazinon, Don Gay, Ed Brooks, Ginger Rowland, I.G. Farben, jaxpsychogeo, Joseph Richardson, Kenco Chemical, Lavelle Goff, Livebeck Island, New Berlin, Post Modern Brewing, Purple Petunia, Riverside Avondale, Seedsmith, Shawna Rowland, Spectracide, Spectracide explosion, Stockbroker Tudor, Sulfotepp, The Norm gay bar, Tim Gilmore, Tudor Revival, Wesley B. Plott, Xavier Richardson

This Week’s Story: Coca-Cola Bottling Co.

Posted on August 10, 2019 | Leave a comment

Click below for this week’s story, or navigate the city through the direction buttons at the top of the page:

Helen’s mother could take a sip and tell which city had bottled the Coke. When the Coca-Cola Bottling Plant opened in New Springfield, Charles Guth–“ruthless rascal,” murderer, future president of Pepsi–opened a bottling plant across the street. In later years, William played hide-and-seek amidst abandoned equipment while his parents cleaned at night.

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged Albert Kahn, Andrew Jackson High School, atherine Hobbs Seneath, Bludwine, Charles Guth, Coca-Cola Bottling Company, CV Sales Fire Protection Equipment, Gayle Cooper, George Murphy, Guth Chocolate, Guth Cola, Harold Saxelbye, Helen Sauls, Jack Spottswood, Jacksonville history, James Bullock, jax psycho geo, John Wesley Young, King Edward Cigars, Levin L. Dirickson Jr., Loft Candy Company, Marsh and Saxelbye, Mavis Candies, Mavis Cola, Maxwell House, Mulford Marsh, New Springfield, Pure Oil Filling Station Riverside, Purple Petunia, Richard Tedlow, Swisher and Son, Tim Gilmore, Tip-Top Bread, Ward's Bakery, Wesley Plott, William Compton