Special Exhibit: C. C. Land Turpentine Camp

The Carrabelle History Museum is excited to announce a new special exhibit on “C. C. Land Turpentine Camp”. This exhibit will be on display from Wednesday, March 2 through Saturday, April 30. There is no charge for admission but donations are gladly accepted. The museum and exhibit are open Wednesdays 12-5 pm, Thursdays thru Saturdays 10 am – 5 pm and Sundays 12 – 5 pm.
Clifford C. Land, known as C. C. Land, founded turpentine operations in Tate’s Hell in the 1930s, starting at High Bluff and moving to Greenpoint, between Eastpoint and Carrabelle. Turpentine camp workers needed exceptional strength to wield the heavy hand tools and had to master skillful techniques to maximize the amount of sap they could get from a pine tree without destroying it. C.C. kept the company going until wage labor laws made it no longer feasible, and this was the last operating turpentine camp in Franklin County. In the late 1940s, the business converted to logging and cattle raising.
The exhibit shows the difficult process of gathering sap and distilling it into resin with many photos, artifacts, letters and documents from the C. C. Land Turpentine Company. An impressive array of tools unique to the turpentine trade and old hand-made wood and tin tool carriers are on display. There are bark hacks, scrapers, axes, odd-shaped galvanized buckets from the late 1930s and a collection of different types of pots and trays used to collect the pine sap. The historic photos of the camp workers on the job reflect their skill and strength and illustrates the challenges of this long-ago profession. Aluminum tokens, known as scrip used for purchases at the camp commissary are also part of the display, as well as samples of the many medicinal products made from pine derivatives.
This amazing collection of authentic artifacts is on loan from Bonnie Allen, granddaughter of Clifford C. Land and retired Park Services Specialist. She will be at the Carrabelle History Museum on Saturday, March 19 from 10 am – 3 pm to further interpret her collection and discuss the turpentine industry in Franklin County. Bonnie Allen is from Apalachicola and worked with the Florida Park Service for over 35 years, at St. George Island State Park, St. Andrews State Park, and most recently with Tallahassee-St. Marks Area Parks.
Come to the museum to learn about the history of this hard way of life in Franklin County. Carrabelle History Museum is located, one block from Carrabelle Harbor, at 106 SE Avenue B, Carrabelle, FL. Funding in part by the Franklin County Tourist Development Council. For more information, contact 850-697-2141 or go to www.carrabellehistorymuseum.org.