Welcome to Jackson County, Florida where locals greet friends and strangers with a nod of the head and a wave of the hand. It is time to show off the uniqueness bound with natural springs, caves, history, agriculture and the only walking tour of underground caves in the state. Andrew Jackson carried a vision when he passed a bill in 1822 to create a third county in Florida, which he named after hi
mself. Our county, Jackson County, was carved from the two existing counties — St. Johns and Escambia — and our leaders soon developed a vision of their own. Settlers formed the town of Webbville in January 1827, which was located 9 miles northwest of present-day Marianna. Robert Beveridge, a Scotland native, created Marianna in September from one of three 80-acre land tracts he purchased. He and other Marianna settlers traveled to Tallahassee and convinced state leaders to make Marianna the new seat of Jackson County with the promise of free land, construction of a courthouse and a public square. Florida legislative leaders could not refuse. Marianna and Jackson County became the heart of what would become known as the Florida Panhandle. Today, our county is home to almost 50,000 residents, with Marianna as the main hub. About a dozen other small towns surround Marianna, varying in size from 200 to 3,000 people. Each town has a history and story of its own. Almost 150 years after Jackson County and Marianna were born, our city leaders, county leaders and residents possess a new vision for Jackson County. This vision involves improving our county and creating dynamic communities based on a healthy local economy with a sound, clean environment surrounding it all. Our community leaders formed Imagine Jackson in 2001 to create “A Vision for Jackson County,” a document that would detail what citizens wanted our home to look like in 20 years. After countless meetings, Imagine Jackson’s visionaries formed a plan of action.
“Visioning is a difficult thing because a lot of people get to see the vision in the vision,” commented an Imagine Jackson committee member. Already, the program has seen success. A new, two-year tourism development plan was completed in 2006 to promote the county as a viable place to visit and live. Family Dollar, a major retail company, also opened a new distribution center outside of Marianna recently. The center brought 500 jobs to this community.
“The concept of working together county-wide was one of the goals in all of this,” the committee member said. “What we‘re trying to do is trying to be more collaborative and less competitive when it comes to working inside the county.”
That goal becomes attainable when our leaders and residents know what’s so valuable about Jackson County and what distinguishes it from the rest of Florida. County residents demonstrated this when they participated in a meeting where Imagine Jackson leaders gave them disposable cameras and asked them to go out into the county and photograph what they liked and didn’t like. One resident brought back photos of a natural canopy of trees over a local road and told leaders that they liked those kinds of scenic views. Another resident showed a photo of a cleared forest in the middle of a logging operation and told leaders they disliked this direction. So our leaders took notice. Most of our residents and visitors cherish the natural beauty that is such a large part of Jackson County. It exists everywhere—and not just in the obvious places such as the Chipola River or Florida Caverns State Park. The Chipola River has been a favorite swimming hole and fishing spot for many of our lifelong county residents, while another unique place is a park built around the only tour cave in Florida, which attracts thousands of visitors here each year. Natural beauty can be found just by taking a ride down one of Jackson County’s many rural roads, driving by wide-open peanut fields with daisies growing along the fence line, or watching a group of horses chase each other on a small farm.
