Bristol

History

Bristol was first settled in 1859, and started with a population of 300, with the purpose of being the county seat of Liberty County. The community consisted of one general store, three sawmills, three gristmills, a hotel, a Baptist church, a Methodist church, and a Presbyterian church. An American pioneer named Moses Strause, who was one of the first non-indigenous settlers, deeded land to the county on which a small log building that Strause built was converted into the county's first courthouse. During that time, the prices of land ranged from $2.00 to $25.00 per acre (0.404686 hectare). The post office's first postmaster, D.G. Harrell, had mail brought in by boat from Columbus, Georgia to Apalachicola, Florida on Mondays and Thursdays, and the principal exports were beeswax, cotton, hides, honey, and oranges. The closest railroad and express office was located in Chattahoochee, Florida, while closest bank during that time was 42 miles (67.5924 kilometres) away, in Tallahassee. stated that the site of the Biblical Garden of Eden lay in northern Liberty County. He cited as evidence the Apalachicola River, with its four river heads, and local sources of torreya known as Florida torreya (Torreya taxifolia), which he claimed was gopher wood, the material said to have been used by Noah in constructing his ark. Callaway transformed the area into a tourist attraction, specifically a roadside attraction, that he owned and operated from 1956 until his death, in 1981. Soon after his 1981 passing, The Nature Conservancy took ownership of the land and its forest (with its rare, critically endangered species of torreya), renaming it the Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve, while keeping the original name of the entrance path to the nature preserve as Garden of Eden Road,…

Geography

The approximate coordinates for the City of Bristol is located in northwestern Liberty County at , in the Florida Panhandle part of North Florida along the Big Bend region. It sits atop a bluff overlooking the eastern side of the Apalachicola River. Florida State Road 20 passes through the city, leading west to Blountstown and east to Tallahassee, the state capital. Florida State Road 12 leads northeast from Bristol to Greensboro. According to the United States Census Bureau, Bristol has a total area of , all land. Like nearly all of the Deep South, the climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild winters. According to the Köppen climate classification, the City of Bristol has a humid subtropical climate zone (Cfa).

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  749
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  646
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  628
• Turkey Vulture

  Cathartes aura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  603
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  582
• Northern Mockingbird

  Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  572
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  397
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  387