Rubbing hard against Alabama in the west and Georgia in the north, the long, narrow
Panhandle
has much more in common with the states of the Deep South than with the rest of Florida, and city sophisticates have countless jokes lampooning the folksy lifestyles of the people here. Hard to credit, then, that just a century ago, the Panhandle was Florida. At the western edge,
Pensacola
was a busy port when Miami was still a swamp. Fertile soils lured wealthy plantation owners south and helped establish
Tallahassee
as a high-society gathering place and administrative center - a role which, as the state capital, it retains. But the decline of cotton, the chopping down of too many trees, and the coming of the East Coast railroad eventually left the Panhandle high and dry. Much of the inland region still seems neglected, and the
Apalachicola Forest
is perhaps the best place in Florida to disappear into the wilderness. The
coastal Panhandle
, on the other hand, is enjoying better times and, despite rows of hotels, much is still untainted, with miles of blindingly white sands.
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