SAND HILLS — For all 12 years of his life, Ben Baker has lived in a community known as Sand Hills north of Southport. It’s a source of pride for him, but he noticed there weren’t any street signs to inform people that they were there.
He decided to do something about it.
He wrote to Bay County Commission Chairman Guy Tunnell, who lives in the community, about what could be done to recognize the neighborhood and it’s history.
His efforts are paying off, as the Bay County Commission on Tuesday approved a resolution that recognizes and identifies the boundaries of the community, which is necessary before the Department of Transportation can allow the street signs to be erected identifying the community on State 77 and State 20.
The map the commission approved identifies the Sand Hills community as having a southern boundary of East County 388, a western boundary of County 2301, a northern boundary of State 20 and an eastern boundary of State Road 77.
Tunnell recognized Baker at the commission meeting for taking the initiative.
“I appreciate this young man more than he will ever know,” Tunnell said in the commission chambers on Tuesday. “To me, his example of approaching me about officially recognizing the community of Sand Hills is a pretty good lesson in civics for all of us.”
Baker told the audience that other communities have signs recognizing them and Sand Hills should as well.
“I’d like to have this community recognized because every time I go out of town I see signs that say, ‘Lynn Haven,’ ‘Southport,’” he said. “I’d like my community recognized in the same way.”
Baker said in an interview that his neighbor had stickers printed up with the name of the community, which were on display at Tuesday’s meeting.
“It shows community pride,” he said.
Baker’s mother, Joy, said she is proud of her son, and he took the initiative on his own. “He came to me and asked how he could go about this,” she said. “I said, ‘You need to reach out to your local commissioners.’ He took it upon himself to write Commissioner Tunnell.”
Tunnell said after the commission meeting that Sand Hills has a tremendous amount of history. “My family came through the Sand Hills and settled into the suburbs of the Sand Hills back at the turn of the 19th century, so (the community recognition) is kind of neat,” he said.
Marlene Womack, a local historian, said after the Indians, settlers came into Sand Hills in the 1880s on stagecoaches, wagons and by boat down North Bay, which is now Deer Point Lake.
Working-class towns like Vicksburg popped up in the Sand Hills area after 1913 by the railroad tracks of the Birmingham, Columbus and St. Andrews Bay Railroad, which extended west of State 77.
“Vicksburg was unusual,” she said. “It was a turpentine still and it existed for a good many years, like 50 or so, and most times the turpentine stills were not in existence for that long.”
People could obtain a plot of land to live on if they worked hard, Womack said.
“It was mostly people picking up homesteads,” she said. “You could get a 160-acre homestead. You’d have to work on the property in order to make it become yours. You’d have to pay for it too.”
James Rogers, 94, lived in the Sand Hills from the time he was 5 years old until he was sent off to World War II. He said life in the Sand Hills community back in the 1920s revolved around the train, which carried passengers from Chipley to Southport. The train also transported oranges and grapes from the area in ice box cars. He said his dad was in that business.
Rogers worked out of one of the railroad towns called Goethe and had the job of supplying the train with water and wood.
He said there was a lot of excitement as the train came through the town, and he would sell fish he had caught in local lakes for $1 each to people on the train.
“I went off this one day and caught 107,” he said. “There was plenty of fish. Remember, you could fish a month and not find another fisherman.”