Coon Hill 5 K
Here’s the online registration link: https://www.active.com/jay-fl/running/distance-running-races/coon-hill-day-5k-run-walk-jay-fl-2021
Why support this event? Read below. Below information compiled by Matthew Dobson – Coon Hill Board Trustee & Jay Historical Society President
Like the page à Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Community/Coon-Hill-Day-5K-402992833366033/
We want you to know a bit of the history of Coon Hill, the cemetery, and what you are so kindly supporting by participating in our event, the Coon Hill Day 5K. I will continue to post history notes throughout this week and the next as we near Race Day: March 20th!
The Coon Hill cemetery is the oldest cemetery in Santa Rosa County. The small village of Coon Hill originated around 1820. A year earlier, on February 22, 1819, after years of negotiations, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams achieved a diplomatic coup with the signing of the Florida Purchase Treaty, also known as the Transcontinental Treaty. This officially put Florida into U.S. hands. Spain ratified the treaty in 1820. The news spread quickly. After the United States purchased the Florida territory from the Spanish, pioneers started moving into this area of northwest Florida. The close-knit character of the Coon Hill community was attractive to many and the village was located about a 1/4 mile away from a natural spring with fresh water. Once the community was established, it gained a general merchandise store, horse stables, blacksmith shop, Pony Express Station, U.S. Post Office and a church that alternated between Methodist and Baptist.
The old pioneering community of Coon Hill lies on the edge of the Escambia River on what is now Santa Rosa County. It was connected to the Escambia County side of the river by ferry and an old wooden bridge. Both the bridge and ferry have long been gone. Some family members eventually moved to the Escambia side, while others stayed in Santa Rosa County.
In the 1800s and early 1900s Coon Hill was a small logging community. In the mid-1850s many families were seeking prosperity. The towering pines, beautiful rivers, and tranquil pastures of northwest Florida lured families to the area known as the Coon Hill woodlands. Timber Explorer, E.F. Skinner, operated in the area from 1874 to 1908 with the McDavid brothers.
One resident, Edward Campbell, was born in Scotland in 1757. He originally settled in Marion County, South Carolina. Following the death of his wife, Mary McClellan, he moved to Escambia County, Florida and eventually Santa Rosa County, which was ruled by Spain. Edward Campbell was one of the petitioners who in 1821 appealed to Congress to settle land claims. And due to the influx of Scots and other European descendants, Coon Hill was nicknamed, “Scotch Bend”.
