# Phillips Inlet



## sealabamres (Aug 20, 2012)

Hello all. Due to the recent rainfall, I was wondering if the inlet was open? I know it's hit or miss these days but I can remember a time when we could get a 17' Montauk through consistently and without too much extra effort.


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## hsiF deR (Oct 4, 2009)

Yes but the shore break will swamp your boat. Sunday may be doable. Monday will likely be passable. Keep your eye on e tide. That's a long way to push or drag anything of real weight.


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## Five Prongs Of Fury (Apr 15, 2008)

Years ago it opened and closed on a regular basis. Now its advertised on the states website as a freshwater dune lake. The last time I was there they had a berm built high enough that no high tide would ever top it. In my opinion they (state/county) whoever's responsible has ruined an exceptional fishery not to mention shut down the estuary system. All the sea grass is dead or dying and there's no telling what kind of run off comes out of the golf course in the form of fertilizers and other grounds keeping chemicals. All of this could be solved by simply letting nature do it thing and leave the pass to open and close on its own.


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## sealabamres (Aug 20, 2012)

It was back in the 80's- 90's when we used to use the inlet regularly. If I remember correctly the basic game plan was to leave yourself enough time, relative to the tide, to get back through. This was back in the "good ole days" when Walton County was still mostly scrub brush, US 98 was two lanes, and nobody had ever heard of a WaterColor, FL.


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

sealabamres said:


> It was back in the 80's- 90's when we used to use the inlet regularly. If I remember correctly the basic game plan was to leave yourself enough time, relative to the tide, to get back through. This was back in the "good ole days" when Walton County was still mostly scrub brush, US 98 was two lanes, and nobody had ever heard of a WaterColor, FL.


That's a fact. I spent a lot of time out there as a kid in the 60s and 70s, mostly hunting by boat or by truck down Side Camp Road. My great uncle owned the bait shop and boat rental place out there. 
I haven't been down Side Camp in 25 years. Anybody know what it looks like down there now? I see the golf course when I cross the bridge. I heard there are houses along Side Camp now. True?
I see the old Lattimer house is still there on the point. That place is on the National Historic Register. That would have been some kinda hunting cabin back in the day.


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## Bubba (Sep 27, 2007)

*Phillips inlet*

Do you know the Padgetts. They use to manage that camp on the west side of the inlet. I think it was owned by some carpet mill in Georgia


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

I did not know them. My uncle owned the one on the east side of the bridge.
I know Camp Helen was owned by some company in Georgia or Alabama. It was for the use of their employees before they closed it and the state bought it. 
That area really has some interesting history. I always thought all those sand roads were just logging roads but they were actually major highways dating back to the civil war and even before.
The area where the golf course is used to be a settlement with houses, a school and free ranging hogs and cattle. My uncle was born over there. The old homestead was still there in the 70s as were the ruins of several houses.
There was even a hotel over there at one time on the north shore of the inlet.


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## hsiF deR (Oct 4, 2009)

Camp Helen was owned by the Drummond family, of Drummond coal company from north Alabama.(that's what I have always heard)

Side camp road is very rural still. I use to hunt the east end, for about the last 10 years it was mostly one club. Now I think it is spit into 4 clubs. The west end of side camp I never really explored much but if I remember correctly, it turned down the power line and ran to point Washington. Wild heron(the golf course) runs up to the power line.


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

Hmm. I always heard it was owned by some garment company like Russell.
Side Camp goes from Hwy 79 as you enter West Bay to Hwy 98 near the convenience store west of the inlet bridge. I've traveled it's length a few times but you need 4wd.


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## hsiF deR (Oct 4, 2009)

welldoya said:


> Hmm. I always heard it was owned by some garment company like Russell.
> Side Camp goes from Hwy 79 as you enter West Bay to Hwy 98 near the convenience store west of the inlet bridge. I've traveled it's length a few times but you need 4wd.


Yeah, it was all a part of west end hunt club for years. It runs down until it hits the sand pits. It follows the trails down to the power line and runs the power line all the way down to water sound north. That is where it exits out now. The power company have it all torn up and it's virtually impassable on the west end. I went down there a couple weeks ago.


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

It was all part of Point Washington last I hunted it in the early 80s. Side Camp was a decent woods road it's entire length.
Do you know if the ruins of the old Collin's place is still there? There was a small cemetery there. It's right across the bayou from the Lattimer cabin.


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## hsiF deR (Oct 4, 2009)

Yes, it is still there. It's all a part of wild heron. It is all the way in the back. Cemetery and the house are still tucked away out on the point.


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## Fishun Injun (Jun 4, 2013)

Park/lodge was originally owned by wealthy man from Georgia....built in 1937...on 200 acres. Avondale Mills got it in the early 50's. Was supposed to sell about 20 years ago for 2 million....guy defaulted....they basically gave it away!! I can go on and on about this area....live on 1.5 acres on the beach my daddy bought in '49....live in pole house he built in '52. I'm 55 now....been coming down here all my life...


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## Fishun Injun (Jun 4, 2013)

County kept a dragline out there from 1945 to late 1970's and kept pass open for local fisherman. They started hugging trees and turtles in early 90's so no more opening unless it gets to a certain level and the park is granted a permit to crack it with a backhoe as it makes the septic tanks not function properly due to high water table. Oh the fish we caught off there fishing pier when I was a kid....20 plus pompano in a morning apiece!!


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## Fishun Injun (Jun 4, 2013)

When they kept it open you had a continuous inflow/outflow of saltwater and the grasses Thrived....plenty of shrimp/baitfish....some of the best trout and redfishing around! Was legendary as a flounder gigging spot. Old house on point with the windmill to pump water was built in 1937 by a lawyer from Dothan, Al.Old pass was always 5 to 7 feet deep and a straight shot from the bay and ran right beside the fishing pier on the east side. Back then you had Cains fishcamp who rented bay skiffs/sold bait and Gainous fishcamp over on the east end of the bay who sold bait.


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## Fishun Injun (Jun 4, 2013)

The "berm" out at the pass now was built per state regulations a few years back afore a potential hurricane to keep seawater OUT!! Wow, what jarheaded person with the state dreamed that up as a threat!!! Several years back they renamed it "Lake Powell" as they had achieved what they wanted.... a much more fresh water body of water....that is half dead of bay creatures!!! We used to go out there with shovels at night in the mid 90's and open her up ta' go fishun'....got run off by th' lawdawgs 'couple times as they were called by the Pinnacle port liberals who hated when that dark water spewed out of there for a few days and colored there water!!!


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## Five Prongs Of Fury (Apr 15, 2008)

Its a joke if you ask me. It really pisses me off, I've been there on a couple occasions when they've opened it up and the fishing is off the charts while the water is moving. Somebody needs to spearhead a movement to get the berm done away with and return it to its natural state. Surely there's some kind of endangered species that's gonna be wiped out if the tide flow isn't returned.....


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## Fishun Injun (Jun 4, 2013)

Five Prongs Of Fury said:


> Its a joke if you ask me. It really pisses me off, I've been there on a couple occasions when they've opened it up and the fishing is off the charts while the water is moving. Somebody needs to spearhead a movement to get the berm done away with and return it to its natural state. Surely there's some kind of endangered species that's gonna be wiped out if the tide flow isn't returned.....


There was a "push" back in th' late sixties by us here in Inlet Beach to have HER dredged and jettiied......when it would have been ok in regards to the State. Politics in PC....the Patronis family who owns party boats, Capt. Andersons,etc.(Old Money) and the Destins to the West snuffed it out as they felt threatened as it would allow small boats to fish the Honey Grounds from here to Grayton Beach...True Dat...:cursing:


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

Latimer's Cabin on the point was built by Sid Latimer in 1935. I was thinking it was homesteaded. I do know by the 70s all the family lived in Alabama. I heard a story that one of the teenagers drowned trying to swim the inlet and the family quit coming down. It was added to the National Historic Register in 2004. 
That place always fascinated me. It sits on a gorgeous piece of property full of live oaks with a sand road leading right up to the back of it.
Do you know if any of the family still use it?


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## Fishun Injun (Jun 4, 2013)

welldoya said:


> Latimer's Cabin on the point was built by Sid Latimer in 1935. I was thinking it was homesteaded. I do know by the 70s all the family lived in Alabama. I heard a story that one of the teenagers drowned trying to swim the inlet and the family quit coming down. It was added to the National Historic Register in 2004.
> That place always fascinated me. It sits on a gorgeous piece of property full of live oaks with a sand road leading right up to the back of it.
> Do you know if any of the family still use it?


Again....he was a lawyer from Dothan,Ala.----my daddy enjoyed his friendship....as they met in '49 when daddy bought our sand here. Don't see much activity over there.... Do know one of the descendants told the Wild Heron bunch to "KISS OUR ASS" in regards to buying his spot!!!!


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## Fishun Injun (Jun 4, 2013)

Hmmmm....National Register....my place built in '52....beachfront polehouse....an enduring fortress of storms I have nurtured through the years as I am a builder as HE was....VERY sacred ground indeed!!:yes:


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## Five Prongs Of Fury (Apr 15, 2008)

Fishun ***** said:


> There was a "push" back in th' late sixties by us here in Inlet Beach to have HER dredged and jettiied......when it would have been ok in regards to the State. Politics in PC....the Patronis family who owns party boats, Capt. Andersons,etc.(Old Money) and the Destins to the West snuffed it out as they felt threatened as it would allow small boats to fish the Honey Grounds from here to Grayton Beach...True Dat...:cursing:


Its a shame y'all couldn't get it put through. You are right about the offshore fishing though. There is some exceptional natural bottom not far off the beach there. We've made the run to it from both passes ( Destin/PC) and it has never let us down.


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

I read some great history about that area a couple of years ago and can't find it now. I think it might have been from a series done by the News Herald. 
I learned a lot listening to my great uncle's stories when I was growing up. He owned Cain's Fish Camp. He knew that area like the back of his hand having grown up in the woods on the north shore of the inlet.
We would go hunting over there and he would show me where the old houses , school,etc. used to be. In some cases the foundations were still there.
I'll check with his son. I'm sure he can add a lot to this thread.


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## Five Prongs Of Fury (Apr 15, 2008)

Fishun ***** said:


> Hmmmm....National Register....my place built in '52....beachfront polehouse....an enduring fortress of storms I have nurtured through the years as I am a builder as HE was....VERY sacred ground indeed!!:yes:


What did the old pilings belong to that are on the east bank next to Camp Helen? I figured it might've been a boat house but there's no other pilings left coming from the bank?


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## sealabamres (Aug 20, 2012)

If memory serves me correctly it was a dock. Could have been a boathouse at one time but not sure. By the way, I located some pictures of Camp Helen and the old pier.


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## sealabamres (Aug 20, 2012)

We all know that change is inevitable but it's a shame some things can't stay the same. I can remember when if you came down for a weekend and wanted to eat your options were to bring your groceries, eat out in Panama City, or Charlie's Carousel. Nobody cared anything about "club hopping". If you wanted a beer The Jolly Roger could always accommodate. In my opinion the downward spiral began with Pinnacle Port. Unfortunately in most circumstances the almighty dollar will usually always trump tradition.


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## Five Prongs Of Fury (Apr 15, 2008)

I've always wondered what the pier looked like. As well as what was originally up on that hill. Thanks for putting up those pics. Are those some that you have or did they come off the web?


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## sealabamres (Aug 20, 2012)

I found those pictures in a trunk in my grandmother's attic. She had family in the newspaper business. I don't know who the photographer was or who the two fisherman were.


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## FishWalton (Jul 22, 2010)

*Avondale Mills*

Avondale Mills owned Camp Helen before the state took it over.


What’s the History of Camp Helen?

"Prehistoric middens (trash heaps) and mounds have been found within the park, suggesting humans have been in the area for approximately 400 years. Camp Helen State Park was originally known as Inlet Beach to early European settlers and later to developers. The area around Phillips Inlet was initially developed for recreational opportunities in the early 1920’s, with a lodge and associated buildings being added to the property in the 1940’s. Some of these buildings can still be seen today, and give an insight into tourist life along the Gulf Coast back in the day. From 1945 all the way to 1987, Avondale Textile Mills of Sylacauga, Alabama operated Camp Helen as a resort for vacationing employees.
Thanks to the efforts of the local community, Gulf Coast Community College, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Camp Helen was acquired by the State of Florida in 1994 under the Conservation and Recreational Lands Programs, and today offers visitors a first-class state park."

In the early 50's kids would slip in there and spear fish the pier pilings when there were few people around in the off season. One day barracuda's scared the heck out of us and we never went back.


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## Fishun Injun (Jun 4, 2013)

sealabamres said:


> We all know that change is inevitable but it's a shame some things can't stay the same. I can remember when if you came down for a weekend and wanted to eat your options were to bring your groceries, eat out in Panama City, or Charlie's Carousel. Nobody cared anything about "club hopping". If you wanted a beer The Jolly Roger could always accommodate. In my opinion the downward spiral began with Pinnacle Port. Unfortunately in most circumstances the almighty dollar will usually always trump tradition.


Yeppers, grew up in Auburn and momma would pack groceries and bring down to get us by until she could make it into p.c. to the piggly wiggly. We might go out to eat once...to captain andersons, seven seas....Daddy cooked a lot of fish we caught, we went crabbing off the docks, etc. Treat was getting 100 bottle rockets at Hill's grocery and it not even be th' 4th!! Helois in '75 tore the fishing pier up at camp helen....they never repaired it. I remember seeing schools of 100 plus pompano off that pier working the mouth of the inlet.


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## TheCaptKen (Mar 14, 2011)

Went to school with Judy Padgett. Her family lived and operated the resort. The school bus use to turn around in the driveway being it was the last stop inside Bay county. The Collins place is still there but the house fell apart back in the 70's. cemetery is still there but who was Queen Green? Her's is the oldest grave there. The cabin on the point is owned by the golf course. I rode my ATV out there when the course was under construction and it looked like they were remodeling the inside.


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## sealark (Sep 27, 2007)

I was stationed at mine defense lab in PC 1967-69 and went across phillips inlet bridge to go hunting and remember seeing charter or big boats going out phillips inlet. Those were the good old days.


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## FishWalton (Jul 22, 2010)

*Sea Breeze*

Since all you guys are reminiscing do any of you remember the "Sea Breeze Hotel" at the Y? The family would spend 2 or 3 weeks each year there in the 40's . We would go a week at a time and we were always excited because we could walk the beach and pick up tubs of crabs. I believe the owner/operator was a Mr. and Mrs. Holloway or Holiday,but my memory has faded a tad. I think the rate was something like $5 or $6 a day for a family of 4. Dad didn't have much money so it had to be cheap.


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## kelly1 (Oct 1, 2007)

TheCaptKen said:


> Went to school with Judy Padgett. Her family lived and operated the resort. The school bus use to turn around in the driveway being it was the last stop inside Bay county. The Collins place is still there but the house fell apart back in the 70's. cemetery is still there but who was Queen Green? Her's is the oldest grave there. The cabin on the point is owned by the golf course. I rode my ATV out there when the course was under construction and it looked like they were remodeling the inside.


I think Howard Padgett is still involved with the state in helping preserve the resort. He took me out there one day & told me the history of the camp. Being from Panama City myself I never went out there till then. Howard & I worked together for years. Haven't talked to him since 07.


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

TheCaptKen said:


> Went to school with Judy Padgett. Her family lived and operated the resort. The school bus use to turn around in the driveway being it was the last stop inside Bay county. The Collins place is still there but the house fell apart back in the 70's. cemetery is still there but who was Queen Green? Her's is the oldest grave there. The cabin on the point is owned by the golf course. I rode my ATV out there when the course was under construction and it looked like they were remodeling the inside.


Even back in the mid-70s I can remember the Collins place being on the ground. I don't know who Queen Green was. We always wondered. We thought maybe a maid or maybe even a pet. But it had a regular tombstone so I doubt it was a pet. 
Right at the end of that bayou is a creek going up thru the sawgrass. My cousin and I would get a boat at Cain's (his Dad owned the place), go across the inlet and up that creek. There was an old hog pen up there a few hundred yards where we would park the boat and squirrel hunt. There were lots of oaks and lots of squirrels back then.
So, the Latimers did sell out to the golf course ? I hate to hear that but if so, I'm glad they didn't tear it down. But then, since it's on the National Register of Historic Places, they probably couldn't if they wanted to.


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## hsiF deR (Oct 4, 2009)

I will take some pictures of it today and post them for yall.


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

hsiF deR said:


> I will take some pictures of it today and post them for yall.


That would be terrific. Thanks.


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## TheCaptKen (Mar 14, 2011)

If Howard was Judy's brother, I think he passed away a year or so ago. 
I don't remember the inlet being deep enough for big boats to motor out. Best we ever did in the 60's was being able to wade my dad's 20 footer out. But there was reports from the civil war of sailing ships entering the inlet and destroying salt works. Back in the 50's, my dad would rent a boat from Gainous and fish the inlet. 
Lets don't forget the inlet was named after Captain Phillips that was killed by rogue indians when his ship wrecked in that area.


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## TheCaptKen (Mar 14, 2011)

For those that want to relive old memories of Panama City Beach, there is a facebook page named "I remember Panama City Beach when it was Fun"


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## wtbfishin (Dec 2, 2011)

sealabamres said:


> It was back in the 80's- 90's when we used to use the inlet regularly. If I remember correctly the basic game plan was to leave yourself enough time, relative to the tide, to get back through. This was back in the "good ole days" when Walton County was still mostly scrub brush, US 98 was two at lanes, and nobody had ever heard of a WaterColor, FL.


Ah yes the "The Good Ole Days" I used to launch a Montauk regularly where One Seagrove Place is located.

I always thought the land at Inlet bch area and Rosemary was owned by Barber milk co. back in the day, used to be the left hand beach was down that way as well Ha!


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## TheCaptKen (Mar 14, 2011)

The Sea Breeze hotel was owned by the Holloways. Old widow Holloway ran it and I use to mow the grass around it back in the 60's. She use to tell me stories about WWII when they would hang black out curtains over the windows at night so enemy subs couldn't use the background lighting to see ships moving along the coast. She also called my mother once to tell her I had gotten arrested. Couldn't get away with crap back then. Everyone on the beach knew everyone else.


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## TheCaptKen (Mar 14, 2011)

Where Pinnacle Ports now stands use to be a two story house. During the war it was a Coast Guard outpost. They stabled horses downstairs and slept upstairs. They would run patrols east and west from that location. A friend of my folks, Kenneth Dutcher was one of those stationed there and he would tell me how boring it was.


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## sealabamres (Aug 20, 2012)

wtbfishin said:


> Ah yes the "The Good Ole Days" I used to launch a Montauk regularly where One Seagrove Place is located.
> 
> I always thought the land at Inlet bch area and Rosemary was owned by Barber milk co. back in
> the day, used to be the left hand beach was down that way as well Ha!


Ah yes. The left handed beach. I recall always being aware of the unofficial nude beach. In my adolescent mind I envisioned it being overrun with gorgeous and free spirited young ladies. That was until the day a buddy and I decided to troll past one afternoon. I'm still scarred by what we saw.


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## Fishun Injun (Jun 4, 2013)

I have a book titled "The Way We Were" which depicts life in south walton from the 1880's to about 1990. Type "The Way We were South Walton" and it pops up and you can order it online. My dad and a couple of his friends are mentioned in there when they came down to pick there homestead lots owned by the government at the time....1948.


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## hsiF deR (Oct 4, 2009)

I think this is the cemetery



Entry to the house...



Sorry for the lack of quality pictures. The guy at the front told me the house belongs to a bay county circuit judge now. I forgot what he said his name was.


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## TheCaptKen (Mar 14, 2011)

Last time I was out at the cemetery it had a chain link fence around it. It located straight across the bayou from the old house, to the west and up the hill. Back in the woods maybe a hundred yards.
Was there markers there with one main one with the name. QUEEN GREEN?


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

Thanks for posting the pictures. Did you go over there by boat? I remember a chain link fence too but seems I remember somebody stealing it in the early 80s.
I'm surprised to see the wrought iron fence. Was this right across the bayou to the west of the Latimer house on the point?
What's with the concrete at the Latimer cabin ? Is that part of the golf course?
So we have three different stories about who now owns the cabin :
1. The Latimer heirs still own it.
2. The golf course owns it and is remodeling it
3. A local judge owns it

I wonder which one is correct?


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## hsiF deR (Oct 4, 2009)

I actually just moved out of wild heron. So I just drove over there. I talked to the guy at the guard shack and he told me that a bay county circuit judge owns it currently. He told me his name but I forgot. He was unfamiliar with any of its history.

A couple months back, there was a sign on the fence that said something......cemetery. I didn't see any headstones but I didn't climb over the fence and dig around either. 

The concrete in front of the driveway to the old house is the cart path for the golf course.


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## TheCaptKen (Mar 14, 2011)

So that graveyard was on the same side as the golf course? St Joe, the builders of Wild Heron, may have sold the property. They had just started building the golf course the last time I was out there. The Collins cemetery was a lot smaller in size. Maybe 40x40 or smaller.


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## TheCaptKen (Mar 14, 2011)

County property appraisers site shows the house belonging to someone named Fleming from Geneva AL. Land value of $217,00. Building value $9,900


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## TheCaptKen (Mar 14, 2011)

They actually have the Collins cemetery on the property site. Size given is 210 x 210 and a new fence constructed in 2010. Owner named Melvin Brooke, Forsyth, MO. Sounds like they fenced in most of the homestead.


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

I wonder what cemetery that is? It's not the Collins cemetery if you can drive to it. Plus the Collins cemetery had big headstones. You wouldn't have to dig around to see them.
Maybe they uncovered an old cemetery while building the golf course. Where exactly is it in relation to the cabin?


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

TheCaptKen said:


> They actually have the Collins cemetery on the property site. Size given is 210 x 210 and a new fence constructed in 2010. Owner named Melvin Brooke, Forsyth, MO. Sounds like they fenced in most of the homestead.


So the golf course land stretches across the bayou and there's a road that goes to it? But if he didn't see headstones it couldn't be the Collins cemetery unless somebody stole them.


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## hsiF deR (Oct 4, 2009)

It's about 100-150 yds in front(east) of the house. I would say what they had gated off was about 40x20.


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

hsiF deR said:


> It's about 100-150 yds in front(east) of the house. I would say what they had gated off was about 40x20.


That is a totally different cemetery than the Collins cemetery. I wasn't aware of that one. But you say you saw no headstones? I'll bet they uncovered it while building the golf course. There were a lot of homesteads over there in the early 1900s so it stands to reason there would be cemeteries.


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## hsiF deR (Oct 4, 2009)

Interesting, where is the Collins cemetery? If it is near the house I could get to it.


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

hsiF deR said:


> Interesting, where is the Collins cemetery? If it is near the house I could get to it.


It's directly across the bayou to the west of the Latimer house. On the point about 100 yards up in the woods.


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## TheCaptKen (Mar 14, 2011)

If you can get to the power line easement just north of Grand Heron, you can go west and cut down the road that leads to it. It's not far.


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## hsiF deR (Oct 4, 2009)

welldoya said:


> It's directly across the bayou to the west of the Latimer house. On the point about 100 yards up in the woods.


If you look at it on Google Earth, the cemetery I was looking at is surrounded by a road they call Los Ninos Cir.



TheCaptKen said:


> If you can get to the power line easement just north of Grand Heron, you can go west and cut down the road that leads to it. It's not far.


Come in through WaterSound North or west via Side Camp? All of Wild Heron is gated. They don't mess around out there.


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## TheCaptKen (Mar 14, 2011)

Collins graveyard would be west of Lost Cove Ln, down toward the end. If you look a google earth, its down that small sand road going south off the power line right of way.


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

I don't know any of the new paved roads out there. 
By the way, how do you get to that golf course anyway ? I've never seen any signs.
I come over that way about once a month to see family and have been meaning to go down in there and do some exploring.


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## hsiF deR (Oct 4, 2009)

Wild Heron entrance is all the way up across from Kelly St. It is about 5 miles back.


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

Hmmm. I know where Kelly Street is. There used to be an old rickety bridge went across the upper end of the inlet there. I'm guessing they put in a new bridge.
Is there a sign ?


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

This cemetery east of Latimer's is a mystery. I ran it by my cousin (who's Dad owned Cain's Fish Camp) and he's not aware of any cemetery in that spot.
He said just east of Latimer's was the Black's property and Will Miller's old 3 story hotel site. 
What exactly did the sign on the fence say ?


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## sealabamres (Aug 20, 2012)

CaptKen. I realize this is off topic but I was wondering if you do service work on OMC's? I have a '79 55 HP Johnson that's having some minor carb issues.


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## TheCaptKen (Mar 14, 2011)

Getting kinda old there but those are simple. We can handle it with no problem.


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## TheCaptKen (Mar 14, 2011)

Actually the old hotel site was east of the Latimers homestead on the next point on the lake. My brother and I use to look through the ruins back in the late 60's when we would hunt that area.


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## SonShine Fishing (Oct 5, 2007)

I drove to Panama City Beach Tuesday. Driving over the bridge it looked to me the pass had opened up into the Gulf. You could probably get a bay boat out into the Gulf on a calm day.


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## hsiF deR (Oct 4, 2009)

Yeah, she is all closed up today. It was almost completely shut yesterday.


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## C Eagle II (Mar 11, 2014)

*Camp Helen boat house at Phillips Inlet*



Five Prongs Of Fury said:


> What did the old pilings belong to that are on the east bank next to Camp Helen? I figured it might've been a boat house but there's no other pilings left coming from the bank?


I just came across this post.
There was a boat house there in the 60's, 70's, and probably the 80's. If I remember right, it held two boats on lifts and had a 'lay-out' dock attached. I call it a lay-out dock because the young girls staying there would lay out on it getting a tan. We used to take my daddy's boat and cruise by checking them out. When I was in high school, we skurfed behind jon-boats there and would water ski behind this Kennedy Craft 100horse racing hull that daddy put a 115 Johnson on. We got to where we could 'spray the dock' and soak those girls! Lucky we didn't kill ourselves doing that and skiing under the old bridge and through the pilings.
I ought to have some pictures of that boat house.


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## k-p (Oct 7, 2009)

welldoya said:


> This cemetery east of Latimer's is a mystery. I ran it by my cousin (who's Dad owned Cain's Fish Camp) and he's not aware of any cemetery in that spot.
> He said just east of Latimer's was the Black's property and Will Miller's old 3 story hotel site.
> What exactly did the sign on the fence say ?


Welldoya, is your cousin Jeff? I used to hunt out there with him when we were teenagers. Used to dive all of that stuff out there too but all my numbers are in TDs.


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

Jeff is Mike's son, correct? 
I'm quite a bit older than Jeff. I left P.C. for college probably before Jeff was born. I hung out a lot with his Uncle Chuck who was closer to my age. Jeff's Dad had gone into the army and moved away by the time I got old enough to hunt and hang out with them. 
Jeff's grandmother and my grandmother were sisters.


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## KingCrab (Apr 29, 2012)

A elf could magically dig a trench & start a new canal. Just saying.:blink:


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## hsiF deR (Oct 4, 2009)

KingCrab said:


> A elf could magically dig a trench & start a new canal. Just saying.:blink:


The county does every time the water level gets up.


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## KingCrab (Apr 29, 2012)

hsiF deR said:


> The county does every time the water level gets up.


So its a one way deal. No good water in.


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## hsiF deR (Oct 4, 2009)

Sort of. It will not stay open. Once the water from the lake quits flowing the channel basically closes up.


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## KingCrab (Apr 29, 2012)

Gulf Shores has a River mouth man made opening to help flush the big lagoon out over there. Good surf spot & it flushes out the lagoon both ways. U can take small boats thru it. Its no deeper than say 4 '. Super sharky.


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## k-p (Oct 7, 2009)

welldoya said:


> Jeff is Mike's son, correct?
> I'm quite a bit older than Jeff. I left P.C. for college probably before Jeff was born. I hung out a lot with his Uncle Chuck who was closer to my age. Jeff's Dad had gone into the army and moved away by the time I got old enough to hunt and hang out with them.
> Jeff's grandmother and my grandmother were sisters.


Jeff is a good dude. Can't get much better than him. Haven't talked to him in years but if you're related to him, glad to meet you. Had some good memories hunting out there on the north side.


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## C Eagle II (Mar 11, 2014)

Philips Inlet used to be super sharky. We would be up on the old pier jigging for pompano and see them all the time. There was a monster hammerhead that had a name - I forget what it was - and I've seen him there.

And it doesn't take a backhoe to open the inlet. My dad went out there at night a couple of different times and he and some fellas used shovels to dig a one-shovel wide cut from the high water mark. It was something when all that lake water took that one-shovel wide and blew out a channel we could run a 22' BW Outrage with twin 70 Evinrudes through at full throttle on a plane.


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## k-p (Oct 7, 2009)

C Eagle II said:


> Philips Inlet used to be super sharky. We would be up on the old pier jigging for pompano and see them all the time. There was a monster hammerhead that had a name - I forget what it was - and I've seen him there.
> 
> And it doesn't take a backhoe to open the inlet. My dad went out there at night a couple of different times and he and some fellas used shovels to dig a one-shovel wide cut from the high water mark. It was something when all that lake water took that one-shovel wide and blew out a channel we could run a 22' BW Outrage with twin 70 Evinrudes through at full throttle on a plane.


Roger that. I think it used to be sharky down there because back in the day the shark tournaments didn't get down there. My friends dad used to tell us stories about all the sharks that would eat up the floats while bottom fishing on the reefs. I used to see a bunch of big nurse sharks but that was about it. No dangerous sharks like there is now with all the bulls.


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## FishWalton (Jul 22, 2010)

As a native of Walton County and one who hunted ducks and fished the coastal dune lakes, including Philips Inlet, I'm for letting nature take it's course as it has for thousands of years. The lakes have survived very nicely through natures stewardship. But, with the building and development that has occurred over the past 30 years or so around some of these lakes some are in sad shape. Opening and closing a lake to the gulf is caused by pressures of development. For some reason homeowners don't like their docks being underwater and politics prevails. Someone digging a shovel wide channel from a lake to the gulf does not maintain the balance of nature, but we live in an era where man thinks he knows what's best. The obvious intent of this sort of action is for the channel to erode to a much larger channel. Oh well, That's the 'nature' of the world in which we live. End of soap box.


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## Captdroot (Jan 18, 2012)

This morning I just discovered this thread. What a nice chat about a place we recently visited....... Camp Helen. We are in our mid 60s, native Floridians, but we're not from the pan handle. We are from east and southeast of Tallahassee. Our families aren't/weren't carpetbaggers.

The history, the fishing, & the politics are all too familiar with much of Florida's natural treasures. When we visited Camp Helen, I was "imagining" what it must have been like back in the 20s, then the 50s, and sadly into 90's. All of you gentleman have helped paint the picture that I had imagined.

If any of you "mature" gentleman ever have room for another old Florida native fisherman, I would drop all the medical appointments and be there at 6AM !!

Regardless, this has been a fine read of days gone by. Thanks for all of the "pictures">>>> imagined & real.


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## RiverRat1970 (May 13, 2014)

I grew up with the owner of the cabin on Phillips Inlet. Sid Lattimer vacationed there in 1910-1914, camped there in the 20's, and through a stoke of luck, bought an acre of land from the St Joe paper Company in 1935. He put up the cabin in 35 or 36. He spent his summers there, as did his daughter. He lived in Geneva, and his daughter was editor of the Geneva County Reaper. Her 3 sons spent their childhood there, as did many of the kids in Geneva,Alabama. It passed down to Charles Fleming, a judge/lawyer/and now bar owner in Geneva, and his brother John, who is a newspaper editor. I used to sneak down from med school to study between 74-78. Their children continue to use and enjoy the cabin, and it will probably remain as it is, to be enjoyed by their grandchildren.


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## spike (May 25, 2008)

http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Decline-*******-Riviera-Florida-Alabama/dp/0820345318

This is a great book that answers a lot of your questions.


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## sealark (Sep 27, 2007)

I was stationed in PC 67-69 Phillips inlet was open to the gulf. Only a very small boat could get out of it at that time.


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## Baker8425 (Jul 2, 2012)

Wirelessly posted

I grew up in PCB on the west side. We used to take small boats and jet-skis out of the inlet in the 90's. Used to slay the sheepies out there off of the old pier rubble to. Caught a grouper in the inlet once too!


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

I haven't been out there in years but the Lattimer Cabin is on a beautiful piece of property. There is (was) an old sand road went right up to the back of it and huge live oaks are everywhere. With the golf course, I don't know if you can still drive up to it.
I've noticed a boat or two there at the dock when I drive across the bridge.
I assume probably owned by people who live at the golf course.
I had heard that back in the 60s or 70s a young man (relative of the owner) drowned while trying to swim the inlet. Don't know if it's true or not but it was told to me by a reliable source who lived out there.
River Rat, do they carry a generator when they stay there or just do without electricity ? Sounds like your time out there coincided with the time that I spent most of my time in those woods - early 70s into the mid 80s.


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## Joel1 (Jun 19, 2009)

I know this is an older thread, but does anyone know if the inlet is still mostly fresh water? I've done well in the past with trout and reds in the grass close to the inlet and was planning on bringing my skiff down next week while on a family vacation. If the trout and red bite is gone, I'll probably just leave the boat at home and stick to the surf.


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## johnboatjosh (May 19, 2008)

Definitely getting fresher. Was there on a recon mission a few days ago. Water is the color of strong tea, as it has been for a while. Saw very few signs of life as far as game fish went. Have had some folks tell me it's been open some lately but I have trouble believing it based on what I saw.


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## hsiF deR (Oct 4, 2009)

It has been open quite a bit. We got a allot of freshwater from all those rains so it will stay tea colored for some time.


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## FishWalton (Jul 22, 2010)

*Open*

About three of weeks ago a friend who lives on the beach told me all of the dune lakes are open to the gulf due to recent heavy rains. Nature does this from time to time. The tea color has always been there at Philips Inlet even when open to the gulf. When the lakes are open salt water fish will move into them on high tide, especially at night. When I was a kid we would gig flounder in the open run in knee deep water (60 years ago)


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