Preserving the History and Culture of Carrabelle, Florida

We opened in April of 2009, and since then, residents of the community have generously shared their pictures, genealogy, memories, household and work items to build our collection. Our first artifact was the medical bag of beloved midwife Tillie Miller, donated by Rita Brown Millender and John Brown. From then Carrabelle History Museum has grown to house thousands of items in its collections. Gratefully, we still receive wonderful local artifacts.

The museum is located in the Old Carrabelle City Hall, built by local mason Marvin Justiss in 1938 during the Depression as a work program to employ locals. The museum has two floors of exhibit rooms and areas to show collections with a large foyer for special displays. We have several exhibits that highlight the Shipwrecks of Dog Island; Carrabelle’s Heroes & Notables; the story of Tate’s Hell Swamp; the Steamship Tarpon, which was key to building our community in the early 1900's; and Carrabelle's "First People", Indigenous people who lived here thousands of years ago.

Stories in Glass - A Vintage Bottle Exhibit

The Carrabelle History Museum is pleased to announce a special display featuring vintage bottles of the Forgotten Coast. This exhibit will be on display from Wednesday, October 1 through Sunday, December 28. This unique exhibit will showcase a wide variety of interesting and historical bottles that tell the story of Franklin County’s heritage, industry, and everyday life. 

The display will feature Dr. Pierce’s Golden Medical Discovery bottle, found on nearby St. Vincent Island, once part of the estate of Dr. Raymond V. Pierce, a physician and patent medicine maker. His products, such as Dr. Pierce’s Favorite Prescription, Golden Medical Discovery, and Pleasant Pellets, made him a millionaire, with nearly a million bottles shipped each year. He also founded the Pierce Glass Company, which produced bottles for his own medicines and brands like Pond’s Extract and Lydia Pinkham. In 1907, he purchased St. Vincent Island in Franklin County, where he built a private preserve with roads, cottages, and imported game animals, until his death on the island in 1914.

Other highlights of the exhibit include Coca-Cola bottles bottled locally in Apalachicola. The Apalachicola Coca-Cola Bottling Plant, in operation through the late 1970s, is remembered for its classic green glass bottles embossed with “Apalachicola, FLA” on the bottom. Today, these bottles are sought-after collectibles.

Also on display are bottles from the shipwrecked SS Tarpon, including cherry bottles and beer bottles. Visitors will also see medicine bottles once used by local midwife Tillie Miller, local milk bottles, as well as perfume bottles, and other rare glass finds. All of which provide a glimpse into past daily life in Franklin County.

 Funded in part by the Franklin County Tourist Development Council.