By Dennis Gilson
Contributing Writer

VALPARAISO, FLORIDA - The first memory of life on Boggy Bayou that City Manager Lannie Corbin can recall is when he was a young boy anxiously waiting at Spence’s fish house for the snapper boats to return with the days catch.

"I’d let my friends know what the big fish were," recalled Corbin. "They would hang them up for all of us to see."

Corbin was the youngest of a handful of Niceville area old-timers sharing their memories and thoughts about growing up, living and working on Boggy Bayou at a recent "History Sandwiched In" program. The program was held at the Heritage Museum of Northwest Florida in Valparaiso. Other participants included Niceville area natives Jean Richey, Ferroll Spence, Bud Parish and Randal Wise, Mayor of Niceville.

Many of Corbin’s boyhood days were spent at the fish house and its docks, and fishing and swimming, in the bayou. His grandfather was a fisherman who often sold his catch to the Spence family.

"Boggy Bayou is something that’s a part of me," Corbin explained.

Corbin fondly remembers how fishing boats, nets and other gear could be left on the bayou without fear of anything being disturbed or stolen.

"It was like Boggy Bayou was our home," he said.

Everyone on the panel agreed life was simpler in Niceville’s early days, and that the bayou played a major role in everyone’s life here, whether economically or for recreational purposes.

"The bayou was a great source of entertainment—fishing, swimming, floundering, water skiing," said Ferroll Spence, who spent the better part of his life in the fishing business here. His family helped pioneer the area in the mid-1800s and played key roles in the local fishing and lumber industries.

A half century ago the bayou was the center of activity for young and old. It’s even where the teen-age boys took their dates at night, usually to gig flounder.

"It was legitimate to keep a girl out as late as you wanted as long as you brought home a flounder," said Spence.

Jean Richey, Spence’s cousin, recalled when the family sawmill was located on the bayou behind where the Bayou Plaza now stands. As a youngster, she remembers borrowing lumber to use as a diving board, and many days spent diving and swimming there.

"At night or late in the afternoon we had to stop because the alligators came out," Richey recollected.

She remembers all of the kids from Niceville regularly swimming across the north end of the bayou to get to Turkey Creek.

"That childhood is the best any child could ever have," she said.

Randall Wise recalled sitting in a porch swing and counting cars when he was a boy.

"There would maybe be six by noon," he laughed.

For fun he would swim in the bayou, fish or do a little bird hunting in the nearby woods with his BB gun.

Spence and other panel members said they believe most people now living here don’t understand the significance of their beloved bayou. And, what’s worse, they fear the next generation is even less likely to know about, preserve and respect its legacy.

"You have to have a lot of miles on you to really understand what Boggy Bayou means," said 83-year-old Bud Parish, a former commercial fisherman whose father used to run tug boats between Boggy Bayou and Pensacola. His grandfather was in the boat building business here in the late 1800s.

"In the past kids were eager to learn about family history and how they lived on the bayou. We don’t have that today," said Spence.

Members of the panel said the area is fortunate to have the Heritage Museum here to document and preserve the bayou’s history. The museum has undertaken a project to record oral histories from local old-timers, as well as, to preserve artifacts from the bayou’s golden age.

Another fear among the group is the future environmental health of Boggy Bayou.

While the bayou is considered to have generally good water quality, Richey remembers a more pristine bayou where the youngsters regularly drank the water without suffering any ill effects.

"I would not recommend it now," she said.

Spence is especially concerned over the future impact on Boggy Bayou from sediment filtering into the head of the bayou.

"We used to swim across there as kids. Now, when the north winds blows, you could walk across there," Spence said.

Thanks to Corbin’s lifelong ties to the bayou, and his leadership, the City of Niceville is taking measures to protect the bayou from stormwater runoff and other pollutants, and is studying ways to deal with the sediment.

"It’s our duty as public servants, our responsibility, to protect our bayou," said Corbin. "We’re trying to make sure that what we grew up enjoying, our grandkids and great grandkids will grow up enjoying, and I think Niceville is doing a pretty good job of that."

While the Niceville golden-agers have concerns about the future of the bayou, none has any doubts that they grew up in true paradise.

"I sometimes sit out back on my deck and just think about how good God has been to us in this area. He’s blessed us in many, many ways. It’s just a wonderful place," said Wise.

"I love Boggy Bayou and I wouldn’t take anything for it," said Parish. "I’ll love it until I die. Don’t nobody carry me away from here, now!"