Hello Everyone~
My name is Robert Register & I am inquiring about finding the location of Teddy Tollofsen's grave in Greenwood Cemetery. I will be visiting Panama City next month & I would like to visit Teddy's grave. I posted to following last night on my blog, Zero, Northwest Florida http://robertoreg.blogspot.com
Any cooperation will be appreciated.
best,
Robert Register
Three nights in Panama City Beach were a great way to celebrate Christmas & I should have known Christmas Eve would be special when I walked into the bar & heard the girl behind the bar singing "I'm Dreaming of a Wet Christmas" to the local chapter of The Negligent Mothers of Bay County.
I joined in the festivities and entertained the Sea Hags by doing karaoke versions of Grandpa Jones' MOUNTAIN DEW, Joe Cocker's THE LETTER, Hank Sr.'s JAMBALAYA & Johnny Cash's FOLSOM PRISON BLUES. I was good enough to garner invitations to Christmas Dinner @ three different bars on the beach!
The next day found me beach combing Sunnyside & Santa Monica Beach. Weirdest thing happened... I walked right up on a loon laying in the sand that appeared to be ill. I threw the boomerang I'd found in the dunes at it but it didn't move. The boomerang stuck right next to the loon but I was kinda scared of retrieving it with that long beak staring at me. I picked up a piece of silt fence & threw that at the loon & when that didn't bother it, I retrieved my boomerang. When I walked back to my original position, I noticed a loon skeleton in the sand next to my foot.
I'd left my camera in Tuscaloosa so I took off for the Winn-Dixie to buy one.
When I returned, the old loon who had no fear of me was gone but the mystery of the skeleton remained. Could the old loon (they often live as long as twenty five years) had been grieving for its departed mate?
The next day found me in Panama City's Greenwood Cemetery tracking down another mystery.
I was looking for the grave of The Hermit of St. Andrews, Teddy Tollofsen. I'd learned about Teddy back in '86 when I purchased SAND IN MY SHOES by John A. Burgess of Opp.
Teddy lost his boat in the Hurricane of '29 near Bay Point but he found it run aground where the present day campsites are located near Grand Lagoon in St. Andrews State Park.
Teddy decided to stay there & repair his boat. Well he never repaired it but he stayed for the next 25 years until his death in 1954 @ the age of 74.
from SAND IN MY SHOES:
"Teddy beside his shack (left) and smokehouse (right) one month before his death"
Teddy's Smokehouse
Here's a 1950 account of Teddy that appeared in "Florida Wildlife Magazine" that describes Teddy's shack:
Visiting his cabin is like making a trip to a nautical museum. The shutters swing on zinc-coated skylight hinges that drifted in with ship wreckage after the '29 storm. The front door is secured by a massive padlock that likely would rate a tidy sum from an antique collector. A portion of the cornice contains the hand-carved wooden name plate of the schooner "Techumseh" built at Gloucester, Mass., in 1911, she tore up during a Gulf storm in 1931. The cabin itself is compact to say the least- containing a wood cookstove, a built-in table, and a bunk. Nine lanterns hang from the rafters or stand on the floor.
Here's Burgess' description of Teddy's lifestyle:
Teddy was a gifted, resourceful man. He possessed many skills and a strong will as well. His intentions to repair his boat were sincere.
Time passed, though, and gradually reality prevailed- the boat was beyond repair. It was at that moment that Teddy became the hermit of St. Andrews.
Taking all the usable goods from his boat, and gathering all the driftwood that he could find, he set about to improve the small shack that he had built. The location of the shack was a point some 75 feet from the water on the south side of Grand Lagoon. Today this spot can be identified as being between campsites 101 and 102. At that time in 1929, Teddy had no idea that there might be such a thing as a state campground there. His choice of location, incidentally, was prompted by the fact that there was a natural channel there that went all the way across Grand Lagoon.
And so he settled. Using lumber washed ashore by the hurricane, Teddy improved his cabin and constructed a hen house and a storage house. For those summer months when the heat and insects became unbearable, he built another smaller structure directly south of the cabin some three feet about the sand on 3" X 8" posts. He called this site "South Florida." It was a floor with a roof and open walls, and it was located atop the sand dunes almost directly in back of his other cabin. In addition, Teddy also built a small fish cleaning house near the water, and just west of it he built a narrow pier going out into the water.
For companionship and as a source of food, Teddy gathered a small menagerie consisting of three black and white cats, 11 hens and a one-eyed rooster.
From his chickens he obtained eggs and meat. His cats were a source of companionship, and he caught fish and gigged flounder~ another source of food. His favorite food was oatmeal and sea greens (along with fish). The sea greens is not well known (ed. note: it's a leafy form of the marine algae Ulva that lives on the jetties) but it grows close to the water and can be eaten raw or cooked. http://www.eurozone-invest.com/sealettuce.html
For water, he hand drilled a shallow well some 20 feet into the ground. The amber colored water that it produced was made that way by the leaching of tannic acid from various roots of plants. It was unsightly but drinkable just the same.
He loved hot tea. It was his chief drink, and on one occasion he forgot to add tea leaves. He told Claude Willoughby that it was only after he had finished his tea that he realized his omission. The water was so stained that he didn't even know that his "tea" was missing the main ingredient.
Every week or so Teddy would row ( or motor- he owned several outboard motors through the years.) a small boat all the way across the bay to St. Andrews. He either bought or built his boats. At St. Andrews he would sell his flounder and other fish that he had caught to Windham's Fish Market.
Was Teddy once married? This old photo was found among his possessions after his death.
Could Teddy have been like my old loon?
~grieving in the sand dunes for his lost love
Now is the time to go to Panama City Beach. Many of the hotels are offering the third night free so I'm planning on returning after the first of the year for an entire week. Imagine nine nights @ Sugar Sands http://www.sugarsands.com
for a little over $300.
Now that's a bargain!!!!
Best,
r
My name is Robert Register & I am inquiring about finding the location of Teddy Tollofsen's grave in Greenwood Cemetery. I will be visiting Panama City next month & I would like to visit Teddy's grave. I posted to following last night on my blog, Zero, Northwest Florida http://robertoreg.blogspot.com
Any cooperation will be appreciated.
best,
Robert Register
Monday, December 28, 2009
Hey y'all~
Three nights in Panama City Beach were a great way to celebrate Christmas & I should have known Christmas Eve would be special when I walked into the bar & heard the girl behind the bar singing "I'm Dreaming of a Wet Christmas" to the local chapter of The Negligent Mothers of Bay County.
I joined in the festivities and entertained the Sea Hags by doing karaoke versions of Grandpa Jones' MOUNTAIN DEW, Joe Cocker's THE LETTER, Hank Sr.'s JAMBALAYA & Johnny Cash's FOLSOM PRISON BLUES. I was good enough to garner invitations to Christmas Dinner @ three different bars on the beach!
The next day found me beach combing Sunnyside & Santa Monica Beach. Weirdest thing happened... I walked right up on a loon laying in the sand that appeared to be ill. I threw the boomerang I'd found in the dunes at it but it didn't move. The boomerang stuck right next to the loon but I was kinda scared of retrieving it with that long beak staring at me. I picked up a piece of silt fence & threw that at the loon & when that didn't bother it, I retrieved my boomerang. When I walked back to my original position, I noticed a loon skeleton in the sand next to my foot.
I'd left my camera in Tuscaloosa so I took off for the Winn-Dixie to buy one.
When I returned, the old loon who had no fear of me was gone but the mystery of the skeleton remained. Could the old loon (they often live as long as twenty five years) had been grieving for its departed mate?
The next day found me in Panama City's Greenwood Cemetery tracking down another mystery.
I was looking for the grave of The Hermit of St. Andrews, Teddy Tollofsen. I'd learned about Teddy back in '86 when I purchased SAND IN MY SHOES by John A. Burgess of Opp.
Teddy lost his boat in the Hurricane of '29 near Bay Point but he found it run aground where the present day campsites are located near Grand Lagoon in St. Andrews State Park.
Teddy decided to stay there & repair his boat. Well he never repaired it but he stayed for the next 25 years until his death in 1954 @ the age of 74.
from SAND IN MY SHOES:
"Teddy beside his shack (left) and smokehouse (right) one month before his death"
Teddy's Smokehouse
Here's a 1950 account of Teddy that appeared in "Florida Wildlife Magazine" that describes Teddy's shack:
Visiting his cabin is like making a trip to a nautical museum. The shutters swing on zinc-coated skylight hinges that drifted in with ship wreckage after the '29 storm. The front door is secured by a massive padlock that likely would rate a tidy sum from an antique collector. A portion of the cornice contains the hand-carved wooden name plate of the schooner "Techumseh" built at Gloucester, Mass., in 1911, she tore up during a Gulf storm in 1931. The cabin itself is compact to say the least- containing a wood cookstove, a built-in table, and a bunk. Nine lanterns hang from the rafters or stand on the floor.
Here's Burgess' description of Teddy's lifestyle:
Teddy was a gifted, resourceful man. He possessed many skills and a strong will as well. His intentions to repair his boat were sincere.
Time passed, though, and gradually reality prevailed- the boat was beyond repair. It was at that moment that Teddy became the hermit of St. Andrews.
Taking all the usable goods from his boat, and gathering all the driftwood that he could find, he set about to improve the small shack that he had built. The location of the shack was a point some 75 feet from the water on the south side of Grand Lagoon. Today this spot can be identified as being between campsites 101 and 102. At that time in 1929, Teddy had no idea that there might be such a thing as a state campground there. His choice of location, incidentally, was prompted by the fact that there was a natural channel there that went all the way across Grand Lagoon.
And so he settled. Using lumber washed ashore by the hurricane, Teddy improved his cabin and constructed a hen house and a storage house. For those summer months when the heat and insects became unbearable, he built another smaller structure directly south of the cabin some three feet about the sand on 3" X 8" posts. He called this site "South Florida." It was a floor with a roof and open walls, and it was located atop the sand dunes almost directly in back of his other cabin. In addition, Teddy also built a small fish cleaning house near the water, and just west of it he built a narrow pier going out into the water.
For companionship and as a source of food, Teddy gathered a small menagerie consisting of three black and white cats, 11 hens and a one-eyed rooster.
From his chickens he obtained eggs and meat. His cats were a source of companionship, and he caught fish and gigged flounder~ another source of food. His favorite food was oatmeal and sea greens (along with fish). The sea greens is not well known (ed. note: it's a leafy form of the marine algae Ulva that lives on the jetties) but it grows close to the water and can be eaten raw or cooked. http://www.eurozone-invest.com/sealettuce.html
For water, he hand drilled a shallow well some 20 feet into the ground. The amber colored water that it produced was made that way by the leaching of tannic acid from various roots of plants. It was unsightly but drinkable just the same.
He loved hot tea. It was his chief drink, and on one occasion he forgot to add tea leaves. He told Claude Willoughby that it was only after he had finished his tea that he realized his omission. The water was so stained that he didn't even know that his "tea" was missing the main ingredient.
Every week or so Teddy would row ( or motor- he owned several outboard motors through the years.) a small boat all the way across the bay to St. Andrews. He either bought or built his boats. At St. Andrews he would sell his flounder and other fish that he had caught to Windham's Fish Market.
Was Teddy once married? This old photo was found among his possessions after his death.
Could Teddy have been like my old loon?
~grieving in the sand dunes for his lost love
Now is the time to go to Panama City Beach. Many of the hotels are offering the third night free so I'm planning on returning after the first of the year for an entire week. Imagine nine nights @ Sugar Sands http://www.sugarsands.com
for a little over $300.
Now that's a bargain!!!!
Best,
r
posted by robertoreg at 9:57 PM
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