Apalachicola River Sunset in Bristol, Florida, by askmikee
The Garden of Eden isn’t in the Middle East. It is, however, about 45 minutes east of Tallahassee.
Or so argued Elvy E. Callaway, a Baptist preacher in the ’50s who believed that the Garden of Eden was in Bristol — a tiny Panhandle town with a population of 910.
Callaway argued that the Apalachicola River, which flows through Bristol, was was one of the only waterways in the world fitting the Biblical description: a river surrounded by lush banks that branched into four smaller rivers. The unique trees and ferns, he said, paralleled those described in the Bible.
He also believed that the Gopher Tree, the source of the wood Noah used to make his ark, existed in the surrounding forest. However, biblical scholars today are still unsure what exactly Gopher Wood was and the phrase has been translated several different ways.
The preacher and his followers carved trails through the area in the ’70s, but after Callaway’s death the Bristol theory fell to the wayside. The mainstream view is that, if the Garden of Eden was a literal location, it was near Mesopotamia.
While it may not be the biblical banks, Bristol is biologically unique: Callaway studied the area for more than 50 years and discovered dozens of plants that don’t grow anywhere else in Florida.
Its plant life is closer to that of the Appalachian Mountains and “upper” Deep South — Magnolia trees, honey-producing Tupelo trees and rare evergreens and wildflowers are common. The Apalachicola’s unique honey industry has avoided the widespread bee disappearance plaguing other areas of the country.
Today, Callaway’s obsession is part of the Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve, a nature conservancy. The Garden of Eden trail still takes hikers directly to the spot he found.
Although Callaway thought that the Garden of Eden was only in a small part of Bristol, the Apalachicola‘s ecosystem spans multiple states and isn’t totally protected by the nature conservancy. The river basin has recently been the subject of controversy as Georgia, Alabama and Florida fight over its depleted water reserves.
