Imagine Mayberry, but with an almost endless supply of oysters. Jimmie J. Nichols loved the little Gulf Coast town of Apalachicola, Florida, whose Italian, Greek, Scotch-Irish and African-American fishermen harvest 90 percent of Florida’s oysters, and 10 percent of the nationwide supply.Nichols wrote about it all with the skill of a big-city writer, capturing Old Florida characters such as Tasso Rooso and his Wildcat Goldmine business, which used a simple but effective form of bookeeping. Tasso, a seafood dealer, put sales into his left hand pocket and paid expenses out of right hand pocket. If his left hand pocket ran too low, he got worried. Nichols chronicles the beginnings of the nationally renowned Apalachicola Historic District, which dates to the 1830’s, artists such as Maragert Key, and the last steamboat to dock on the Apalachicola River. He tells the story of why Bing Crosby sang a hit song about Apalachicola, the history of Apalach neighborhoods such as Irish Town and the Hill District, and when only one family lived on St. George Island.
