Mapping maritime heritage trail

MILTON, Fla. - University of West Florida graduate student Andrew Van Slyke, along with Bagdad Waterfronts’ Florida Partnership President Doug Lasater and members of Blackwater Pyrates civic organization, have begun gathering data for the first Blackwater River survey for the Blackwater Maritime Heritage Trail. In March, the Florida Coastal Management Program awarded a $10,000 grant for the project. The maritime heritage trail will be a comprehensive visual guide of the ecology, recreational, historical, maritime, and cultural points of interest in the waterways through Milton and Bagdad. Van Slyke and others recently worked on the mapping of known historical points on the river. The volunteers sailed to those points and filled out worksheets, which included the location names, colloquial names, GPS coordinates, accessibility by kayak or other size boats, and descriptions of the sites. ((Source: Santa Rosa Press Gazette 06/27/17)