Virginia Native Turned Transplanted Floridian Talks Beauty & History Of Jefferson County & Monticello

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1 F L O RI D A STATE O F M I N D : D R. AN N E H O L T Virginia Native Turned Transplanted Floridian Talks Beauty & History Of Jefferson County & Monticello Age is only a state of mind. The brilliance of what a mind can do and what history allows is a primary paradox in modern society. Dr. Anne Holt, who received her phd in History at 70, shows no signs of slowing down at 82. As one of the representatives for Jefferson County outside Tallahassee as well as the city of Monticello, she not only carries a reverence for the history, dark and light, of the area but also the hidden natural treasures that this area of Florida conceals. Using new technology, the door is being opened to a new age of discovery. Dr. Anne sat down with MRV: The Buzz Editor In Chief Tim Wassberg in the foyer of the Monticello B&B to discuss Florida history and the essence of education. T he B uz z : C a n yo u t a l k a b o ut t he his t o r y o f t his a r e a f r o m yo ur p e r s p e c t ive a nd w ha t is s o r t o f e nc a p s ul a t e s? D r. A nne H o l t : D r. A nne H o l t : We moved here, because it felt comfortable. It felt safe, not so much safe from crime, but safe because I know if people didn't see my truck for three days in my yard, they'd wonder. And if it sat there and didn't move for three days, they might knock on the door and ask me if I'm okay. It's just a different place, and I have found it truly comforting. You walk down the street, and people speak to you. I'm sure you've experienced that. And you meet people, and now I know that

2 their families have lived here since the 1820's. I work for a man who is a descendant of people who came here and took up one of the very first patents in the county. T he B uz z : Y o u f e e l O l d F l o r id a he r e, t r ul y O l d F l o r id a. A H : This house, and at least a dozen others I've been in have an old-fashioned elegance the best of the Old South. T he B uz z : C a n yo u d e s c r ib e w ha t yo u me a n w he n yo u s a y t he b e s t o f t he O l d S o ut h? A H : The best of the Old South is the good manners. Care about your neighbors and show it. Get to know lots of people in your area. We give dinners, meals, that [require one] to have money - everybody has to have money nowadays - but when you sit down to china, and crystal, and white linen, the best food you ever put in your mouth, there's just a really special feeling. T he B uz z : N o w b e ing, o b vio us l y, a P hd, b ut a l s o a s t ud e nt o f his t o r y - yo u l o ve A me r ic a n his t o r y - c o ul d yo u t a l k a b o ut yo ur p a t h t o t ha t a nd ho w it ' s s o r t o f no w ma t r ic ul a t e d int o w ha t yo u' r e d o ing he r e in s a ving a nd he l p ing p r e s e r ve t he his t o r y he r e? A H : Well, my education was in fragments. I started out in school doing very well. Did extremely well until I finished the 7th Grade. In Virginia, when I went into High School, High School started in the 8th Grade. We only did 11 Grades. And it was very uncomfortable for me. And that year in the space of a year, I grew up. I was this big around and weighed 100 pounds when I was 12. When I was 13 I was the size I am right now. It really was disturbing and I couldn't deal with school. I just could not sit and be quiet. I always loved to study, but I couldn't handle High School. It was just too loud and chaotic. So I walked out, went to Richmond and I got a job. And I later married. I went to Pan American Business School. Back then you would lie about your age and get away with it. They didn't make you show your Driver's License (laughing). T he B uz z : S o ho w o l d w e r e yo u w he n yo u g o t int o t his s c ho o l? A H : A H : When I went to Pan American, I guess I was 15, and I worked as a secretary and then I got a job with the OEO, and then I got a job as a draftsman. I worked as a draftsman at Royal School Laboratories in Ashland, Virginia. And then I went to work for a large cosmetics company as a manager. I worked for them about 20 years, managing 240 to 300 sales people. And I had a bookstore for a couple of years. During all that time, I took the test in 1972 and they accepted me in the Community College. I had studied, I've always studied. But I finished my community college I've forgotten the year...must have been '87 because '88 I graduated from Mary Baldwin College in '89 with distinction. Tthen I came here and I did my Master's and my Ph.D at Florida State. I took my Ph.D.-- and they sent me out in the hall for my

3 defense, the bastards (laughing). And I told them that. They said, "Well, we had to go through it." And then invited me back in the room and said, "Congratulations, Doctor Holt," the month of my 70th birthday. T he B uz z : W ha t w a s yo ur d is s e r t a t io n o n? A H : The building of a prison system in Florida. It's the economic history of Florida, really. From 1868 to 1925, approximately, is what I wrote about. Florida only became a state in We're very late. That's 15 years before The Civil War. When we got back here after the war was over, Florida was pretty well in the pits as far as money is concerned, but Florida did keep its land just like Texas did. And 1868, we tried to have a prison. The federal government gave us the old arsenal at Chattahoochee, and it was-- I mean the winters were broken out, the slates were off the roof, people had stolen the land that held the slates together. It was in a terrible mess. And they were keeping prisoners just seated on the floor in a large building with guards, and they wore chains all the time because they didn't have individual cells. And by 1875 the state realized they couldn't feed the prisoners. We didn't have enough money. There's a long story there. What had happened is we had been enjoying [life] from selling state land because of some problems during reconstruction. Money got messed up. Anyway, we decided then, we'd use a convict lease system, [which means] we would rent all the prisoners out to contractors to work. The contractor would take care of the prisoners and feed them. I wrote about that, and then I wrote about the end of that system and how it was ended. There were times when the state made reports very carefully of having ten-year-olds as prisoners. T he B uz z : H e nc e, t he w o me n a nd c hil d r e n p r is o n t ha t w a s he r e in t o w n.

4 A H : Well, they had no buildings. Every year, there was a big division, as they called it, and they'd have a stockade. All the prisoners would be in there. And if I were a contractor, I'd bid, and I'll pay so much a day. They bought them out of the gate as they came in. Young men, old men, young women, old women altogether, and you took what you got. But they worked prisoners in patience, on the railroad, in the woods, in naval stores, in phosphate mines. One of the very first plantation owners to use them was here in Jefferson County. T he B uz z : T he r e w e r e a l o t o f p l a nt a t io ns he r e t o o A H : We still have about a third conservation land, about a third big plantations, and then a third regular land for regular people in this county. T he B uz z : T he p a r k t ha t w e w e r e a t t o d a y t ha t yo u' r e w o r k ing ve r y c l o s e l y o n t o o c o ul d yo u t a l k a b o ut t ha t a nd ho w t ha t l a nd is no t o nl y ind ic a t ive o f J e f f e r s o n C o unt y, b ut w ha t it r e p r e s e nt s? A H : Well, it belonged to the school board for a long time, and our schools have been in a problem and always needed money, so the state had told them that they had to sell their property. They could not give it to anyone. So when this came available, thank goodness our council got up the nerve to vote and buy it. It s a beautiful, beautiful choice for them to make. I'm very, very proud of them. Not all city councils can look that far ahead. They're always almost afraid to who stick their necks out or whatever you might call it. T he B uz z : W ha t is t ha t l a nd l ik e? A H : A H : It s old growth. There are timber trees in there, the kind of timber that is first choice, that are probably a hundred years old. Best we can find out, it's been over 80 years since there were any cutting in the area. I think we have a treasure. I do. It's a classroom. Even adults don't know one tree from another. They don't know the difference between poison ivy and poison oak (laughing). It's a classroom if it can be used that way, and the future will see if we can use it properly.

5 T he B uz z : C a n yo u t a l k a b o ut t ha t t a c t il e a s p e c t o f his t o r y? A H : That is the part of history that sometime gets left out. History s good if it keeps the gossip (laughing). [History] keeps the small things, the small parts of life that people are interested in. We describe the China that these people used -- even the kind of tea they ordered and where they ordered it from. You got to keep the trivia. You need see the physical objects to really understand history. I recognize the old jail. Other people didn't. They study history, but history doesn't say the South is full of big, square, vernacular buildings. They are very handsome, and many are used as offices nowadays, but they were jails. There was a time when they built these big jails, and they built an apartment in it for a keeper. It's just a really odd thing, I think. T he B uz z : C a n yo u t a l k a b o ut t ho s e d e t a il s t ha t p e r me a t e t his e nt ir e t o w n? A H : It isn't normally all big houses like this. We have streets lined with cottages. I live in a cracker cottage. You walk up to the front of it. It has a porch, and then the roof goes straight up in the air (laughing). And when I got it, it had three bedrooms all open into each other (laughing). Well I mean who wants three bedrooms that open into each other? But that was customary. T he B uz z : T he s t yl e o f t he d a y A H : A H : And apparently the bathroom was added right in the middle of the house. What I did was break up the bedroom part and made the bedroom suites separate. But it's just lovely. And I have a triangular chimney so that I can have a fireplace in the middle room, in what was once the dining room. I use it as a library. And then in the living room, there is another fireplace. It was just something what they did in these old

6 houses. The little houses, to me, are as attractive as the big ones. Go To Part II Of Interview T im Wassbe rg A graduat e of New York Universit y's Tisch School Of The Art s wit h degrees in Film/TV Product ion & Film Crit icism, Tim has writ t en for magazines such as Moviemaker, Moving Pict ures, Conde Nast Traveler UK and Casino Player. He enjoys t raveling and dist inct craft beers among ot her t hings. Make Sure T o St ay At : Tallahassee RV Park, which is locat ed in t he rolling hills of Florida's Capit al Cit y, offers well lit, paved roads, wit h long pull-t hrough sit es. It is a quiet area, covered wit h a large variet y of flowering plant s and shrubs including giant pines, magnolia, dogwood and ot her nat ive t rees which dot t he landscape.