Apalachicola, city, seat (1832) of Franklin county, northwestern Florida, U.S. It lies on Apalachicola Bay (bridged) at the mouth of the Apalachicola River, on the Intracoastal Waterway, about 80 miles (130 km) southwest of Tallahassee.
Founded about 1820 as West Point (renamed Apalachicola in 1831), the town was an important cotton-shipping port from the early 1830s until a blockade during the American Civil War ended this activity. After the war, the lumber industry (based on cypress) became important; fishing also gained in prominence, and sponges were a major commodity during the late 1800s. In the 1840s John Gorrie, a doctor ... (100 of 285 words)