A River Town

The City of Blountstown was named for John Blount, a Seminole Indian Chief. Blount was a guide for General Andrew Jackson who invaded Spanish Florida in 1818, leading to the purchase of Florida from Spain. The territory became a part of the U.S. in 1821.

John Blount was rewarded for his services with a trip to Washington, D.C. to visit the President. In 1823, he was granted a reservation along the west side of the Apalachicola River, four miles by two miles square. Blount and his tribe kept cattle. The earlier settlers near the reservation were allowed to slaughter the cattle with Blount being paid in the cattle hides. Several trading posts were located on the “Big River” and the Gulf of Mexico.

The U.S. government eventually purchased Blount’s reservation and transported the tribe to Texas. Cotton planters settled the rich river bottomland and planted cotton, using steamboats to transport the cotton to Columbus, Georgia and sometimes to foreign countries. The cotton economy declined after the Civil War and large forests furnished trees, which were floated down the Apalachicola River on rafts and manufactured into lumber.

Residents of Blountstown have included the late Fuller Warren, former Governor of Florida, as well as Everett Yon, a native of Blountstown who was honored at the University of Florida, with the creation of Yon Hall.

(Historic facts found on http:

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