Post by L Roebuck on Jul 18, 2006 7:52:15 GMT -5
State interested in 'a remarkable piece of property'
By Jennifer Portman
DEMOCRAT SENIOR WRITER
NATURAL BRIDGE - Curio cabinets usually show off such treasures as elf figurines or teacups made in France. Jim and Elaina Rakestraw's cabinet illuminates mastodon teeth, fishhooks made from deer bones and other items collected right outside their front door.
There isn't room for all the Civil War stuff also found on the sandy ground. The bullets and tangerine-sized cannon balls left behind from the battle that spared Tallahassee just sit out in a bowl on the coffee table.
But the most impressive thing to behold at the Rakestraw property can't be put on display. It's beneath the 10 sinkholes strung down the family land like a strand of aquamarine beads.
The 55 acres Jim Rakestraw shares with his siblings is a hydrogeological hot spot where the early run of the St. Marks River disappears under Natural Bridge Road and is transformed into the fifth-largest spring in Florida.
“This is one of the most unique places in the world,” said Christopher Werner, a karst-geology expert who's conducting an underground survey and study of the property's cave and water system. “We want to see these places protected."
Today, a giant "For Sale" sign is posted on the property. The Rakestraws hope the state will be the next owner.
'Too many people'
The Rakestraw family has stood sentry over the land at Natural Bridge for more than 150 years. At one time, it owned 2,000 acres along both sides of the St. Marks.
“The family was very tenacious about keeping people off this land,” said real-estate broker Brent Pichard, a Leon High School classmate of Jim Rakestraw. “They have guarded it jealously.”
In the late 1980s, Rakestraw erected a high chain-link fence along Natural Bridge Road to keep trespassers out. But now he's ready to go.
"Too many rules, too many folks," the retired 65-year-old said. "I want to find a place where there aren't too many people."
Rakestraw's brother and sister, who live in homes on adjacent parcels, also want to retire elsewhere. As they get older, keeping up the place is getting harder.
"I've taken care of this my whole life. It's always been paradise to me," Rakestraw said. "It would be nice if it could belong to the people."
How the process works
Pichard first approached the state about purchasing part of the Rakestraw land back in 1982. The state didn't bite then, but now it's on the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's priority purchase list.
"This is a remarkable piece of property with sinks, springs and a karst topography. This parcel would make a tremendous addition to Natural Bridge Battlefield Historic State Park," said Mark Glisson, environmental administrator for DEP's Division of State Lands.
Pichard said the state is the logical buyer, but the process can be difficult. State land purchases are based on appraisals often crafted from the selling price of comparable property. Finding anything comparable to the Rakestraws' land is a challenge.
Few places can boast the geologic and historic significance of the property, which Rakestraw says includes American Indian burial mounds and the remains of black Union soldiers in the silty bottom of sinkholes near the road.
The Rakestraws' asking price is $6.75 million.
"Nobody knows what the property is worth," said Pichard, who in 34 years in the business has never seen anything so unusual. "What we have been doing for over a year is to get our arms around all the elements of this property."
Cave creation
Werner's study of the property's plumbing, expected to be finished by early next month, will be used to bolster the case for state protection. So far, Werner and fellow Woodville Karst Plain Project team members have explored about two miles of subterranean caves linking the sinkholes and sources of pure aquifer water.
Giant caves 60 feet wide and 20 feet high and four adjoining passages of rushing spring water - including one enormous tunnel - have impressed even veteran divers such as Werner. He says the system under the Rakestraw land is on a par with that of nearby Wakulla Springs and Leon Sinks, the longest surveyed underwater cave in the United States.
"We are seeing the early formation of what Leon Sinks looked like 150,000 to 250,000 years ago," said Werner, 37, a fluid-physics doctoral student at Florida State University. "You are creating caves there now."
A huge amount of water joins the St. Marks River as it travels under the property. When the river emerges at the St. Marks Rise, the volume of water is about 10 times as great as when it drops underground.
"That's the big question: Where is all this water coming from?" Werner said.
Scientists think much of it is coming from sinkholes and disappearing streams to the east near Lloyd and Capitola in Jefferson County. Dye-trace studies would provide a definitive answer, but those studies haven't been done yet.
No marketing, yet
Werner and others see the Rakestraw property as an ideal location for a hydrogeologic laboratory to educate the public and help piece together the puzzles of the local karst region's dissolving limestone.
"Is a lot of this area going to be developed? Probably," said Werner. "Should this tract be? I don't think so."
So far, Pichard hasn't done any marketing of the property, save for the large sign planted in the ground in front of Jim Rakestraw's modest house.
He hopes a deal can be worked out with the state or other entity to take on stewardship of the land. But if not, Pichard is ready to move on.
"I've got an ad for The Wall Street Journal ready to go," he said. "There are people in Miami or New York who think 7 million bucks is nothing."
Aquifer: An underground layer of rock and sand that contains fresh water. The aquifer in this region, which is used for drinking water, is called the Floridan.
Karst: A region made of porous limestone, easily dissolved by water and characterized by sinkholes, springs, underground caves and streams.
Woodville Karst Plain: A 280,000-acre karst region that includes parts of Leon, Wakulla and Jefferson counties.
Woodville Karst Plain Project: A group of underwater cave divers who explore and map the subterranean passages that link area sinkholes and springs.
Full Article: www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060718/NEWS01/607180331/1010
By Jennifer Portman
DEMOCRAT SENIOR WRITER
NATURAL BRIDGE - Curio cabinets usually show off such treasures as elf figurines or teacups made in France. Jim and Elaina Rakestraw's cabinet illuminates mastodon teeth, fishhooks made from deer bones and other items collected right outside their front door.
There isn't room for all the Civil War stuff also found on the sandy ground. The bullets and tangerine-sized cannon balls left behind from the battle that spared Tallahassee just sit out in a bowl on the coffee table.
But the most impressive thing to behold at the Rakestraw property can't be put on display. It's beneath the 10 sinkholes strung down the family land like a strand of aquamarine beads.
The 55 acres Jim Rakestraw shares with his siblings is a hydrogeological hot spot where the early run of the St. Marks River disappears under Natural Bridge Road and is transformed into the fifth-largest spring in Florida.
“This is one of the most unique places in the world,” said Christopher Werner, a karst-geology expert who's conducting an underground survey and study of the property's cave and water system. “We want to see these places protected."
Today, a giant "For Sale" sign is posted on the property. The Rakestraws hope the state will be the next owner.
'Too many people'
The Rakestraw family has stood sentry over the land at Natural Bridge for more than 150 years. At one time, it owned 2,000 acres along both sides of the St. Marks.
“The family was very tenacious about keeping people off this land,” said real-estate broker Brent Pichard, a Leon High School classmate of Jim Rakestraw. “They have guarded it jealously.”
In the late 1980s, Rakestraw erected a high chain-link fence along Natural Bridge Road to keep trespassers out. But now he's ready to go.
"Too many rules, too many folks," the retired 65-year-old said. "I want to find a place where there aren't too many people."
Rakestraw's brother and sister, who live in homes on adjacent parcels, also want to retire elsewhere. As they get older, keeping up the place is getting harder.
"I've taken care of this my whole life. It's always been paradise to me," Rakestraw said. "It would be nice if it could belong to the people."
How the process works
Pichard first approached the state about purchasing part of the Rakestraw land back in 1982. The state didn't bite then, but now it's on the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's priority purchase list.
"This is a remarkable piece of property with sinks, springs and a karst topography. This parcel would make a tremendous addition to Natural Bridge Battlefield Historic State Park," said Mark Glisson, environmental administrator for DEP's Division of State Lands.
Pichard said the state is the logical buyer, but the process can be difficult. State land purchases are based on appraisals often crafted from the selling price of comparable property. Finding anything comparable to the Rakestraws' land is a challenge.
Few places can boast the geologic and historic significance of the property, which Rakestraw says includes American Indian burial mounds and the remains of black Union soldiers in the silty bottom of sinkholes near the road.
The Rakestraws' asking price is $6.75 million.
"Nobody knows what the property is worth," said Pichard, who in 34 years in the business has never seen anything so unusual. "What we have been doing for over a year is to get our arms around all the elements of this property."
Cave creation
Werner's study of the property's plumbing, expected to be finished by early next month, will be used to bolster the case for state protection. So far, Werner and fellow Woodville Karst Plain Project team members have explored about two miles of subterranean caves linking the sinkholes and sources of pure aquifer water.
Giant caves 60 feet wide and 20 feet high and four adjoining passages of rushing spring water - including one enormous tunnel - have impressed even veteran divers such as Werner. He says the system under the Rakestraw land is on a par with that of nearby Wakulla Springs and Leon Sinks, the longest surveyed underwater cave in the United States.
"We are seeing the early formation of what Leon Sinks looked like 150,000 to 250,000 years ago," said Werner, 37, a fluid-physics doctoral student at Florida State University. "You are creating caves there now."
A huge amount of water joins the St. Marks River as it travels under the property. When the river emerges at the St. Marks Rise, the volume of water is about 10 times as great as when it drops underground.
"That's the big question: Where is all this water coming from?" Werner said.
Scientists think much of it is coming from sinkholes and disappearing streams to the east near Lloyd and Capitola in Jefferson County. Dye-trace studies would provide a definitive answer, but those studies haven't been done yet.
No marketing, yet
Werner and others see the Rakestraw property as an ideal location for a hydrogeologic laboratory to educate the public and help piece together the puzzles of the local karst region's dissolving limestone.
"Is a lot of this area going to be developed? Probably," said Werner. "Should this tract be? I don't think so."
So far, Pichard hasn't done any marketing of the property, save for the large sign planted in the ground in front of Jim Rakestraw's modest house.
He hopes a deal can be worked out with the state or other entity to take on stewardship of the land. But if not, Pichard is ready to move on.
"I've got an ad for The Wall Street Journal ready to go," he said. "There are people in Miami or New York who think 7 million bucks is nothing."
Aquifer: An underground layer of rock and sand that contains fresh water. The aquifer in this region, which is used for drinking water, is called the Floridan.
Karst: A region made of porous limestone, easily dissolved by water and characterized by sinkholes, springs, underground caves and streams.
Woodville Karst Plain: A 280,000-acre karst region that includes parts of Leon, Wakulla and Jefferson counties.
Woodville Karst Plain Project: A group of underwater cave divers who explore and map the subterranean passages that link area sinkholes and springs.
Full Article: www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060718/NEWS01/607180331/1010