Milton and Bagdad have their roots planted in the forests of longleaf pines that once blanketed Northwest Florida. In 1830, Joseph Forsyth and the Simpson brothers constructed Arcadia Mill near present-day Milton, a nickname for Mill Town. Bagdad traces its origins to 1840, when the owners of Arcadia Mill, seeking to build a steam-powered sawmill, chose a site where Pond Creek converges into the Blackwater River. Just as the Middle Eastern city of Baghdad is situated between the confluence of two rivers, so too is this New World version. Early residents of Bagdad and Milton consisted of mill owners and workers.

Prior to the Civil War, Milton was Florida's seventh largest city. Prosperity came to a halt in 1861, however, when Union troops blockaded the mouth of Pensacola Bay. Further damage to the economy came when Confederate troops burned Milton's business district, shipyards, and sawmills while retreating from Pensacola. In Milton and Bagdad, troops destroyed two gun boats being built for the Confederate Navy.

Area residents evacuated during the war. When they returned in 1865, citizens quickly got the mills back on line, and pine and turpentine harvesting brought the area back to life. In 1882, the Pensacola & Atlantic Railroad opened a station in Milton. Unfortunately, fire ravaged the business district in 1885, 1892, and 1909. After a 1911 fire, citizens rebuilt the town of brick rather than wood and purchased an auto fire truck.

By the time Florida's first modern road came through the area in the 1920s, the timber industry was in decline. The Bagdad Mill closed in April of 1939. The Arcadia Mill, which burned in 1855, was rediscovered a century later and is today an archaeological site and museum. The L&N railroad station, rebuilt after the 1909 fire, currently serves as the West Florida Railroad Museum. The Milton Opera House, constructed in the decade following that fire and renamed the Imogene Theater, serves today as the Santa Rosa Historical Museum. In neighboring Bagdad, the New Providence Missionary Baptist Church is home to the Bagdad Village Preservation Museum, and the town boasts a very active preservation association.

Few of the pine forests that built Milton and Bagdad remain, but the Blackwater River flows as it always has. And the prosperity that came with Northwest Florida's timber industry is still visible in the towns' historic districts and museums.

This podcast made possible through a grant from the Florida Humanities Council. Written by Paul Zielinski. Narrated by Alesia Ross.