WAKULLA COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) - When you think "Wakulla County", it's usually the seafood, the beach or those famous springs that first come to mind. And when you take U.S. 319 to any of those places, you've likely passed a site that has quickly proved to be a must-see destination of its own.
Rusty, old, nestled in a field of tall country grass.
It’s certainly not a sight you’d expect to see driving down highway 319 in Wakulla County.
“Well, that's a 51' Ford. That was the one I drove the most out of all of them,” Harvey said.
These Ford trucks sit lined on this plot of land, covered in shade by the trees above...And the story of how they got here? Well, Harvey says that's all by chance.
“Well we started pulling them out, me and my dad and we were gonna haul them to the junkyard. I said well let's just line 'um up out here a while and see if people like to stop and see um,” Harvey said.
That was about 12 years ago and stop they have. Folks from Georgia and Kentucky to Germany and France...
"It's somebody here every day,” Harvey said.
...and no one, not even the smallest of visitors, is turned away.
Each rich with history and unpolished character and best believe Harvey has a story for them all.
“This is a 59' Ford. This is the one I took my driver's test in, when I got my driver's license,” Harvey said.
Popular during a period of circular foot pedals, coiled wire filled seats and no air conditioning…
“We called it 2-60. Roll 2 windows down and drive 60 miles per hour,” Harvey said.
The trucks were first used for hauling on the Harvey family farm. Now they serve as the backdrop for onlookers hoping to tell a story of their own.
“Seeing it come alive. A lot of it is that I really like history,” said Sarah MacKusick, who used the trucks as a backdrop for her engagement photos.
Forgoing a stuffy photography studio or the obligatory garden setting, MacKusick and fiancé Daniel chose this field with, yes, a cameo by those ever-famous ford trucks.
“We do a lot of work with horses so I wanted to kind of surprise everybody with our save the dates because I figured everybody would assume that we would do horses,” MacKusick said.
An unlikely choice…leaving behind memories the two won't soon forget.
“I get a lot of 'wow! That's really original, that's really neat!' just the rusty aspect of it,” MacKusick said.
As for Pat, he has no plans of doing away with the memories off 319 and when asked if he'd thought of adding to the famed collection...
“No. The county said I could take away but I couldn't add to it,” said Harvey.
So, 13 is what it'll stay. A number, in this case, proving to be anything but cursed.
Harvey says his ford trucks are even featured in a brochure published by the county.
Just added proof that such a small idea as grown into a forever cemented piece of Wakulla County's history.
