1945 Map of Pickett Bay

About this map

Harbeson City sits as a quiet landmark near the junction of the Crooked River and Thompson Cutoff, illustrating a vanished chapter of Franklin County’s river-based history. This 1943 survey, published just after the war, documents a landscape defined by an intricate network of waterways including the New River, Alligator Creek, and the winding Sunday Rollaway Creek. The terrain is characterized by its low-lying islands and wetlands, notably Houndland Island and Ames Island, which flank the tidal reaches of the Pickett Bay region. The presence of numerous wells and named features like Saw Bluff suggest a territory shaped by early logging or naval stores industries, where the rivers served as the primary thoroughfares long before modern road development dominated the Gulf Coast interior.