Blake Dowling
Growing up in the pre-internet 1980s world of Dothan, Alabama included lots of outdoor time. We had horses on Nana and JD Holman’s (my grandparents) farm in Headland. I also had a go-cart, which I pushed to its absolute limits. I used to light a bunch of pine straw on fire, drive through it for dramatic effect, and then slide into a pool of water. That machine was epic.
Seeing “Road Warrior” inspired me to mix up traditional go-carting around the farm.
(PSA: Don’t try this at home, kids.)
While those shenanigans were amazing, my favorite memories were heading out with a backpack into the woods on foot, usually joined by one of my childhood pals: David Woodham, Alex Harrell, William McRae, or Quinn Borland,
I still keep up with Dr. Woodham and Quinn. Usually, the primary item in my pack was a collection of throwing stars and a foot-long survival knife — you know, the one with the compass on the top. Those were the must-have items of 1982-1985.
You can thank Rambo for that phase among my friends (or maybe Crocodile Dundee was to blame); everyone had a frickin’ foot-long blade at Houston Academy.
In those pre-internet days, we watched lots of movies. Every Friday night, there was a Blockbuster VHS tape and a Domino’s pizza (30 minutes or less) at my friend’s house, not mine, as mom refused to order delivery and would bust out a frozen pizza from 1978 for my friends.
I don’t think my house was the cool one in my friends’ eyes.
Back to the woods. Quinn and I were in the woods behind my house one afternoon when we declared our own country.
It would be a small country bordering a Western Sizzler, Eckerd Drugs, Circle West Cinemas and a Godfather’s Pizza — but it was to be a mighty one. Maybe we had discovered Nightrain wine.
I don’t know what motivated this activity, but I remember it as an extension of running away. Our country lasted about four hours (I guess we ran out of wine); alas, “Blakeland” was no more.
Indeed, we were not the only people to think about starting their own country. In Florida, some folks took it a little further than a childhood dream.
In 1810, there was the Republic of West Florida.
According to the history books, there was some red tape confusion with the Louisiana Purchase. The deal had France selling the United States a massive piece of land that profoundly changed our nation; however, the fine print did not include a tract of land in West Florida (which technically went all the way to Mississippi and included parts of Alabama too).
The Spanish still owned this area.
Seizing to take advantage, a Revolutionary War hero named Philemon Thomas led the one-minute takeover of the Spanish-held Fort San Carlos on a September morning.
With an army of about 100 troops, Thomas fired a few shots as the soldiers walked through the open gates of the fort, but most of the Spaniards said adios and ran away without a fight.
Thomas had his flag ready to go, and he proudly raised their one-starred flag, declaring their new nation, the Republic of West Florida.
This republic was short-lived, lasting just 74 days. The U.S. moved in and took over with a pen, not a sword. This repeated itself in Texas and California, and our manifest destiny and takeover of the continent were complete.
There have been other examples of people starting their own country; there are currently close to 250 micronations.
Some of the most notable would be the Frank Zappa-inspired Republic of Uzupisis — the seven tiny countries throughout Florida, like the Empire of Garrania.
They are all fascinating, some weird, but my fave is off the coast of England. The Principality of Sealand. It was founded in 1967 as its own country in an old WW2 outpost 7 miles offshore. It has been a home to pirate radio, a data center for internet hosting, these days working on blockchain technology, and they have their football team: Sealand Seahawks, and the home for the Sealand Royal Family, the Bates family.
We live in the greatest state within the greatest nation on Earth; from Tallahassee to Key West, it is truly as perfect as a state can get.
However, these examples of those that set out to blaze their trail with their tiny nations are fascinating, and I hope you enjoyed a tour — courtesy of me, the Duke of Blakeland.
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Blake Dowling is the CEO of Aegis Business Technologies. He can be reached at [email protected].
