Visit the schooner Oct. 22 and 23

The National Historic Landmark Schooner Governor Stone will dock for a week at her slip in Lafayette Park on Shipyard Rd. in Freeport beginning October 20.  The vessel will be viewable each day and will open for free guided tours Sat. Oct. 22 and Sun. Oct. 23 from 11:00 a.m. to 5 p.m.  Friends of the Governor Stone are inviting visitors to step on board and back in time to when similar schooners were built and serviced in the shipyards nearby.  Dozens of these majestic schooners carried the freight, moved the people, and ‘sailed the mail’ along the Gulf Coast before roads connected coastal towns.  Now retired at age 134 years, this, the only known surviving wooden shoal schooner, is a sailing museum to be shared with the communities of the Northern Gulf Coast and with their visitors.

The Friends of the Governor Stone are pleased to bring the Governor Stone back to Walton County, a generous supporter of the vessel in the past.  Hopefully this brief stay will garner interest and support for making Freeport one of her major coastal ports of call along with Panama City, Ft. Walton Beach and Pensacola.

The Governor Stone sails periodically with members of the non-profit owner organization, the Friends of the Governor Stone, Inc. on board as crew and passengers.

To become a member of the Friends of the Governor Stone, to help bring the vessel to Walton, or for further information visit www.GovernorStone.org or phone 850-621-0011.