Many people have heard the story of the old city of St. Joseph, which existed between 1836 and 1844 in the area of the present city of Port St. Joe, on the Gulf of Mexico, a score of miles from the mouth of the Apalachicola River. The story of St. Joseph has been told in many places and in conflicting forms. Novels and scholarly articles have been written about the city and the story of the destruction by fever and flood of “the wickedest city in the South” has been told in many sermons. Much of this legend is false, belonging to folklore rather than history