The Okaloosa NAACP adopted a resolution on Feb. 9 calling on the Town of Shalimar to support the recognition of Augustus “Gus” Tart, a man born into slavery whose 135.5-acre land grant encompassed much of what is now the town, according to the organization.

The resolution asks Shalimar to formally recognize Tart’s historical significance, support the addition of a historical marker at or near his gravesite on Richburg Avenue or adjacent to the Shalimar Library Cemetery, and collaborate with local organizations to pursue a state historical marker designation. It also asks the town to update the property description on the Okaloosa County Property Appraiser’s website, which currently lists “No Information” for the gravesite parcel, according to research compiled by the NAACP’s special committee.

• “Honoring Augustus ‘Gus’ Tart is not only a tribute to a remarkable individual, but also a recognition of the enduring contributions made by African Americans to the history and development of Northwest Florida,” said Sabu Williams, branch president. “We are proud to lead this effort, ensuring that Gus’ legacy is preserved and celebrated for generations to come.”

The man

Tart was born enslaved in South Carolina in 1840, according to the NAACP. He gained his freedom and moved to the area now known as Okaloosa County around 1864, where he worked as a cook for John Thomas Brooks, one of the founders of Fort Walton Beach. 

He registered to vote in what was then Walton County in 1867 — number 102 on the precinct rolls — and became an expert fishing and hunting guide on Garniers Bayou, according to the committee’s research.

In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt granted Tart 135.5 acres of land under the Homestead Act of 1862.

Newspaper articles from the Pensacola News Journal dating back to December 1898 paint a picture of a man who was deeply woven into the social fabric of Northwest Florida. Tart hosted governors, U.S. senators, congressmen, judges and other prominent figures at his camp on Garniers Bayou for hunting and fishing excursions, according to the committee’s research. 

• Newspaper accounts referred to his property as “Gus’s place” and “the Old Gus place.”

A 1909 article in the Pensacola News Journal described Tart as a “general favorite” in the region who had entertained distinguished visitors for years, noting that his “marvelous woodcraft, quaint philosophy, and sterling honesty” had made prominent men “his friends for all time,” according to the committee’s research.

One article described a judge in Pensacola who finished a three-day court case in half a day, after which he and several attorneys boarded Tart’s fishing boat, the Scout. Another documented visitors sailing from Pensacola down the sound to visit Tart at his camp. He also sold turpentine leases on his land, giving one outfit three years to turpentine the property and a year to take the sawmill timber, according to the research.

Tart preferred his sailboat, the MolliePatra, to a motorized launch. Using a launch “makes a man swear too bad,” Tart was quoted as saying in a 1908 Pensacola News Journal article, according to the committee’s research.

Tart became ill in the fall of 1915. T.C. Brooks — one of John Thomas Brooks’ sons — and his wife Emma took Tart in during the last three to four weeks before his death. His two sons, George and William, had appeared on the 1870 and 1880 census records as children but could not be located after that, and no one knows where they were at the time of his death, according to Statia McNeese, who conducted extensive research for the committee. Tart signed his will with an “X” on Oct. 3, 1915, leaving his land to T.C. and Emma Brooks. He died on Nov. 12, 1915.

• “Famous Guide for sportsmen dies after an illness of about four weeks,” the Pensacola News Journal reported at the time.

The land

Tart’s property included what is now Meigs Middle School, the Okaloosa County Courthouse Annex, the Ocean City-Wright Fire Department station, the Shalimar Library and surrounding residential streets, according to the committee’s research.

T.C. and Emma Brooks sold the inherited land — about 119.5 acres after subtracting parcels Tart had sold during his lifetime — in 1916, according to county records cited in the committee’s research. The property changed hands multiple times over the following decades, eventually passing to the Meigs family, according to the research.

In 1933, two men transferred the burial site to Tart’s name in county records. But the gravesite was effectively lost until 1977, when it was rediscovered during a survey for the Sundance subdivision development near the Shalimar Library. The survey documentation noted an exception for the grave. That same year, the Shalimar Town Commission discussed the gravesite as a potential historical memorial but took no action, according to town meeting minutes cited in the committee’s research.

A granite monument was installed at the site in 2021 after Kay Brooks raised funds through a GoFundMe account. The gravesite, located behind the Shalimar Library, is the only grave at the cemetery, according to the NAACP.

The effort

Diane Dillard, who led the NAACP special committee, said the research began after a family member spotted Tart’s gravesite on a phone map application while staying in Shalimar. She brought the information to the NAACP branch, where member Louis Jennings recognized the name and produced a book of research materials that had been compiled over the years.

“He was a founder, he was a pioneer. That’s the words I want to use,” Dillard said.

Dillard asked McNeese and Kay McNeese to join her on the committee. McNeese spent months combing through Walton County and Okaloosa County land records, census data and newspaper archives to trace Tart’s life and the history of his property.

• “This would not have happened had it not been for Diane,” McNeese said.

Kay Brooks, whose family has deep ties to Tart’s history, said her mother, now 95 years old, began researching Tart while tracing the Brooks family genealogy. The Brooks family has long passed down stories of “Uncle Gus,” as the family called him, she said.

“Obviously they respected him by the way they wrote about him in the newspaper,” Brooks said. “And that was the turn of the century. Not that long after the Civil War.”

Brooks said she felt a responsibility to help preserve Tart’s memory given her family’s connection. She said a permanent marker would ensure his story endures.

• “He was lost twice,” Brooks said of the gravesite. “It’s not gonna be lost again.”

Committee members said the Shalimar Town Council was receptive when the resolution was presented, and the group hopes to start with the town and then pursue further recognition at the state level.

“There was nobody that seemed pushback,” McNeese said. “They were very receptive.”

“Black history is American history. I say that all the time,” Dillard said.

A commemorative brick honoring Tart will also be placed on the NAACP Legacy Walk of Fame at Chester Pruitt Park in Fort Walton Beach, according to the organization.

I’d like to thank Jennie McKeon, a reporter with WUWF, who first brought Tart’s story to public attention in a 2016 article for the Northwest Florida Daily News. McKeon arranged the recent interview with the committee and allowed me to sit in on the conversation, which provided many of the details in this story.