St. Johns County

Trout Creek Fish Camp preps for arrival of Confederate monument

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. —

Thursday, it was all quiet at Trout Creek Fish Camp in St. Augustine.

Rebecca Blount, who operates airboats out of the property for Sea Serpent Tours, expected activity to pick up as soon as the Confederate monument arrived on property.

She told Action News Jax, “In the past few weeks we’ve had a lot more visitors — a lot more hype with the monument coming in.”

Action News Jax reported in August when St. Augustine commissioners picked Randy Ringhaver’s proposal for the memorial’s relocation to the camp off SR-13.

Blount said, “We obviously have a little bit of hesitation with a lot of the peaceful protest that have been going on. We are expecting those and we’ve taken precautions to combat that.”

Wednesday was the day the monument made its first moves towards its new home.

At Trout Creek, stakes and boards were in place outlining the area designated for the monument.

“I think it still being here in St. Augustine, people still have the opportunity to come visit,” said Blount.

She said even if not everyone is on board, the employees are ready for the extra exposure.

“We’re going to have the people who love it, we’re going to have the people who hate it. It will all work out,” explained Blount.