Tides & Towns
Forgotten Coast · FL

Carrabelle

Home of the World's Smallest Police Station.

Population
2,606 (2020 census)
Founded
1877
Crooked River Light
103 feet, built 1895
Tides
Two highs, two lows a day

Then

  1. 1877

    Oliver Hudson Kelley founds the town and names it Rio Carrabella, after his niece, Caroline Arabella Hall.

  2. 1881

    The Town of Carrabelle incorporates on December 24.

  3. 1895

    The 103-foot Crooked River Lighthouse is built west of town, the tallest on the Forgotten Coast.

  4. 1942–1946

    Camp Gordon Johnston trains about a quarter of a million soldiers for amphibious landings on nearby beaches.

  5. 1963

    On March 10, the police phone moves into a retired phone booth on U.S. 98: the World's Smallest Police Station.

Now

Carrabelle sits at the mouth of the Carrabelle River, the eastern end of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. Dog Island lies offshore.

The original phone booth is at the Carrabelle History Museum, with a replica on the original spot.

On the water

From NOAA's predictions for Carrabelle, Carrabelle River, FL over the next 364 days. Heights are in feet above mean lower low water (MLLW).

Pattern
Two highs and two lows a day, close in size
Typical daily range
2.7 ft
Biggest swing
4.4 ft on Jul 4
Smallest swing
0.5 ft on May 25
Highest high
3.6 ft, Aug 31 at 2:26 PM
Lowest low
−1.8 ft, Jan 21 at 7:34 AM

10 tide stations around Carrabelle

Sources