Downtown Books & Purl

Gulf Coast


Need books? How about yarn? How about both? Well, you've found the right shop: an adorable, independent bookstore that happens to also include an entire knitting accessory shop. The bookstore contains some excellent small trade books written by local authors, including compilations of Panhandle folklore and quirky guidebooks (not that you need another guidebook).


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Gulf Coast attractions

1. Apalachicola Maritime Museum

0.14 MILES

This small museum, which rests on the banks of the Apalachicola River, gives a breakdown on the history of oystering, fishing and boat building in…

2. Raney House

0.17 MILES

Sitting behind a white-picket fence and a facade of grand columns, this small museum occupies the former 1838 Southern style–plantation home of David…

3. Trinity Episcopal Church

0.23 MILES

This handsome church was built in New York state and cut into sections, which were shipped down the Atlantic Coast and around the Keys before making their…

4. John Gorrie State Museum

0.24 MILES

Dr John Gorrie (1803–55), one of Apalachicola's most famous sons, developed an ice-making machine to keep yellow-fever patients cool during an epidemic…

6. St George Lighthouse

8.5 MILES

Originally built in 1858, this little lighthouse was painstakingly reconstructed in 2008 after collapsing into the sea in 2005 due to erosion. Today you…

7. St Vincent Island

9.66 MILES

Just a few minutes from Apalachicola, but accessible only by boat, lies this pristine island. Its pearly dunes reveal 5000-year-old geological records,…

8. Fort Gadsen Historic Site

13.36 MILES

This is the former location of an 1814 British fort manned by African American and Native American soldiers armed and trained by the British to defend…