Lanark Village, FL news and local guide

World War II transformed the place. In June 1942 the War Department chose 155,000 acres of coastal Franklin County for an amphibious warfare training center, and the Lanark Inn was torn down. First called Camp Carrabelle, the base was renamed Camp Gordon Johnston in January 1943 for Colonel Gordon Johnston, who had died in 1934. The 3rd Engineer Amphibian Brigade arrived on September 10, 1942, and the 4th, 28th and 38th Infantry Divisions also trained here; troops called it "Hell-by-the-Sea" for its rough conditions and dangerous training. About a quarter of a million men trained at the camp, many of them for D-Day, and in 1944 it also held German and Italian prisoners of war. The camp closed in 1946, and by 1948 the land had passed into private hands and most buildings were gone. The former officers' family quarters near Parker Street became housing in the Lanark Village retirement community. Sources Wikipedia: Lanark Village, Florida Florida Department of State and the Camp Gordon Johnston Association: Camp Gordon Johnston historical marker (via the Historical Marker Database)