Take the city of Bell, for instance. Bell was named after a local beauty queen, Bell Fletcher. Back in those days there was a big, black, slow-moving locomotive that use to visit town on a regular schedule. Her name was Peggy, and she was one of North Florida’s most illustrious historical figures.

To hear people talk about “Peggy” in the day, you would have thought they were speaking of an old friend. Peggy was often the subject of jokes around town, “Your too slow to even catch Peggy!” as a way to describe a particularly lazy person.

The origin of Peggy’s name is somewhat of a mystery. Some speculate that it was the daughter of one of the original conductors or engineers of the train. Others say it was because there was a “peg-legged” conductor. However she came about being known as “Peggy”, this locomotive left a legacy all across North Florida. Her snail like pace started in Starke, then went through Brooker, LaCrosse, Alachua, Bell and ended in Wannee at the Suwannee River before retracing the path back.