Apalachicola is a state in the Republic of Florida that existed independently between March 22, 1984 and March 22, 2011, the twenty-seventh anniversary of its establishment by a committee of representatives from area towns in the winter following the destruction of the capital of the former state of Florida. Located along the Apalachicola River in Florida's panhandle, the largest town is the port of Port St. Joe. However, the population of the state lived for decades deep in the wetlands which had been administered as Apalachicola National Forest. Expeditions from North Florida, in fact, completely missed the population of more than 20,000 that had set up camps and eventually settled in along the many streams that feed the River.