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• Title: Not Assigned, originally for Lamont Community
  Location:
  County:
  City:
  Description:
  

• Title: CITY OF NEWBERRY HISTORIC DISTRICT
  Location:
  County: Alachua
  City: Newberry
  Description: The discovery of hard rock phosphate in Alachua County in 1889 sparked the appearance of boom towns wherever large deposits of the mineral were found. Incorporated in 1894, Newberry thrived until 1914 when the onset of World War I forced the mines to close. The mines did not reopen after the war, causing the economy of the town to collapse and forcing many residents to leave. The buildings in Newberry's historic district reflect the boom town atmosphere of small mining communities founded in Florida at end of the 19th century. The district was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.
  

• Title: RAILROADING IN HIGH SPRINGS
  Location: 20 NW Railroad Ave., in front of High Springs
  County: Alachua
  City: High Springs
  Description: This old passenger depot, built c. 1910, is all that remains of the vast railroad complex located southwest of downtown that made High Springs a bustling railroad center for nearly 50 years. In 1895 the Plant Railroad System chose the town as the site of its divisional headquarters. Rail yards, workshops, and a roundhouse serviced hundreds of steam engines and cars sent to High Springs to be cleaned and repaired. The importance of High Springs as a rail center declined as diesel engines replaced the old steam locomotives after World War II. Gradually, all of the railroad buildings disappeared, except the depot, which was moved to this site and renovated as a railroad museum in 1994.
  

• Title: UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA HISTORIC CAMPUS
  Location:
  County: Alachua
  City: Gainesville
  Description: The University of Florida Campus Historic District and two individual campus buildings were listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1989 and 1990 in recognition of their architectural and cultural significance and the coherence of the campus plan. The buildings were designed by architects William A. Edwards from 1905 to 1924 and Rudolph Weaver from 1925 to 1939 in the Collegiate Gothic style. The landscape plan was developed in 1926 by Olmsted Brothers, the firm that designed New York's Central Park. The historic campus reflects the university's rich heritage and the significant place it holds in Florida's educational history.
  

• Title: ROCHELLE VICINITY
  Location:Northwest corner at the intersection of State Road 20 and County Road 234
  County: Alachua
  City: Rochelle
  Description: Side 1: Colonel Daniel Newnan led a troop of the Georgia militia on a raid into the area in September 1812 in an attempt to annex Florida to the United States in the War of 1812. The raiders engaged a force of Seminole Indians under the command of Seminole chief King Payne. Several soldiers and Indians were killed in the fierce battle, including King Payne. Ft. Crane, named for Lt. Colonel Ichabod Crane, Commander of the U.S. Army District of Northeast Florida, was built in January 1837 during the Second Seminole War. It was located just south of Rochelle and was commanded by Lt. John H. Winder, who later served in the Mexican War. By the 1840s settlers had moved into the area from South Carolina and Georgia. The Perry, Rochelle, Tillman and Zetrouer families were among the earliest arrivals. Early roads in the area were heavily travelled by settlers and the military. One important route linked St. Augustine with Newnansville, located about 16 miles northwest of this marker. Union troops passed near this site in August 1864 enroute to Gainesville, where they were defeated by Confederate cavalry led by Capt. J.J. Dickison. Side 2: The community of Rochelle, located about one mile south of this marker, was first called Perry Junction and grew up around the site of the plantation of Madison Starke Perry, Governor of Florida 1857-61. In 1854, Perry had donated land for Oak Ridge Cemetery, located between Rochelle and Micanopy. Perry and many pioneer families from the area are buried there. The town was renamed Gruelle in 1881 and changed to Rochelle in 1884 in honor of the parents of Gov. Perry's wife, Martha Perry. Rochelle became a hub of the Florida Southern Railway in 1882 and later lay on the main line of the Plant Railway System, being a daily stopover between Jacksonville and St. Petersburg. By 1888 twenty-four trains a day passed through the community of about 100 residents. Rochelle became a citrus center, but the Great Freeze of 1894-95 destroyed the citrus crop, causing many of the inhabitants to leave. Today only a few buildings remain as reminders of the once thriving settlement. One of these is the Rochelle School (Martha Perry Institute), constructed in 1885, which served the community until 1935. The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
  

• Title: MATHESON HOUSE
  Location:Matheson House grounds, 528 S.W. First Street
  County: Alachua
  City: Gainesville
  Description: The Matheson homestead dates from 1857, when Alexander Matheson brought his family from Camden, South Carolina to establish a home on the Sweetwater Branch at the eastern edge of the new town of Gainesville. The present one and a half story Matheson House is believed to incorporate much of the original one story home. Alexander moved his family back to South Carolina in the early years of the Civil War. After the war and settlement of a mortgage foreclosure, the property was acquired by his younger brother, James D. Matheson, who had served as an officer in the Seventh South Carolina Cavalry and surrendered at Appomatox. He moved into the home in 1867 with his new bride, Augusta Florida Steele, daughter of Judge Augustus Steele, founder of Cedar Key, and an influential Florida pioneer during the territorial and early statehood period. James, a prominent businessman and merchant, ran a successful dry goods store and engaged in other commercial enterprises. He was also a trustee of the East Florida Seminary and served on the Alachua County Commission from 1895 to 1899. Elected County Treasurer in 1909, he held that office until his death in 1911. By 1907, James and Augusta had enlarged their home, adding the second floor bedrooms, the distinctive gambrel roof and gabled dormers, a first floor sitting room, and enclosing part of the back porch. Their son, Christopher, born in 1874, continued to live here after completing his education at the East Florida Seminary and the Citadel. He established a law practice in 1900, and served as mayor of Gainesville from 1910 to 1917 and in the Florida Legislature in 1917 and 1919. Ordained a Presbyterian minister in 1919, he left his law practice to serve the ministry in Oklahoma for the next 26 years. During this time the house was rented to various tenants. On his retirement in 1946, he returned home with his wife, Sarah Hamilton Matheson. She maintained her residence here after his death in 1952, and in 1989 donated the property to the Matheson Historical Center, Inc. The evolution of the Matheson House from a modest, mid-19th century farm house to its early 20th century appearance reflects the increasing prosperity of its owners in a growing community. It is preserved today as a reminder of their accomplishments and of those other early residents of Gainesville.
  

• Title: THE BAILEY HOUSE
  Location:on site at 1121 NW 6th Street
  County: Alachua
  City: Gainesville
  Description: This is one of the oldest houses in the city of Gainesville. It was constructed about 1850 by Major James B. Bailey, a prominent citizen of Alachua County. Bailey was a leading proponent of moving the county seat away from Newnansville to a new place, later known as Gainesville, part of which was to be located on his own plantation. The Bailey House was entered in the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. Although it has been slightly altered during its existence, Major Bailey's house survives as a good example of the Antebellum domestic architecture of this area.
  

• Title: MADISON STARKE PERRY
  Location: C.R. 234, on grounds of Oak Ridge Cemetery
  County: Alachua
  City: Alachua City: Rochelle
  Description: Madison Starke Perry, born in Lancaster County, S.C., moved to Alachua County, Florida and became a prosperous planter. His plantation was located about six miles east of Gainesville in the area of present-day Rochelle. Perry was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1849 and to the Florida Senate in 1850, where he gained a wide reputation as an orator. A Democrat, he was elected fourth Governor of Florida, serving from 1857 through 1861. While Perry was Governor, major developments occurred in Florida. The Florida Railroad from Fernandina to Cedar Key was completed. A long-standing border dispute with Georgia was settled. Expansion of slavery brought related unrest, and in response, Governor Perry called for a strong state militia and the upgrading of military resources. As the Presidential election of 1860 neared, Governor Perry warned that secession might be Florida's only option, should the Republican party be victorious. On November 27, 1860, Governor Perry recommended that a convention by called to consider secession. The Florida Convention adopted the Ordinance of Secession on January 10, 1861. The Governor quickly ordered evacuation of all United States troops from Florida military installations, and their replacement by State militia troops. At the expiration of his term as Governor in October, 1861, Perry joined the Confederate army. He was soon elected Colonel of the newly organized Seventh Regiment of the Florida infantry. Illness forced his resignation in 1863. Returning to his plantation in Alachua County, he died in 1865. Perry is buried here at Oak Ridge Cemetery on land he set aside in 1854 for the community. Buried here with him are his wife, Martha Starke Perry; a daughter Sallie Perry; and a son, Madison Starke Perry, Jr., also a Confederate veteran.
  

• Title: THE LAW SCHOOL MOUND
  Location:University of Florida Law School grounds
  County: Alachua
  City: Gainesville
  Description: 100 yards west is an aboriginal burial mound built ca. A.D. 1000 by Alachua tradition peoples, ancestors of the Potano Indians who lived in Alachua County in the 16th and 17th centuries. Initially several individuals were buried in a central grave, and a small earthen mound was raised over them. Through time additional burials were laid on the mound's surface and covered with earth. The villagers who built the mound probably lived along the shore of Lake Alice. Well before the mound was built, people of the Deptford Culture, 500 B.C. to A.D. 100, camped on this same location. The remains of their campsite were covered by the mound. First dug in 1881 by a local Gainesville resident, the mound and earlier campsite were excavated by Florida State Museum archaeologists and students in 1976.
  

• Title: HISTORY OF EVINSTON, FLORIDA / EVINSTON COMMUNITY STORE AND POST OFFICE
  Location: S.R. 225 at Evinston
  County: Alachua
  City: Evinston
  Description: The community of Evinston, Florida, situated on the Alachua-Marion County border, is part of the Spanish Arredondo Grant of 1817. A grant for this land was received from Arrendondo by N. Brush who later sold two sections to the Evins family of South Carolina. Captain W. D. Evins, of this family, had large land holdings here west of Orange Lake, and gave the right of way for the narrow gauge Florida Southern Railroad in 1882. The station was given the name Evinston and the depot was built in 1884. At that time the present country store and post office were established. The community once consisted of two other stores, a schoolhouse, 3 churches, a blacksmith shop, 2 packing houses and a grist mill. This area was known for orange groves until the 1890's freezes. Agricultural crops and cattle were and are still raised here. In 1956, the depot was moved and the railroad discontinued passenger service. Freight service continued until the tracks were removed in 1982. The community park was established in 1909 by J.L. Wolfenden, W.P. Shettleworth and F.B. Hester and continues to serve as a pleasure to the residents, many of whom are direct descendants of the original families. The Evinston community store, originally a warehouse, was built of heart pine in 1884 by W.P. Shettleworth. it was bought by Joseph Wolfenden, who first operated it as a store. The post office, established in 1882 was later moved into the building. The present store sits 100 feet south of its original location. It was moved in 1956 because of road paving. Located across from the railroad depot, it was a meeting place then as now. Numerous owners managed the store through the turn of the century. In 1909 H.D. Wood and Robert Evins bought the store. The later partnership of Wood and Swink, in 1934, is still indicated on the store front. Fred Wood became postmaster of Evinston in 1934 and served for 44 years, longer than any other postmaster in Florida. Still containing original post office boxes and equipment, this is one of the few remaining country store-post offices. In 1977, the country store was used as a set for the movie adaptation of Marjorie Rawlings' short story Gal Young'un.
  

• Title: DAVID YULEE and COTTON WOOD PLANTATION
  Location:S.R. 346 (High Street)
  County: Alachua
  City: Archer
  Description: David Levy Yulee was born at St. Thomas, West Indies, in 1810. He attended school in Virginia from 1819 until 1827 when he went to Micanopy to work on one of the plantations of his father, Moses Elias Levy. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1836. His time was divided between the practice of law and agriculture. Yulee was elected to the Florida Constitutional Convention at St. Joseph in 1838. He was a delegate to Congress from the Territory of Florida from 1841-45 and spearheaded the drive for statehood. In 1845, he was chosen as the first U.S. Senator from Florida and was the first Jew, in the United States, to be elected to the U.S. Senate. Defeated for reelection in 1851, Yulee was again elected to the Senate in 1855. In the Senate he served as chairman of the committees on naval affairs and on post offices and post roads. Yulee served in the U.S. Senate until he resigned upon the secession of Florida in 1861. While serving as territorial delegate, Yulee obtained a railroad survey of Florida and was one of the first railroad promoters in the South. In 1853 he incorporated the Florida Railroad which, when completed in 1860, passed through Archer, connecting Fernandina and Cedar Key. Long an advocate of the Southern movement and secession, Yulee supported Florida's entry into the Confederacy. However, he chose not to pursue elective office and devoted time to his plantations and his railroad. He was at odds with Confederate authorities who wanted to use materials from his railroad for more vital lines. Cotton Wood Plantation, located about one mile northeast of this site, was the home of Yulee during the War Between the States. Upon the fall of the Confederacy, personal baggage of President Jefferson Davis and part of the Confederate treasury, reached Cotton Wood, under armed guard, on May 22, 1865. Following the war, Yulee was imprisoned at Ft. Pulaski, at Savannah, until Gen. U.S. Grant intervened for his release in March of 1866. Yulee sold his holdings in Florida and moved to Washington, D.C. in 1880. He died in 1886 and was buried at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. Originally known as David Levy, he had his name changed by an act of the Florida Legislature in 1845.
  

• Title: JOSIAH T. WALLS
  Location: University Avenue, between NW 1st Street and NW 2n
  County: Alachua
  City: Gainesville
  Description: Born in 1842 to slave parents in Winchester, Va., little is known of Josiah T. Walls' early life. After a short term of Confederate service, he enlisted in the Third Regiment, U.S. Colored Troops in 1863. Transferred to Picolata on the St. Johns River in 1864, he married Helen Ferguson of Newnansville and in 1865 moved to Alachua County after he was mustered out. After passage of the U.S. Military Reconstruction Act of 1867, Walls entered into Florida politics; as a delegate to the 1868 State constitutional convention, followed by election as a State representative and later senator from Alachua County. The 1870 nominee of the Republican Party for Florida's only seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, Walls defeated Silas Niblack after a bitter contest, riddled with charges of fraud and intimidation. Josiah T. Walls thus became the State's first black congressman. Although unseated by the House near the end of his term, Walls was re-elected in 1872. In another contested election in 1874, Walls defeated J.J. Finley, a former Confederate General, but, in 1876, was again removed from office. Walls was elected to the Florida Senate that year. After 1879, Josiah Walls concentrated on his farming activities. He had first acquired land near Newnansville in 1868 but in 1870 had moved to Gainesville. In 1871 Walls bought for their home the western half of the block now bounded by University Avenue on the south and N.W. 2nd Street on the west. In 1873 he purchased a 1175 acre plantation on the west edge of Paynes Prairie. In that year he acquired the weekly newspaper, THE NEW ERA, and was admitted to the Florida Bar. Remaining active in local politics, Walls served at various times as mayor of Gainesville, a member of the Board of Public Instruction, and County Commissioner. A highly successful and prosperous farmer through the 1880's, he suffered financial ruin as a result of the severe freeze of the winter of 1894-95. Walls moved to Tallahassee to become the farm director at the school that is now Florida A. and M. University. He died in Tallahassee in 1905.
  

• Title: SANTA FE DE TOLOCA
  Location:Northern Alachua County C. R. 241
  County: Alachua
  City: Bland
  Description: A Spanish Mission was established near here within sight of the Santa Fe River about A.D. 1606 by Franciscan missionaries. The river took its name from the mission, as did the modern town of Santa Fe. At one time, Santa Fe de Toloca was said to be the principal Timucuan Indian mission in a chain that stretched across the interior of la Florida from St. Augustine on the east coast. during the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, la Florida was a battleground where England, France, and Spain fought for control of the New World. This was part of a greater struggle between Old and New World cultures that began with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492. Archaeological investigations between 1986 and 1989, by the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida, have revealed traces of a Spanish-style church, a cemetery with Indian burial in Christian fashion, traces of Indian village life, and fragments of seventeenth century Spanish and Indian pottery. The Indians at Santa Fe provisioned the Castillo de San Marcos and the town of St. Augustine with their crops of corn, wheat, and probably peaches, which they carried in baskets strapped to their backs along the Old Spanish Trail. Produce and cattle were also boated down the Santa Fe and Suwannee Rivers to Cuba. Several generations of Timucuans were born and died at this site. Everyday life centered on tending their gardens and studying Roman Catholic doctrine. Their routines were broken by visitations by the Bishop of Cuba, the Indian Rebellion of 1656, epidemics of disease introduced by Europeans, and the influx of other Indian groups. The mission church and village were attacked and burned in 1702 by invading English soldiers and their Indian allies from the Carolinas. The destruction of Santa Fe de Toloca, and the other missions of la Florida, weakened Spain's control and led, ultimately to Florida becoming a United States' possession in 1821. Santa Fe de Toloca was located at an existing Indian village. This may have been the same village visited by Hernando de Soto's army in 1539; a village called Cholupaha. This area was called "Bland" by its first and only postmaster, J.L. Matthews, who named it for his son in 1903.
  

• Title: MELROSE
  Location:on S.R. 26 between Quail & Trout Sts.
  County: Alachua
  City: Melrose
  Description: The region south of Santa Fe Lake was not settled until after the Seminole War in 1842, although it was on the Spanish mission trail from St. Augustine from about 1600 to 1763 and, during the English (1763-1784) and second Spanish (1784-1821) periods, on the overland route to Pensacola. Florida's first Federal highway, the 1826 Bellamy road, followed about the same path. Many of the early landowners came from South Carolina and Georgia. After the decade of Reconstruction following the Civil War, an influx of new families came to the region, many to engage in planting orange groves, a few of which had been started in the 1850's. Because the route of the Florida Railroad, completed in 1861 and reorganized after the War, passed west of the region, the Santa Fe Canal Company was chartered in March of 1877 to open a waterway from the railroad in Waldo through Lake Alto to Santa Fe Lake. In May of 1877 Alexander Goodson, Isaac Weston, and Meridth Granger, platted a 30-block town site south of the little bay on the southeast side of Santa Fe Lake. The old Bellamy Road was the main east-west axis, with Centre Street, straddling the Alachua, Putnam, and Clay county border, as the north-south axis. The origin of the town name, Melrose, is shrouded in conflicting legends. The canal linking Waldo to Santa Fe Lake was completed in March of 1881. The stern-wheel steamer, F.S. Lewis, built in Waldo, made its maiden voyage in April 1881. Northern visitors, who came to improve their health and invest in orange groves, built winter cottages or stayed at the boarding houses or the several hotels that catered to the winter tourists. The town soon had a number of general stores, a sawmill, cotton gin, livery stables, several churches, and a high school. The Western Railroad reached Melrose from Green Cove Springs in 1890. The town was then a thriving waterfront resort, lake port, and a horticultural and agricultural center. Devastated by the freezes of 1894-95, the citrus groves never recovered. Melrose became a quiet lakeside retreat for seasonal and week-end residents, with a small permanent population. In 1901 Melrose was incorporated but gave up its charter in 1917. Many of the nineteenth century homes and buildings still survive. The Melrose Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
  

• Title: HOGTOWN SETTLEMENT / FORT HOGTOWN
  Location:in the public park on corner of 34th Street and 8t
  County: Alachua
  City: Gainesville
  Description: Near this site was located Hogtown, one of the earliest settlements in Alachua County. It was originally an Indian village which in 1824 had fourteen inhabitants. Hogtown settlement is also mentioned in documents of the early nineteenth century which discuss land grants issued by the Spanish crown during the Second Spanish Period in Florida's history (1783-1821). In the late 1820's Hogtown became a white settlement as American pioneers occupied Indian land from which the Seminoles had been removed by the terms of the Treaty of Moultrie Creek. In 1854, the town of Gainesville was founded on a site located a few miles east of Hogtown. Fort Hogtown During the Second Seminole War (1835-42), a settler's fort was built at the Hogtown settlement near this site. Shortly before the onset of that war, men from the Hogtown settlement and from Spring Grove, a community located about four miles to the west, organized a volunteer company of mounted riflemen, the Spring Grove Guards. Spring Grove was at that time the seat of justice in Alachua county (1832-1839). For several months, members of the Guards periodically paraded and patrolled the countryside to protect the inhabitants against Indians. The fort at Hogtown was one of more than a dozen Second Seminole War forts located in or near present-day Alachua County.
  

• Title: NEWNANSVILLE TOWN SITE
  Location:north of town on S.R. 235.
  County: Alachua
  City: Alachua
  Description: At the end of 1824, Alachua County was organized as a political unit of the new Territory of Florida. The Seminole inhabitants of the Alachua region had recently been ordered to a reservation, and land was available there for white settlers. Early in 1826, a post office was established in this area called "Dell's P.O." It derived its name from the Dell brothers, who had first visited the Alachua region during the "Patriot War" (1812-14) and had later returned to settle there. In 1828, the settlement near Dell's P.O. was officially made the Alachua County seat and named "Newnansville" in honor of a Patriot War hero, Daniel Newnan. Newnansville became the junction of several important trails through frontier Florida. This marker stands on the site of the Bellamy Road, a cross-Florida route authorized by Congress in 1824 as the first federal road in the new territory. During the Second Seminole War (1835-42), hundreds of displaced refugee settlers were sheltered at Newnansville and also at Ft. Gilleland, a nearby military post built in 1836. After the hostilities were concluded, Newnansville prospered as a commercial center for the expanding Middle Florida frontier. The chief products of the area were corn, cotton, and after the Civil War, citrus. Except for a few years between 1832 and 1839, Newnansville served as the Alachua County seat until 1854. In that year, the political center of the county was moved to the new railroad town of Gainesville. During the next three decades, Newnansville slowly declined in population and importance. The community was dealt a final blow in 1884 when the Savannah, Florida and Western Railroad bypassed it. A new town, Alachua, grew up near that railroad. As the years passed, the residents of Newnansville moved there or elsewhere. By the 1970's only a few traces remained of the former community. In 1974, the Newnansville Town Site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places as an historic district in recognition of the importance of that nineteenth century community.
  

• Title: LaCROSSE, FLORIDA
  Location:near junction of S.R. 121 & S.R. 235. On grounds o
  County: Alachua
  City: LaCrosse
  Description: The LaCrosse area was settled before the Civil War. Cotton was the chief crop. John Eli Futch was a cotton buyer who built a warehouse for cotton, a store to serve the growers, and his home near the store. This store became the first post office and Mrs. Futch named the town LaCrosse. The post office was established April 22, 1881, and the town incorporated December 17, 1897. Before the boll weevil ended the cotton era, LaCrosse had two cotton gins and grist mills. Naval stores was also a prominent industry until this activity ended in the 1940s. The town was a shipping point for potatoes for many years and had a large cooper's shed which built barrels for shipping the potatoes by rail from a depot here. It is still an important farming area, producing corn, vegetables, tobacco and livestock.
  

• Title: DICKISON AND HIS MEN / JEFFERSON DAVIS' BAGGAGE
  Location:S.R. 24. in Waldo on front of caboose in City Park
  County: Alachua
  City: Waldo
  Description: John Jackson Dickison (1816-1902), Florida's famous Civil War guerrilla leader, bivouacked at Camp Baker, south of here, during the closing weeks of the conflict. Dickison and his men became legendary figures. As Company H, Second Florida Cavalry, they engaged in skirmishes, raids, battles, scouting expeditions, and forced marches from the time of organization at Flotard's Pond, Marion County, in 1862, until the force was mustered out at Waldo on May 20, 1865. JEFFERSON DAVIS' BAGGAGE On June 15, 1865, a detachment of Union soldiers under Captain O.E. Bryant seized personal baggage belonging to Confederate President Jefferson Davis and some of the Confederate government's records in a house near this site. The trunks and papers were hidden first at Senator David Levy Yulee's plantation, "Cottonwood" between Archer and Gainesville. The baggage was moved to Waldo and placed in care of the railroad agent.
  

• Title: CITY OF GAINESVILLE
  Location:between 1st St.NE & 3rd St.NE at Municipal Bldg on
  County: Alachua
  City: Gainesville
  Description: Designated the County Seat in 1854, and incorporated as a City in 1869, Gainesville takes its name from General Edmund Gaines, captor of Aaron Burr and commander of U.S. Army troops in Florida during the Second Seminole War. The town was the fourth Alachua County Seat of government. The University of Florida and its educational predecessors have been located in Gainesville since the 1850's.
  

• Title: FIRST GAINESVILLE SKIRMISH / BATTLE OF GAINESVILLE
  Location:between 1st St.NE & 3rd St.NE at Municipal Bldg on
  County: Alachua
  City: Gainesville
  Description: The first Civil War gunfire in Gainesville's streets came onFebruary 15, 1864, when a raiding party of 50 men from the 40th Massachusetts Cavalry entered the City to attempt the capture of two trains. The raid was unproductive, for the Federal troops were met and repulsed by the Second Florida Cavalry at what is now Main Street at University Avenue. Five days later, the main Federal force was defeated at the battle of Olustee, 50 miles to the north. BATTLE OF GAINESVILLE A Civil War battle was fought in Gainesville on August 17, 1864, when about 300 occupying Federal Troops were attacked by Florida Cavalry under Captain J.J. Dickison, called "Florida's most conspicuous soldier." The Federals were driven from the City after a brisk fight and suffered sever casualties during hard pursuit, which ended in victory for the Confederate force.
  

• Title: SPANISH CATTLE RANCHING
  Location: S.R. 24.
  County: Alachua
  City: Gainesville
  Description: Present-day Gainesville was the center of a large Spanish cattle ranching industry, founded on the labor of native Timuqua Indians, during the 1600s. LaChua, largest of the ranches, was a Spanish corruption of an Indian word, and in turn was corrupted into "Alachua County." English raids destroyed the Indian civilization and Spanish ranches, although large wild herds of cattle were not uncommon during Seminole War years (1835-1842).
  

• Title: EAST FLORIDA SEMINARY
  Location:between 1st St.NE & 3rd St.NE at Municipal Bldg on
  County: Alachua
  City: Gainesville
  Description: Founded as the Gainesville Academy before the Civil War and later renamed, the East Florida Seminary served Gainesville's need for higher education until the University of Florida was created bythe Florida Legislature in 1905. The Seminary school building, erected after an earlier structure burned in 1833, was converted to use as a fellowship hall by the First Methodist Church, at 419 N.E. 1st Avenue.
  

• Title: ALACHUA COUNTY COURTHOUSE
  Location:corner of Main (SR 329) & SE 1st St.
  County: Alachua
  City: Gainesville
  Description: The Alachua County Commission, by authority of the Florida Legislature, selected this site for a courthouse in 1854, moving the county seat from Newnansville. The first courthouse was a frame building completed in 1856. It was demolished on the completion of a red brick courthouse in 1886. The current building, completed in 1958, and its 1962 addition, were erected in response to the continuing expansion of governmental needs in Alachua County.
  

• Title: FORT CLARKE
  Location:W. of city on S.R. 26, on grounds of Ft. Clark Chu
  County: Alachua
  City: Gainesville
  Description: Near this site was located Fort Clarke, originally a U.S. Army post during the Seminole War, and afterwards a settlement. The name is preserved in nearby Fort Clarke Church. At this site crossed the early settlement and military road connecting the old county seats at Newnansville (near present-day Alachua) and Spring Grove with Micanopy. Fort Clarke was named for a U.S. Army officer.
  

• Title: MICANOPY, FLORIDA
  Location:C.R. 25A at N.E. Peach Ave. in front of gazebo.
  County: Alachua
  City: Micanopy
  Description: A Timucua Indian village of the Potano tribe was located near here when the early Spanish Explorer Hernando De Soto led his expedition through the area in 1539. Botanist William Bartram visited Cuscawilla village nearby in 1774. The first permanent white settlement in what is now Alachua County, called Wanton, was started in 1821. Wanton Post Office was established in 1826; the name was changed to Micanopy in 1834. Fort Micanopy, also called Fort Defiance, stood near here during the Second Seminole War. Several skirmishes were fought nearby. The town was incorporated September 15, 1858.
  

• Title: ARCHER, FLORIDA
  Location:Main Street at Alabama Street on City Hall grounds
  County: Alachua
  City: Archer
  Description: When Europeans first arrived in this area in the 16th century, the inhabitants were Timucuan Indians. In 1774, traveling botanist William Bartram visited Seminole Indians nearby. In the 1850's a town called Deer Hammock was established here, probably in anticipation of the construction of the Florida Railroad from Fernandina to Cedar Key. Upon completion of the railroad to Deer Hammock in 1859, the name of the town was changed in honor of James T. Archer, Florida's Secretary of State 1845-49 and advocate of internal improvements. The Archer post office was established the same year. In May, 1865, the remnants of the Confederate treasury, removed from captured Richmond and conveyed by baggage train into Florida, were hidden at Cotton Wood, the Archer plantation of David Yulee, just prior to Union seizure at Waldo. In the contested presidential election of 1876, the votes of the Archer precinct for the Republican candidate were among those challenged but allowed to stand, thus securing the victory of Rutherford B. Hayes over Samuel J. Tilden. The town of Archer was incorporated in 1878. Among new arrivals in the 1880's were Quakers who planted extensive orange groves using avenues of oaks as windbreaks. The freezes of 1886 and 1894-95 killed the orange trees, but the oaks survived to shade the city streets. Archer's oldest surviving industry is the Maddox Foundry, established in 1905 by H. Maddox and operated by his descendants.
  

• Title: CITY OF ALACHUA
  Location:U.S. 441.
  County: Alachua
  City: Alachua
  Description: Upon completion to Gainesville of the Savannah, Florida and Western Railway in May 1884, citizens from the former county seat at Newnansville were among those who moved to the present site of Alachua which was near the railroad. The city is located in a productive farming area. The Bellamy Road, a national highway from St. Augustine to Pensacola authorized in 1824, originally passed near the northeast city boundary. The post office was established April 30, 1887. The city was incorporated April 12, 1905.
  

• Title: NEWBERRY, FLORIDA
  Location:U.S. Highway 26.
  County: Alachua
  City: Newberry
  Description: Only after about 1870 did phosphates become an important world industry. In Alachua County, phosphates were discovered late in the 1870's, but as in other regions of Florida, the major developments in phosphate mining and processing began about 1889. The western part of Alachua County contained the major local deposits of rock phosphates Mines began to spring up after 1890, and by 1893, the Savannah, Florida, and Western Railway, already active in the area, extended its tracks southward from High Springs through the phosphate producing territory. As a result of the mining activity and the appearance of the railroad, a new settlement appeared. A post office was established on March 19, 1894, under the name of Newtown; on August 1, the name was changed to Newberry. Most probably the new name was intended to honor Newberry, South Carolina, as many people had moved to North Florida from that town in the nineteenth century. The town of Newberry was incorporated in 1895. Phosphates continued to be the area's most important industry until the events of World War I reduced the market for the mineral. The region was later noted for its watermelon production and for other agricultural crops.
  

• Title: HAWTHORNE, FLORIDA
  Location:North Johnson Street.
  County: Alachua
  City: Hawthorne
  Description: In 1774, noted botanist William Bartram travelled across what is now the southeastern corner of Alachua County following an old Indian and trading trail. In Florida's territorial period, English-speaking settlers used the same route as a frontier road. By 1840, another road form the north crossed that trail near present day Hawthorne. In 1848, Morrison had begun to operate a mill there on what Bartram had described as a "rapid brook." A United States post office called Morrison's Mills was established at that site in 1853 in order to serve the increasing population of the area. In 1879, the Peninsular Railroad was completed from Waldo to Ocala, bypassing Morrison's Mills. In that year, a new town grew up nearer the railroad. This village was at first called Jamestown, but in 1880, the name was changed to Hawthorne. Both names were in honor of James M. Hawthorne, a local landowner. In 1881, the Florida Southern Railway was completed from Palatka to Gainesville, crossing the Peninsular Railroad at Hawthorne. In the 1880's the community there was also known unofficially as Wait's Crossing in reference to another family living in the area. In 1883, a stone quarry near Hawthorne became the site of Florida's earliest phosphate mill. The mill was operated for two years by Dr. C. A. Simmons, who in 1879 had been the first person to recognize phosphate in Florida. However, the most important resources of the Hawthorne area have been its agricultural and forestry products such as sea island cotton and turpentine.
  

• Title: WALDO
  Location:S.W. 5th Blvd.(east bound SR24) at S.W. 2nd Way in
  County: Alachua
  City: Waldo
  Description: The first permanent English-speaking settlers came to the northeast portion of Alachua County in the 1820's. In 1837, during the Second Seminole War, an army post, Fort Harlee, was established on the Santa Fe River about three miles north of this spot. Abandoned as a military installation in 1838, the settlement at Fort Harlee served as a postal center for the surrounding community until 1858. In that year a post office was established at a town being founded at the point where the Florida Railroad (then under construction) would cross the Bellamy Road. This new town was named Waldo in honor of Dr. Benjamin Waldo. The name was probably selected by David Levy Yulee, president of the Florida Railroad. By February 1, 1859, the Florida Railroad was completed through Waldo to Gainesville. The Peninsular Railroad, planned as early as 1859 to run from Waldo to Tampa, was completed to Ocala in 1881. Both roads were part of the Florida Transit Railway. Waldo had become an important rail junction and continued to be until the shops and headquarters were moved beginning in 1929. Another transportation link was established in 1879 when the Santa Fe Canal Company completed construction of two canals from Waldo to Melrose via Lake Alto and Lake Santa Fe. In the late 19th century the steamboat "F.S. Lewis" and later the "Alert" carried passengers and freight. Commercial use of the canals declined around 1920, but they continue to be used by pleasure craft. Waldo citizens met in 1876 and organized a municipal government. The town was incorporated August 1, 1907. Many settlers and tourists came to Waldo in the 1880's, reflecting the growth of the citrus industry in North Florida. The freezes of 1886 and 1894-95 ruined the citrus groves in the Waldo area, but the region has remained an agriculturally productive one.
  

• Title: HIGH SPRINGS, FLORIDA
  Location:U.S. Highway 27.
  County: Alachua
  City: High Springs
  Description: The northwest region of Alachua County was probably first settled on a permanent basis by English speaking people during the late 1830's. One of the earliest settlements `in the vicinity was a Crockett Springs, located about three miles east of present day High Springs. Settlers who were living there during the 1840's included Fernando Underwood and Marshal Blanton. No town developed in the area before the latter part of the nineteenth century. In 1884, the Savannah, Florida, and Western Railroad was extended from Live Oak to Gainesville. A post office and station were established here in that year under the name of Stantaffey, which was a common spelling of the name of the nearby Santa Fe River. The town was also known unofficially as Orion before the name was changed in 1880 to High Springs. In the next few years, high Springs boomed as a result of the development of phosphate mining in the area. In 1892, the town was incorporated. During the next year, the Savannah, Florida, and Western Railroad completed its South Florida Division which connected High Springs with Port Tampa. By the beginning of the twentieth century, High Springs was known as an important railroad center. In later years, High Springs has been the focus for the surrounding agricultural region.
  

• Title: HAWTHORNE, FLORIDA
  Location:Original location unknown, Possible location was i
  County: Alachua
  City: Hawthorne
  Description: In 1774, noted botanist William Bartram travelled across what is now the southeastern corner of Alachua County following an old Indian and trading trail. In Florida's territorial period, English-speaking settlers used the same route as a frontier road. By 1840, another road form the north crossed that trail near present day Hawthorne. In 1848, Morrison had begun to operate a mill there on what Bartram had described as a "rapid brook." A United States post office called Morrison's Mills was established at that site in 1853 in order to serve the increasing population of the area. In 1879, the Peninsular Railroad was completed from Waldo to Ocala, bypassing Morrison's Mills. In that year, a new town grew up nearer the railroad. This village was at first called Jamestown, but in 1880, the name was changed to Hawthorne. Both names were in honor of James M. Hawthorn, a local landowner. In 1881, the Florida Southern Railway was completed from Palatka to Gainesville, crossing the Peninsular Railroad at Hawthorne. In the 1880's the community there was also known unofficially as Wait's Crossing in reference to another family living in the area. In 1883, a stone quarry near Hawthorne became the site of Florida's earliest phosphate mill. The mill was operated for two years by Dr. C. A. Simmons, who in 1879 had been the first person to recognize phosphate in Florida. However, the most important resources of the Hawthorne area have been its agricultural and forestry products such as sea island cotton and turpentine.
  

• Title: NEWNANSVILLE
  Location:U.S. 441, across road from Newnansville Cemetery
  County: Alachua
  City: Alachua
  Description: Two miles to the north, Newnansville was the seat of Alachua County and center of trade and plantation life in the antebellum period. Its chief products were corn, cotton, and, after the War Between the States, citrus. In 1856 the courthouse was moved to Gainesville. It further declined when the freeze of 1886 destroyed the citrus. Lack of railway connections caused commercial stagnation. Its population was eventually absorbed by neighboring Alachua.
  

• Title: WILLIAM BARTRAM (1739-1823)
  Location:N.E.Cholokka Blvd. County Road 25-A at N.E. Semin
  County: Alachua
  City: Micanopy
  Description: The great quaker naturalist of Philadelphia made a long journey through the southeastern states in the 1770's collecting botanical specimens. In May, 1774, he visited the Seminole Chief, Cowkeeper, at the Indian village of Cuscowilla located near this spot. His book, "TRAVELS...", provided the earliest reliable account of North Florida landscape, flora, fauna and Indian life and his vivid images of local scenes inspired Coleridge, Wordsworth and Emerson.
  

• Title:
  Location:
  County: Alachua
  City: Melbourne
  Description: This site was the 129-building Naval Air Station constructed at the Melbourne Municipal Airport at the beginning of World War II. It was commissioned as Operational Training Unit #2 on October 20, 1942 and closed on February 15, 1946. The Station was used for training newly commissioned Navy and Marine pilots. There were over 2,200 pilots who trained in Grumman F4F Wildcat and F6F Hellcat fighter planes. Of the pilots trained there, 63 died in aerial accidents and two enlisted men died in ground-related accidents. The location served more than 310 officers and 1,355 enlisted personnel. Today the area is operated by the City of Melbourne Airport Authority.
  

• Title: GAINESVILLE’S RAILROADS
  Location: Alachua County
  County: Alachua
  City: Gainesville
  Description: The coming of the Florida Railroad opened up the interior of Florida for both settlement and trading and helped establish Gainesville. On February 1, 1859 the Florida Railroad entered town and connected Fernandina Beach with Cedar Key by 1861. Built from the northeast along what is now Waldo Road, the rails crossed 13th Street at Archer Road, and continued southwest along Archer Road to Cedar Key. The 19th century Florida roads were sandy, swampy and nearly impassible, so early rail access to two ports dramatically increased Gainesville's prosperity. Railroads provided transportation for outgoing agricultural products and brought in the region's first tourists, creating a demand for hotels, restaurants and other services. As the demand for North Central Florida agriculture grew at the turn of the 20th century, more railroads crisscrossed the region. The last railroad passenger service in Gainesville ended in 1971. The Atlantic Coast Line (ACL) Railroad built a modern depot in 1948 rerouting its trains from Main Street downtown to tracks on Northwest 6th Street. The ACL depot is presently part of the downtown campus of Santa Fe Community College.
  

• Title: Turpentine Industry
  Location:
  County: Alachua
  City: Gainesville
  Description: The naval stores industry was important to maritime power worldwide. Pine tar and pitch were used to seal wooden ships and protect sails and rigging. When settlers came to America  in Florida (1565), in Virginia (1607) and in Massachusetts (1620)  they found vast pine forests with resinous tar and pitch, a scarce commodity for European competitors with wooden fleets. Settlers at first produced pine pitch and tar by distilling resin-soaked fat pine wood from dead tree logs, limbs and knots, covering them with soil and burning them to yield tar and charcoal. After fat pine wood became scarce, pitch was made by chopping deep cavities or boxes near the base of living trees to collect gum. Only crude gum was exported until simple distillation techniques separated volatile turpentine from the residual rosin poured hot into barrels for domestic use or export. During the next three hundred years, with little change, this forest product industry prospered, first in the Carolinas, then Georgia and Florida to become a major U.S. industry. Production of gum was greatly accelerated and tree life protected when the Herty clay cups, introduced in early 1900s, replaced cut boxes. Characters 1,189 Side 2. From 1909 until 1923, Florida led the nation in pine gum production. In 1909, the peak year in the U.S.A. gum yielded 750,000 barrels of turpentine and 2.5 million barrels of rosin. The 1910 census listed 27,2ll men and 3l6 women, mostly blacks, working in the industry with 65 percent in Florida. Fairbanks, Florida was a turpentine still town with the Mize family operation processing ten 50-gallon barrels of crude gum at a time. This still required six crops of 10,000 faces (an area where streaks of bark are removed) and each crop covered 400 acres. As recently as 1951, 105 fire stills operated around Gainesville. The Mize family operated the Fairbanks still until 1950. Many of the buildings (the coopers shed, machine shop and worker homes) still stand. Ellis Mize (1882-1967) donated land with a lake bearing his name to the University of Floridas forestry education program. In 1948, they deeded this private cemetery on that property to the Fairbanks Baptist Church. Because of his love for the pine tree industry, Mize had his granite tombstone carved to resemble a working face pine tree. This marker is dedicated to all who toiled to provide an income for families and communities and resinous products worldwide.
  

• Title: GAINESVILLE'S RAILROADS
  Location:
  County: Alachua
  City: Gainesville
  Description: The coming of the Florida Railroad opened up the interior of Florida for both settlement and trading and helped establish Gainesville. On February 1, 1859 the Florida Railroad entered town and connected Fernandina Beach with Cedar Key by 1861. Built from the northeast along what is now Waldo Road, the rails crossed 13th Street at Archer Road, and continued southwest along Archer Road to Cedar Key. The 19th century Florida roads were sandy, swampy and nearly impassible, so early rail access to two ports dramatically increased Gainesville's prosperity. Railroads provided transportation for outgoing agricultural products and brought in the region's first tourists, creating a demand for hotels, restaurants and other services. As the demand for North Central Florida agriculture grew at the turn of the 20th century, more railroads crisscrossed the region. The last railroad passenger service in Gainesville ended in 1971. The Atlantic Coast Line (ACL) Railroad built a modern depot in 1948 rerouting its trains from Main Street downtown to tracks on Northwest 6th Street. The ACL depot is presently part of the downtown campus of Santa Fe Community College. Gainesville's first railroad, the Florida Railroad, was started in 1859. In 1881, the Florida Southern Railroad reached town from Palatka, Hawthorne and Rochelle, entering at South Main Street from Hawthorne Road and running the length of Main Street to 8th Aveenue. A route from Rochelle provided service to Ocala. Three years later, the Savannah, Florida & Western Railroad linked to these tracks, providing service through Alachua to Waycross, Georgia. The two lines merged in 1902, becoming the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, providing service from Tampa Bay to New York. ACL trains ran in the middle of Main Street stopping for passengers to use the city's hotels. In 1895, the Gainesville and Gulf Railroad built a line to Micanopy along NW 6th Street. By 1899, the rails reached south past Fairfield to Emathala and north to Sampson City. The Gainesville and Gulf was sold in 1906 and renamed the Tampa and Jacksonville or T&J. In 1900, the Seaboard Air Line Railroad (SAL) was established and acquired the old Florida Railroad right-of-way through Gainesville. When the SAL bought the T&J in 1926, it was renamed the Jacksonville, Gainesville & Gulf. This line was abandoned in 1943.
  

• Title: HISTORIC HAILE HOMESTEAD AT KANAPAHA PLANTATION
  Location:Gainesville
  County: Alachua
  City: Gainesville
  Description: One of the oldest houses in Alachua County, the Historic Haile Homestead was the home of Thomas Evans Haile, his wife Esther Serena Chesnut Haile and 14 of their children. The Hailes came here from Camden, South Carolina in 1854 to establish a 1,500-acre Sea Island Cotton plantation which they named Kanapaha. Enslaved black craftsmen completed the 6,200-square-foot manse in 1856. The 1860 census showed 66 slaves living here. The Hailes survived bankruptcy in 1868 and turned the property into a productive farm, growing a variety of fruits and vegetables including oranges. Serena Haile died in 1895; Thomas in 1896. The Homestead, which passed to son Evans, a prominent defense attorney, became the site of house parties attended by some of Gainesvilles most distinguished citizens. The Hailes had the unusual habit of writing on the walls; all together over 12,500 words with the oldest writing dating to the 1850s. The Homestead was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. A restoration was completed in 1996. Still partly owned by descendants of Evans Haile, the Homestead is one of the few remaining homesteads built by Sea Island cotton planters in this part of Florida.
  

• Title: BLAND COMMUNITY
  Location:
  County: Alachua
  City: GAINESVILLE
  Description: Settled in the 1840s by cotton planters from Georgia and South Carolina, Bland became a diverse agrarian area where farmers and sharecroppers raised cattle and grew cotton and a variety of fruits and vegetables. Joseph Fate Lafayette Matthews (1868-1934) was the towns most prominent citizen who moved to the area from Bradford County in 1899. He and Thomas A. Doke initially purchased 720 acres of land which was once part of the Samuel R. Pyles plantation. Matthews built a large home and general merchandise store just under a mile south of here. With cotton gins and a grist mill, the store served as the center of commerce for the area. In May 1903 Matthews opened a post office which was named for his son, Blan C. Matthews (1902-1927). Fate Matthews served as the only postmaster until the closing of the post office in July 1906. By the late 1920s he was one of the countys largest land owners. On December 1, 1934, Matthews, then president of the Bank of Alachua, was murdered in his home by a man upon whose house he had foreclosed. William and Elsie Washington successfully homesteaded 104 acres in this area in 1879. Among their many descendants is actress, comedienne, and humanitarian Whoopi Goldberg.
  

• Title: MT. PLEASANT CEMETERY
  Location:
  County: Alachua
  City: Gainesville
  Description: The Mt. Pleasant Cemetery was established c. 1883 by the Mt. Pleasant Methodist Episcopal Church as a final resting place for its members and other African Americans in the city of Gainesville. Founded in 1867, the church purchased the 5.38-acre property for $125 in 1886. Among the earliest graves are those of Helen H. Wall (1847-1883) and Jefferson Garrison (1871-1884). Some headstones are of marble or granite carved with symbolic designs, others are simple vaults of stuccoed brick or concrete. Early African American community members and their descendents are buried in individual and family plots here. Among them are civic and religious leaders, educators, physicians, dentists, craftsmen, servicemen, and business owners, some of whom began life as enslaved people. Buried here are the Reverend Alexander DeBose, pastor of the Mt. Pleasant church in the 1870s; Dr. R. B. Ayer and Dr. Julius Parker, the citys first black physicians; Dr. E. H. DeBose, Sr., Gainesvilles first black dentist; and Lance Corporal Vernon T. Carter, Jr., Gainesvilles first Viet Nam War casualty. The cemetery is still maintained by the Mt. Pleasant United Methodist Church, located in Gainesville's Pleasant Street Historic District.
  

• Title: MOUNT PLEASANT UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
  Location:
  County: Alachua
  City: Gainesville
  Description: Mount Pleasant Methodist Episcopal Church was founded on July 16, 1867, with the Reverend Isaac Davis serving as the first pastor. The Board of Trustees of the oldest black congregation in Gainesville purchased the lot on which the present church still stands for $160 from Charles W. Brush. He sold lots after the Civil War mainly to African American individuals and institutions in what is now the Pleasant Street Historic District. The founding trustees were Lojurn Davis, Alexander Hamilton, Ethan Daniels, Henry Roberts, William Anderson, Adam Dancy, Shadrach Abendnego, Robert McDuffie and Dr. McDowell. Mount Pleasant soon became a social and religious center for the neighborhood. The first Florida Annual Conference that brought together Methodist churches with black congregations was held at Mount Pleasant in 1874, while the Reverend Alexander DeBose was pastor. The original wood frame building was replaced in 1887 with a brick structure, which was destroyed by fire in 1903. The present church, built of red brick in the stately Romanesque revival style, was completed in 1906 and is noted for its beautiful stained glass windows. In 1968, the congregation was renamed the Mount Pleasant United Methodist Church.
  

• Title: MT. PLEASANT CEMETERY
  Location:
  County: Alachua
  City: Gainesville
  Description: The Mt. Pleasant Cemetery was established c. 1883 by the Mt. Pleasant Methodist Episcopal Church as a final resting place for its members and other African Americans in the city of Gainesville. Founded in 1867, the church purchased the 5.38-acre property for $125 in 1886. Among the earliest graves are those of Helen H. Wall (1847-1883) and Jefferson Garrison (1871-1884). Some headstones are of marble or granite carved with symbolic designs, others are simple vaults of stuccoed brick or concrete. Early African American community members and their descendents are buried in individual and family plots here. Among them are civic and religious leaders, educators, physicians, dentists, craftsmen, servicemen, and business owners, some of whom began life as enslaved people. Buried here are the Reverend Alexander DeBose, pastor of the Mt. Pleasant church in the 1870s; Dr. R. B. Ayer and Dr. Julius Parker, the citys first black physicians; Dr. E. H. DeBose, Sr., Gainesvilles first black dentist; and Lance Corporal Vernon T. Carter, Jr., Gainesvilles first Viet Nam War casualty. The cemetery is still maintained by the Mt. Pleasant United Methodist Church, located in Gainesville's Pleasant Street Historic District.
  

• Title: ROPER PARK/OLD CITY PARK
  Location:
  County: Alachua
  City: Gainesville
  Description: Roper Park is the original site of the parade grounds (in front of this site) and barracks (behind this site) for the East Florida Seminary, a non-sectarian educational institute and a forerunner of the University of Florida. James H. Roper (1835-1883) moved to Gainesville in 1856 and founded the first school, the Gainesville Academy. The Gainesville Academy moved to this site in 1857. Roper, a member of the State Senate in 1865-66 and the Board of Education, engineered the relocation of the East Florida Seminary to Gainesville by donating his schools building and site in 1866. He was the president for the first two years. The barracks for the East Florida Seminary were built on this site in 1886. The two-story frame building had a double veranda along the south side, and a two-story porch surrounded an open courtyard in its center. Out-of-town students lived in 45 rooms that contained two iron beds with moss mattresses and feather pillows, a study table, a washstand, and a stove. The City of Gainesville purchased the block in 1906. In 1907, Gainesvilles mayor bought the barracks and added them to the nearby White House Hotel.
  

• Title: EARLETON, FLORIDA
  Location:
  County: Alachua
  City: MELROSE
  Description: Side 1. Earleton is named for General Elias B. Earle (1821-1893) who received government land grants in Florida for his service in the U.S./Mexican War (1846-48). Born into a prominent South Carolina family, Gen. Earle fought in the Palmetto Regiment, enlisted as a private, and at the war’s end received the honorary commission of General from the Governor of South Carolina. He moved to the western shore of Lake Santa Fe with his wife and four children between 1856 and 1860. When the Civil War began, Gen. Earle owned a 2000-acre cotton plantation north of here and had 50 slaves, making him one of the largest slave holders in Alachua County. A colonel of the Seventh Florida Regiment, Earle joined Capt. J.J. Dickison’s Company H for the 1864 Battle of Gainesville, leading an infantry of ninety men down what is now E. University Ave. After the war, Earle became a director for the canal company connecting Lake Santa Fe to Lake Alto and president of the Green Cove Springs to Melrose Railroad. His son-in-law, German botanist Baron Hans von Luttichau (1845-1926) created the “Collins-Belvedere Azalea Gardens” in Earleton, introducing Formosa azaleas to Florida. Earle is buried in the family plot at Eliam Cemetery in Melrose. Side 2. St. John’s Episcopal Church and Cemetery were established at this site in the late 1870s by English settlers. Completed in 1880, the church was one of the first carpenter gothic chapels in Florida. It was at the time known as the mission at Balmoral and the Lake Santa Fe Mission. When Trinity Episcopal Church (still standing) was completed in Melrose in 1886, this smaller church was sold for $15 and torn down. The cemetery was established in 1878 and held between 60-70 graves at the turn of the 20th Century. Little is known about who is buried there because the records were lost when the Diocesan headquarters burned during the Jacksonville fire of 1901. The only legible headstone belongs to Emma Lucy Hilton, who was born in England in 1827, and died in Earleton in 1884. On the banks of Lake Santa Fe (east of here) sat the Balmoral Hotel, which catered to northern tourists who came by train to Waldo and then by steamboat through the Lake Alto canal. Balmoral was an impressive two-story, U-shaped structure and a popular resort through the 1880s, until the 1894-95 freezes ruined the local economy. The hotel was turned into a private residence and eventually burned. No trace is left.
  

• Title: THOMAS GILBERT PEARSON
  Location:
  County: Alachua
  City: Archer
  Description: Thomas Gilbert Pearson waws an ornithologist, college professor, and world leader of the bird preservation movement. Pearson grew up in Archer, where he collected bird skins and eggs and taught himself ornithology. To pay for his schooling at Guilford College in North Carolina, Pearson donated his collection to the college museum and served as curator. He taught at Guilford and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He joined the American Ornithologists' Union, which initiated the Audubon movement to protect the nation's rapidly declining bird populations. He founded and directed the Audubon Society of North Carolina, the South's first state wildlife commission. He served successfully as secretary and president of what is now the National Audubon Society. The Audubon movement changed public attitudes toward birds, and was instrumental in obtaining government action that saved millions of birds and brought several species back from the verge of extinction. The movement also helped lay the foundation for a global effort to save the earth's diverse biological systems. Pearson is buried in Greensboro, North Carolina. His parents and brother are buried in Archer.
  

• Title: CAMP AT SANDERSON
  Location:U.S. Hwy. 90
  County: Baker
  City: Sanderson
  Description: This site was used by both Union and Confederate soldiers as a camp during the campaign of 1864. The camp was used as a Confederate supply depot but it was abandoned on February 9, 1864. From the 9th to the 13th, it was held by Federals and used as a base for raids on Lake City and Gainesville. On February 20 the site was by Federals attacking Olustee. In retreat from Olustee the camp again fell into Confederate hands.
  

• Title: ST. ANDREWS BAY SKIRMISH
  Location:on Business 98 between Fairland & Friendship Aves.
  County: Bay
  City: Panama City
  Description: The U.S. bark Roebuck, commanded by John Sherrill, was sent to St. Andrews Bay to prevent blockade running. On March 20, 1863, and 11-man scouting party landed in this vicinity to secure fresh drinking water. They were attacked by Confederates commanded by Captain W. J. Robinson. When ordered to surrender, the Union crew refused and two were killed and six wounded in the ensuing skirmish. The rest escaped to their ship. The Confederates had no casualties.
  

• Title: CONFEDERATE SALT WORKS
  Location:U.S. 98 past Phillips Inlet Bridge West of Panama
  County: Bay
  City: Panama City
  Description: St. Andrews Bay was a major source of salt for the Confederacy. An estimated 2,500 men were engaged in manufacturing salt of a very high quality. Containing numerous arms and an extensive shoreline, the landlocked Bay was sheltered and safe. Beginning in September, 1862, many Federal raids were directed against the works. Rebuilt as soon as Union forces destroyed them, the works remained in effective operation through February, 1865.
  

• Title: PANAMA CITY AIRPORT
  Location:at entrance to airport terminal.
  County: Bay
  City: Panama City
  Description: Established 1945 on Fannin Field Panama City-Bay County Airport 1964 Panama City-Bay County Airport and Industrial District 1967 Developed and controlled by Representative Airport Authorities in conjunction with the Federal Aviation Agency Control Tower Erected by Federal Aviation Agency 1967
  

• Title: ROBERT LEE MCKENZIE'S HOME AND OFFICE
  Location:on 3rd Court at Park Street.
  County: Bay
  City: Panama City
  Description: The McKenzie House is a large two-story clapboard frame dwelling built in the Dutch Colonial style typical of the turn of the century houses still standing in Northern Michigan. It was built in 1909 by Belle Booth who married R.L. McKenzie in 1912; after which time the house came to be known as the McKenzie House. It stands today as it was enlarged in 1925. This house is significant because it was one of the first houses in a virtually unsettled area of Northwest Florida and because it was the home and office of Robert Lee McKenzie. McKenzie was born in Macon County, Georgia in 1870. He moved to the Florida Panhandle in 1902 where he became joint owner of a large naval stores business. After acquiring some waterfront property here he organized the Gulf Coast Development Company. The purpose of the company was to buy more land and develop it into a town site and to secure more waterfront property for a railroad terminal. In 1906 this purpose was realized when McKenzie persuaded J.B. Steele of Atlanta to choose Gulf Coast Development Company land for his new railroad which would continue south from Dothan with connections to Atlanta. Steele said "I want this to be Atlanta's outlet to the Panama Canal;" which suggested the new city's name. In February 1909 Robert Lee McKenzie was elected Mayor of Panama City. He also served two consecutive terms as State Representative from Washington county in the Florida Legislature (1909-11, 1911-13). McKenzie was a leader in the formation of Bay County. He was instrumental in getting a highway constructed to Pensacola. His work and dedication resulted in Panama City being the location of the International Paper Company. The "Drummond Cut," completed in 1938 opened the intercoastal waterway to the west and McKenzie was a leader in this project. During the war years McKenzie was Chairman of the Bay County chapter of the Red Cross (1941-44) and a member of the Selective Services Board (1940-47). On December 4, 1964, the park across the street was renamed McKenzie Park in honor of his devoted service to the community. R.L. McKenzie's place in the development of Panama City is secure. Most of the important events of the town's development for a period of over 50 years (1902-1956) are linked with his name and efforts. For 45 years (1912-1956) the office/library of the McKenzie House was the center of his activities and as such, gives real historic importance to the house and its place in Panama City history.
  

• Title: THE ST. ANDREW BAY SALTWORKS
  Location:Bay County
  County: Bay
  City: Panama City
  Description: Between 1861 and 1865, the St. Andrew Bay Saltworks, one of the largest producers of salt in the South, contributed to the Confederate cause by providing salt, fish and cattle for southern troops and citizens. A necessary preservative in those times, salt sold for as much as $50 per bushel, and was produced in wood-fired saltworks on the perimeter of the West Bay, East Bay and North Bay and Lake Powell (a.k.a. Lake Ocala). An estimated 2,500 men, primarily from Florida, Georgia and Alabama, were exempted from combat duty in order to labor in the saltworks. The salt was transported to Eufaula, Alabama, then to Montgomery, for distribution throughout the Confederate states. Because of the importance of St. Andrew Bay Saltworks to the Confederacy, acting Master W.R. Browne, commander of the U.S. Restless, was instructed to commence a series of assaults beginning in August 1862. In December 1863, additional Union attacks occurred, which Confederate home guards could not resist. The attacks resulted in the destruction of more than 290 saltworks, valued by Master Browne at more than $3,000,000. The St. Andrew Bay Saltworks employees promptly rebuilt them, and they remained in operation through February 1865.
  

• Title: SITE OF LOFTIN'S FERRY
  Location: City of Parker
  County: Bay
  City: Parker
  Description: This site, originally known as Riviere’s Landing, was named for the early settler, Henry L. Riviere and is commemorating the founding of the City of Parker. In 1836, William M. Loftin became custom’s officer for the St. Andrews Bay and operator of a ferry from this point to Ferry point across St. Andrews Bay. This endeavor was part of the road system constructed from 1834 to 1838 under the supervision of Major J.D. Graham. The “Old Military Road” as it was known ran from Apalachicola to Marianna and beyond, and was the major land route through the bay area. Loftin’s Ferry was the beginning of the community that Loftin, Riviere and U.S. Representative Joseph M. White developed and named “Austerlitz.” This is significant for in 1886 the name was changed to “Parker” honoring the two separate families of Peter Parker and William Henry Parker. The City of Parker was established in September 1967, by charter and has remained a thriving, growing community ever since.
  

• Title: THE GIDEON VERSUS WAINWRIGHT CASE
  Location: BAY COUNTY COURTHOUSE
  County: Bay
  City: Panama City
  Description: This is the site of the landmark Gideon case, after which the Public Defender system was established in Florida and throughout the nation. In 1961, Clarence Earl Gideon (1910-1972) stood trial in this courthouse for the felony of burglary. Lacking funds to hire a lawyer, Gideon requested that a lawyer be appointed to represent him at trial. Gideon’s request was denied, because at that time, a person accused of a non-capital felony did not have a constitutional right to a free lawyer. Gideon represented himself at his trial and was convicted. While serving his five-year prison sentence, Gideon petitioned the United States Supreme Court to review his case. The Supreme Court issued its decision in 1963 in Gideon v. Wainwright, ruling that every poor person charged with a serious crime in this country must be provided a lawyer for his defense at public expense. Panama City attorney, W. Fred Turner (b. 1922) represented Gideon at his retrial and won an acquittal. Built in 1914, this building is one of only a few original courthouses in Florida still being used for its original purpose. A fire in 1920 gutted the building, but it was immediately rebuilt in its Classic Revival architectural style.
  

• Title: THE ST. ANDREW BAY SALTWORKS
  Location:
  County: Bay
  City: Panama City
  Description: Between 1861 and 1865, the St. Andrew Bay Saltworks, one of the largest producers of salt in the South, contributed to the Confederate cause by providing salt, fish and cattle for southern troops and citizens. A necessary preservative in those times, salt sold for as much as $50 per bushel, and was produced in wood-fired saltworks on the perimeter of the West Bay, East Bay and North Bay and Lake Powell (a.k.a. Lake Ocala). An estimated 2,500 men, primarily from Florida, Georgia and Alabama, were exempted from combat duty in order to labor in the saltworks. The salt was transported to Eufaula, Alabama, then to Montgomery, for distribution throughout the Confederate states. Because of the importance of St. Andrew Bay Saltworks to the Confederacy, acting Master W.R. Browne, commander of the U.S. Restless, was instructed to commence a series of assaults beginning in August 1862. In December 1863, additional Union attacks occurred, which Confederate home guards could not resist. The attacks resulted in the destruction of more than 290 saltworks, valued by Master Browne at more than $3,000,000. The St. Andrew Bay Saltworks employees promptly rebuilt them, and they remained in operation through February 1865.
  

• Title: ST. ANDREW(S) SCHOOL
  Location:
  County: Bay
  City: Panama City
  Description: The first school in St. Andrews, a community established ca.1827, was built in 1850. That building burned down. The second school was a two-story wooden structure with two large rooms on each floor. The school had four teachers and 100 students. In 1925, that school burned, six weeks before the summer recess. On July 7, 1926, voters overwhelmingly approved the issuance of bonds totaling $60,000 to build the present school. E.D. Fitchner, a Tallahassee architect, drew the plans for the 12 classrooms and an auditorium. J.R. Asbell of Panama City was the contractor. St. Andrew(s) School has a Mediterranean Revival Style with classical motifs, and is most noted for its arched windows, red tile roof, and impressive auditorium. During World War II (1941-1945), due to the Wainwright Shipyard and Tyndall Air Force Base, the area grew so rapidly that the school had to go to double sessions. Through the years the building has been used for community events, such as plays, public service forums and educational films. St. Andrew(s) School was completely renovated in 1999-2002, and is the oldest continuously functioning school in Bay County.
  

• Title: THE ST. ANDREW BAY SALTWORKS
  Location:At the intersection of West Beach Drive (U.S. Business 98) and East Caroline Boulevard, on the right when traveling south on West Beach Drive.
  County: Bay
  City: Panama City
  Description: Between 1861 and 1865, the St. Andrew Bay Saltworks, one of the largest producers of salt in the South, contributed to the Confederate cause by providing salt, fish and cattle for southern troops and citizens. A necessary preservative in those times, salt sold for as much as $50 per bushel, and was produced in wood-fired saltworks on the perimeter of the West Bay, East Bay and North Bay and Lake Powell (a.k.a. Lake Ocala). An estimated 2,500 men, primarily from Florida, Georgia and Alabama, were exempted from combat duty in order to labor in the saltworks. The salt was transported to Eufaula, Alabama, then to Montgomery, for distribution throughout the Confederate states. Because of the importance of St. Andrew Bay Saltworks to the Confederacy, acting Master W.R. Browne, commander of the U.S. Restless, was instructed to commence a series of assaults beginning in August 1862. In December 1863, additional Union attacks occurred, which Confederate home guards could not resist. The attacks resulted in the destruction of more than 290 saltworks, valued by Master Browne at more than $3,000,000. The St. Andrew Bay Saltworks employees promptly rebuilt them, and they remained in operation through February 1865.
  

• Title: JOHN CHRISTO, SENIOR
  Location:940 W. Beach Drive
  County: Bay
  City: Panama City
  Description: Side 1: Built in 1927 by A. A. Payne, a banker, and bought by John Christo, Sr., the house is significant in architecture, a mixture of styles typical of the late 19th and early 20th centuries which includes Neo-Colonial Revival and Italianate Villa influences and the accomplishments of John Christo, Sr., 1885 – 1973. He was born to a Greek family on a farm near the village of Kirte, Turkey. As war between Turkey and Bulgaria drew near, he left Turkey and came to America in 1912 at the age of 27. He had $50, which he borrowed from a relative in Turkey. His ship sailed to New York where he knew no one and was advised to travel by steamer to Jacksonville, Florida and from there to Tarpon Springs where he could communicate in Greek and get a job. He overcame the language barrier by obtaining a Greek-to-English dictionary. He got a job at a restaurant peeling onions, then was advised to go to Quincy, Florida where he was able to work, save and borrow enough to realize his dream to own and operate a five and dime store. Side 2: Christo became so successful that he eventually owned 42 stores named Christo’s 5 Cents, 10 Cents and $1.00 Stores in Florida, Alabama and Georgia. He founded four successful corporations: Christo’s, Inc., Christo’s Stores, Inc., F & T Investments, Inc. and Christo Realty Company, Inc. The main office and warehouse for the five and dime stores was located at 437 Grace Ave., Panama City. The warehouse was the main merchandise supplier for the stores. He was successful in department store retailing, commercial real-estate investments, commercial building, organizing corporations, architectural design and draftsmanship, land surveying and helping others with their financial endeavors. He opened and operated 36 of the five and dime stores while residing at 940 West Beach Drive. He built three homes. The first was built in 1926 at 100 Allen Ave. He donated property to the State of Florida in 1951, doubling the size of Florida Wayside Park, Panama City Beach. The house is the birthplace of Jimmy and George Christo, twins, born on July 31, 1936 during an unnamed hurricane. The A. A. Payne – John Christo, Senior House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
  

• Title: WOMAN'S CLUB OF STARKE
  Location:201 N. Walnut St., Starke, Florida
  County: Bradford
  City: Starke
  Description: The Woman’s Club of Starke, formerly known as the Mother’s Club, was founded in the late 19th century and held its meetings in the Bradford County High School. Their purpose was to assist the Bradford County High School. Only mothers were accepted as active members with teachers as honorary members. One of their earliest projects was furnishing a room in the school or a library and a study for the principal. They also provided students with books and clothing and hired a janitor to do maintenance. In 1913, the Mother’s Club reorganized and changed its name to the Woman’s Club of Starke. One year later, after the school moved to a different site, the Woman’s Club began using the school building as its headquarters. In 1917, with the approach of World War I, the building was turned over to the Red Cross. Club women made hospital blankets, Christmas kits for troops and shipped clothing to allies. In 1921, the Board of Education gave the school building to the Woman’s Club, at which time it was remodeled. Some of the lumber from the original structure was used in the new construction. The new craftsman/bungalow building opened on November 3, 1922. Projects undertaken in the 1920s by the Woman’s Club included a drive to remove cows from the streets, development of a city park and municipal suffrage. The Bradford County Library used portions of the building and in 1936 was the first county library in Florida allowed to borrow books from the State Library in Tallahassee. Throughout World War II, the United Service Organization (USO) used the building as a clubhouse where the Army YMCA entertained soldiers who were stationed at nearby Camp Blanding. Opening in April 1941 they provided minstrels, radio programs, quiz games, card games, dances and vaudeville shows for the soldiers. Throughout its history, the Clubhouse has continued to serve as the community’s primary facility for social and cultural events. On April 18,1997, the Clubhouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and continues to serve as the Woman’s Club of Starke headquarters.
  

• Title: CAPTAIN RICHARD G. BRADFORD
  Location: S.R. 230. Corner of Base and Range
  County: Bradford
  City: Starke
  Description: On December 6, 1861, Gov. John Milton signed a law changing the name of New River County to Bradford County. The Legislature has passed the law in honor of Captain Richard G. Bradford of Madison who was killed October 9, 1861, in the Battle of Santa Rosa Island. This battle was fought in an attempt to capture Fort Pickens which protected Pensacola Harbor. Bradford was the first Confederate officer from Florida to die in the War Between the States.
  

• Title: TITUS HOUSE
  Location:Indian River Avenue.
  County: Brevard
  City: Titusville
  Description: Located on the Indian River, the hotel was built (circa 1869) and operated by Henry T. Titus, founder of Titusville. The building, constructed of wood, was U-shaped with each room opening on a veranda facing a tropical garden. In the days of steam boat travel, the hotel, with its elaborate salon, was considered one of the best in Florida. After the death of Titus, the property became part of the Dixie Hotel.
  

• Title: ST. GABRIEL'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH
  Location:South Palm Avenue
  County: Brevard
  City: Titusville
  Description: In 1887, construction of a church was begun on land donated to the Titusville Episcopal mission by Mary Titus, wife of the town's founder, and J. Dunlin Perkinson, lay reader of the mission. The name of the church was changed from St. John's to St. Gabriels's with the gift in 1888 of a stained glass window depicting St. Gabriel. The neo-Gothic style reflects a trend in Episcopal Church architecture in central Florida during the late 1800's. This style was spread through the efforts of Edwin G. Weed, third bishop of Florida. The church, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, contains a fine collection of Victorian stained glass.
  

• Title: DOUGLAS DUMMETT - DUMMETT GROVE
  Location:in Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge
  County: Brevard
  City: Merritt Island
  Description: Indian River oranges, one of Florida's most outstanding products were developed in the 19th century by Douglas Dummett. The Dummett family immigrated from the Barbados in 1807. By 1825, Thomas Dummett had acquired sugar plantations on the east coast of Florida. His son Douglas (B. 1806) established his plantation in this part of Merritt Island and began to grow oranges. Dummett used a new grafting technique later widely adopted in Floirda. He grafted buds from sweet orange trees onto his sour orange trees. This method produced frost-resistant trees and was called top-grafting because budding began several feet above ground. Unlike many coastal planters, Dummett did not abandon his property during the Second Seminole War (1835-42). He served as captain in the "Mosquito Roarers," a Floirda Militia company formed to protect property in this area from Indian raids. Dummett continued to cultivate what were regarded as East Florida's most valuable orange groves until his death in 1873. He also held elective and appointive political offices. The Dummett groves were damaged beyond recovery in the 1893 hurricane and the freeze of 1894-95. The property became part of Kennedy Space Center in 1963.
  

• Title: MELBOURNE NAVAL AIR STATION
  Location:Melbourne Airport
  County: Brevard
  City: Melbourne
  Description: This site was the 129-building Naval Air Station constructed at the Melbourne Municipal Airport at the beginning of World War II. It was commissioned as Operational Training Unit #2 on October 20, 1942 and closed on February 15, 1946. The Station was used for training newly commissioned Navy and Marine pilots. There were over 2,200 pilots who trained in Grumman F4F Wildcat and F6F Hellcat fighter planes. Of the pilots trained there, 63 died in aerial accidents and two enlisted men died in ground-related accidents. The location served more than 310 officers and 1,355 enlisted personnel. Today the area is operated by the City of Melbourne Airport Authority.
  

• Title: HARRY T & HARRIETTE V MOORE MEMORIAL HOMESTEAD
  Location: Titusville
  County: Brevard
  City: Titusville
  Description: This property is the former homesite of civil rights activists Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore, two people whose lives were committed to help Florida’s Negro communities unite to form a collective identity. Mr. Moore was a Brevard County educator who became a full-time civil rights activist. After being fired for demanding equal pay, he worked to equalize the salaries received by Negro teachers with that of their white counterparts. He organized the Progressive Voters League of Florida, and his efforts to open the Democratic Party to Negroes provided new political opportunities for minority citizens all over the state. Mr. Moore organized the first Brevard County Branch of the National Association for he Advancement of Colored People in 1934, and served as its president for five years. From 1941-1946, he served as president of the Florida State Conference of the Branches of the NAACP, and then as the executive director until his death. Mr. Moore and his wife were murdered when a bomb was planted beneath their house on Christmas night in 1951.
  

• Title: HERNANDEZ TRAIL
  Location:U.S. 1 at King Street
  County: Brevard
  City: Cocoa
  Description: One half mile to the west ran the Hernandez Trail used during the Seminole War. It connected forts along the East Coast to Ft. Dallas in Miami and across from Ft. Pierce and Ft. Capron to Ft. Brooke near Tampa. Brig. General Joseph M. Hernandez, born 1792 in St. Augustine, served as the first delegate to Congress and held a number of positions of importance in the Territory of East Florida. In 1837 under orders from General Thomas S. Jesup, he captured Indian Chief Osceola.
  

• Title: UNION CYPRESS RAILWAY
  Location:
  County: Brevard
  City: Melbourne
  Description: This 18.5-mile standard-gauge railway was built to carry logs from the large cypress/pine holdings of George W. Hopkins, at Deer Park, to the Union Cypress sawmill just south of Melbourne. Two new and seven used steam locomotives would eventually ride the 50-lb. rails, crossing the St. Johns River on a 2,850-foot wooden trestle south of Lake Sawgrass. This was the first direct route across the St. Johns for 80 miles south of Enterprise, preceding the Kissimmee Highway (U.S. 192) by 6 years. Melbourne to Kissimmee travel was now only 53 miles, compared to a previous 128 miles by rail or 153 miles by road. The railway opened up the vast prairie lands along the St. Johns for settlement and carried much of the regional commerce: cut timber, naval stores, livestock, and farm produce as well as people and the materiel of their daily lives. Trains ferried automobiles across the marsh on flat cars when floods closed the Kissimmee Highway. Logging and railway operations ceased after Hopkins died in January, 1925. Foshee Manufacturing Co. took over in March, 1928, and operated until forced to quit in late 1932 due to a declining lumber market in the Great Depression. Only the skeletal St. Johns River trestle remains today.
  

• Title: UNION CYPRESS SAWMILL
  Location:
  County: Brevard
  City: Melbourne
  Description: The Union Cypress Co. was Melbournes first big industry, bringing employment, growth and development to the region. Their big cypress/pine sawmill was a three-story, all-steel structure about 50 by 150 feet. Five, 150-horsepower boilers provided power. Its power plant supplied Melbournes first electricity. The companys railway to Deer Park provided the first direct route across the St. Johns River for 80 miles south of Enterprise. Some 40,000 feet of lumber and 45,000 shingles could be produced daily from the cypress/pine holdings of George W. Hopkins, which had a market value over $2 million in 1911. Lumber not used locally was shipped out via the Florida East Coast Railway. The company-owned town of Hopkins had some 69 buildings within its industrial, residential and commercial areas. The big mill burned in August, 1919, and was replaced by a smaller pine mill. Construction of a new cypress mill began in late 1924, but halted after Hopkins died in January, 1925. Foshee Manufacturing Co. leased the now-idle mill and railway in March, 1928, but even with plenty of timber left, had to close in late 1932 due to a declining lumber market in the Great Depression. Less than a handful of original buildings exist today.
  

• Title: CLIFTON COLORED SCHOOL
  Location:
  County: Brevard
  City: Merritt Island
  Description: Before the Clifton Schoolhouse was built, Butler Campbell and Andrew Jacksons children were home schooled by a black teacher, Mr. Mahaffey. The teacher was paid five dollars for each student, after examination by the County School Superintendent. Any locality claiming a school had to provide a public school house, select at least one trustee, and secure a certified teacher. In 1890-91, Campbell and Jackson decided to build a proper school. A neighbor, Wade Holmes provided a one-acre lot on the northwest corner of his property. The three men built a 12x16 heart pine structure that sat on coquina cornerstones about one foot off the ground. The west-facing front was fitted with a double-paneled door. Two sets of glass-paned windows were on the north and south sides. The roof was made of cedar or cypress boards. Campbells children included Florida, Eugenia, Agnes, Henry and Willie, who was Valedictorian in 1892. Jacksons children were Annie, Mary, Floyd and Douglas, who was Valedictorian in 1893. Studies included reading, physiology, English, math and Latin. By 1910, the children were out of school or attending school elsewhere. In 1924, Eugenia returned to Clifton and later lived in the structure. When NASA bought properties on North Merritt Island in the 1960s, the families relocated to other areas and most of the houses were moved or demolished.
  

• Title: HISTORIC DERBY STREET CHAPEL
  Location:
  County: Brevard
  City: Cocoa
  Description: Dedicated on July 13, 1924, this structure was built by the Seventh Day Adventist Church, and was heralded by The Cocoa Tribune as an honor to the City. In 1955 it was sold to the Church of Christ, Scientists. In 1964 it was sold to the First Baptist Church. The building is constructed of heart of pine and stucco over wire lathing. The Craftsman style architecture and the original flooring, windows, altar rail, and tin tile roof have been preserved. The roof withstood many years of hurricanes without leaking. In 1996, the building was destined to be demolished for a parking lot, but local preservationists objected and resolved to save the historic building. In 2003, Cocoa Main Street leased the property to restore and rehabilitate it as a community use facility. Restoration was done by volunteer labor. Design and landscaping of the adjoining park was a project of the Dirt Daubers Circle of the Cocoa-Rockledge Garden Club. On September 27, 2005, it was officially named The Historic Derby Street Chapel.
  

• Title: THE LAST NAVAL BATTLE OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR
  Location:
  County: Brevard
  City: Cape Canaveral
  Description: The last naval battle of the American Revolutionary War took place off the coast of Cape Canaveral on March 10, 1783. The fight began when three British ships sighted two Continental Navy ships, the Alliance commanded by Captain John Barry and the Duc De Lauzun commanded by Captain John Green sailing northward along the coast of Florida. The Alliance, a 36-gun frigate, and the Duc De Lauzun, a 20-gun ship, were loaded with 72,000 Spanish silver dollars they were bringing from Havana, Cuba to Philadelphia to support the Continental Army. One of the British ships, the HMS Sybil, a 28-gun frigate, commanded by Captain James Vashon, chased the Alliance and Duc De Lauzun to the south. The HMS Sybil fired first, exchanging shots with the slower Duc De Lauzun. Then in a daring strategy Captain John Barry aboard the Alliance reversed his course, and while under fire, waited until the HMS Sybil was close. When the British ship was alongside he returned fire to the broadside with greater number of cannon. The battle lasted less than an hour, when the HMS Sybil, outgunned and badly damaged, broke off from the battle and fled. The Alliance and Duc De Lauzun then continued on their mission at dawn on March 11, 1783.
  

• Title: JOHN H. SAMS HOMESTEAD
  Location:
  County: Brevard
  City: Merritt Island
  Description: The Sams family came to Brevard County from South Carolina in 1875 to take advantage of the 1860 Homestead Act. The family consisted of John Hanahan Sams, his wife Sarah, their five children, Johns brother William Sams, and his sister, Catherine DeVeaux Sams. The Sams Homestead consists of two buildings. The first, a single story home, was originally constructed in Eau Gallie on property homesteaded by John H. Sams in 1875. The family decided to move nearer to other relatives on North Merritt Island and the house was rafted up the Indian River in 1878 to the present site. It is the oldest dated structure on Merritt Island and a prime example of Florida vernacular construction. In 1884 Sams was granted a homestead deed for 156 acres and by 1888, built the second two-story home adjoining the older house on the property. Sams served as Superintendent of Schools for the county from 1880-1920, while growing citrus and pineapples. John H. Sams died in 1923 and the homes were occupied by his descendants until 1995. Archaeological excavations at the site discovered a prehistoric Native American occupation site that dates from approximately 5,000 BC to 1250 AD, and also a late Pleistocene fossil site.
  

• Title: LAGRANGE COMMUNITY CEMETERY
  Location:
  County: Brevard
  City: MIMS
  Description: Established in 1869, this is the oldest cemetery on Floridas lower East Coast. The oldest portion is located in the front center section, evidenced by the southeasterly positioning of the tombstones. Tom Johnson Cockshutt (1841-1917), who arrived here in 1868 and made barrels nearby, donated this parcel to be used, in part as a community cemetery. In 1869 he organized the first protestant church on the East Coast between New Smyrna and Key West. The community built a small log structure to serve as the first public meeting house, area schoolhouse, and church. It was located in what is now the north portion of LaGrange Cemetery. LaGrange Community Church, built in 1872, stands just south of this parcel. The earliest marked grave is that of Andrew Fenster, a War of 1812 veteran, who settled here in 1865, died in 1869 and is buried in the large family plot. Gravesites of many pioneer families include Tom J. Cockshutt, founder of the Church; Andrew Froscher, undertaker; Dr. B.R. Wilson, physician; William S. Norwood, who operated the first overland mail service; Mims, for whom the town of Mims was named; and Colonel Henry T. Titus (1823-1881), founder of Titusville.
  

• Title: GEORGIANNA CHURCH
  Location:
  County: Brevard
  City: Merritt Island
  Description: Georgianna United Methodist Church was built in the community of Georgiana on Merritt's Island in 1886. The ringing of the church bell still marks the beginning of worship as it has for many decades. Franklin C. Allen, Jr., a local homesteader, donated the land where the church stands. In the summer of 1886, led by Edwin Nelson, men of the Georgiana community started their building program. Lumber was brought in from St. Augustine by sailboat and unloaded along the Indian River shoreline then carried to the work site. By the end of September the roof was in place and Sunday school was held using chairs on loan from local households. Crafting of the pews was the next project. D.C. Munson crafted the pews by hand from rough lumber. The first service was held on Thanksgiving in 1886. With its dark wood, white pews, red carpet and bright stained glass windows, Georgianna United Methodist Church is one of the most unique worship centers on the east coast of Florida. Georgianna United Methodist Church has always been a vital part of its community and remains so today.
  

• Title: HISTORIC BREVARD COUNTY COURTHOUSE
  Location:
  County: Brevard
  City: Titusville
  Description: Brevard County was founded in 1855 and Titusville became the county seat in 1879. The first courthouse was a two-story classical revival wood structure built in 1882, on land donated by Titusville founder Col. Henry Titus. In 1912, County Commissioners ordered the construction of a new courthouse which opened in March 1913. The old wooden structure was moved to the back of the site and sold at auction. Lightman, McDonald & Co. of Jacksonville built the two-story structure of re-enforced concrete for $30,566. Four large classical columns mark the original main entrance on the east side. On the north and south entrances were two small piazzas with one-story classical columns. County Commissioners, Clerk of the Court, Treasurer, Tax Assessor/Collector, and Surveyor offices were on the first floor. On the second floor were a large courtroom, lawyers offices, judges chamber, and jury rooms. In 1926, a three-story wing was added to the west side. On the third floor were jail cells, wardens quarters, kitchen, and hospital ward. Sheriff, other county offices, and vault room were located on the second floor. The courthouse continues to serve Brevard County, and the jail facilities on the third floor are no longer used.
  

• Title: JAMES WADSWORTH ROSSETTER HOUSE
  Location:
  County: Brevard
  City: Melbourne
  Description: Descended from 17th Century New England pioneers, James Rossetter (1863-1921) was born in Hamilton County, Florida. Rossetter arrived in Eau Gallie in 1902 and became a leader in the local fishing industry, harvesting the many local waterways as a charter partner of the Indian River & Lake Worth Fish Company. Later, he would form his own wholesale fishing enterprise and would go on to develop a fish pound at the Bight of Canaveral, precursor of Port Canaveral. The James W. Rossetter House began as a small existing structure on this property, which Rossetter bought in 1904. To expand his newly purchased home, Rossetter bought the winter home of John Aspinwall, a wealthy New York industrialist, and moved it to its present location. The Aspinwall structure, built in 1890 and now the west wing of the house, was connected to the existing building with open-air breezeways. Many of the designs used in the construction of boats were employed in the building of the house, as evidenced by the whimsical wood patterns inside the home. The scale of the home in relation to the surrounding residential area reflects the early success of Rossetter's industrial endeavors.
  

• Title: FLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
  Location:
  County: Brevard
  City: CAPE CANAVERAL
  Description: A 37-cent donation, given to Florida Institute of Technology founder Jerome P. Keuper (1921-2002), would launch one of the most remarkable stories in American higher education. Keuper, a scientist working at Cape Canaveral, founded Florida Tech in 1958 to meet a critical need for scientists and engineers in Americas race for space. Florida Tech quickly attracted the worlds foremost rocket scientists and engineers to its halls. It awarded its first honorary doctorate in 1962 to astronaut Virgil Gus Grissom. Among its first visiting professors were the legendary rocket scientist Werhner von Braun and Edward Teller, the father of the hydrogen bomb. Over the years, Florida Tech expanded its course offerings to take advantage of its unique location where the land, sea, sky and space come together. It has done so while maintaining internationally recognized excellence, and its ties to the space program. It counts among its graduates five astronauts, including two who flew together on Space Shuttle Discovery in December, 2006, Joan Higginbotham and Sunita Williams.
  

• Title: GEORGIANA RAILWAY
  Location:
  County: Brevard
  City: Merritt Island
  Description: In 1892, Frank Cass Allen, a Georgiana merchant, began building a 0.6-mile standard-gauge railway with steel rail and wood ties across Merritt Island at this location, connecting docks on the Indian and Banana rivers. It was part of his private water/rail venture to accommodate tourists, especially northerners, who began flocking to the Atlantic beaches following the completion of a mainline railroad into Titusville in 1885. Allen wanted to improve upon the one and only 45-mile boat trip around the southern tip of the island to reach the beaches south of the Cape. His 10-mile route across the Indian River to Georgiana by boat, the island by rail, and the Banana River by boat took about an hour. One 10-ton steam locomotive is documented, apparently replacing an earlier one. Allen built an open 50-passenger car using commercial railroad wheels. The line opened in mid-December 1893, and by April 1894, over 700 had visited the beaches. Financial problems and poor maintenance defeated the railway, and, in mid-1894, it was replaced by a wagon route at Lotus, two miles farther south. The locomotive and passenger car were sold at public auction on March 2, 1896. Rail and other rolling stock were not part of this sale.
  

• Title: LAGRANGE MIMS COMMUNITY CEMETERY
  Location:
  County: Brevard
  City:
  Description: In the early 1900s a two-acre parcel of land north of LaGrange Church and Cemetery was given to the Mims colored community for a cemetery. Earliest marked graves are dated 1903; many were unmarked. During the late 1800s both blacks and whites worshiped at LaGrange Community Church. In 1894, after organizing their own congregation, St. James Colored Missionary Baptist Church acquired land in Mims and in 1904 built their own church. In June 1913, trustees of that church purchased this parcel from the East Coast Cattle Company for use as a cemetery, then referred to as the Mims Colored Cemetery. Many of North Brevards pioneering black families rest in this hallowed ground with family names of Abrams, Bell, Brothers, Brown, Campbell, Cuyler, Grant, Gibson, Highsmith, McKenzie, Mitchell, Seigler, Simms, Strickland, Warren and Williams. Most noted ate the graves of Harry T. Moore and Harriette V. Simms Moore, Florida civil rights activists. Moore was chapter president of the Brevard County National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and later NAACP Florida Convention president/state coordinator. On Christmas Eve, 1951, the Moores were killed when their home, located near this site, was bombed.
  

• Title: PROVOST HALL
  Location:
  County: Brevard
  City:
  Description: Provost Hall was originally constructed in 1910 as the Georgiana Club house on land provided by Charles D. Provost and his wife Gertrude Breese Provost. Until their grandchildren, Charles D. Provost and his sister, Mary Virginia Provost Katz, gave the hall to the Georgianna United Methodist Church in 1992 the Georgiana Club house was used for community functions. These functions included the childrens Christmas Eve party; the Georgiana Club meeting and card party fund-raiser; Memorial Day services; and, the Fall Youth party and dance. During WWI it was the focus of many Georgiana Red Cross Auxiliary Unit (GRACU) functions to sew items for the war effort. A fund-raising mid-winter ball was held on March 1, 1917 by the GRCAU with the KMI military school orchestra providing the music. The Club house was packed to capacity with people from all over Brevard County. The Club house was also the voting precinct for Georgiana residents for many years beginning in the 1930s. Presently, Provost Hall plays a vital role in the ministry of Georgianna United Methodist Church and its WAVE (Wave of the Future) Youth Groups.
  

• Title: ST. LUKES EPISCOPAL CHURCH
  Location:
  County: Brevard
  City: Merritt Island
  Description: St. Lukes Episcopal Church of Courtenay was formed by the Porcher, LaRoche, Sams and other families that settled on north Merritt Island after leaving the Charleston, South Carolina area in 1875 due to the loss of their homes and plantations during the Civil War. The first services were held in 1879 in a store building on the bank of the Indian River. In 1888, Edward Porcher donated property for the site of St. Lukes Episcopal Church. It was built with a $600 donation from Lucy Boardman of New Haven, Connecticut, along with the donated labor of parishioners. The Florida Gothic style, common architecture for Episcopal churches in Florida at the time, was a board and batten wooden 600-square-foot structure built of locally milled hand-planed island pine and cypress with a steep gabled roof and square bell tower. During the early years, the church did not have a vicar. Ministers from churches in Cocoa and Titusville traveled by boat to hold monthly services, while members led the weekly services. The chapel is still used for mid-week and special services. The church is surrounded on three sides by an historic cemetery. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
  

• Title: OLIVER'S CAMP
  Location:
  County: Brevard
  City: TITUSVILLE
  Description: This site derives its name from the Oliver family who migrated from Missouri and homesteaded this area of Turnbull Hammock in the early 1870s. They owned large tracts of timberland and citrus groves, and the main camp was located on this property. In 1886, L.C. Oliver started a lumber business in Titusville, and dealt in Georgia pine lumber, shingles, and other building supplies. Oliver bought half interest in the Budge & Huckabay Hardware Store in 1888, and renamed the business Oliver & Budge Hardware & Lumber. Budge and Oliver moved to Miami in 1895, and started another hardware and lumber business. Budge bought Olivers half interest in the Titusville business, and in 1898 sold it to his father-in-law, Captain J. Pritchard, and it became James Pritchard and Son Hardware. In 1918 Oliver and wife Louise sold their Turnbull Hammock 40 acres to Florida Senator J.J. Parrish and wife Emma for $15,000. Parrish was one of the states largest citrus grove owners and businessmen during the early 1900s. Located on this property was a 1910 Craftsman style two-story house that Parrish used as the grove caretakers residence. Brevard County purchased this property and is now the location of Chain of Lakes Regional Park.
  

• Title: WINDOVER ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE
  Location:
  County: Brevard
  City: Titusville
  Description: Discovered by accident in 1982, the Windover site is a burial place of Early Native Americans who inhabited this region 7,000 to 8,000 years ago. The burials were placed underwater in the peat of the shallow pond. This peat helped to preserve normally perishable artifacts and human tissues. The site contains the largest skeletal sample in the New World and the oldest bottle gourd found north of Mexicotwo features that add to its significance. It also includes the largest and most complex sample of early textiles in the New World, a pollen record from the end of the Pleistocene to Recent Eras and recovery of some of the oldest DNA from brain tissue and bone. The remarkable state of preservation has allowed archaeologists to reconstruct some of the earliest New World diets based on contents from their stomachs and on scientific analysis. The site has produced the largest and most complex textile collection ever recovered from an Early Archaic period site. It also yielded a remarkable organic artifact inventory including wood and fibers. Archaeologists from Florida State University were among those who explored the Windover site.
  

• Title: ADDISON/ELLIS CANAL
  Location:
  County: Brevard
  City: Titusville
  Description: In 1911, Edgar W. Ellis and J.H. Beckwith put together a consortium of developers known as the Titusville Fruit and Farm Lands Company. They acquired 22,500 acres in the western portion of the old Delespine Grant with plans to drain marshland in the St. Johns River Valley, to make the land usable for agricultural purposes. By 1913, 43 miles of lateral canals had been dug and work began on the Addison/Ellis Canal, which led from Addison Creek to the outlying vegetable fields. The canal was intended to relieve flooding in the St. Johns River by diverting floodwaters to the lagoon and to transport supplies and crops from the St. Johns River to the Indian River Lagoon, ending at Addison Point. The company used the coquina rock extracted from the canal to pave roads to their fields. The marshland and sand ridges proved no problem for the equipment used, but a coquina rock ridge that runs north-south proved insurmountable, and the canal was never completed. The consortium went broke and the project was abandoned. The canal never reached a useful depth, and construction ended just east of the scrub/coquina ridge in Addison Creek.
  

• Title: GREATER ST. JAMES MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH OF MIMS
  Location:Mims
  County: Brevard
  City: Mims
  Description: In 1894, after organizing a congregation, St. James Colored Missionary Baptist Church acquired land in Mims, and with Rev. G. Brewer as pastor, built the first wooden church on this site in 1904 under the guidance of Rev. J.S. Gilbert. Many of North Brevards pioneering black families: Warren, Grant, Campbell, Cuyler, Strickland, Bell, Harris, Hester, Lewis, Sheldon, Abrams, Brothers, Wright, Highsmith and Mitchell, held positions in this church. Rev. James Massey served as an inspirational and dedicated leader from 1937 to 1967. Choir director Dorothy Hester also served as Youth Advisor for North Brevard NAACP under the direction of Harry T. Moore. Funeral services were held at this church for Civil Rights activists Harry T. Moore and Harriette V. Moore who were killed when their home was bombed on Christmas night 1951. Moore was Brevard County NAACP Chapter President and later NAACP Florida Convention president/state coordinator. The present church structure was built in 1964. The old wooden structure was torn down in 1968 and the annex building was started in 1971. The name of the church was changed to Greater St. James Missionary Baptist Church in 1974.
  

• Title: LAGRANGE COMMUNITY CHURCH
  Location:LaGrange
  County: Brevard
  City: LaGrange
  Description: Founded by Tom Johnson Cockshutt in 1869, this was the first organized Protestant Church on the East Coast of Florida between New Smyrna and Key West. Tom donated land for a cemetery and built a small log structure located on what is now the northern part of LaGrange Cemetery. It was used as a public meeting place, church, and the first public school in Brevard County. In 1872 a two-story structure of vertical logs was built on the present site. The first floor was used as a church and the second floor for public meetings and a schoolhouse. In 1893 the second story was removed, a bay window was added between the two front doors, and horizontal boards were placed over the vertical logs, encompassing the old structure within the walls of the new. Depicted on one of the eight memorial windows are the names of those who built the church: J.N. Feaster; J.C.C. Feaster; Tom J. Cockshutt; W.S. Norwood; B.J. Mims; R. Singleton; and W.P. Day. The first ordained pastor was W.N. Chaudoin from 1871-1904. Several other congregations were formed from this small church that included: First Presbyterian of Titusville; Mims Methodist Church; and Greater St. James Missionary Baptist Church of Mims.
  

• Title: ORIGINAL MELBOURNE VILLAGE HALL
  Location:Melbourne
  County: Brevard
  City: Melbourne
  Description: This community hall was constructed, circa 1941, as a barracks on the Banana River Naval Air Station. Following World War II, the Naval Air Station became Patrick Air Force Base. In 1948, this building was declared surplus, and sold to the American Homesteading Foundation (AHF), located in Melbourne Village, Florida. The building was barged down the Banana River and Indian River to Melbourne and trucked on the then two-lane U.S. Route 192 to this location. As the center of Village life, the Hall was used for AHF Trustee meetings and annual AHF Membership meetings. It was also used for square dancing, life saving and first aid classes, Womens Guild activities, study groups for organic gardening, art and drama, plus childrens crafts, drama, and story time programs. From 1957 until 1963, it provided office space for the newly incorporated Town of Melbourne Village. After 1963, it was used for recreational activities and the Village Mens Club. In 1996, the Town of Melbourne Village Historic Preservation Commission began a campaign to restore this historic landmark. The Town of Melbourne Village with the support of a grant from Brevard County completed the restoration in 2003.
  

• Title: HOLY TRINITY
  Location:corner of Fee Avenue and U.S. 1, Melbourne
  County: Brevard
  City: Melbourne
  Description: First organized in 1884, Holy Trinity Episcopal Church was erected in 1886 on land donated by Lucy Boardman, who also provided plans for the building. Founding members of the congregation included the Goode, Campbell, Miller, Ely, Ellis and Grubb families as well as Hector, McBride, Gibbs, and Mason. The church, built of virgin Georgia heart pine, was located south of Crane Creek. Members from the north side of the creek arrived by boat and after 1895, by footbridge. The building was moved in 1897 to land donated by W.T. Wells at the corner of Fee Avenue and U.S. 1, Melbourne. Repaired and stuccoed in 1927, the building was moved to its present location in 1963.
  

• Title: CITY POINT COMMUNITY CHURCH
  Location:
  County: Brevard
  City: Melbourne
  Description: Known as City Point, this area was settled shortly after the Civil War by Confederate veterans, citrus grove workers, northern winter residents, and consumptives seeking a healthy climate. By early 1885, a board of trustees was formed consisting of William H. Sharpe, George W. Holmes, A.L. Hatch, John M. Sanders, and George E. Chester, to construct this building to be used for a public hall, school, and non-denominational church for both white and black residents. On land donated by J.C. Norwood, this building was designed by A.L. Hatch and built by John M. Sanders who completed the work on November 1, 1885. This structure served as the beginning congregation for the following churches: the United Methodist Church of Cocoa, Church of Christ, Church of God, Primitive Baptist Church, Calvin Baptist Church, Indian River Baptist Church, Baptist Enterprise Church, and the First Apostolic Temple. The building was used as a school until 1924. Picnics, dances, political rallies, a precinct voting station and observation tower during World War II, were some of the many uses the community found for the building.
  

• Title: THE PRITCHARD HOUSE
  Location:Titusville
  County: Brevard
  City: Titusville
  Description: Captain James Pritchard bought a lot from Mary Titus, and in the spring of 1891 contracted Pleasant J. Hall, who had built St. Gabriels Episcopal Church, to build a Queen Anne style house of heart pine. It appears today much like it did then. On the first floor is a main entrance hall, a stairway to the second floor, parlor and dining room. The kitchen was separated from the main living area by an open passage, now closed in with a side door. A narrow stairway ascends from the kitchen to the maids room above. The second floor has four bedrooms with built-in closets. Only the master bedroom had access to the balcony. The passage between the main house and maids room at the end of the hall later became a bathroom. A pipe connected to a hand pump located next to the tub carried water from the cistern below. The four fireplaces have original tiled hearths. The entrance hall light fixture is original. In 1888, Pritchard organized Titusvilles first bank, built the first generating plant in 1890 - later sold to Florida Power and Light Co., and owned James Pritchard and Son Hardware Store. Pritchard family members had continuously lived in the house, until it was purchased by Brevard County in May 2005.
  

• Title: WINTER-TIME AIS INDIAN TOWN OF PENTOAYA
  Location:
  County: Brevard
  City: Eau Gallie
  Description: In 1605 Floridas Spanish Governor Pedro de Ybarra sent Lt. Alvaro Mexia on a diplomatic mission to the Ais Indians. Mexia recorded his passage from St. Augustine down the coast to the principal Ais Indian town near present-day Vero Beach. At the confluence of Ulumay Lagoon (Banana River Lagoon) and the Great Bay of Ais (Indian River Lagoon) Mexia reported the location of the winter-time Ais Indian Town of Pentoaya. He recorded that the 17th century town of Pentoaya was located directly opposite on the western mainland, near the confluence of the Eau Gallie and the Indian Rivers. The Winter-Time Town of Pentoaya was located between this park and the Banana River Lagoon, to the west. It consisted of a complex of shell middens, mounds and a causeway, which divided the small lake seen from this marker. Little remains of these mounds, as the shells found in them were used as roadbed material early in the 20th century.
  

• Title: HAULOVER CANAL
  Location:
  County: Brevard
  City: North Merritt Island
  Description: Native Americans, explorers and settlers hauled or carried canoes and small boats over this narrow strip of land between Mosquito Lagoon and the Indian River. Eventually it became known as the haulover. Connecting both bodies of water had long plagued early settlers of this area. Spaniards visited as early as 1605 and slid boats over the ground covered with mulberry tree bark. Early settlers used rollers and skids to drag schooners across. Fort Ann was established nearby in 1837, during the 2nd Seminole War (1835-1842), to protect the haulover from Indians and carry military supplies from the lagoon to the river. In 1852, contractor G.E. Hawes dug the first canal using slave labor. It was 3 ft. deep, 14 ft. wide, and completed in time for the 3rd Seminole War (1856-1858). Steamboat and cargo ships used the passage until the railroad arrived in 1885. By 1887, the Florida Coast Line Canal and Transportation Co. dug a new and deeper canal which you see now, a short distance from the original. The Intracoastal Waterway incorporated the Haulover Canal as a federal project in 1927 to be maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Since then the channel has been dug wider and deeper, and a basin added for launching boats.
  

• Title: POSSIBLE VICINITY OF JUAN PONCE DE LEONS LANDING
  Location:
  County: Brevard
  City: Melbourne Beach
  Description: While there is disagreement among scholars, it is believed that this site may be in an area where Juan Ponce de Leon made landfall in April 1513. It has long been thought that this event took place near St. Augustine, based upon studies of de Leons compass headings that did not account for the inability of 16th century navigators to accurately determine longitude, magnetic compass deviations, or the effects of the Gulf Stream and prevailing winds. Professional navigator Douglas Peck re-traced Juan Ponce de Leons route in a sailboat, however, and found a more likely landing site. Peck, who sailed the same waters for 30 years, has an intimate geographical knowledge of the route Juan Ponce de Leon took. When he re-sailed the route at the same time of year as the 1513 voyage, he reached Floridas eastern shore at 28 degrees North Latitude and 80 degrees 29 minutes West Longitude, just south of Melbourne Beach. He can place the accuracy to within 5 to 8 Nautical Miles on either side of this navigational fix. Many historians now conclude that an area south of Melbourne Beach, such as this site, was a more probable location for Juan Ponce de Leons first landing. This Brevard County Park, Juan Ponce de Leon Landing, was created in 2005.
  

• Title: ULUMAY
  Location:805 North Sykes Creek Parkway at the entrance of the Ulumay Wildlife Sanctuary
  County: Brevard
  City: Titusville
  Description: The Ais were one of the most influential and powerful tribes in Florida when Spanish Army Lt. Alvaro Mexia mapped Ulumay Lagoon in 1605. He wrote in his diary “Here is the town of Ulumay, the first one of the province of Ais. In back of and adjacent to this town there are many camps.” Ulumay was part of the vibrant Ais (Malabar) culture. Ais people occupied small interior camps and towns along resource-rich estuaries. The Ais were subject to Spanish patrols but were independent when British merchant Jonathan Dickinson from Jamaica trekked north through their territory in 1696 after he was shipwrecked near Hobe. Within a few years of his visit, epidemics weakened and then decimated the Ais. By 1715 only a few natives were seen by survivors of a Spanish fleet wreck. Through the 1950s, Ais village mounds including Ulumay were mined to obtain decomposed shell for use as roadbed. During the 1960s, local naturalist and historian Johnnie Johnson helped record what remained of Ulumay mounds. In 1970 the area was given to Brevard County by the State of Florida as a park. In 1993, the Brevard County Historical Commission dedicated the Ulumay Wildlife Sanctuary as a historical landmark.
  

• Title: LAWNDALE
  Location:
  County: Brevard
  City: Rockledge
  Description: This house is one of the last remaining examples of Queen Ann architecture in the area. The tall proportions, a variety of surface textures and the irregularity of plan are representative of this style. One of the most predominant characteristics is the turret located on the southeast corner of the house, with the exterior walls showing several combinations of shapes and styles of shingles. It was the homestead of Hiram Smith Williams, his wife Cornelia, and their children Sydney and Myra. Williams moved to Rockledge in 1874, began construction of this house, and became one of the first Indian River Fruit citrus farmers, shipping his fruit under the label Lawndale. Williams was the first Postmaster for the City of Rockledge (1875-1881) and a post office was established at this site. He was also Brevard County Treasurer (1874-1883) and the first State Senator representing Brevard County for two terms beginning in 1884. Williams was a strong proponent of education, establishing one of the first schoolrooms in the area on the second floor of this house. The house is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Rockledge Drive Historic District.
  

• Title: BENSEN HOUSE
  Location: 5795 S US Highway 1 Grant, FL 32949
  County: Brevard
  City: Grant
  Description: Atley Bensen paid $1,200 for the precut yellow pine lumber which arrived by riverboat from Jacksonville in 1916, to build this house for his wife Clara Christensen. The Bensen brothers married the Christensen sisters, both pioneer families of Grant. Atley and Clara lived in the house with sons, Atley Jr. and Russell until they were school age, and then moved to Melbourne, where son Edward Hartman was born in 1928. The Bensen House was rented for about five years until the family returned. Atley and his brother Adolph were involved in commercial fishing, grew pineapples, and operated the Jorgensen General Store, which opened in 1894. Atley died in 1961. Clara continued to live in the house, and then later moved to Tampa where she died in 1981. Russell donated the “cracker” house to the Grant Historical Society in 1984. In 1985, the house was moved from its original site, which was about 300 feet south of 1st Street on the banks of the Indian River Lagoon to this location, which was the original site of Grant’s first house built in 1894 by Louis Kossuth “Honey” Smith. The Smith house burned down in the 1970’s. The Bensen House became a museum in 1987.
  

• Title: VALENCIA HISTORIC DISTRICT
  Location:Valencia Road, Osceola Dr. and Orange Avenue
  County: Brevard
  City: Rockledge
  Description: The Valencia Historic District was developed during the Florida Land Boom of the 1920s. The Valencia Homes Company was formed in 1924 by local businessmen C. Sweet Smith, Charles D. Smith, L.S. Andrews and Horace R. Bruen. The company acquired a 22-acre tract of land that was formerly the site of the Plaza Hotel and occupied in part by an orange grove. In March 1924 the company platted the subdivision and named it after the type of oranges that grew there, and for a region in Spain. They built impressive entry gates, a waterworks, paved roads, and installed light posts and tropical landscaping. Each lot was 25 feet wide and most buyers purchased at least two lots to build on. Each sale agreement required that the homes constructed must cost $4,000 or more and that they be of Spanish, Moorish or Italian architectural design. The official architect for Valencia was Richard W. Rummell, Jr., who designed many of Brevard County’s most impressive buildings. All of the contributing homes were built between 1924 and 1926 and are excellent examples of the Mediterranean Revival style. The Valencia Subdivision was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
  

• Title: OLD MELBOURNE BEACH TOWN HALL
  Location:2373 Oak Street
  County: Brevard
  City: Melbourne Beach
  Description: This building was constructed in 1908 facing the Indian River Lagoon in the area now known as Ryckman Park in Melbourne Beach. It originally held offices of the Melbourne Beach Improvement Company. The officers, Capt. Rufus Beaujean, son Donald Beaujean and Lawrence Ruckman made plans for the town which included the pier, lot sites, roads, and a railway which ran from the Indian River to the Atlantic Ocean. Eventually, the building became the Melbourne Beach Town Hall and Post Office. In 1953, a new town hall was built and this building was floated down the river to the area. It was used for meetings and classes and managed by Mr. and Mrs. Williams, and became known as the Williams Building. When the golf course was built, the building was moved to the point of land between Oak Street and Hwy. A1A where it continued to be a community center. In 2001, the county scheduled it for demolition but two citizens questioned this move and requested time for rehabilitation. After many discussions, petitions and student letters, the county agreed to lease the building to the Town of Melbourne Beach. A committee enlisted the help of volunteers. In May 2007 the building opened as a history center.
  

• Title: CAPE CANAVERAL LIGHTHOUSE
  Location:
  County: Brevard
  City: Cape Canaveral
  Description: On May 21, 1838, Florida territorial delegate Charles Downing requested a lighthouse be built on Cape Canaveral. The first lighthouse completed in Jan. 1848 stood 65-feet tall, had a 55-foot tower and a 10-foot lantern room equipped with 15 lamps on 21-inch reflectors. The brick tower and keeper’s home cost under $13,300. Nathaniel Scobie oversaw construction and appointed the first keeper. With the advent of the Civil War, S. Mallory, Confederate Navy Secretary, ordered Florida east coast lighthouses “extinguished.” Keeper Mills Burnham removed the lamp and buried it in his orange grove. A state-of-the-art, 151-foot iron tower was erected in 1868 and topped with a 1st Order Fresnel lens. The tower’s living quarters were used for storage and a weather station. In 1871 a storm surge washed over the lighthouse area spoiling lamp oil and drinking water. This and shoreline erosion caused the lighthouse to be moved. From Oct. 1893 to Jul. 1894 the tower was dismantled, moved by tram one mile inland and re-erected, along with a 1st and 2nd assistant’s and keeper’s homes, to its present location. In 1939 the Coast Guard took ownership. In 2000 stewardship was transferred to the 45th Space Wing, Patrick Air Force Base.
  

• Title: EVERGREEN CEMETERY, ESTABLISHED 1910
  Location:
  County: Broward
  City: Fort Lauderdale
  Description: Many Civil War veterans are buried at Evergreen Cemetery in addition to the founding families of Fort Lauderdale including the Stranahans (who built Stranahan house on SE 6th Avenue), Bryans, Kings, Cromarties (the maiden name of Ivy Julia Stranahan (1881-1971) and the Olivers. This burial place for the early residents of Fort Lauderdale was established by Mr. and Mrs. E.T. King in 1910. In 1910 or 1911, a funeral director from Miami moved many bodies from the first burial ground, in the proximity of what currently is Southside School on Andrews Avenue, to the newly created Evergreen Cemetery. In 1917, the City of Fort Lauderdale purchased the cemetery. In 1921, the American Legion purchased four lots set aside for the burial of veterans. Shortly thereafter, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks purchased lots 34 and 43 for indigent burials. In 1926, hurricane victims were buried in unmarked graves in the north central portion of the cemetery. This area is also the baby section. In 1935, B’Nai Israel acquired blocks one and two for burials of those of the Jewish faith. Evergreen Cemetery is Fort Lauderdale’s oldest intact cemetery.
  

• Title: MUSEUM OF CORAL SPRINGS HISTORY
  Location:
  County: Broward
  City: Coral Springs
  Description: Coral Ridge Properties built the Citys first real estate office in 1964 at the intersection of Route 441 and Wiles Road, just outside the City limits. This 30-by-20 foot single-room wooden structure displayed maps and plats of subdivisions, none of which had been built in 1964. In 1966 Coral Ridge Properites built a large administration building at 9551 Sample Road and offered the real estate office to the City, provided they move it. It was moved to 4500 Woodside Drive and became Coral Springs first administration building. In 1968 it became the first police station. When the police moved to a larger facility in 1972, it became the Jaycees clubhouse. By 1976 the building was considered obsolete and moved to the City dump, to be used as a fire department training facility for smoke drills. When it was accidentally set on fire, a group of concerned citizens formed the Landmark Restoration Committee with the intent of rescuing the building and restoring it for use as a museum. In 1977, the building was moved again but this time with an accompanying parade as a flat bed truck moved it to its permanent home in Mullins Park. On March 4, 1978, it was fully restored and opened as the Mini Museum.
  

• Title: OLD FORT LAUDERDALE VILLAGE
  Location:
  County: Broward
  City: Fort Lauderdale
  Description: Old Fort Lauderdale Village at the intersection of the New River and the Florida East Coast Railway (F.E.C.) incorporates four turn-of-the-20th century historic buildings. These include the 1905 New River Inn, the 1905 Philemon N. Bryan House, the 1905 Acetylene Building, and the 1907 King-Cromartie House. The New River Inn houses a Museum of History and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built for Philemon N. Bryan from hollow concrete block made on site. Bryan, a grove owner, storekeeper and former mayor of New Smyrna, was ruined by the great Florida freeze of 1894-95. F.E.C. owner Henry Flagler (1830-1913) asked Bryan to build the railway section from the New River to Pompano. In 1894, Philemon, with his two sons Tom and Reed, brought 400 African-American workers by boat from New Smyrna to build the roadbed. The first train to Miami reached Fort Lauderdale on February 22, 1896. Philemon and his sons acquired land on either side of the railway tracks in what later became downtown Fort Lauderdale. In 1905, Contractor Edwin T. King built the Inn, the Philemon Bryan House and the nearby Tom and Reed Bryan houses, thereby creating the first Fort Lauderdale residential neighborhood.
  

• Title: SILVER THATCH MOUNTED BEACH PATROL
  Location:
  County: Broward
  City: Pompano Beach
  Description: The recreation area encompassed by Colony Club Road, during World War II, was the site of the corrals and paddocks for the United States Coast Guards Silver Thatch Mounted Beach Patrol. The mounted beach patrol protected the coast from U-boat activity and saboteurs. The location of the Beach Patrol headquarters was the site of the old Silver Thatch Inn, which was built by the Jelks family c. 1930s. When the Coast Guard requisitioned the property in 1942, stables, corrals and a paddock were built behind the hotel, which served as headquarters for the unit and barracks for the men. Starting the eight-hour duty at 4 P.M., the unit patrolled from Hillsboro Inlet to Port Everglades. In 1945, the unit was decommissioned and the hotel was returned to civilian control. In 1954, Ed Stack, who later became Broward County Sheriff and then was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, purchased the property and started the Bath and Tennis Club of Pompano Beach on the site. The hotel was torn down in 1972, when the Silver Thatch Atlantic Plaza was built on the property. The recreational area remains because of a 1962 deed restriction, which precludes any building on the parcel.
  

• Title: CORAL SPRINGS COVERED BRIDGE
  Location:
  County: Broward
  City: Coral Springs
  Description: The Covered Bridge was the first permanent structure built within the City by Coral Ridge Properties, developer of Coral Springs, in 1964. It withstood the eye of Hurricane Cleo that passed over it in August 1964 without sustaining any damage. The 40-foot Bridge has a single steel span. Its roof is composed of 25 truss rafters, cross braces, and stringers and is covered with shingles. It is the only covered bridge in Florida in the public right-of- way. Originally painted barn red, Coral Ridge Properties contacted the American Snuff Company in Winston-Salem, North Carolina for chewing tobacco designs to make the Bridge appear appropriately weathered. They supplied two historical designs and an artist to paint the murals. The Bull of the Woods logo, on the east side of the Bridge, first appeared in 1876. The Peach Sweet Snuff logo, on the west side of the Bridge, was designed to appeal to the ladies and was introduced in 1950. Over the years, the Bridge and murals have been restored but are difficult to see as trees have grown along the sides of the canal.
  

• Title: INDIAN HAULOVER
  Location:S. R. A1A at entrance to Bahia Mar Hotel & Resort.
  County: Broward
  City: Fort Lauderdale
  Description: Bahia Mar is the site of a haulover where Indians took their canoes from New River Sound into the Atlantic Ocean. A Second Seminole War fort named for Major William Lauderdale was built near here in 1838. It was active until the War ended in 1842. House of Refuge Number Four, originally built about two miles to the north in 1876, was moved to this site in 1892. Barefoot mailmen walked their weekly route from Hypoluxo to Miami along these beaches. The Coast Guard began using the House of Refuge in 1915. It was made permanent as Coast Guard Base Six in 1926. Base Six saw considerable action against rum runners during Prohibition. It remained in active service until after World War II. The City of Fort Lauderdale purchased the property for use as a public yacht basin and park in 1947.
  

• Title: NORTH NEW RIVER CANAL - LOCK NO. 1
  Location:S.R. 84 at Broward Memorial Boat Lock Park
  County: Broward
  City: Davie
  Description: Lock #1 was the first to be built as part of the Everglades Drainage District. As such, it played a vital role in the operations of North New River Canal, a major transportation link between Lake Okeechobee and Fort Lauderdale. The canal became operational in 1912 and remained in use until highways and railroads supplanted the system in the 1930s. Lock #1 was built by the Furst-Clark Construction company of Baltimore, Maryland. The parallel side walls are of poured concrete, six feet thick at their bases. The gates were constructed of large timbers and were operated by a geared rack-and-pinion mechanism. Lock #1 was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in march, 1978.
  

• Title: THE EVERGLADES DRAINAGE PROJECT
  Location:6521 West S.R. 84 at Broward Memorial Boat Lock Pa
  County: Broward
  City: Davie
  Description: As Florida's population increased after the Civil War, the state's southern wetlands attracted the attention of potential settlers. Settlement was hindered, however, by inadequate drainage, and years of public and private attempts at reclamation ended in failure. In 1905, Florida established the Everglades Drainage District. Governor Napoleon B. Broward opened the project on July 4, 1906, and dredge "Everglades" began work on the North New River Canal. The resulting network of canals and locks opened thousands of acres of virgin land to settlement and cultivation. Fish from Lake Okeechobee and produce from remote farms were carried through the North New River Canal to Fort Lauderdale, where they were shipped by rail to northern markets. small passenger steamers plied the canal network en route to Fort Myers. Although boat traffic is now restricted, the canal system continues to serve South Florida in maintaining an ecological balance in the Everglades and protecting coastal urban areas from floods.
  

• Title: M & B RAILROAD
  Location:Railroad and Pear Street
  County: Calhoun
  City: Blountstown
  Description: For 63 years (1909-1972) the Marianna and Blountstown Railroad was Calhoun County's link to the railroads and commerce of the nation. Sometimes known as "Many Bumps" or "Meat and Bread," the M&B had a significant impact on the lives of Calhoun Countians. Until 1929, before automobile travel was commonplace, the M&B provided passenger service. Farmers used the railroad to ship a wide array of agricultural products. In the early years, logging spur lines extended into remote areas of the county and millions of board feet of long-leaf pine lumber were shipped from local sawmills. The M&B also carried mail, manufactured goods and building products. During its operation, the 29-mile-long line was Florida's shortest railroad. Until 1938 it ran 16 miles farther south to Scotts Ferry. Steam locomotive #444 was in operation when the M&B's first diesel engine arrived in 1947 and rests today on the exact location of the M&B roadbed.
  

• Title: COCHRANETOWN - corakko talofv
  Location:on Highway 20.
  County: Calhoun
  City: Blountstown
  Description: (This is Florida's first bi-lingual marker) Apalachicola Creek Indians permanently settled Calhoun County in 1815; wars forced them out of Alabama. A new Tribal Town was built by Chief Tuskie Hajo Cochrane between Old River and Noble Lake. Cochrane is an anglicized version of his Creek name Corakko pronounced "Cho'thlakko" which means Horse. The 1823 Treaty of Moultrie Creek recognized Cochranetown with its 100 families as part of the Blunt-Tuskie Hajo Reservation now called Blountstown. Meske 1815 mahen, Estecate Ocesvlke Vpvlvcekola fullvt. Tepokv empefatkvtet eyicet tacko Kvlhun vpoketv hatyakvtes. Mimvm, Tvske Hacoketatet talofv empvtakvn hayvtes. Tvske Haco Corakko "Cochrane" Wacenv ehocefkvt toyvtes. 1823 opunvkv-cokv (Motle Temfvtcetv) oc-ofvn, Corakko Talofv "Cochranetown", Plvnt-Tvske Haco ekvntacko hahoyvtes. Mucv nettv, Plvnt-en-Talofv tos. The 1832 Treaty of Payne's Landing compelled local Creeks to emigrate to Texas with Chief John Blunt. Tuskie Hajo Cochrane's daughter, Polly Parrot, refused to go. Her clan fled northward to a Calhoun County wilderness called Boska Bokga, "the last fasting place." The Bokga's people became known as the Boggs family. Many Calhoun County citizens descend from Polly's clan. 1832 opunvkv-cokv (Lucuwv Temfvtcetv) oc-ofvn, Teksvke min vpeyvnonstkes kihocen. Vyepofvn Tvske Haco echuste vyetvn eyacekot. Polly em-estvlken vtelohyet kvn posketv pokkon sohletkvtes. Mucv, Kvlhun Tacko ofvn, Polly enrohonvpvlke fulle emunks. In 1986, Florida Tribe of Eastern Creek Indians whose members include the Boggs clan was recognized by the State. Today, they still maintain their ancient traditions. Their unbroken line of titled chiefs is Tuskie Hajo Cochrane-1832; Polly Parrot, regent matriarch 1833-1898; Tuskie Hajo John James William Joseph Boggs-1900; Tuskie Hajo James Daniel Boggs-1920; Alice McClellan Boggs, regent matriarch 1933-1961; Tuskie Mahaya Hajo Dr. Andrew Boggs Ramsey-1962, The Tuskie Hajo (Zealous Warriors) all descend from Polly. Cochranetown is 3 miles south of here, east of SR 69. Ohrolope 1986, Kvnfvske, Vhakv-hayvlke em-nakaftetv oc-ofvn Ocesvlket Florida Tribe kerkueckv emhoyet omvtes. Hiyomat, Kvlhun Tacko estecate Mvskokvlket fulle emunks. Emmekkvlket Tvske Haco Corakko 1832, Polly 1833-1898, Tvske Haco Can Cems Welev Cose Pokkvs 1900, Tvske Haco Cems Tvnel Pokkvs 1920, Vles Mvklelan Pokkvs 1933-1961, Tvske Mvhayv Haco Vntolv Pokkvs Lvmse 1962, Hocefkvlket omvts. Pommekkvlke Pollyketate Rohonvpvlket omes, Mytto!
  

• Title: ABE SPRINGS BLUFF COURTHOUSE
  Location:CR 275 at Abe Spings Rd., 2.5 mi. S of SR 20, SW o
  County: Calhoun
  City: Blountstown
  Description: Abe Springs Bluff was Calhoun County's second county seat -- from 1849 to 1880. About 4/10 mile west of here, at a remote location overlooking the Chipola River, stood the one-story wood frame courthouse that housed county courts and offices for over three decades, including the turbulent period surrounding the Civil War. Earlier, St. Joseph had served as the original county seat from the time Calhoun County was created in 1838 until the coastal boom town was destroyed by a yellow fever epidemic and a hurricane in the early 1840s. For a time thereafter the county actually had no seat of government. From 1845 to 1847 the Florida Legislature tried unsuccessfully to re-establish a county seat. Finally, in 1848 Calhoun Countians voted on proposed locations and, the following January, Abe Springs Bluff -- a more centrally located inland site -- was officially declared the county seat. Unlike its ill-fated predecessor, Abe Springs Bluff never was a true community -- just a courthouse site. In 1880 the Abe Springs Bluff courthouse was destroyed by fire and the county seat was moved to the new community of Blountstown on the Apalachicola River.
  

• Title: "OLD BLOUNTSTOWN" COURTHOUSE
  Location:River St. & Hayes Ave., 1.3 Mi S of SR 20
  County: Calhoun
  City: Blountstown.
  Description: Following the Civil War, a growing number of steamboats plied the waters of the Apalachicola River, busily transporting passengers, agricultural products and manufactured goods between the Gulf of Mexico and upstream locations in Florida, Alabama and Georgia. A river port had been established and a 26-block area was mapped out for the new community of Blountstown, named for the Seminole chief who had ruled much of the nearby territory during the early 19th Century. In 1880, after the Calhoun County courthouse at Abe Springs Bluff burned, the county seat was moved here to Blountstown -- then a growing community of 100 or so inhabitants. On this site, a two-story wood frame courthouse was constructed on the designated courthouse square. Homes, businesses and a hotel were constructed nearby, but few of the mapped streets ever were built. Periodic river flooding caused some residents to seek higher ground -- and "New Blountstown" began to develop around the turn of the century. In 1904, after streets had been laid out and many buildings built in "New Blountstown," a much larger two-story brick courthouse was constructed just over a mile northwest of here on the town's principal east-west thouroughfare. After the courthouse here at "The Bluff" no longer housed county courts and offices, the structure was used as a private residence until it was demolished in the mid-1940s.
  

• Title: BLUNT RESERVATION AND FIELDS
  Location:on Highway 20 on grounds of Sheriff's Dept.-Courth
  County: Calhoun
  City: Blountstown
  Description: This is the western boundary of a reservation set aside by the treaty of Fort Moultrie and given to John Blunt (Blount) one of the six principal chiefs of the Florida Indians. The Apalachicola River was the eastern boundary. The treaty was ratified January 2, 1824. Signers of the treaty were William P. Duval, James Gadsden, Bernard Sequi, Nea Mathla, John Blunt, Tuski Hajo, Mulatto King, Emathlochee and Econchatimico. Blounstown was named after him.
  

• Title: ALTHA METHODIST CHURCH
  Location:
  County: Calhoun
  City: Altha
  Description: The Richards family had a long history of building churches in Northwest Florida. Daniel Thomas Richards (1825-1879), survivor of an Indian attack on Fort Richards/Fort Place, and son of Rev. John G. Richards of Wewahitchka, built Moss Hill Methodist Church in Vernon (1857), Chipola Primitive Baptist (1873), and organized the Chipola Methodist Church (1874) in his log home. In 1876 Daniel and his sons built a log church near this site. In 1899 Daniels son, Martin L. Richards, purchased land and platted the town. Martin Lafayette Richards (1866-1947) and wife Lula Mozelle Cannon Richards (1875-1956), who named Altha and served as its first postmistress, granted this church site on August 23, 1907 to J.F. Richards, B. M. Stanfill and I. H. King as Trustees of the Blountstown Circuit Methodist Episcopal Church South, of the Marianna District Alabama Conference, and their successors in office, in order that the premises be used, kept, maintained as a place of divine worship for the use of the ministry and membership. A white wood frame church was built here in 1908 where the congregation met until a new church was built in 1974. Martin L. Richards served as the first Sunday School Superintendent until 1945.
  

• Title: RICHARDS CEMETERY
  Location:
  County: Calhoun
  City: Altha
  Description: On this site are the remains of early area settlers, the Richards family. As a prominent Virginia Colonial family, George Richards (1727-1818) was with Washington at Braddocks Defeat (1755), and with his sons in the Revolutionary War (1776). The family served in the War of 1812, Florida Indian Wars and Richards Company of Friendly Indians, settling Ocheese Bluffs, Wewahitchka, and Altha. As one of Floridas first pioneer families and Interpreters for Andrew Jackson for Florida treaties, they built Fort Richards where Georges son Thomas C. Richards (1774-1838) was killed during an Indian attack. Thomass son, Rev. John G. Richards (1797-1876), built the church and named Wewahitchka, and served as Calhoun County Elections Inspector (1843), Clerk of the Court (1851) and in Company A 2nd Florida Calvary. His son, Daniel Thomas Richards (1825-1879), buried at this site, survived the forts attack and built Moss Hill, Chipola Baptist and Altha Methodist Churches. He was a Civil War Veteran (6th Florida Infantry Regiment Company G wounded at Chickamauga, Georgia in 1863) and Washington County Clerk of Court. His wife, brother, a son, and other family are buried here. Son Martin L. Richards (1866-1947) founded Altha.
  

• Title: OLD BLOUNTSTOWN COURTHOUSE
  Location:River Street & Hayes Ave., 1.3 miles south of SR 20
  County: Calhoun
  City: Blountstown
  Description: Following the Civil War, a growing number of steamboats plied the waters of the Apalachicola River, busily transporting passengers, agricultural products and manufactured goods between the Gulf of Mexico and upstream locations in Florida, Alabama and Georgia. A river port had been established and a 26-block area was mapped out for the new community of Blountstown, named for the Seminole chief who had ruled much of the nearby territory during the early 19th Century. In 1880, after the Calhoun County courthouse at Abe Springs Bluff burned, the county seat was moved here to Blountstown -- then a growing community of 100 or so inhabitants. On this site, a two-story wood frame courthouse was constructed on the designated courthouse square. Homes, businesses and a hotel were constructed nearby, but few of the mapped streets ever were built. Periodic river flooding caused some residents to seek higher ground -- and "New Blountstown" began to develop around the turn of the century. In 1904, after streets had been laid out and many buildings built in "New Blountstown," a much larger two-story brick courthouse was constructed just over a mile northwest of here on the town's principal east-west thoroughfare. After the courthouse here at "The Bluff" no longer housed county courts and offices, the structure was used as a private residence until it was demolished in the mid-1940s.
  

• Title: COLUMBUS G. MCLEOD--PROTECTOR OF PLUMED BIRDS
  Location:Punta Gorda
  County: Charlotte
  City: Punta Gorda
  Description: Many wading birds can be seen here, largely due to the sacrifice of men like Columbus G. McLeod (1848-1908), who gave his life trying to protect them from plume hunters. Ladies hats with exotic bird feathers were high fashion in the late 1800s, and thousands of birds were slaughtered in Florida for their plumage. In 1901, the Audubon Society persuaded the state to adopt laws protecting Florida wildlife, especially plumage birds. Even so, no funds were allocated. The state, however, agreed to deputize two wardens hired by the Audubon Society. The danger of this work was evidenced when Guy M. Bradley, charged with protecting the Everglades area, was found shot to death near Flamingo on July 8, 1905. Columbus G. McLeod of Placida, charged with protecting the rookeries here in northern Charlotte Harbor, disappeared under suspicious circumstances and was presumed murdered on November 30, 1908. This second death of an Audubon warden sparked a national campaign against the wearing of feathers, and shifted public sentiment in favor of stronger enforcement of wildlife protection laws and the prosecution of plume hunters. Today we enjoy the beauty of our Florida wading birds largely because of these men.
  

• Title: PUNTA GORDA RAILROAD DEPOT
  Location:
  County: Charlotte
  City: Punta Gorda
  Description: Plans to build the railroad depot in Punta Gorda began in 1928. Although the trains carried passengers, the main purpose was for shipping fish to northern markets. The Punta Gorda depot is the only remaining one of this style built by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. Its design incorporated the Spanish Mission style features used by Atlantic Coast Line in six Florida depots. The original work was awarded to the R.W. Burrows Construction Company of Bartow. By 1971 the depot was closed to freight traffic and purchased by Fred C. Babcock, who donated the site to Old Punta Gorda, Inc., in 1996. In 1998 volunteers began to restore the building. The former Colored waiting room features pictures of area pioneers and local prominent African Americans. The former White waiting room includes other exhibits. The ticket office now includes railroad memorabilia, historic items from the local fishing industry and nostalgic items from World War II (1941-1945) troop arrivals to Charlotte County. In August 2004 the depot was hit by Hurricane Charlie, but it has since been restored as a Punta Gorda landmark. The depot was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
  

• Title: PONCE de LEON AT CHARLOTTE HARBOR
  Location:north bound side of U.S. Highway 41.
  County: Charlotte
  City: Punta Gorda
  Description: On his first voyage to Florida in 1513, Juan Ponce de Leon spent several weeks at or near the mouth of Charlotte Harbor. When attacked by Indians he returned to Puerto Rico. In 1521, Ponce de Leon, with two shiploads of colonists, returned to Charlotte Harbor. The colony lasted five months before it collapsed due to illness and Indian hostility. Ponce de Leon was wounded and died in Cuba shortly after the colonists returned.
  

• Title: SOUTHERNMOST RAILROAD TERMINAL
  Location:Marion Avenue at entrance to Punta Gorda Isles
  County: Charlotte
  City: Punta Gorda
  Description: On this site, in 1887, ended the southernmost railroad trackage in the U.S. Florida Southern Railway's narrow-gauge tracks run out on a 4,000 foot "Long Dock," where connections were made with New Orleans, Key West, and Havana steamers of the Morgan Line. Sailing schooners and paddle wheelers were a common sight. Governor Albert Waller Gilchrist, then a young civil engineer, was in charge of construction. The railroad was extended South in 1904.
  

• Title: ALBERT WALLER GILCHRIST - (1858-1926)
  Location:Marion Avenue at City Hall
  County: Charlotte
  City: Punta Gorda
  Description: A founder of Punta Gorda, he was a resident until his death. Served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives in 1893, 1895, 1903 and was House Speaker in 1905. He resigned as Brig. Gen. of the Florida Militia and enlisted as a private in the U.S. Volunteers during the Spanish-American War. He was discharged a captain. He served as Governor 1909-1913. Was noted for rugged honesty, good humor, and concern for others. Gilchrist County was named for him.
  

• Title: CITY OF PUNTA GORDA
  Location:Marion Avenue on wall of City Hall.
  County: Charlotte
  City: Punta Gorda
  Description: Spanish fishermen from Cuba first gave the name "Punta Gorda" to this area in early 1800's. The City was originally platted as "Trabue" by Isaac H. Trabue on February 24, 1885. The City of Punta Gorda came into being when a group of men met in a home on Cross Street and decided that the community should be incorporated. They walked to Pine level and filed the necessary papers on December 7, 1887.
  

• Title: HISTORIC CITRUS COUNTY COURTHOUSE
  Location:
  County: Citrus
  City: Inverness
  Description: Citrus County was formed from Hernando County in 1887 and Mannfield, in the center of the new county, was chosen as the temporary county seat by the state legislature. After a political tug-of-war and several elections, Inverness was chosen as the permanent county seat in 1891. In June, 1911 the Board of County Commissioners adopted a resolution to erect a new building to replace the Victorian style wood courthouse on the square. The 1912 Courthouse, designed by architect Willis R. Biggers, includes a copper cupola topped with a belvedere and constructed at a cost of $55,885. Its eclectic design incorporates features from four distinct architectural styles, Italian Renaissance, Neoclassical, Mission, and Prairie School. The building is uniquely situated on a square lot at 45 degree angles. It is historically significant because of its association with county government for over eighty years. A restoration returning the building to its original appearance was funded with grants from the Division of Historical Resources, matching funds from the county, and fund raising efforts by the Citrus County Historical Society. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
  

• Title: TOWN OF PENNEY FARMS
  Location:
  County: Clay
  City: Penney Farms
  Description: James Cash Penney (1876-1971), philanthropist and founder of J.C. Penney Department Stores, purchased 120,000 acres in Clay County and invited farmers to claim 40-acre tracts by clearing the land, building houses, growing crops and raising livestock. In 1922 Penney and associates formed the Florida Farms and Industries Company that planned, plated and registered 10,000 acres as Long Branch City, whose population rose to 825 in 1930 and is 654 in 2002. Here, in 1926, Penney built the Memorial Home Community to honor his parents. In 1927 the Florida State Legislature chartered the city as the Town of Penney Farms and in 1937 the town limits were reduced to 1,500 acres. The community consisted of a church building and 22 cottages based on French Norman architecture. Modest wood frame dwellings occupied by farmers contrasted with stately Norman-styled buildings. The Great Depression (1929) caused Mr. Penney to sell his holdings except 200 acres, which he deeded to the Memorial Home Community, and turned over its operation to the Christian Herald Foundation. In 1971 it became the self-sustaining Penney Retirement Community, Inc., and in 1999 was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
  

• Title: VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION WOMEN'S CLUB
  Location:
  County: Clay
  City: Green Cove Springs
  Description: On February 20, 1883, the Village Improvement Association (V.I.A.) of Green Cove Springs was organized. Meetings were held in members homes. Money was raised to beautify the town, most of which was used for boardwalks, and 70 feet of clay pavement was laid. In 1888, the V.I.A. formed a childrens auxiliary known as the Star Branch, and ran the first public library until December 1961, when the Clay County Public Library was formed. A kindergarten was maintained from 1900 to 1904 in the public school building, with the V.I.A. assuming most of the expenses. In 1889 the V.I.A. was incorporated. In 1895, a member of the Borden Milk Company family, Mrs. Penelope Borden Hamilton gave the V.I.A. its first permanent home and the lot where the present building stands. That same year, the V.I.A. became a charter member of the Florida Federation of Womans Clubs and acquired membership in the General Federation in 1898. The present building, designed by Architect Mellen C. Greeley (1880-1981) of Jacksonville, was built in 1915 at a cost of $4,589.49 and formally dedicated on February 18, 1915. The V.I.A. continues as an important unit of the community, devoted to social, educational, and beautification projects.
  

• Title: FORT SAN FRANSISCO DE PUPO
  Location: S.R. 16 at Shands Bridge.
  County: Clay
  City: Green Cove Springs
  Description: Pupo is first mentioned in 1716 as the place where the trail from the Franciscan Indian Missions in Apalachee (present-day Tallahassee) to St. Augustine crossed the river. The Spanish government built the fort on the St. Johns River sometime before 1737. Pupo teamed with Fort Picolata on the Eastern Shore, these forts protected the river crossing and blocked ships from continuing upstream. In 1738 after an attack by the British-allied Yuchi Indians, the fort was enlarged to a 30-by-16 blockhouse, surrounded by a rampart of timber and earth. During General James Oglethorpe's 1739-40 advance on St. Augustine, Lt. George Dunbar unsuccessfully attacked Pupo on the night of December 28th. On January 7th and 8th, Oglethorpe himself took two days to capture the Spanish blockhouses. Oglethorpe reinforced the fort with a trench, which is still visible. Upon the British retreat from Florida, Fort San Fransisco de Pupo was destroyed. Though the fort was never rebuilt, the site remained a strategically important ferry crossing. In the 1820s, Florida's first federally built road, the Bellamy Road, used the river crossing on the route between St. Augustine and Pensacola.
  

• Title: FORT HEILMAN
  Location:S.R. 21 in front of abandoned bank
  County: Clay
  City: Middleburg
  Description: Fort Heilman, named after Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Julius F. Heilman, was built in the mid 1830's at the spot where the north and south forks of Black Creek join. It was a temporary wooden stockade used during the First Seminole War as a quartermaster work shop and storage depot. Clustered around the stockade were the log huts of the small village of Garey's Ferry. When the Indian wars ended the fort was abandoned.
  

• Title: BELLAMY ROAD
  Location:LOCATI0N LOCATED ON US 17 AT THE BELLAMY ROAD, 6.
  County: Clay
  City: Green Cove Springs
  Description: The Old Bellamy Road intersects Highway 17 near this point. In 1824, the First session of the 18th United States Congress appropriated $20,000.00 to develop a public road in the Territory of Florida between Pensacola and St. Augustine. It was to follow as nearly as possible on the pre-existing Old Mission Trail. The St. Augustine to Tallahassee segment was contracted to John Bellamy. He completed this in 1826, using Native American guides and his own slaves. Remnants of the old sand road are used today and part of the Bellamy Road forms the county line between northwest Putnam and Southwest Clay County.
  

• Title: GREEN COVE SPRINGS
  Location: 229 Walnut Street at Spring Park
  County: Clay
  City: Green Cove Springs
  Description: High ground along the river and a flowing mineral spring drew the first inhabitants to this area some 7000 years ago, but historic development dates from 1816 when George I. F. Clarke erected a sawmill in this vicinity under a Spanish land grant. The first settlement, called White Sulfur Springs, was established in 1854, with a wharf, a store, and several houses clustered around a public square. During the Civil War, Federal troops frequently skirmished with Confederate forces in the vicinity, and finally occupied the town in 1864. Renamed in 1866, Green Cove Springs became the seat of Clay County government in 1871. Tourism flourished, surpassing citrus culture and lumbering as the area's economic base. River steamers brought visitors to the "Saratoga of the South", noted for the healthful qualities of its famous spring and for hotels and boarding houses said to rival the finest to be found in northern resorts. By the 1890s, the population reached more than 1500. But an expanding railroad system carried tourists southward and a great freeze in 1895 destroyed the surrounding citrus groves. The city's tourist industry declined sharply. The advent of the automobile age and the creation of a state highway system provided the basis for economic recovery in the 1920s, when the city shared in the general prosperity of the Florida Land Boom. But the collapse of the boom and the depression of the 1930s marked the end of the early development of the city. Between 1940 and 1945, the city experienced renewed development. The population increased from 1752 to 3026 as a result of the wartime construction of Benjamin Lee Field, a 1500 acre air auxiliary complex, by the U. S. Navy. With the end of World War II, thirteen piers were constructed by the Navy and the Green Cove base became home port to a "mothball fleet" of some 600 ships. With its share of returning war veterans, the community's population grew through the 1950s to a total of 4233 in 1960. In 1961, the Navy decommissioned its base and the reserve fleet was transferred to another facility. In 1984, the city annexed the former naval base into its corporate limits, tying this part of its heritage to its future growth and development.
  

• Title: MIDDLEBURG
  Location:Corner of Wharf Street and Main Street
  County: Clay
  City: Middleburg
  Description: Middleburg developed in the early 1800s as a transportation center linking the St. Johns River with the peninsular interior. Originally settled in the 1820s as Clark's Ferry, a crossing on Black Creek, it became a major military entrepot during the Second Seminole war (1835-1842) with establishment of Ft. Heilman. The Clark-Chalker House dates from that era, when the population reached 800. Served by roads and riverboats, Middleburg gained its name in the 1840s, thrived on the surrounding timber, citrus, and farm economy, and became the first Clay County seat of government in 1858. The United Methodist Church was built in 1847. The 4th Massachusetts Cavalry burned much of the town in 1864. Prosperity returned in the 1870s as river traffic and the citrus industry burgeoned. The population numbered 700 in 1890, before a devastating freeze (1895) and decline of the river trade undermined the local economy. Many houses in the unincorporated town date from the Victorian Era and are found in a historic district listed in the National Register of Historic Places (1990).
  

• Title: MIDDLEBURG METHODIST CHURCH
  Location:on the church grounds on Main Street
  County: Clay
  City: Middleburg
  Description: Founded on or before July 27, 1828 by Isaac Boring, a Methodist Circuit Riding Preacher. First known as The Black Creek Methodist Church. This frontier Methodist society met in homes until the present church was built in 1847. In continuous use since that date, the structure represents the oldest Methodist meeting place in Florida. Built mostly by slave labor, from native lumber and hand wrought nails from local blacksmiths. The heart of pine exterior is of clapboard square edge siding, a design unique to this period. The windows and mahogany wood for the pews were brought from overseas ports. The bell was cast in New York in 1852 and shipped here prior to 1860 by George Branning. It was tolled for the first time for the funeral of his son on February 29, 1860, who died during a swamp fever epidemic. The wide aisle was left down the center to segregate the men and women. The back pews were reserved for slaves. The pews were put together with wooden pegs and hand drawn. The marks of the draw-knife can still be seen. During the mid 1800's the cemetery was used to bury the town Protestants. The Catholic Cemetery was located 120 feet north of here. In recent years the Cemetery became the burial ground for the community in general.
  

• Title: OLD CLAY COUNTY COURTHOUSE
  Location:Walnut Street next to railroad tracks, between Fer
  County: Clay
  City: Green Cove Springs
  Description: When Clay County was created in 1858 by the Florida Legislature, Middleburg was named as temporary county seat. As a result of an 1859 election, Whitesville (Webster), became the official county court site. Clay County's 1st courthouse was located there. In 1871, Green Cove Springs was chosen as the new county seat. Courts met there in 1872, but it was 1874 before a 2 story frame courthouse was completed. In 1889, a new, large 2-story brick building was ready for use. The Old Clay County Courthouse served as the seat of county government until 1973. This structure was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
  

• Title: FORT ST. FRANCIS DE PUPA
  Location: This marker was destroyed and was replaced.
  County: Clay
  City: Green Cove Springs
  Description: The site was used as a ferry landing late in the 17th century. About 1716 the first fort was built by the Spanish. It was rebuilt and enlarged early in 1739. The following year the fort was captured by English and Indian forces led by James Oglethorpe, founder of the Georgia colony. On their withdrawal, later in the summer, they destroyed the fort and it was never rebuilt.
  

• Title: 1936 SEMINOLE CONFERENCE
  Location: South side of Tamiami Trail
  County: Collier
  City:
  Description: On February 22, 1936, this pine hammock was the site of a conference attended by about 275 Seminoles and several representatives of state and local governments. Florida's New Deal governor, David W. Sholtz (1933-37), had aided the state's economic recovery from the great depression. Accompanied by members of his cabinet and D. Graham Copeland of the Collier County Board of Commissioners, Sholtz journeyed into the Everglades to discuss with Seminole leaders what the government could do to assist the Indians in those trying times. A ceremonial welcome was followed by conversations in which Gotch Nagoftee (Josie Billie) and Tush Kee Henehe (Corey Osceola) spoke for the Seminoles. The Indians appreciated the offer of aid but, fearing removal from the Everglades, gave the Governor this reply: "Pohoan Checkish" - "Just leave us alone."
  

• Title: THE NAPLES DEPOT
  Location:1200 5th Avenue South
  County: Collier
  City: Naples
  Description: The Naples Depot, which was completed in 1927, is one of the oldest remaining structures in the City of Naples. The Depot was built to serve as the Seaboard Air Line Railway's southern-most west coast terminal. The coming of railroads to Naples and the opening of the Tamiami Trail in 1928 gave impetus to the growth of the area as a winter resort. The Naples Depot for a time became the property of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad before a merger in the late 1960s brought it under the auspices of the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad. It remained a hub of activity for tourists and residents for several decades. In 1971, increased reliance upon auto and air transportation resulted in the discontinuation of passenger service to Naples. Originally designed in a style compatible with the tropical Florida climate, the terminal building was added to the National Register of Historic places in 1974. Through action initiated by the Naples Jaycees, community efforts to save the Depot were started. Two years later the Naples Depot was acquired by Southwest Heritage, Inc., so that it might continue to be used by this community.
  

• Title: OLD LAUNDRY BUILDING - EVERGLADES WOMEN'S CLUB
  Location:Everglades Women's Club Clubhouse
  County: Collier
  City: Everglades City
  Description: The first permanent white settlers arrived in this region in the late 19th century. A community dependent on hunting, fishing and farming soon emerged. The land upon which Everglades City now stands was acquired in 1921-22 by Barron Collier, a wealthy advertising man. In 1923 Collier County was formed with the Town of Everglades as county seat. A planned town, it was built on filled land at Collier's direction, service facilities were provided, and by 1928 this building had been completed as a community laundry. That year also marked the opening of the Tamiami Trail from Tampa to Miami and completion of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad into Everglades. After a prosperous beginning, the town suffered economically during the depression and World War II. The Town of Everglades was changed by charter into Everglades City in 1953, and the community moved away from its "company town" origins. This structure ceased to function as a laundry after WWII but remained Collier-owned until 1963. In that year the Everglades Women's Club, founded in 1928 but later disbanded, was reactivated and in 1965 purchased the building for use as a clubhouse. The structure retains the typical appearance of the company town period.
  

• Title: THE NAPLES PIER
  Location:10th Avenue South, in median at entrance to pier.
  County: Collier
  City: Naples
  Description: Built in 1888 as a freight and passenger dock, the Naples Pier stands as a community landmark. Narrow gauge train rails spanning the length of the pier transported freight and baggage in the early 1900's. Part of the structure as well as the post office located on the pier was razed by fire in 1922. Rebuilt after damage from hurricanes in 1910, 1926, and 1960, it remains a public symbol of the area's history.
  

• Title: SUNNILAND OIL FIELD
  Location:S.R. 29 in Oil Well Park, 8.6 miles north of junct
  County: Collier
  City: Sunniland
  Description: The first commercial oil well in Florida, located just east of this site, was drilled in 1943 by Humble Oil and Refining Company. The discovery of oil at a depth of over 11,500 feet proved that there was oil in Florida. Seventeen wells were subsequently drilled near here. Sunniland was the state's only commercial oil field until 1964 although there had been extensive drilling since 1900. A vision of Barron Gift Collier was thus fulfilled.
  

• Title: BIG CYPRESS SWAMP
  Location: Collier-Seminole State Park off U.S. 41, near walk
  County: Collier
  City: Naples
  Description: Once occupied by the Caloosa Indians and the Spanish, it was the last refuge of the Seminoles. The region is drained in a north- south direction by creeks, rivers, sloughs and swamps. Abounding in wildlife, trees, plants, shrubs and flowers, most of the area is less than fifteen feet in elevation; but fertile hammock forests dot the higher lands. The ever-present cypress is called the "wood eternal" and is the oldest living thing on earth.
  

• Title: ALLIGATOR
  Location: City Park on Marion Street.
  County: Columbia
  City: Lake City
  Description: Originally called Alpata Telophka, or Alligator Town, this site was a Seminole village, ruled by the powerful chief Alligator, an instigator of the Dade Massacre, which began the great Seminole War of 1835. Following the cessation of hostilities, a white settlement sprang up on the site of the old Seminole village and became known simply as Alligator. Prior to the War Between the States, the name was changed to Lake City.
  

• Title: TOWN OF LENO
  Location:O'leno State Park
  County: Columbia
  City: near Mikesville
  Description: Originally called "Keno", for a variation of lotto gambling, the town was settled in the 1860's. Ecclesiastical and commercial pressure changed the name to "Leno" in 1876. A grist and saw mill, cotton gin, stores, and hotel sprang up in the settlement. Railroad construction bypassed the town, and by the 1890's Leno became a ghost town. The site of old Leno (O'Leno) was purchased by the state as a park and forestry station in 1934.
  

• Title: TOWN OF FORT WHITE
  Location: In front of Fort White School
  County: Columbia
  City: Fort White
  Description: The town of Fort White, named for a former Second Seminole War fort built nearby in 1837, was founded in 1870 and flourished briefly after the arrival of the railroad in 1888. Phosphate mining and the growing of citrus and cotton sparked a boom that before 1900 made Fort White the second largest city in Columbia County with a population of nearly 2,000. The boom collapsed when severe freezes in the winter of 1896-1897 destroyed the local citrus industry. Phosphate mining ceased by 1910, and the boll weevil ended cotton farming before World War I. A handful of historic buildings, such as the Old Fort White School (1915) remain from the town's era of prosperity.
  

• Title: BETHEL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
  Location:US 41/441 at CR 133B 4.5 Mi. S of US 90
  County: Columbia
  City: Lake City
  Description: Old Bethel Church was first organized by Alligator area settlers as early as the 1820s. The original church was a small log structure located some two miles northeast of this site. In 1855, this building was erected to accommodate a growing number of parishioners. One of only a few Antebellum church buildings which have survived in rural Florida, Bethel Church has served its congregation continuously since its mid-19th century founding. The building has been known in the community as "the white church by the side of the road" for over a century Sponsored by Bethel United Methodist Church In Cooperation With The Florida Department of State
  

• Title: FORT OGDEN
  Location:U.S. 17 in front of Post Office
  County: Desoto
  City: Fort Ogden
  Description: As white settlers moved into Florida, demands increased for the removal of the Seminole Indians to a western reservation. The Seminoles failed to cooperate, and in 1835 the conflict known as the Second Seminole War began. By 1841, the Indians were still entrenched in central and south Florida. Campaign plans for that year aimed at clearing Indians from the area between the Withlacoochee River and the frontier and then attacking Indian bands in Big Cypress Swamp. To sustain the wide-ranging troops, detached camps were established at various points. Camp Ogden, named for Captain Edmund Ogden of the 8th U.S. Infantry, seems to have been established in July, 1841, as an advanced position for the Big Cypress campaign. In addition, 55 canoes were constructed for the next winter's Everglades expedition. Before the camp was abandoned in the fall, an influential Indian leader, Coacoochee, visited Camp Ogden. The community of Fort Ogden developed in this citrus and cattle region in the last part of the 19th century and took its name from the Second Seminole War camp. Fort Ogden's post office, established in 1876, is the oldest in DeSoto County to be in continuous service.
  

• Title: DE SOTO COUNTY
  Location:U.S. 17 at courthouse
  County: Desoto
  City: Arcadia
  Description: Named after the great Spanish conquistador and Florida explorer Hernando De Soto, the county was created out of Manatee County in 1887. The area's original inhabitants were Caloosa Indians. In early Florida history the region was the scene of numerous Indian battles. The county's 416,640 acres offer a diversified economy of citrus, cattle, agriculture and industry. Arcadia is the county seat.
  

• Title: OWENS COMMUNITY SCHOOL
  Location:Arcadia
  County: DeSoto
  City: Arcadia
  Description: The Owens Community School was built1916-1918 in the once thriving community of Owens. The community and school were named for Owen H. Dishong (1850-1902), the first sheriff of DeSoto County, serving 1887 to 1893 and 1897 to 1901. He was a charter member of the first church and donated land for the first schoolhouse. The community was situated between the Peace River and Horse Creek. It flourished through the mining of pebble phosphate. The community consisted of a post office, general store, railroad, citrus packing house, Owens Community School, and Mt. Ephraim Baptist Church. The frame school is the only remaining building of the original structures of Owens. It was last used as a school site in 1946, but some original school furnishings remain intact. It has continued to be used as a polling place over the years. In 2000, the School District of DeSoto County refurbished the school and began using it for school district training and recognitions, and historical society and humanities presentations.
  

• Title: ARCADIA CITY HALL
  Location:
  County: DeSoto
  City: Arcadia
  Description: The Town of Arcadia was settled in 1883, incorporated in 1886, and became the county seat in 1888. By the late 1880s the population was 300. On Thanksgiving night 1905 the town burned. Three brick stores survived. Using only brick or block, rebuilding began immediately. Most of those buildings remain today. During World War I with its two flying schools, Carlstrom and Dorr Fields, Arcadia became known as the Aviation Capital of Florida. The land for Arcadias first city hall (140x142) was a pineapple patch bought in 1917 for $3,000 from Fred and Ida Gore. City Hall was designed in the Mediterranean Revival style and was furnished in June 1926 at a cost of $45,216, including all furnishings. A section of the original nine-foot office counter and steel shelves for the vault are still in use. The fire station first housed a solid, rubber-tired, auto driven hose wagon with chemical tanks and a 1924 American La France fire truck which is still owned and running. The original 20-foot brass fire pole and the 400-pound siren are to be placed in the City Hall Museum. In 2004, restoration of City Hall began with funding from the Florida Division of Historical Resources and the City.
  

• Title: FORT DUVAL AND THE SUWANNEE RIVER
  Location:
  County: Dixie
  City: Old Town
  Description: Captain Francis Langhorne Dade, U.S. Army and his 120-man Companies A,B,D,H and N, built Fort Duval in November 1826 at the mouth of the Suwannee River. The structure was 140 by 130 feet and six feet high with portholes for firing. The fort was named for territorial governor William Pope Duval. Fort Duval was built to guard the mouth of the Suwannee River. Indians used the river for many years, traveling to Cuba, the Bahama Islands and other places to trade and purchase goods. William Bartram witnessed this in his travels in 1774 while visiting the Indians up river from its mouth. In April 1818, General Andrew Jackson used the river to transport his wounded back to St. Marks after his Battle for Billy Bowlegs Old Town, located on the Suwannee River. Fort Duval was destroyed by May 15, 1841. At that time, Capt. Cambell Graham wrote of Lt. Palmers survey of the mouth of the Suwannee River in search of the remains of Fort Duval. Time and tide have destroyed all traces of Fort Duval. The Suwannee River now carries fishing enthusiasts and sportsmen.
  

• Title: FLETCHER COMMUNITY
  Location:
  County: Dixie
  City: Old Town
  Description: The Fletcher Community was established when Dixie County was part of Lafayette County and both were part of their parent county, Madison. In the early 1850s Fletcher families and other families emigrated south from the Carolinas through Georgia, bringing their livestock and looking for better pastures. Other families followed including the Edmond, Bell, Boatright, Gronto, Hatch, Matthis, Jones, Sauls and Ward families. They used the Suwannee River to move cotton and farm produce by steamboats to the railroad at Cedar Key. Most settlers of the Methodist faith attended services at Pleasant Grove Church, established by Rev. John A. Fletcher (1811-1858). This church is now gone but the Pleasant Grove and Ward Cemeteries are reminders of the Fletcher Communitys settlers. William Rete Fletcher served as Madison Countys Justice of the Peace 1847-1849 and Clark of Court of Lafayette County 1856-1858. U.S. Postal records show Matilda J. Jones Fletcher as the communitys first Postmaster. Eborn Haywood Sauls, William R. Fletcher, and Mittie (Matilda) Fletcher were later Postmasters.
  

• Title: PUTNAM L0DGE
  Location:The marker is missing.
  County: Dixie
  City: Shamrock
  Description: PUTNAM LODGE Putnam Lodge, built in 1927-28 by the Putnam Lumber Company, is part of a bygone era in Florida's forestry history. Here, beside the old Dixie Highway, Putnam Lodge, part of the "company town" of Shamrock, accommodated tourists, transients and company executives and clients. The lobby and the dining room of the 36-room lodge were decorated exclusively with the still preserved, artfully stenciled "pecky cypress," a now virtually extinct lumber product. In its day, the Putnam Lumber Company, founded by William O'Brien, a timber magnate of Irish descent, and associates including E. B. Putnam, employed hundreds at its two state-of-the-art sawmills in Shamrock. The mills annually produced and shipped worldwide millions of feet of "deep swamp tidewater cypress" and "dense Florida longleaf yellow pine" lumber, products that are now rare because the old growth trees are gone. Shamrock provided its residents and employees with comfortable homes, a commissary, a store comparable to "any city department store," two schools, two hotels, the Shamrock Dairy Farm, and an ice plant producing 18 tons of ice daily. The lodge is representative of a time of local timber supremacy and economic prosperity.
  

• Title: TRIUMPH THE CHURCH AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD IN CHRIST
  Location:166 NE 106 Street
  County: Dixie
  City: Cross City
  Description: This church, built in 1929, was originally a wood-framed structure and the first church erected in the African-American community of Cross City. The architectural character was retained when it was remodeled and enlarged in 1942. The hand-made masonry blocks were fashioned under the direction of Prince Robert C. Glanton (1892-1965). He was the church’s Shepherd and presiding elder until he was promoted to District Bishop in 1957. Cross City’s first voter registration for blacks was held in this church. The church is part of a national system of churches founded in 1902 by Father Elias Dempsey Smith and is represented in 36 of the United States and Monrovia, Liberia. It was chartered in Washington, D.C. in 1918, and is in the hall of records. In addition to worship and praise services, the church provides charity, summer enrichment classes, youth development training, and many other activities that enhance the spiritual, physical, and moral development of the community.
  

• Title: OLDTOWN
  Location:U.S. Highway 19
  County: Dixie
  City: Old Town
  Description: Inhabited by the Upper Creeks, Old Town, often called Suwanee Old Town, was one of the largest Indian villages in northern Florida. In Andrew Jackson's punitive expedition into Florida in April, 1818, Old Town was captured. Most of the renegade Indians escaped, but Jackson caught Robert Armbister, a British subject, who was tried and executed for aiding the Creeks in border raids into Georgia. This produced tension between the United States and Great Britain.
  

• Title: OLD TOWN SCHOOL
  Location: Dixie County
  County: Dixie
  City: Old Town
  Description: On April 1, 1899, Orren Y. Felton and his wife, Lillie F. Felton, gave deed to the Board of Public Instruction for Old Town School. On May 23, 1911, Ruby E. Chaires and her husband McQueen Chaires gave additional deed to the Board of Public Instruction for School. The present two story, four-classroom building was constructed in 1909—two classrooms upstairs and two downstairs. From home schooling to one-room schoolhouses to neighborhood schools, the schools of the Old Town era were built. The auditorium was added in 1930. Children continually attended classes in this building until 1999. This historic, two and one-half story building was constructed of locally made bricks which were “fired” on site. All rafters are of the exposed “Italian eight design.” The top half floor contains a two-louver door dormer. The dormer and high windows were the only means of ventilation. The Dixie County Historical Society uses this building, now known as the Dixie County Cultural Center, as an office, museum of local artifacts, and library.
  

• Title: THE JACKSON TRAIL
  Location:Dixie County
  County: Dixie
  City:
  Description: On December 26, 1817, U.S. Secretary of War John C. Calhoun directed General Andrew Jackson to protect citizens trying to settle in Florida. Jackson arrived in Florida with the largest army ever to invade the state to date – 2,000 Creek Warriors and 1,000 Georgia and Tennessee militiamen. After leaving Nashville, Tennessee, they traveled through Georgia and on to Florida, winding up in Suwannee-Old Town (now Dixie County). Jackson’s goal was to remove the Indians, destroy their homes and confiscate their horses, cattle and food and slaves. In four days he had killed or driven off all Indians and escaped slaves. Near this spot, in April 1818, while on a “seek and find” mission, Jackson and his army captured Indian traders Robert Armbrister and Alexander Arbuthnot. They were British subjects who were supposed to be protected by a truce between England and the United States. Jackson had Arbuthnot hanged and Armbrister shot, which almost caused a war between the two countries. The Jackson Trail ran alongside Highway 19, branching south to the Coast on the west side of what is now the Horseshoe Beach Road (Highway 351).
  

• Title: ABRAHAM LINCOLN LEWIS MAUSOLEUM
  Location: Moncrief Road, Downtown Jacksonville
  County: Duval
  City: Jacksonville
  Description: Pioneer Abraham Lincoln Lewis (1865-1947) and others founded Florida’s oldest African-American insurance company, Afro-American Life in 1901, which spread throughout the South as far as Texas. In 1926, A.L. Lewis opened Lincoln Golf and Country Club where the famous visited, such as heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis (1914-1981). Later Lewis founded American Beach, which in 1935 was a recreational haven for blacks during segregation. Although most noted for the Afro, A.L. Lewis started Florida’s first black-owned and operated bottling company and assisted Booker T. Washington in establishing the national Negro Business League. Throughout his life A.L. Lewis continued to serve as a dynamic leader in countless organizations such as the 33rd Masonic Order and the African Methodist Episcopal Church, where he was a principle financial supporter. He also provided financial support to Edward Waters College and Bethune Cookman College. Interred in this nationally historic mausoleum, which was registered in 1997, are his immediate family and first wife, Mary Sammis Lewis (1865-1923), who was the great-granddaughter of Anna and Zephaniah Kingsley of Kingsley Plantation, today a national park on Fort George Island.
  

• Title: FLORIDA’S FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN INSURANCE COMPANY--1901-2001
  Location:Jacksonville
  County: Duval
  City: Jacksonville
  Description: The Afro-American Insurance Company, formerly the Afro-American Industrial and Benefits Association, was founded in 1901 to provide affordable health insurance and death benefits to the state’s African-Americans. Founded by the Reverend E.J. Gregg, E.W. Latson, Abraham Lincoln Lewis, A.W. Price, Dr. Arthur W. Smith, J.F. Valentine, and the Reverend J. Melton Waldron, the Afro’s first office at 14 Ocean Street was destroyed by the great Jacksonville Fire two months after it opened on May 3, 1901. It then moved to 621 Florida Avenue, the home of treasurer and future president, Abraham Lincoln Lewis (1865-1947). From their next home office at 105 E. Union Street, the company wrote millions of dollars of insurance policies and started district offices in Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas. Lewis formed the African-American Pension Bureau and in 1935, land was purchased on Amelia Island for the black resort called American Beach. On April 22, 1956, the company dedicated its new, million-dollar building at Ocean and Union Street. After over 80 years of serving black southerners, the company closed on July 17, 1987. The 11th Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church owns the Building.
  

• Title: MUNGEN HOUSE
  Location: 545 Jessie St.
  County: Duval
  City: Jacksonville
  Description: This frame vernacular house was built in 1928 for Doane Martin Mungen, Sr. (1872-1948) and his wife Mary Elizabeth Mungen (1874-1955). It is located in the Oakland neighborhood, which was platted in 1869, and emerged in the 1870s as a working class community. The Mungens moved from 343 East Union Street to a wooded bungalow here that was demolished to build this 12-room house. With time, the rooms on the second level were rented. Later, inside stairs were removed, steps placed on the east, and the upstairs was rented as an apartment. Red bricks that form the columns, pier foundation, and chimney are from a demolished building in the downtown area. A large white stone at the curb of the front walk has rested there for 75 years. It once served as a step from horse-drawn buggies. Mr. Mungen planted a water oak on the east lawn and laurel on the west. D.M. Mungen, Jr. (1904-1936), eldest son of five, sent money from Tallahassee where he worked as a chef in the Floridan Hotel, now demolished. The only daughter, Sylvia Amanda Mungen (1903-1996), a Duval County teacher for 42 years, lived here until 1990. The house is one of a few left of its era in the area representing African-Americans of upward mobility.
  

• Title: 1960 CIVIL RIGHTS DEMONSTRATION
  Location:Hemming Square, Downtown Jacksonville
  County: Duval
  City: Jacksonville
  Description: 1960 CIVIL RIGHTS DEMONSTRATION On Saturday, August 27,1960, 40 Youth Council demonstrators from the Jacksonville Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) advised by local civil rights leader Rutledge H. Pearson (1929-1967), sat in at the W.T. Grant Department Store, then located at the corner of West Adams and North Main Streets, and at Woolworth’s Five and Ten Cent Store on Hogan Street across from Hemming Park. Seeking access to the whites-only lunch counters, the youths were met by 150 white males wielding axe handles and baseball bats. Many of the youths were injured while others sought safety at the adjacent Snyder Memorial Methodist Church. Although not the beginning of the Jacksonville civil rights movement, this conflict was a turning point. It awakened many to the seriousness of the African-American community’s demand for equal rights, equal opportunity, human dignity, and respect, and inspired further resolve in supporters to accomplish these goals. Within the decade, lunch counters were integrated, Duval County public schools began to desegregate, four African-Americans were elected to City Council, and segregation of public accommodations, including parks, restrooms, and water fountains ended.
  

• Title: CHURCH OF OUR SAVIOR (EPISCOPAL)
  Location:12223 Mandarin Road.
  County: Duval
  City: Mandarin
  Description: Situated on the St. Johns on a portion of the Fairbanks Grant, this congregation was organized in 1867. The church was completed in 1883 under the Rev. C.M. Strugess, a mission priest assigned to the St. Johns Valley. The church was regularly attended by Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin", and the west window is a memorial to the Stowe family who were winter residents of Mandarin for many years.
  

• Title: HARRIET BEECHER STOWE HOME
  Location:Mandarin Road 1.6 miles west of SR 13.
  County: Duval
  City: Mandarin
  Description: In 1867, Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe and her husband Calvin bought thirty acres of the Fairbanks Grant in Mandarin which served as their winter home until the winter of 1883-1884. The move to Florida was due to plans for philanthropy among the Negroes and a desire to benefit her son's health. While in Florida, Mrs. Stowe, author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin", wrote sketches called "Palmetto Leaves". The Stowes were active in local charitable and religious activities.
  

• Title: SITE OF COW FORD
  Location:Bay Street on grounds of Courthouse.
  County: Duval
  City: Jacksonville
  Description: This narrow part of the St. Johns River, near a clear freshwater spring was a crossing point for Indians and early travelers. The Indian name Wacca Pilatka, meaning "Cow's Crossing", was shortened by the English to Cow Ford, and Jacksonville was known by this name for many years. This crossing was used by the English when they made an old Timucuan Indian Trail into King's Road.
  

• Title: MAPLE LEAF
  Location:North Bank Riverwalk at the foot of Hogan Street
  County: Duval
  City: Jacksonville
  Description: Approximately 15 miles up river from this point, the Union transport Maple Leaf was destroyed by a Confederate mine during the early morning hours of April 1, 1864. The Maple Leaf sank to the bottom of the St. Johns River after hitting one of twelve Confederate mines along Mandarin Point. At the time of the explosion, the steamboat was transporting 68 passengers and crewmembers from Palatka to Jacksonville. Passengers included 42 Union sympathizers seeking protection of federal troops in Jacksonville. Four crewmembers died in the explosion. After sinking, only the top of the wheelhouse and smokestack were visible. These parts were later removed to keep the channel clear for navigation. The hull with its valuable cargo had settled deep within the muddy river bottom. On the Maple Leaf were 400 pounds of cargo, primarily the equipment of three Union regiments and two brigade headquarters. In 1981the Maple Leaf was located by St. Johns Archaeological Expeditions, Inc. Hundreds of artifacts have been recovered from the site, which is now a National Landmark.
  

• Title: 1901 JACKSONVILLE FIRE
  Location:Hemming Plaza
  County: Duval
  City: Jacksonville
  Description: On May 3, 1901 at 12:30 p.m., a fire began at the Cleaveland Fibre Factory, ten blocks northwest of this site. Chimney embers ignited sun-dried moss to be used as mattress stuffing. Fueled by wind and dry weather, the fire roared east destroying most structures in its path. By 3:30 p.m., the fire reached this site, then called Hemming Park. The park and its renowned live oaks were devoured by the flames and only the Confederate Monument survived, its base glowing red from heat. The fire continued an eastward march to Hogan’s Creek, where a citizens’ bucket brigade stayed the flames. Then, turning south, the inferno roared to Bay Street’s riverfront docks. Extreme heat caused a waterspout in the river where rescue boats trolled for survivors. The fire was so intense, black smoke clouds could be seen as far away as South Carolina. As flames moved west on Bay Street, the firefighters’ gallant stand and dying winds brought the fire under control by 8:30 p.m. In just eight hours, nearly 10,000 people were homeless, 2,368 buildings were lost, 146 city blocks were destroyed, but miraculously only seven people perished. Jacksonville’s 1901 Fire remains the most destructive burning of a Southern city in U.S. history.
  

• Title: ST. GEORGE EPISCOPAL CHURCH
  Location:Ft. George Island
  County: Duval
  City: Ft. George Island
  Description: St. George Episcopal Church, designed by Robert S. Schuyler and built in 1882, is a fine example of Carpenter Gothic, one of the most distinctive varieties of church architecture. Such churches were promoted by Floridas second bishop, John Freeman Young (1820-1885) just after the Civil War. Bishop Young divided north Florida into regions defined by major water bodies. These churches along the St. Johns River included St. George Episcopal Church on Ft. George Island. Using local materials and craftsmen, Carpenter Gothic became the preferred form of church construction from 1867 to 1924. Gothic architectural characteristics are defined by: a steep gable roof, a narrow rectangular building shape, pointed lancet windows and a bell tower. New York architect R. Dennis Chantrell (1783-1872) best described this type of church as a handsome church, which is a kind of standing sermon.
  

• Title: SS GULF AMERICA
  Location: 11 N. 3rd St., Jacksonville
  County: Duval
  City: Jacksonville
  Description: This marker commemorates the attack on the USS Gulfamerica on April 10, 1942, during World War II (1941-1945) by a German U-boat just off the coast of Jacksonville Beach. The Gulfamerica, a merchant marine vessel, was on her maiden voyage from Port Arthur, Texas to New York carrying 90,000 barrels of fuel oil. It was one of the first merchant vessels to be fitted with weapons and carried seven naval armed guards in addition to its crew of 41 men. German U-boat, U-123, first fired a torpedo, striking the Gulfamerica on her starboard side; then maneuvered between the vessel and the shore to shell the tanker with its deck gun in full view of spectators on the boardwalk in Jacksonville Beach. Captain Oscar Anderson of the Gulfamerica ordered the ship to be abandoned. There was great confusion while loading the lifeboats and 19 men were killed, by drowning or from shellfire. The Gulfamerica and its cargo of oil burned for several days before sinking. Today the wreck sits in 60 feet of water, 4 ½ miles from the Jacksonville Beach coastline. In response to the sinking of the Gulfamerica, Florida Governor Spessard Holland declared a blackout of coastal areas to prevent the silhouetting of passing ships.
  

• Title: "MOTHER" MIDWAY A.M.E. CHURCH
  Location: 1462 Van Buren Street in Springfield.
  County: Duval
  City: Jacksonville
  Description: Midway A.M.E. Church was organized on Sunday, June 10, 1865, a few weeks after the Confederate Army in Floirda surrendered to the Union Army. It was thus the first black independent church organized in Florida. William G. Steward was sent to Florida by the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and founded a church at Midway, a settlement east of Jacksonville, on his second day in the state. Mr. Steward appointed Brother G. B. Hill as the pastor of Midway Church before going on to organize congregations in middle Florida and in the panhandle section of the state. In later years Mr. Steward became involved in politics in Leon and Gadsden Counties and served a term in the Floirda Legislature. Midway Church is recognized as the "mother" of both the Florida Conference of the A.M.E. Church, organized in 1867 in Tallahassee, and of the East Florida Conference organized in Palatka in 1877. While the original church building is no longer standing, the congregation of "Mother" Midway has been in continuous existence since its founding.
  

• Title: JOESEPH E. LEE
  Location: 1424 E.17th St., the Joeseph E. Lee Child Develop
  County: Duval
  City: Jacksonville
  Description: Joseph E. Lee, one of Florida's most distinguished adopted sons, was born in Philadelphia in 1849. Shortly after obtaining a law degree from Howard University in 1873, Lee began to practice in Florida as Jacksonville's first black lawyer. Joseph Lee's achievements ranged over several aspects of public life. In 1874, he was elected to the Florida House of Represetatives, serving as a member of that body for six years before being elected to the State Senate in 1880 for one term. The Republican party nominated Lee as a delegate to the Florida Constitutional Convention of 1885. In 1888, he was elected Municipal Judge of Jacksonville, defeating two white candidates for the post. As a political leader and statesman, Lee's abilities were respected on the local, county, and state levels. He was a major force in the Republican Party of Florida for several decades. His leadership was recognized by national party figures as well. Lee received federal appointments as Customs Collector for the Port of St. Johns (1890-94, 1897-98) and as Collector of Internal Revenue (1898-1913). At the time of his death in 1920, he was a delegate to the upcoming national Republican convention. In additon to his wide political activities, Joseph E. Lee was also a leader in the religious and educational life of Jacksonville.
  

• Title: FORT GEORGE ISLAND
  Location:off S.R. A1A, State Cultural Site.
  County: Duval
  City: Fort George Island
  Description: Ft. George Island presents a cross-section of the Florida story. Timucuan Indians inhabited this island when French explorer Jean Ribault landed nearby in 1562. A Spanish mission was established here before 1600 to serve the Timucuans. Known to the Spanish as "San Juan," this island was renamed "St. George" by Georgia Governor James Oglethorpe. He built a fort- Ft. George- here in the 1730's during a British invasion of Spanish Florida. During the 2nd Spanish Period (1783-1821), three American planters in succession owned this island: Don Juan McQueen, John Houstoun McIntosh and Zephaniah Kingsley. Two plantation houses and the ruins of slave dwellings which remain from that period are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Shortly after the Civil War, Ft. George Island was acquired by John F. Rollins. The island enjoyed brief popularity as a tourist resort during the 1880's. Competition from other tourist areas, yellow fever, and fire combined to end this era about 1890. The 1920's brought new prosperity to the island. Hecksher Drive, a road built by New Yorker August Hecksher, brought the automobile to the island. After World War II, a state park was created on a portion of historic Ft. George Island. Shortly after the Civil War, Ft. George Island was acquired by John F. Rollins of New Hampshire. He remodeled the Kingsley Plantation main house and called his new Florida residence the "Homestead." As postmaster, Rollins had the area's post office removed to nearby Batten Island to take advantage of river traffic on the ST. Johns. Although Ft. George Island could be reached only by boat, it became a popular tourist resort during the 1880's. There were new year-round residents as well. The construction in 1881 of St. George's Episcopal church signified the growth of the island's population. But by about 1890, the extension of the railroad along Florida's east coast combined with a yellow fever epidemic and destructive fire to end the tourist era on Ft. George Island. Later, during the Florida "Boom" of the 1920's, the island experienced new prosperity. Two fashionable clubs opened there, and a road - Hecksher Drive - built by New York millionaire August Hecksher brought the automobile to the island. After World War II, part of Ft. George Island became a state park, and tourists once again were attracted to this historic island.
  

• Title: DOOLITTLE'S 1922 RECORD FLIGHT
  Location:U.S. 90 (Beach Boulevard)
  County: Duval
  City: Jacksonville Beach
  Description: Florida's mild climate made it attractive to aviation pioneers. This area, known until 1925 as Pablo Beach, served as takeoff or terminal point for several early coast-to-coast flights, the first of which occurred in 1912 and required 115 days to reach Pablo Beach from Pasadena, California. On September 4, 1922, Army Lieutenant James H. ("Jimmy") Doolittle piloted a DeHavilland DH-4 biplane from Pablo Beach to San Diego in an elapsed time of 22 hours and 35 minutes. He made one stop during his flight for fuel, at Kelly Field in San Antonio, Texas. Doolittle's feat established a new speed record and helped demonstrate the practicality of transcontinental flight. Jimmy Doolittle remained active in aviation. During World War II, he led the first American bombing raid against the Japanese home islands, a daring stroke which provided a psychological lift to the nation's war effort.
  

• Title: FIRST SETTLERS AT RUBY, FLORIDA
  Location:U.S. 90 (Beach Boulevard).
  County: Duval
  City: Jacksonville Beach
  Description: In 1883 construction of the Jacksonville and Atlantic Railroad was begun to serve this undeveloped area. The track was narrow-gauge, running 16.54 miles from the south bank of the St. Johns River to the beach. The first settlers were William Edward Scull, a civil engineer and surveyor, and his wife Eleanor Kennedy Scull. They lived in a tent two blocks east of Pablo Historical Park. A second tent was the general store and post office. On August 22, 1884 Mrs. Scull was appointed postmaster. mail was dispatched by horse and buggy up the beach to Mayport, and from there to Jacksonville by steamer. The Jacksonville and Atlantic Railroad company sold lots and housing construction began. The Sculls built the first house in 1884 on their tent site. The settlement was named ruby for their first daughter. On May 13, 1886 the town was renamed Pablo Beach. On June 15, 1925, the name was changed to Jacksonville Beach.
  

• Title: WORLD WAR II-OPERATION PASTORIUS / ST. JOHNS COUNTY
  Location: C.R. 203, in front of Ponte Vedra Inn & Club.
  County: Duval
  City: Jacksonville Beach
  Description: On the night of June 16, 1942, German U-boat U-584 landed four trained Nazi agents here dressed as American civilians. After burying four boxes containing explosives and incendiaries in the sand, they boarded a bus en route to New York to rendezvous with another team of saboteurs. Two members of the New York team betrayed the operation to the FBI. All were apprehended, tried and convicted. The informers went to prison and the others were electrocuted on August 8, 1942. ST. JOHNS COUNTY On July 21, 1821, Major General Jackson, Florida's first Territorial Governor, established St. Johns County, with St. Augustine as the county seat. It contained all of Florida east of the Suwannee River, approximately 39,400 square miles, with over 1,100 miles of coastline. Since 1821, more than 2/3 of Florida's present 67 counties have been carved from St. Johns County's original boundaries reducing our County to 609 square miles.
  

• Title: SITE OF MISSION OF SAN JUAN DEL PUERTO (ST. JOHN OF THE PORT).
  Location:Fort George Island.
  County: Duval
  City: Jacksonville
  Description: Founded by the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor in the latter part of the 16th century, this mission was in operation for more than 100 years. It was here that Father Francisco Pareja wrote books in the language of the Timucuan Indians. In time, the mission gave its name to the island and the river. Philadelphia Quaker, Jonathan Dickinson, passed through here in 1696 and recorded that he found in the center of the island "the town of St. Wan's, a large town and many people; they have a friar and a worship-house. The people are very industrious, having plenty of hogs and fowls, and large crops of corn." The mission was destroyed in 1702 during a raid from South Carolina, then a British colony.
  

• Title: MULBERRY GROVE PLANTATION
  Location: Jacksonville Naval Air Station.
  County: Duval
  City: Jacksonville
  Description: Although East Florida was under Spanish control from 1783 to 1821, English speaking settlers lived along the St. Johns River in the late eighteenth century. In 1787, the Spanish crown granted a large parcel of land to Timothy Hollingsworth, who named his plantation Mulberry Grove after trees native to the area. In 1805, Mulberry Grove was purchased by a Georgia planter named John H. McIntosh. In 1812, he became a leader in the so-called Patriot War, an attempt by U.S. citizens to seize East Florida from the Spanish. After these efforts failed, McIntosh returned to Georgia. During the next decades, cotton was grown on the plantation, which came to be owned by Joshua Hickman. Prior to the beginning of the Civil War, Arthur M. Reed, a Jacksonville businessman, purchased Mulberry Grove, and in 1862 took his family there to live when Union forces occupied the town. Oranges, cattle and many varieties of fruits and vegetables were produced on the plantation in the decades after the Civil War. The main house with an oak shaded avenue leading to the river was an attraction for excursionists travelling on the St. Johns. In 1939, the U.S. government acquired a portion of Mulberry Grove Plantation for the Jacksonville Naval Air Station.
  

• Title: JAMES HALL-SOLDIER OF THE REVOLUTION / JAMES HALL-DOCTOR OF MEDICINE
  Location:Lomax Street.
  County: Duval
  City: Jacksonville
  Description: James Hall was born on October 8, 1760, in Keene, New Hampshire. Records of the Continental Army indicate that James Hall of Keene was mustered into service about August 20, 1776. Hall served throughout the Revolutionary War as an infantry soldier of the Continental Army line. New Hampshire units participated in the important campaign of the fall of 1777 which culminated in the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga on October 17, 1777. Hall continued to serve with the Continental Army as it endured the winter of 1777-78 at Valley Forge. On June 28, 1778, he was in the ranks of Poor's Brigade at the battle of Monmouth where he participated in the final advance of the day in that "hottest day of battle". James Hall was promoted to sergeant on April 1, 1780. He served on through the war and was present at Yorktown in October, 1781, in Col. Alexander Scammell's Third New Hampshire Regiment. When the war ended, twenty-one year old JamesHall was a full-time fighting patriot. JAMES HALL-DOCTOR OF MEDICINE During the next two decades, James Hall became a doctor. At length, he decided to move to the Spanish territory of Florida. In 1790, Dr. James Hall, then aged thirty, settled near Cow Ford (now Jacksonville). He was the first known American physician to sustain the practice of medicine in Florida. In 1803, the first settler of Cow Ford, Robert Pritchard, died. Since his arrival in 1783, Pritchard had acquired considerable land holdings. These included seven hundred acres in the Goodby's Lake region and sixteen thousand acres on Julington Creek. Within the year of Robert Pritchard's, his thirty-six year old widow, Eleanor (nee Plummer) married the fourty-four year old Doctor James Hall. The Halls made their home in what is now called Plummer's Cove. Here Dr. Hall sustained his practice until 1810, at the age of fifty, he was banished from East Florida by the Spanish for having participated in the "Florida-Georgia Rebellion." On February 22, 1819, Spain ceded Florida to the United States, and in 1822 Doctor Hall returned to what had become Jacksonville. He continued his medical practice and was active in many community matters, such as testifying at Spanish Land Grant hearings. James Hall died at LaGrange, Florida (on Plummer's Cove) on December 25, 1837.
  

• Title: SITE OF THE MISSION OF SAN JUAN DEL PUERTO
  Location:Fort George Island, Palmetto Avenue.
  County: Duval
  City: Jacksonville
  Description: The establishment of missions chiefly for the purpose of Christianizing the Indian population was one of the methods used by Spain in attempting to colonize Florida in the sixteenth century. The Mission of San Juan del Puerto was founded late in the 1500's by the Franciscan Order of friars to serve the Timucuan Indians living in the area. While working at this mission around 1600 Father Francisco Pareja prepared a Timucuan dictionary, grammar and several religious books in that language for use by the Indians. The Mission of San Juan del Puerto continued to exist throughout the seventeenth century in spite of the growing conflict between Florida's Spanish inhabitants and English and French invaders. In 1696, Jonathan Dickinson, a Philadelphia Quaker who had been shipwrecked off the coast of Florida, passed this way and recorded a visit to "the town St. Wan's, a large town and many people." In 1702, Governor James Moore of the British Colony of South Carolina attempted to take St. Augustine from the Spanish. His effort failed, but in the process of the raid into Spanish territory, Moore destroyed the Spanish missions from St. Augustine northward, including the Mission of San Juan del Puerto.
  

• Title: THE BEGINNING
  Location:Bay Street on City Hall grounds.
  County: Duval
  City: Jacksonville
  Description: Here at the foot of Market St. stood a bay tree which served as the starting point for the original survey of Jacksonville in June 1822. Market was the first street laid off and named. A total of 20 squares were platted, bounded by Ocean, Duval, Catherine and Bay Sts. One of the first lots sold for $12 and was in the center of the present courthouse block.
  

• Title: DUVAL COUNTY'S FIRST COURT
  Location:East Forsyth Street.
  County: Duval
  City: Jacksonville
  Description: Duval County, established August 12, 1822, and named for William Pope Duval, Florida's first civil governor, held its first court on December 1, 1823. Some 200 settlers gathered at the corner of Market and Forsyth Sts. to watch the session presided over by Judge Joseph Lee Smith. Construction of the first court house began two years later on the north east corner of this intersection.
  

• Title: THE HUGUENOT MEMORIAL SITE
  Location:U.S. Highway A1A at Mayport Naval Air Station.
  County: Duval
  City: Jacksonville
  Description: In 1562, when France was being torn by religious strife, Gaspard de Coligny, Admiral of France, sent two vessels to the New World in search of a refuge for the oppressed Huguenots. Leading the expedition was the Huguenot explorer, Jean Ribaut, who charted a new course across the Atlantic and arrived off the coast of Florida. On Friday, May 1, 1562, Ribaut's party first landed in the New World here on the east shore of Xalvis Island. In the presence of friendly Indians, the Frenchmen fell to the ground and gave thanks to God in the first Protestant worship service held in the New World. Ribaut sailed on up the coast where he founded the colonial settlement of Charlesfort-named in honor of his king. Charlesfort did not last and in 1562 a Huguenot settlement-Fort Caroline-was established on the St. Johns. There, sometime before 1565, the first Protestant white child was born in what is now the United States. On his second voyage to the Americas in 1565, Ruinate and his men were shipwrecked near St. Augustine. The bold explorer and most of his followers were cold-bloodedly murdered at Matanzas Inlet, near St. Augustine, by Spanish Governor Pedro Menendez, who feared the encroachment of France on Spain's Florida empire.
  

• Title: ALGER RAILROAD/ CENTURY, FLORIDA
  Location:on U.S. 29 at Hecker Rd. in wayside park.
  County: Escambia
  City: Century
  Description: This site is 300 yards west of former location of tracks of The Alger-Sullivan Lumber Company logging railroad which ran from Century to Alger-owned timber lands in Alabama. Ninety miles in length, the railroad hauled prime virgin longleaf logs for manufacture of lumber and export timbers at the Century mill, the largest in Florida. Logging crews lived in railroad camp cars on sidings. Oxen were used in the woods to skid logs to the railroad for loading. Railroad discontinued operation in 1942. CENTURY, FLORIDA Founded in 1900 to house mill employees of the Alger-Sullivan Lumber Company founded in 1900 by General Russell A. Alger- Governor of Michigan, U.S. Senator, and President McKinley's Secretary of War - and by Martin H. Sullivan of Pensacola. Edward A. Hauss led the company from 1901 to 1957 and pioneered in reforestation to perpetuate timber resources. Century and Alger recall the names Colonel Frank Hecker, Henry Glover, W.D. Mann, David Miller, Houston Jones, Larry Nelson, and Marion Leach.
  

• Title: PENSACOLA NAVY YARD - ESTABLISHED IN 1825
  Location:U.S. 98 West, Pensacola Navy Yard
  County: Escambia
  City: Pensacola
  Description: In 1825 Congress passed a law authorizing a navy yard on Florida's Gulf Coast. A three-man commission came to Pensacola to examine the area as a possible site. Their report favored Pensacola, and in December, 1825, the Secretary of the Navy reported Pensacola's selection. In 1826 plans for the yard were laid out, but not until 1830 was the yard established. Captain Lewis Warrington, a member of the 1825 commission, was the first commander.
  

• Title: CHRIST CHURCH
  Location:South Adams Street
  County: Escambia
  City: Pensacola
  Description: Erected in 1832, this is the oldest church building in Florida still standing on its original site. Tradition ascribes the design of this Episcopal Church to Sir Christopher Wren. Constructed of locally made brick, it was used by Federal forces during the Civil War as a barracks and hospital. The Parish Moved in 1903. Deeded to Pensacola in 1936, it was used as a public library until 1957. Pensacola Historical Museum established here in August, 1960.
  

• Title: CAPTAIN RICHARD G. BRADFORD
  Location:Fort Pickens
  County: Escambia
  City: Pensacola
  Description: In this vicinity Captain Richard G. Bradford of Madison was killed on October 9, 1861, during the Battle of Santa Rosa Island. The battle was fought in an attempt to capture Fort Pickens which protected Pensacola Harbor. Bradford was first Confederate officer from Florida to die in the War Between the States. In his honor the Legislature voted to change the name of New River County to Bradford County. Gov. John Milton signed the law December 6, 1861.
  

• Title: HAWKSHAW
  Location:on South 10th Ave., grounds of Gulf Power
  County: Escambia
  City: Pensacola
  Description: The Hawkshaw site has supported prehistoric and historic occupations which span a period of nearly 2,000 years. It was inhabited around A.D. 150 by groups of Native Americans whom archaeologists call the Deptford Culture. Scientific excavation of the site revealed hundreds of trash pits containing food remains and household debris which provided detailed information about the daily life of these prehistoric people. They sustained themselves with the abundant marine resources available in the area. Hawkshaw is important to archaeologists because the remains of the Deptford Culture are not mixed with those of other Native American cultures. For this reason the site gives a very good indication of what life was like during Deptford times. The next time the site was used was the middle of the 18th Century when the Spanish built a brick kiln here before 1761. A little later, during the British occupation of Pensacola (1763-1783), a complex known as the Governor's Villa was built nearby for Peter Chester, Governor of the Province of West Florida. The Villa was burned in 1781 by the troops of General Bernardo de Galvez during his recapture of Pensacola for the Spanish. After Florida was acquired by the United States in 1821, Hawkshaw became part of a plan to create a "New City" to serve the railroad industry. The New City Hotel was built in 1836 with over 100 rooms. It remained in operation into the 1840's. After the failure of the "New City", Hawkshaw evolved into a working class neighborhood whose residents were largely employed by the industrial and commercial establishments associated with lumbering and the railroad. It became the first of Pensacola's outlying black neighborhoods. Hawkshaw's waterfront once contained Wright's Lumber Mill, which could cut 30,000 board feet of lumber a day in 1882, and the Muscogee Wharf, which served as a coaling station for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. After the destruction of Wright's Mill during the 1906 hurricane and the decline of the lumber and railroad industries, many of the residents of Hawkshaw became "baymen" who earned their living by loading ships, fishing and gathering shellfish.
  

• Title: SITE OF THE FIRST METHODIST CHURCH OF PENSACOLA/SITE OF THE SAN CARLOS HOTEL
  Location: Pensacola, NE corner of Palafox Street and Garden
  County: Escambia
  City: Pensacola
  Description: SITE OF THE FIRST METHODIST CHURCH OF PENSACOLA Pensacola's first Methodist congregation was established in 1821 by Alexander Talley, M.D. It met in a series of small, wood frame churches until 1881, when construction of a three-story, Romanesque Revival sanctuary was begun on this site. Services began here in 1884, but the building was not completed until 1890. The handsome red brick bell tower and gabled entrance portico of the church marked this corner of Palafox Street until 1909, when the property was sold and the congregation moved to larger facilities on East Wright Street. SITE OF THE SAN CARLOS HOTEL The imposing, seven-story structure opened on this site in 1910 as the city's largest and most elegant hotel. Designed by the well known New York architect W. L. Stoddard, it was built by the local firm of C. H. Turner Construction Co. at a cost of $500,000. Its simple masonry design was embellished with Renaissance Revival exterior details. It was extensively "modernized" and expanded from 157 to 403 rooms in the 1920s, and continued to dominate the Palafox streetscape for the next 50 years. Increasing competition and gradual deterioration led to its closing in 1982. It was demolished in 1993. Sponsored by the City of Pensacola And The First United Methodist Church of Pensacola In Cooperation With The Florida Department of State
  

• Title: TRADER JON'S -- went missing weekend of 7/2/06
  Location: South Palafox and Main Street
  County: Escambia
  City: Pensacola
  Description: This building was erected in 1896 and rented to numerous businesses until the 1950s. One of the most significant tenants in the early 1900s was Samuel Charles, one of Pensacola's most prominent black businessmen, whose shoe repair shop became Pensacola's largest shoe repair and sales store at that time. In the 1920s the building was occupied by Birgar Testman's ship chandlery. Since the early 1950s the building has been owned and occupied by Trader Jon's, a favorite haunt of U.S. Navy and other military personnel. The tavern has gained international fame for its unusual and extensive display of military memorabilia which surrounds the clientele.
  

• Title: NORTH HILL PRESERVATION DISTRICT
  Location:
  County: Escambia
  City: Pensacola
  Description: The North Hill Preservation District occupies a 50-block area bound by Blount, Wright, Palafox, DeVilliers and Reus Streets, and represents one of the best preserved residential historic districts in Florida. After the Civil War, wealthy families left areas near the waterfront to build grand houses on Pensacolas North Hill. From 1890 to the outbreak of World War I--between 1914 and 1918--as Northwest Florida entered the lumber boom era, local forests of yellow pine provided prosperity and building materials for many of the stately houses now treasured in the North Hill Preservation District. Another surge of growth occurred during the 1920s as a new generation of wealthy Pensacola citizens moved to the area and extended North Hill to its current northern border of Blount Street. From 1930 onward, homes typical of their periods were built on remaining available properties. As a result of its gradual development, architectural styles in North Hill are unusually varied including Queen Anne, Neoclassical, Tudor Revival, and Art Moderne. Through the dedicated efforts of community leaders, North Hill was designated as a preservation district in 1973 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
  

• Title: INDIAN VILLAGE SITE (ES-2)
  Location:archaeological site 8ES2
  County: Escambia
  City: Pensacola Beach
  Description: North of this point on the shore of Santa Rosa Sound, a large Indian village existed for centuries before the coming of the Spanish explorers. Refuse piles of shells (Kitchen Middens) with an occasional flint chip or potsherd indicates a village area of several acres. Both the Weeden Island and Fort Walton Cultures used it. PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB.
  

• Title: INDIAN VILLAGE SITE (ES-5)
  Location:
  County: Escambia
  City: Pensacola
  Description: The low ground just north of the highway at this point was the site of an Indian village about 1,000 years ago. The artifacts found have been identified as belonging to the Weeden Island Culture which lived along the Gulf Coast. Clams and Oysters made up a large part of their local diet. The village was about one acre in size. PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB.
  

• Title: CANNONS OF FT. PICKENS
  Location:Gulf Islands National Seashore, Fort Pickens
  County: Escambia
  City: Pensacola
  Description: Brought to Pensacola during the period from 1765-1781 by the British, these cannons were used in defense of the town by the British, Spanish, United States and Confederate States. After the close of Ft. Pickens, the Navy scrapped the guns and sold them as salvage. Interested citizens of Pensacola purchased the cannons and returned them to Ft. Pickens State Park in 1955, where, in accordance with the deed, they can never be removed.
  

• Title: BROWNSVILLE COMMUNITY
  Location:Pensacola
  County: Escambia
  City: Brownsville
  Description: In 1908, shortly after the extension of the trolley line west from Pensacola, Lucius Screven Brown (1874-1963) developed housing on seven blocks bounded by what is now Pace Boulevard, Strong Street, “W” Street and Gadsden Street. Brown’s builder, Haakon Paulsen, began calling the community Brownsville as it evolved into one of Pensacola’s first “suburbs.” Brown (1874-1963) had a long career in real estate, banking and insurance. He served the city on the City Council and as assistant postmaster. A bond issue held in Escambia County in 1912 resulted in the paving of Cervantes Street and Mobile Highway, and the extension of public water lines. This in turn intensified the residential building boom in Brownsville. The biggest concentration of houses from this period is to be found on Gadsden Street. Some commercial buildings in this nationally recognized area date back to the early 20th century because this was the road from Pensacola to Mobile. However, most of the commercial construction occurred just after World War II when automobile usage increased.
  

• Title: CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
  Location:Pensacola
  County: Escambia
  City: Pensacola
  Description: Christ Church, founded in 1827, was incorporated by the Legislative Council of the Territory of Florida in 1829. The first church, constructed in 1832, still stands on Seville Square. Later, Chicago architect John Sutcliffe and Pensacola contractor A.D. Alfred built a new church on this site at Wright and Palafox. The first services were held here by the Reverend Percival Whaley, rector, on Easter Sunday, 1903. The exterior of the building is unchanged since then, and its Spanish Baroque architecture reflects the city’s heritage. The building’s brick walls are covered with pebble-concrete stucco. A tiled narthex leads to the nave where wooden pews seat 600. The gable roofs have barrel tile surfaces and a copper-covered dome over the transepts. From the days of the Reverend Joseph Saunders (1836-1839), Christ Church has been involved in community outreach. Since then, members have been leaders in the city’s growth and development. Historic Christ Church was the mother congregation of Episcopalians in Northwest Florida and one of seven churches in the state when the Diocese of Florida was founded in 1839. The present Christ Church was the site of the Primary Convention of the new Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast in 1970
  

• Title: FIRST JEWISH HOUSE OF WORSHIP IN FLORIDA
  Location:Pensacola
  County: Escambia
  City: Pensacola
  Description: Jewish families in Pensacola began organized worship following the Civil War. On this site in 1876 a Reform Jewish Synagogue was constructed. The State of Florida granted a charter in 1878 for Congregation Beth El. Temple Beth El joined the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in 1889 and engaged its first Rabbi in 1892. The original temple was destroyed by fire in 1895. It was rebuilt in 1898 at this site, but that building was also destroyed by fire in 1929. The current synagogue at 800 North Palafox Street dates from 1931. Temple Beth El is Florida's first formally recognized Jewish Congregation.
  

• Title: HOLDEN HOUSE
  Location:Bunnell
  County: Flagler
  City: Bunnell
  Description: The Holden House was designed and built in 1918 by Sam Bortree (1859-1918) as a gift for his daughter, Ethel (1892-1977), and son-in-law, Thomas Holden (1892-1974). Holden was the town pharmacist and prominent in business, civic and political affairs. A unique feature on the house is the broken apothecary glass Holden used from his pharmacy as decoration on the gables. This home is among the more elaborate examples of the Craftsman bungalow style, featuring coquina, a shell and stone mixture quarried in this region. The Holden House is associated with I.I. Moody (1874-1918) and the Bunnell Development Company, the principal forces behind the first significant settlement and development of Bunnell. The Bunnell Development Company platted the town in 1909. Two years later, the Florida Legislature incorporated Bunnell as a town. Holdens family retained ownership of the property until Flagler County purchased it in 1978. Except for the addition of a sunroom on the east side of the house in 1947, and the replacement of sash windows, the house retains its original features.
  

• Title: PRINCESS PLACE ESTATE
  Location:Bunnell
  County: Flagler
  City: Bunnell
  Description: In 1791, the King of Spain offered a 1,100-acre land grant to Francisco Pellicer. Henry Mason Cutting purchased the property in 1886, renaming it Cherokee Grove. Featuring local materials including tabby block cladding, cedar and palm tree trunk posts and pink coquina, the Adirondack camp-style lodge was constructed in 1887. The complex included servants quarters, a caretakers house, tennis courts, stables, bathhouse, pool house and the first in-ground concrete swimming pool in Florida. The Lodge became an entertainment center for many socially prominent Americans and New York families as well as European royalty. Cutting died in 1892, leaving a widow, Angela Mills Cutting and two small children. Angela later married an exiled Russian prince, Boris Scherbatoff, a member of the Russian royal family. Because he feared for his life, the Prince later changed the spelling to Scherbatow. After Prince Scherbatow died in 1949, the Princess used the lodge as her primary residence. For this reason it became known as the Princess Estate. In 1954, Princess Scherbatow sold the property to Lewis and Angela Wadsworth, one of the founding families of Flagler County. Flagler County purchased the property in 1993 as a preserve.
  

• Title: MALA COMPRA PLANTATION
  Location:Bing's Landing on Route A1A
  County: Flagler
  City: Palm Coast
  Description: Joseph Martin Hernandez (1788-1857) purchased and worked Mala Compra Plantation, originally a Spanish land grant, from 1816 to 1836. The name Mala Compra means bad bargain or bad purchase in Spanish. It served as the center of the largest plantation system in Northeast Florida until burned by the Seminoles in 1836 during the Second Seminole War (1835-1842). He served as Brigadier General through the Second Seminole War and part of the Wars of Indian Removal. Hernandez did not revitalize the plantation after the war. Mala Compra was one of many coastal plantations in the Southeast that grew long-staple cotton. The physical remnants of the main house, well, and kitchen provide evidence of a coastal plantation. The building remains provide rare structural evidence of coastal plantation layout and residential construction in Florida during the early 19th century. Mala Compras relatively undisturbed setting offers a legacy of national importance and its lack of development offers the opportunity for further research about coastal plantations. Flagler County purchased the Mala Compra Plantation property in 1989.
  

• Title: WASHINGTON OAKS GARDENS
  Location:Washington Oaks State Gardens.
  County: Flagler
  City: South of Marineland
  Description: Part of a Spanish land grant to Bautista Don Juan Ferreira in 1815. Developed as a plantation by General Joseph Hernandez, early Florida planter. George Washington, related to our first president, married Hernandez' daughter, Louisa, in 1844. They were given this land by Hernandez and remained here until 1856, developing the plantation and starting an orange grove. Louisa died in 1859, and George left, but returned in 1886, to live here the rest of his life. Purchased in 1936, by Mr. and Mrs. Owen D. Young, the gardens, groves, and plantings were expanded. In 1964, after Mr. Young's death, Mrs. Young gave the property to the State.
  

• Title: KING'S ROAD
  Location: S.R. 100 East of I-95 near Bunnell.
  County: Flagler
  City: Bunnell
  Description: This road was built about 1766 when Colonel James Grant was governor of British East Florida. It extended from St. Augustine to Cowford (Jacksonville) and north to Colorain, Ga., across the St. Marys River. Later the road was extended south along the Matanzas River. Aided in part by donations from Grant's friends in South Carolina and Georgia, the road's chief financial backing came from local subscribers. It became a major artery of travel.
  

• Title: CHESTNUT STREET CEMETERY OF EARLY APALACHICOLA (OLD CITY GRAVEYARD)
  Location:U.S. 98 between 6th & 8th Sts.
  County: Franklin
  City: Apalachicola
  Description: Chestnut Street Cemetery dates prior to 1831. Interred are some of Apalachicola's founders and molders of her colorful history. Also buried here are many soldiers of the Confederacy and victims of yellow fever and shipwrecks. Seven of the Confederate veterans served with Pickett at Gettysburg in the gallant Florida Brigade. World famed botanist, Dr. Alvin Wentworth Chapman, of Apalachicola died in 1899, and is interred here beside the grave of his wife.
  

• Title: WHEN THE RIVER WAS KING!
  Location:end of Avenue D near Water Street Docks.
  County: Franklin
  City: Apalachicola
  Description: History record the first shipment of cotton to leave this Port, arrived New York, 1822. Beginning 1836, forty-three, three- storied brick, Cotton Warehouses and Brokerages lined Apalachicola's waterfront. Their granite-columned facades caused Apalachicola to be known as "The City of Granite Fronts." Cotton receipts were over 55,000 bales per year. By 1840, 130,000 bales of cotton annually left this Port. Foreign and coastwise shipments amounted to between $6,000,000.00 and $8,000,000.00 yearly. Corresponding amounts of merchandise were received for transportation into the interior. Apalachicola was the third largest Cotton Port in the United States. The Apalachicola Board of Trade, 1860, in a resounding memorial to Congress, stated: "We are the great depot of the State. We do more business than each and every portion of the State put together. This year we have done $14,000,000.00 worth of business." In that year $13,000.00 was refused for a Water Street lot. Between 1828 and 1928 two hundred and four "Sidewheelers" and "Sternwheelers", Queens of the River, plied this waterway. Long Live The Apalachicola!
  

• Title: FORT GADSDEN
  Location: Fort Gadsden State Historic Site
  County: Franklin
  City: Sumatra
  Description: Built in 1814 by Lieutenant Colonel Edward Nichols, His Majesty's marines, as a rallying point to encourage the Seminole Indians to ally themselves with England against the United States in the War of 1812. Abandoned after 1814, it was occupied by a band of free Negroes, and was known by 1816 as "The Negro Fort." Its location in Spanish Florida did not deter Major General Andrew Jackson from ordering its elimination as a threat to American commerce on the Apalachicola River. On July 27, 1816, Lieutenant Colonel Duncan L. Clinch, with U.S. forces and 150 Creek Indians, fired on the fort and destroyed it with a "hot shot" cannon ball which exploded in the powder magazine killing all but 30 of 300 occupants. In 1818 General Jackson directed Lieutenant James Gadsden to build "Fort Gadsden" here, in spite of Spanish protests. Confederate troops occupied the fort until July, 1863, when malaria forced its abandonment.
  

• Title: TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCH
  Location:6th Ave. at Ave. D on church grounds.
  County: Franklin
  City: Apalachicola
  Description: This original structure of white pine had previously been cut into sections in New York and floated by sailing vessel down the Atlantic Coast and around the Florida keys before it was erected on this site. This parish was first organized in 1836 by The Reverend Fitch W. Taylor, Diocese of Maryland, but on February 11, 1837, it was incorporated by the Legislative Council of the Territory of Florida. Vestrymen at the time of the church's incorporation were Colin Mitchel, John Gorrie, E. Wood, George S. Middlebrook, Hiram Nourse, William G. Porter, C.E. Bartlett, Ludlum S. Chittenden, and George Field. Membership rolls include the names of some of Florida's pioneer settlers-Orman, Raney, Grady, Whiteside, Oven Branch, and many others.
  

• Title: WILLIAM AUGUSTUS BOWLES
  Location: St. George Island State Park, off of C.R. 300, sou
  County: Franklin
  City: Eastpoint
  Description: During a storm in 1799, the schooner Fox ran aground off the eastern end of St. George Island. On board was William Augustus Bowles, a British citizen and self-styled leader of the Creek-Cherokee nation. Bowles was returning to Florida having escaped after five years as a Spanish prisoner. Bringing gunpowder and bullets, he hoped to re-establish his prominence among the Creeks, drive the Spanish out of Florida, and create an independent Muskogee state under British protection. The Creeks were the most organized of the southern Indians and still controlled much of their territory. Because of Florida's strategic location, the U.S., Spain, Britain, and France were all interested in Bowles' actions. With supplies salvaged from the shipwreck, Bowles paddled up the Apalachicola River to reunite with his Creek family and begin rallying native support. The ship captain and crew camped on the island until rescuers returned them to Jamaica. Bowles and his Creek, Seminole, black, and white followers captured the Spanish fort at St. Marks in 1800 and held it for over a month. Losing control of its only fortification between St. Augustine and Pensacola was an embarrassment to Spain and a sign of its fragile hold on Florida. Britain's peace with France and Spain through the Treaty of Amiens, 1802, removed any hope of British support for Bowles' schemes. Bowles lived among the Creeks until his recapture in 1803, and died in a Cuban prison. Although Bowles' dreams were not realized, he plagued the Spanish for almost two decades, preventing them from maintaining complete military control of Florida.
  

• Title: THE RANEY HOUSE
  Location:on Ave. F at Market Street.
  County: Franklin
  City: Apalachicola
  Description: During the 1830's, when the cotton port of Apalachicola was rapidly expanding, David G. Raney built a rather plain, Federal style house at this site. Around 1850, a two-story portico and other features of the then popular Greek Revival architectural style were added to that structure. Raney, a native of Virginia, was a prosperous merchant who was prominent in many of the town's civic affairs. His eight children grew up in this home. A son, George Pettus Raney (born in 1845), served in the Confederate Army and then returned to Apalachicola to practice law until his election to the Florida Legislature in 1868. Later, George P. Raney served two Florida governors as Attorney General before becoming first a justice of the Florida Supreme Court and then its Chief Justice, a position he resigned in 1894. He practiced law until his death in 1911. Legend related that ladies of Apalachicola met in the Raney House at the beginning of the Civil War to sew a battle flag for local Confederate troops. Legend also says that Franklin County troops were mustered out of service at the Raney House when the war ended. The Raney House in listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
  

• Title: MILLY FRANCIS
  Location:Fort Gadsden State Park
  County: Franklin
  City: South of Sumatra
  Description: Francis the Prophet, whose Indian name was Hillis Hadjo, was an important Creek chief who was forced to leave his hom in the Alabama Territory at the end of the Creek War of 1813-14. He established a new town on the Wakulla River several miles above Ft. St. Marks. In 1818, Gen. Andrew Jackson led an army into Spanish Florida to campaign against the restive Seminoles. With the army was a young Georgia militia private named Duncan McKrimmon. While Jackson's forces were at recently constructed Ft. Gadsden in the spring of 1818, McKrimmon went fishing, lost his way, and after several days was captured by Indians from Francis' Town. Duncan McKrimmon was taken to that village whre he was stripped and bound to await execution. The younger of Francis' two daughters, a girl of about fifteen named Malee (Anglicized to "Milly"), begged Private McKrimmon's captors to spare his life. This they agreed to do. Instead of being shot, the youth was sold to the Spanish at Ft. St. Marks, who then released him. Not long afterwards, Francis the Prophet was detained by U.S. forces and on April 8, 1818, was hanged at the order of General Jackson. A few months later, Francis' family surrendered themselves along with a number of other Seminoles. They remained at Ft. Gadsden for several weeks awaiting removal to a reservation in the West. Duncan McKrimmon traveled to Ft. Gadsden and out of gratitude offered to marry Milly, but she refused his proposal. Milly went to live in Indian Territory on Arkansas River where she married and had a number of children. In 1842, Lt. Col. E.A. Hitchcock found Milly living there widowed and in poverty. He initiated action which led to the granting in 1844 by Congress of a pension of $96.00 a year and a Congressional medal to Milly. Delays occurred and when the pension was finally activated in 1848, Milly was on her deathbed. There is no evidence that the medal recommended to honor Milly for saving the life of Duncan McKrimmon was ever cast.
  

• Title: FORT COOMBS
  Location: 4th St. Apalachicola
  County: Franklin
  City: Apalachicola
  Description: The Franklin Guards, a company of Infantry organized in Apalachicola in 1884 by J.H. Coombs and Fred Betterfield, erected the first building in the city to be used solely as an armory in 1898. Made of simulated brick, it was located at the corner of High Street and Center Avenue. On May 25, 1900, fire destroyed it and much of the downtown. On July 3, 1900, a committee was formed to build a new armory. The facility was designed by Frank and Thomas Lockwood of Columbus, Georgia and constructed by John H. Hecker. It was completed in 1901 at a cost of $12,000. The replacement armory features real brick walls and a gable roof with a gable parapet. Solid massing of the walls, slit windows, and a corner tower that resembles a medieval watchtower make this an imposing military structure. Fort Coombs is a unique example of fortress architecture in Florida, and has served as the military and social nexus of Apalachicola for more than a century. Units stationed here have been mobilized for service in World Wars I and II, the Gulf War and the War with Iraq. Bronze plaques located on the exterior front wall memorialize the names of generations of Apalachicola and Franklin County citizens who have served their State and Nation.
  

• Title: DR. JOHN GORRIE
  Location: LOCATED AT THE GORRIE GRAVE, ACROSS FROM GORRIE ST
  County: Franklin
  City: Apalachicola
  Description: Dr. John Gorrie (1803-1855) was an early pioneer in the invention of the artificial manufacture of ice, refrigeration, and air conditioning. He was granted the first U.S. patent for mechanical refrigeration on May 6, 1851 (U.S. Patent # 8080). Dr. Gorrie moved to Apalachicola in 1833 after the completion of his education at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Western District of New York in Fairfield, New York. Motivated by a severe yellow fever epidemic in the summer of 1841, Dr. Gorrie and his predecessors felt the fever was caused by heat, humidity and decaying vegetation. He sought to effect a cure by introducing an element of cold in the form of refrigeration. Dr. Gorrie noted, “Nature would terminate the fevers by the changing of seasons.” In May 1844, he constructed the refrigeration that received the patent. This mechanism produced ice in quantities but leakage and irregular performance impaired its operation. At various times he served as a physician of the Marine Hospital Service, Postmaster, President of the Apalachicola Branch Bank of Pensacola, Mayor, Secretary of the Masonic Lodge, and founding vestryman of Trinity Episcopal Church. Dr. Gorrie was honored by the State of Florida with a statue of him placed in Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol.
  

• Title: WORLD WAR II D-DAY TRAINING SITE
  Location:Carrabelle Beach & Dog Island
  County: Franklin
  City: Carrabelle
  Description: In late 1943, Carrabelle Beach and Dog Island, while they were a part of Camp Gordon Johnston, were used by the U.S. Army 4th Infantry Division to train for the Normandy Invasion on D-Day, June 6th, 1944. The Amphibious Training Center had been officially closed, but it was reopened and staffed for the purpose of training for this important mission. Although the troops had trained for over three years, the amphibious training conducted on this site was the last step before shipping out to England for the invasion. On D-Day, the first amphibian infantry assault teams to arrive on French soil were from the 4th Infantry Division at Utah Beach. On June 6, 2000, the Camp Gordon Johnston Association extracted a small amount of soil from this site and delivered it to the National 4th Infantry Division Association to be placed in the Association’s monument in Arlington, VA. The U.S. Department of Defense’s World War II Commemoration Committee in 1995 named the Camp Gordon Johnston Association an official “Commemorative Community.”
  

• Title: CAMP GORDON JOHNSTON (1942-1946)
  Location: Along U.S. 98 by the Old Camp Gordon Johnston
  County: Franklin
  City: Carrabelle
  Description: In June 1942 the U.S. War Department selected a 155,000 acre section of coastal Franklin County to be used as an amphibious warfare training center. Originally called Camp Carabelle, the base was renamed in January 1943 to honor the memory of Colonel Gordon Johnston, who had died in 1934. The3rd Engineer Amphibian Brigade arrived for training on September 10, 1942. One of the largest army facilities in Florida during World War II, thebase was known by troops stationed there as "Hell-by-the-Sea" because of its crude living conditions and dangerous training programs. The 4th, 28th an 38th Infantry Divisions also received training at the base. Its mission was changed September, 1943 to train personnel to operate small harbor craft and amphibious vehicles. In 1944, German and Italian prisoners of war were interned at the camp. The end of World War II in August 1945 made Camp Godon Johnston obsolete, and it was decommissioned in 1946. By 1948 the property had been transferred to private ownership and most of the buildings and structures demolished or removed. Today, the former officers' family quarters that remain standing in the vicinity of Parker Street are being used as housing in the Lanark Village Retirement Community.
  

• Title: FRANKLIN COUNTY
  Location:U.S. 98 and Avenue C at Courthouse.
  County: Franklin
  City: Apalachicola
  Description: Named for Benjamin Franklin, the county was created in 1832 .Apalachicola, the county seat, which dates back to the times of the Creek Indians, was an important center for cotton trade. The county is noted for agriculture, timber, livestock and sea foods. Franklin County men of note include: Joseph White, territorial delegate to Congress; McQueen McIntosh, fiery secessionist; Dr. John Gorrie, inventor of artificial refrigeration; Alvin Wentworth Chapman, botanist; and Cosam Emir Bartlett, editor.
  

• Title: METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH SOUTH
  Location:Fifth street at Highway 98
  County: Franklin
  City: Apalachicola
  Description: First United Methodist Church of Apalachicola was established in 1839 when Reverend Peter Haskew was appointed to serve the St. Joseph and Apalachicola Mission of The Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The original sanctuary, built and dedicated around 1846, was destroyed in 1900 by a fire that devastated the city, burning approximately 70 buildings. The present structure, erected in 1901 on the same site, has been in continual use since that time. The Gothic and Renaissance Revival style was typical of Protestant church architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The sanctuary is constructed of locally harvested black cypress ceiling with yellow pine tongue-and-groove walls and floors. The church building has consistently been included in the annual tour of historical homes held each spring, drawing several hundred people each day, many of whom return later for a leisurely appreciation of the town. The church congregation participates in the annual Florida Seafood Festival, and the structure is used for meetings by Philaco Woman’s Club of Apalachicola, the Girl Scouts and other civic organizations.
  

• Title: OLD GRETNA SCHOOL HOUSE
  Location:722 Church St.
  County: Gadsden
  City: Quincy
  Description: In the late 1800’s the railroad pushed further west into Gadsden County. A settlement was established in Gretna in 1897 by the Humphrey Company. After Gretna was platted as a town in 1905 there was a desire to have a school in the town limits. One of the men who settled the area was W. P. Humphrey. In 1908, he along with his wife Sarah M. Humphrey and J.W. Mahaffey and his wife Addie Mahaffey deeded the land for the school to the Board of Public Instruction for one hundred dollars. R.A. Gray, who later became Florida’s longest serving Secretary of State, was a principal here from 1910-1911. The building served as a school until 1935. Since the old school was closed, many students and teachers relate experiences and stories in loving memory of their lives at the Gretna School in times of long ago. The school has since been used as a health clinic, town hall, community center, and for church related activities. It has been a part of the history of Gretna from the beginning. Many lives have been touched by this building and we the trustees of the W.P. Humphrey Club, A. Walter Watson, Jr., W.A. Johnson, and Sterling L. Watson are honored to preserve for future generations this monument of our past.
  

• Title: ROCKY COMFORT PLANTATION
  Location:SR 65B and 267
  County: Gadsden
  City: Wetumpka
  Description: Near this site stood Rocky Comfort, the plantation home of Bryan Croom, a native of North Carolina who settled in Gadsden County in 1826 with his family and slaves. Croom cultivated cotton and prospered to such an extent that he became on the largest landholders in middle Florida. In addition to his holdings in Gadsden, Croom owned Goodwood Plantation near Tallahassee. He was the brother of Hardy Bryan Croom, discoverer of the Florida Torreya tree.
  

• Title: SOLDIERS CEMETERY
  Location:
  County: Gadsden
  City: Quincy
  Description: Gadsden County and the town of Quincy served the war effort of the Confederate States of America in many ways. Quincy served as a crossroads and a military center of activity through the four years of conflict. As a military center and commissary, everything from socks to beef were provided the units. In times of emergency hospitals were established in public buildings, churches and private homes. The needs of the sick, wounded and dying were tended by the Ladies Aid Society which in April 1868 became the Ladies Confederate Memorial Association. Soldiers Cemetery was established early in the war years for a final resting place for those who had no family here or were too far from home to be returned to their loved ones. The Ladies Memorial Association worked hard to preserve the memory of the Southern Soldier even though most of the markers and names of those buried here were lost. For years, in the springtime, the association held Confederate Memorial Day ceremonies at this site. Mrs. John Lawrence, President of the association from 1892-1900, raised $1,200 to erect the first iron fence around this Soldiers Cemetery.
  

• Title: DEZELL HOUSE
  Location:
  County: Gadsden
  City: Greensboro
  Description: The Dezell House was built in 1912 by James A. and Margaret Leila Maggie Shepard Dezell. This house, with its Prairie Style architecture and Arts and Crafts features, was their family home for 46 years. James A. Dezell (1867-1937) was born in Chicago, moving from southwestern Missouri to Gadsden County in 1886. James and Maggie, a Gadsden County native, married on September 13, 1893. Between 1894 and 1903 they had three sons and two daughters. James and his father, Samuel A. Dezell, were builders. They constructed the Samuel Dezell family house in Mt. Pleasant in 1886. James A. Dezell was the first mayor of the Town of Greensboro, serving several terms following the first organizational meeting on August 13, 1908. The most distinctive aspects of this houses construction are its closeness to the ground rather than sitting on piers, fine craftsmanship, and windows set in dormers that crown the roofline on each main roof slope and provide light for a skylight in the entry hall. Dezell was evidently very confident in materials and techniques he chose for the house. The Dezell House was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2006, showing his confidence was well placed.
  

• Title: SITE OF ELLICOTT'S OBSERVATORY
  Location:at intersection of Pearl and High Streets
  County: Gadsden
  City: Chattahoochee
  Description: At the end of the American Revolutionary War in 1783, Florida was returned to Spain after twenty years of British control. Controversy soon arose over the exact location of the boundary between Spanish Florida and the state of Georgia. In 1795, Spain and the United States signed the Treaty of San Lorenzo, an agreement fixing the boundary in question at the thirty-first parallel and providing a survey to be made to determine the exact location of that line. In May, 1796, President George Washington appointed Andrew Ellicott, a mathematician and experienced surveyor, as the American Commissioner for the survey. After much delay, work got underway in June, 1798. A party of Spanish and American surveyors carrying with them a large accumulation of apparatus required for making astronomical and land measurements began the task of determining the exact boundary line. By August, 1799, the group had reached the Chattahoochee River. On August 23, they selected a site near the mouth of the Flint Rivr as a campsite. Near this marker, an observatory was set up. Here Ellicott made his calculations until difficutly arose with Indians residing in the area. On September 18, 1799, ellicott abandoned the camp and departed for East Florida to complete the survey.
  

• Title: JOSHUA DAVIS HOUSE
  Location:on the grounds of the Joshua Davis House.
  County: Gadsden
  City: Mt. Pleasant
  Description: In the 1820's, settlers from Georgia, South Carolina and other states came to the new United States Territory of Florida in search of land to homestead. One such frontiersman was Thomas Dawsey, who by 1824 was residing in the Gadsden County area. In 1827 Dawsey purchased the 160 acres upon which this house stands from the United States Public Land Office, a common practice for homesteaders. Another pioneer in the region was Joshua Davis, who brought his family from Laurens County, South Carolina to a farm two miles west of Quincy ca. 1828. He soon moved to the North Mosquito Creek community located about a mile northeast of this site. Between 1830 and 1849, Joshua Davis acquired the Dawsey property and moved with his wife and five children into what would be their permanent home. By 1830, a road had been built through this area from Quincy to the Apalachicola River crossing at Chattahoochee. Stage-coaches carrying mail and passengers through this fertile and well-populated farming region traveled over what was known as "the upper road." Some evidence suggests the Joshua Davis House served as a stage-coach stop and perhaps as a horse-changing station. This house was the focal point of a cotton, tobacco, and corn plantation which by 1859 consisted of 1440 acres of land on which Joshua Davis had as many as 33 slaves, 6 horses, and 135 cattle. A map of 1857 designated this general locality as "Davis." After the death of Joshua Davis in 1859 and of his wife Esther in 1876, the house was occupied by their grand-daughter Esther and her husband Lieut. Mortimer B. Bates, C.S.A. This house has been used as a frontier home, tenant house, and storage facility. It was originally built as a one room, 18' by 27' dressed timber structure with a front porch and a heating-cooking fireplace at the west end. Early alterations included a rear porch, attic sleeping loft, and east room. Joshua Davis enclosed the rear porch into shed rooms opening onto a breezeway, refurbished the interior and exterior with hand-beaded siding, and is thought to have added a separated kitchen in the rear. The additions include several architectural elements not commonly found in Florida. This house, which was still the property of descendants of Joshua Davis at the time of its restoration in 1974, is included on the National Register of Historic Places.
  

• Title: OLD WASHINGTON LODGE NO. 2 - QUINCY'S WOMAN'S CLUB
  Location:King Street and Calhoun Street intersection
  County: Gadsden
  City: Quincy
  Description: Settlers in the new U.S. territory of Florida (created in 1821) who were members of the Masonic order soon established lodges in their new communities. Washington Lodge No. 2, Free and Accepted Masons, created in 1828 was among the first Florida lodges. A Masonic building constructed in 1832 served the lodge as well as the community as a meeting place until it was destroyed by a storm in 1851. Construction of a new brick building began the next year and was completed by 1854. It was erected by Charles Waller, a Gadsden County builder-designer who constructed several other brick buildings in the Quincy area. For over half a century, the Washington Lodge hall was the scene of community activities. Although the appearance of the building has been changed by alterations including the addition of an exterior coat of stucco, it retains much of its original character. In 1922, the Masons acquired new quarters and the old lodge building became the property of the Quincy Woman's Club. Under its auspices, the Old Washington Lodge has continued to serve the cultural needs of Quincy. In 1975, the structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
  

• Title: THE QUINCY ACADEMY
  Location:North Adams and King Streets
  County: Gadsden
  City: Quincy
  Description: The Quincy Academy was incorporated in 1832 and was probably established as early as 1830. Private educational institutions were common in newly settled frontier areas. Education was provided at reasonable rates by the"Male Academy" and the "Female Institute." The original school building (located northeast of this site) burned in 1849, and in 1850, plans were made for the construction of a new academy. The Classic Revival building was soon completed and, with a brief interruption during the Civil War, continued to serve the educational needs of the Quincy community until 1912. During the next several decades, the old Quincy Academy building was utilized as a temporary courthouse, library, church meetinghouse, child-care center, and kindergarten. In 1931, the Quincy Woman's Club Library began to serve the public from quarters in the Academy. During the 1950's, the building was restored and renovated. In 1974, this structure was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, a fitting tribute to its long service to cultural needs of the Quincy community.
  

• Title: OLD PHILADELPHIA PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
  Location:approx 4 miles North of Quincy on CR-272
  County: Gadsden
  City: Quincy
  Description: Presbyterians came to this area from Georgia and the Carolinas as early as 1822. These worshippers built Philadelphia, a log meeting house, in 1828. It was served by itinerant ministers until 1832, when the Reverend Leander Kerr arrived. The log structure was replaced in 1859 by the present building, Gadsden County's oldest remaining meeting house. Philadelphia served until 1912 as a house of worship, a place of education, and a center of community life. Many Presbyterian churches in Florida and southern Georgia trace their origins to Philadelphia.
  

• Title: GADSDEN COUNTY
  Location:U.S. 90 (Jefferson Street), on Courthouse lawn.
  County: Gadsden
  City: Quincy
  Description: Gadsden, Florida's fifth county, was formed in 1823. It once ran from Georgia to the Gulf of Mexico, from the Suwannee River to the Apalachicola River. Quincy, the county seat, was incorporated in 1828. Previously known as Middle Florida, the new county was named for Capt. James Gadsden, Army Engineer and later diplomat, who campaigned in this area under Andrew Jackson in 1818. Capt. Gadsden designed and built the fort on the Apalachicola River which bears his name, and in 1853 was responsible for the Gadsden Purchase which completed the boundaries of the continental United States. Indian Wars troubled this frontier area until 1840. Before the Civil War the county was noted for cotton, sugar cane, and tobacco. Later farmers also produced rice, wine grapes, livestock, and timber. By 1890 shade-grown Cuban tobacco had become the major industry, with production from field to finished cigar. Such famous brands as White Owl and King Edward were made here. Other important industries include the mining of fuller's earth and the growing to tomatoes. Gadsden County has also provided Governors, Supreme Court Chief Justices, and numerous other high state officials.
  

• Title: THE WHITE HOUSE / PLEASANTS WOODSON WHITE
  Location:on W. King St. at Madison St.(S.R. 65)
  County: Gadsden
  City: Quincy
  Description: This house was constructed during the early 1840's for Joseph Leonard Smallwood. At that time, it was a one and one-half story structure. In 1849, Pleasants Woodson White married Smallwood's niece, Emily, and purchased the property. He had the house enlarged in 1856; it was remodeled in the Classical Revival style at the same time. The house is an excellent example of the style. Its matching porticos supported by Doric columns give it a dignified balance. The Whites were an active Quincy family. P.W. White served the Confederacy as Chief Commissary Officer for Florida and was politically active after the Civil War. Emily White organized and served as president of the Ladies Aid Society during the war, nursing and providing necessities to wounded soldiers. She was also involved in Methodist Church activities. The house, which was the White family home until 1921, has since served as the parsonage of Centenary Methodist Church. The White House was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 16, 1973. White was born in Georgia in 1820, the son of a Methodist minister who soon moved his family to Quincy. Young White studied at Emory and began practicing law in Quincy in 1848. He was commissioned a major in the Confederate Army in 1861 and, as Chief Commissary Officer for Florida, commanded the important depot at Quincy. In 1863, despite his attempts at secrecy, White's difficulties in supplying beef cattle to the army became known. The shortages thus revealed influenced the military campaign of 1864. White became active in politics after the war and served as Judge of the Second Judicial Circuit, 1869-79. He also served as Commissioner of Lands and Immigration from 1881 to 1885, a period of railroad expansion in which his office was deeply involved. He became an attorney for the Florida Coast Line Canal and transport Company, which controlled vast acreage near Miami. White became an ardent booster of the South Florida climate and divided his last years between his citrus groves in Lemon city and his civic and business interests in Quincy. He died in 1919.
  

• Title: ST. PAULS EPISCOPAL CHURCH
  Location:on N. Adams St. S.R. 267
  County: Gadsden
  City: Quincy
  Description: The earliest Episcopal Services were performed in Quincy in 1834 and Jackson Kemper was the first bishop to visit in 1838. St. Paul's Parish was organized and the first Vestry was elected in the same year. In 1839, the parish joined the Diocese of Florida and was incorporated by act of the Florida Territorial Legislature on February 28, 1839. The first church was erected on this site in 1839 and was consecrated on February 21, 1841, by James H. Otey, Bishop of Tennessee. The present structure is the second church building. It was erected in 1892, enlarged in 1914, remodeled in 1928, and enlarged again with a cloister and parish hall in 1951. The St. Paul's Episcopal Church is the oldest church in continuous use in the City of Quincy.
  

• Title: DR. MALCOLM NICHOLSON HOME
  Location:on SR 12, 7.4 miles Northwest of SR 65 between Qui
  County: Gadsden
  City: Quincy
  Description: Located just north of this point is the Dr. Malcolm Nicholson Plantation Home. Built in the 1820's, it is one of the oldest remaining structures in Gadsden County. It is a one-story Gulf coast Cottage, with end-gables and a built-in porch. It rests on brick piers and has a "dog-trot" floor plan in which a covered passage joins two parts of the house. Nicholson was born in the Carolinas in 1790. He moved to Georgia and then to North Florida where, like many frontier practitioners he combined his activities as a physician and planter. He was one of the commissioners who chose Quincy as the county seat of Gadsden County, and a member of the group which selected the site for the Capitol in Tallahassee. Dr. Nicholson was appointed by the citizens of Gadsden County in 1836 to petition the President of the United States for protection against Creek and Seminole raids on the Florida frontier. He was a stockholder in the Union Bank and served that institution as an appraiser. Dr. Nicholson died in 1840 and is buried in the Nicholson Family Cemetery near here.
  

• Title: THE QUINCY STATE BANK
  Location:Washington St. at N. Adams St. on wall of Bank.
  County: Gadsden
  City: Quincy
  Description: Pioneer commercial banking house in Gadsden County, E.P. Dismukes, President, opened 20 August 1889, under State Charter No. 1, issued twelve days earlier under the Act creating a State Banking System; original capital, $60,000. Became strong institution under Mark W. ("Pat") Munroe, President 1892-1940. Deposits one million dollars, 1919; doors never closed during Bank Crisis 1933; resources fourteen millions, 1964. Present building constructed and occupied 1961, under James J. Love, Chairman of Board.
  

• Title: UNITED STATES ARSENAL (1832-1861)
  Location:E. gate to State Hospital on U.S. Hwy. 90
  County: Gadsden
  City: Chattahoochee
  Description: One-half mile to the north are the remains of the United States Arsenal erected by the United States Army Ordnance under an Act of Congress passed in 1832. The arsenal proper consisted of various buildings erected so that their exterior walls formed a quadrangle of four square acres. All the brick were made in the vicinity and construction was begun in 1834. It served as an arsenal of deposit prior to the Civil War, when it was seized by the Confederacy and used as a Camp of Instruction. Following the Civil War the Federal Government gave it to the Freedman Bureau in 1866. The buildings were given to the State of Florida in 1869 for use as a prison. It was placed in service as a mental institution in 1876.
  

• Title: SITE OF FIRST GADSDEN COUNTY COURTHOUSE
  Location:U. S. 90 at Camilla St. on grounds of Talquin Elec
  County: Gadsden
  City: Quincy
  Description: This antebellum home is related in style to the early Louisiana plantation houses of the lower Mississippi Valley. Designed to cope with the heat and dampness of the climate, its main living quarters were on the second floor. It rests on land once owned by Robert Forbes, first Gadsden County sheriff, whose house served as a county courthouse in the early 1820's. Later in the nineteenth century, the property passed into the hands of Hector and William Bruce, grandnephews of Forbes. In 1956, it was purchased by the Quincy Garden Club, and in 1972 was acquired byTalquin Electric Cooperative, Inc. who undertook complete restoration.
  

• Title: LONE CYPRESS AND EVERGLADES DRAINAGE
  Location:Riverside Drive, near Three Mile Canal
  County: Glades
  City: Moore Haven
  Description: Shortly after Florida became a state in 1845, its leaders began to consider draining the swampy areas of south Floirda to create prime farm land as an inducement to settlement. In 1850 Florida received title to all swamp and overflowed lands within its borders, but the young state did not have the funds to undertake drainage. Finally in 1881 the state convinced a wealthy northerner, Hamilton Disston, to drain the Everglades in return for half of the acreage he could reclaim. One of his projects was to improve the Caloosahatchee River and connect it with Lake Okeechobee by a canal which enters the lake near here. A lone cypress tree standing at the entrance to this canal served as a navigational aid for boatmen using the new waterways. Early in the twentieth century the town of Moore Haven, named for its founder James A. Moore, grew up around the "Lone Cypress" and the canal entrance. By this time the state itself had assumed responsibility for drainage, and in 1917-18 it constructed a lock at the canal entrance. In recent years state and federal governments have cooperated on the related problems of drainage, flood control and navigation. As a result, the Caloosahatchee Canal and River have been continually maintained and improved.
  

• Title: FLORIDA'S FIRST RAILROAD
  Location:U.S. 98, East Port St. Joe
  County: Gulf
  City: Port St. Joe
  Description: Florida's first railroad was constructed for the Lake Wimico & St. Joseph Canal & Railroad Company. Work began in 1835 and the first train ran in March 1836. The line extended nine miles from St. Joseph to Lake Wimico. The state's first steam locomotive was added in 1837. Economic distress, shallow lake waters, and a yellow fever epidemic combined to cause the abandonment of the line in 1839 and the decline of St. Joseph by 1840.
  

• Title: FORT PLACE - ST. JOESEPH & IOLA RAILROAD
  Location:South of Wewahitchka on S.R. 71
  County: Gulf
  City: Wewahitchka
  Description: Fort Place, forerunner of Wewahitchka, located one-quarter mile East was constructed in the early 1830's as a refuge from hostile Indians. It consisted of a hewn log blockhouse equipped with portholes for firearms, and was enclosed within a two acre stockade. No remains of Fort Place are visible today. The St. Joseph and Iola Railroad, completed in 1839, was the third railroad to use steam locomotives in Florida, and was the longest in Territorial Florida.
  

• Title: FORT CREVECOEUR / FORT CREVECOEUR ABANDONED
  Location: on U. S. 98 at Columbus Street.
  County: Gulf
  City: St. Joseph Beach
  Description: In 1717, on this site, the French began erecting Fort Crevecoeur within Spanish domain. On February 8, 1718, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne de Bienville, acting Governor of Louisiana, dispatched his brother, Lemoyne de Chateague, to complete this Fort. By May 12, the French occupied St. Joseph's Bay. Chateague reported to Bienville completion, on the mainland, opposite St. Joseph Point, the stockaded Fort Crevecoeur with four bastions and garrisoned. Simultaneously Juan Pedro Matamoros de Ysla, Governor of Spanish Florida, at Pensacola, indignantly protested this usurpation as St. Joseph's Bay belonged to Spain by earlier discovery and previous settlement. FORT CREVECOEUR ABANDONED The French Colonial Council, with unanimous discretion decided to burn Fort Crevecoeur and abandon St. Joseph's Bay. On August 20, Spanish Captain, Joseph Primo De Rivera, reported to the Spanish Governorship, at St. Augustine, the French had retired from their invasion. Whereupon Rivera was ordered to command St. Joseph's Bay. By March 10, 1719, Don Gregorio de Salinas Varona had been transferred to the Spanish Governorship of St. Joseph's Bay.
  

• Title: SHIPYARD COVE
  Location:Monument Ave.(U.S. 98)& 5th St. in 1st Union Bank
  County: Gulf
  City: Port St. Joe
  Description: With completion of St. Joseph & Lake Wimico Railroad, 1836, movement of cotton to shipside at St. Joseph, from the foremost cotton producing territory in the world, began here, thence to domestic and foreign ports. As a result, the young village soon became metropolitan. For this extensive operation a large shipyard was established. Site recorded, Lieutenant L.M. Powell, Government Survey, St. Joseph Bay, 1841.
  

• Title: ST. JOESEPH CONFEDERATE SALTWORKS
  Location:C.R. 30E, 1.1 miles north of C.R. 30A, south of St
  County: Gulf
  City: Port St. Joe
  Description: A major Confederate saltworks, with daily capacity of 150 bushels, before completion, was located 200 feet north. Brick foundations were salvaged from ruins of the Old City of St. Joseph. Salt processed by evaporation of seawater was one of Florida's two chief contributions to the Confederacy. These saltworks destroyed September 8, 1862, by U.S.S. Kingfisher, by bombardment and landing party action. Destruction of Confederate saltworks was a comparable blow "to the Southern cause as the fall of Charleston."
  

• Title: No Title/ Listed as "BURIAL REGISTER" and "OLD ST. JOESEPH CEMETERY
  Location:off of Garrison Ave.(C.R. 384) in Old St. Joe Ceme
  County: Gulf
  City: Port St. Joe
  Description: The following persons are believed to be buried here: Dr. Thomas H. Thompson, native of Charlestown, Editor of the "Apalachicola Advertiser" - 1840 George Clark, of Boston-1841 Henry Langley, of Georgetown, Washington, D.C.- 1844 Captain George L.L. Kupfer, of Boston - 1840 Patrick McDonough and son John of Sligo, Ireland - 1841 William P. Broughton, son of George and Ann Broughton - 1850 Robert H. Stewart - 1837 Jacob A. Blackwell and his sister Amelia - 1841 Mrs. John Richards and her two children, Agnes and John Hon. Richard C. Allen, Calhoun County Delegate to St. Joseph Convention Mrs. Nancy Duval, wife of Ex-Governor W.P. Duval Mrs. George T. War and Georgianna, wife and daughter of Major G.T. Ward Mrs. S.S. Sibley, wife of S.S. Sibley, Editor of "The Floridian Mrs. Fleming Hixon, wife of Fleming Hixon, Att'y and Agt., Union Bank Dr. E.R. Gibson, Associate-Editor of the United State Telegraph, Washington, D.C. Thomas Bertrum, former Secretary of St. Joseph and Lake Wimico Railroad Mr. and Mrs. Moses, mother and father of Ralph G. Moses Bro. Hamilton, of the Methodist-Episcopal St. Joseph Station Bro. Seely, of the Methodist-Episcopal St. Joseph Station Editor Joseph B. Webb, Proprietor of the Florida Journal - 1841
  

• Title: SAINT JOESEPH CEMETERY
  Location:S.R. 384A.
  County: Gulf
  City: Port St. Joe
  Description: This site is one of three cemeteries of Saint Joseph. Many persons interred here were victims of yellow fever which plagued the city throughout July and August, 1841, causing its depopulation and abandonment. The dread disease, sparing neither rich nor poor, was brought into port by sailing ship from the Greater Antilles. Here many prominent territorial Florida statesmen, journalists and merchants succumbed. No markers remain of those buried in trenches.
  

• Title: WHITE SPRINGS
  Location: U.S. 41 between Kendrick & Wesson Streets. In 2002 moved to a spot near South Hamilton Elementary, 16693 Spring St. The marker is situated near a water tower which is near the school.
  County: Hamilton
  City: White Springs
  Description: These sulphur springs were thought to have medicinal properties and were considered sacred by the Indians. Warriors wounded in battle reputedly were not attacked when they came here to recuperate. Settlers moved into the vicinity in 1826 and the springs became an antebellum resort noted for natural beauty and good cuisine. The village was a refuge during the War Between the States and many planters brought their families and slaves here for safety.
  

• Title: FORT DENAUD
  Location:S.R. 78-A at Caloosahatchee River bridge
  County: Hendry
  City: La Belle
  Description: The combined pressure of growing white settlement in Florida and federal policy of relocating Indian tribes west of the Mississippi sparked the outbreak of the 2nd Seminole War in 1835. Controlling the coasts and campaigning in the heart of Seminole lands were the objectives of Major General Thomas Jesup in 1837. Captain B. L. E. Bonneville established Fort Denaud in 1838 as one of a series of posts linking American operations south of Tampa to the east coast. It was constructed on the south bank of the Caloosahatchee River 27 miles from Fort Myers on land owned by Pierre Danaud, a French Indian trader. The fort consisted of tents with a blockhouse in their midst. It served as a supply depot for troops in the Lake Okeechobee area and was utilized intermittently until the war ended in 1842. Fort Denaud was reopened in 1855, soon after the outbreak of the 3rd Seminole War. Additions included company quarters, hospital, guardhouse, sutler's store and stables. A few months after a fire ravaged the post in June 1856, another site on the north bank of the river tow miles west was chosen. The fort, which was abandoned in May 1858, gave its name to the nearby town of Denaud.
  

• Title: DOWNTOWN LABELLE HISTORIC DISTRICT
  Location:LaBelle
  County: Hendry
  City: LaBelle
  Description: In 1895, prominent landowner and cattleman Captain Francis A. Hendry (1833-1917) platted a townsite at LaBelle, which was first settled as a center for cattle and citrus industries. A post office, general store, school, and a church were eventually built, and LaBelle became the first town and commercial center in what became Hendry County. Although Hendry is credited with settling LaBelle, E.E. Goodno (1858-1936), who purchased Hendry’s former land holdings in 1903 and financed many of the town’s first improvements, is recognized as the “Father of LaBelle.” LaBelle’s historic business district extends along and near Bridge Street from the Caloosahatchee River south to Hickpockee Avenue. At one time, both sides of the street were lined with commercial establishments, some of which featured living accommodations on the second floor. Sadly, many early downtown buildings were destroyed in a 1928 fire, but some have survived, including the Poole Store (1911), First Bank of LaBelle (1925), the Royal Poinciana/Newcomb Bakery (1911-1912--one of the buildings constructed for both commercial and residential use). The Downtown LaBelle Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
  

• Title: HERNANDO COUNTY
  Location:U.S. 41 at Courthouse in Brooksville.
  County: Hernando
  City: Brooksville
  Description: Hernando County originally embraced Hernando, Pasco, and Citrus counties. It was created by the Territorial Legislature in 1843 and named for Hernando DeSoto. In 1844, its name was changed to Benton County in honor of Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri, but his moderation during the Missouri Compromise caused extremists in the legislature to change the name back to Hernando. DeSoto, now Brooksville, was the first county seat. The present boundaries of the county were set in 1887.
  

• Title: GRAVE OF CHARLOTTE WYNN PYLES CRUM
  Location:
  County: Hernando
  City: Brooksville
  Description: One of the area’s early white settlers, Charlotte Crum is the first known burial in the Brooksville Cemetery. Her death occurred immediately following the Second Seminole War (1835-1842), and is symbolic of the epic collision that occurred in Florida as diverse cultures struggled for control of the expanding American frontier. Born 1792 near Savannah, Georgia, Charlotte married Col. Samuel Robert Pyles who in 1824 moved his family to what later became Alachua County, Florida. Following Pyles’s 1837 death, Charlotte married Richard R. Crum who secured this portion of land through the Armed Occupation Act of 1842, settling at Chuccochattie, less than one mile south. While traveling nearby September 12, 1842, Charlotte, her daughter Rebecca Harn, granddaughter Mary Catherine Harn and escort John Francis McDonnell were fired upon by a party of Seminoles who were unaware of the war’s end and evidently retaliating for recent aggressive acts by white settlers eager to remove the area’s native population. In the ensuing struggle, all escaped but Charlotte, who was killed and whose death received sensationalized attention. She is buried here, less than one-eighth mile from her home in a grave once entombed with brick.
  

• Title: CHINSEGUT HILL
  Location: 22495 Chinsegut Hill Road
  County: Hernando
  City: Brooksville
  Description: In 1842, South Carolinian Bird M. Pearson staked a claim on 5,000 acres and called it Tiger Tail Hill, one of the few surviving plantations in Florida and the one of the oldest houses in Hernando County. Pearson built the manor houses east wing in 1847 and later residents expanded it, beginning in 1852. He raised citrus, cattle, and sugarcane. In 1904 Chicago residents Raymond (1873-1954) and Margaret Drier (1868-1945) Robins purchased the property and named it Chinsegut Hill, an Inuit word meaning a place where lost things are found. The estate served as a retreat from the couples tireless activism on behalf of workers, women, and the poor. Guests entertained here included Thomas Edison, Senator and Mrs. Claude Pepper, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, J.C. Penney and Helen Keller. During the Great Depression, the Robinses suffered severe losses and donated Chinsegut to the federal government, collaborating with the Department of Agriculture on an experimental station to benefit Florida farmers. In return, the couple could live there until their deaths. New Deal workers improved the property and built two cabins in 1933. In 1958, the University of South Florida acquired the property for use as a conference center.
  

• Title: FORT KING ROAD
  Location:along S.R. 50.
  County: Hernando
  City: Ridge Manor
  Description: Shortly after Florida became a U.S. Territory, Fort Brooke was constructed at the mouth of the Hillsborough River and Fort King was established near the present site of Ocala. In 1825, work was begun by the federal government on an overland route connecting those fortifications. This "Military Road" was improved and soon was known as the "Fort King Road." It was an important transportation and communication link during the Second Seminole War (1835-42), a conflict over the removal of Indians from Florida. This route remained a vital mail and wagon road during the 19th century development of central Florida. Presently, U.S. Highway 301 crosses the course of one of the oldest major roads in Florida, the Fort King Road.
  

• Title: FORT BASINGER
  Location:U.S. 98,west side of Kissimmee River Bridge.
  County: Highlands
  City: Fort Basinger
  Description: Col. Zachary Taylor had Fort Basinger built in 1837, during the Seminole Wars, on the Kissimmee River 17 miles above its mouth. It was a small stockade which served as a temporary fort and supply station on the line of forts extending from Tampa to Lake Okeechobee. Named for Lt. William E. Basinger of the 2nd Artillery, who was killed in Dade's Massacre, the fort was abandoned at the end of the Indian wars.
  

• Title: THE FOUNDING OF THE CIGAR INDUSTRY IN TAMPA
  Location:corner of 9th Avenue and 14th Street, Ybor City.
  County: Hillsborough
  City: Tampa
  Description: In 1886 two cigar factories were completed at Tampa signaling the founding of the industry in the area. Pioneer manufacturer was Vincente Martinez Ybor, a native of Spain, who had made cigars at Havana and Key West. Ybor's move to Tampa was prompted by better transportation and favorable terms offered by Tampa's Board of Trade. Due to the efforts of Ybor and his associates, Tampa became a world tobacco manufacturing center.
  

• Title: TAMPA AS PORT OF EMBARKATION FOR SPANISH AMERICAN WAR
  Location:corner of West Shore Boulevard and Interbay Boulev
  County: Hillsborough
  City: Tampa
  Description: From April to June, 1898, Tampa served as port of embarkation for U.S. Troops on their way to Cuba. Some 30,000 troops arrived in Tampa and 16,000 embarked from Port Tampa on June 7. The Tampa Bay Hotel was headquarters for the force's leaders including General Miles and Shafter and Colonel "Teddy" Roosevelt. The city also swarmed with visiting civilians including author Richard Harding Davis and Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross.
  

• Title: CIRCULO CUBANO (CUBAN CLUB)
  Location: 2010 Avenida Republica de Cuba
  County: Hillsborough
  City: Tampa
  Description: Late 19th and early 20th century Cuban immigration to the United States was impressive for the craft talents brought to the country. Along with their Spanish counterparts, skilled Cuban cigar makers made Tampas hand-rolled cigars world famous. As early as 1899 Cuban immigrants formed recreational societies with varying degrees of success, and in 1902, Cuban workers founded El Circulo Cubano as a mutual aid society to bind all Cuban residents of Tampa into a fraternal group, to offer assistance and help to the sick. When fire destroyed the first clubhouse in 1916, members immediately initiated plans for its replacement. The present four-story, yellow brick building with Neo-Classical design elements sits on the original site at 14th Street and 10th Avenue. Constructed in 1917, the building contained a theater, pharmacy, library, ballroom, and cantina. Imported tile, stained glass windows and elaborately carved scraffito spandrels decorated the structure. The ballroom ceiling displayed elaborate murals. The clubhouse provided an elegant gathering place for members and served as a unifying force in the Cuban community. The National Register of Historic Places listed El Circulo Cubano in 1972.
  

• Title: EL CENTRO ESPANOL DE TAMPA
  Location:1526-1536 7th Avenue
  County: Hillsborough
  City: Tampa
  Description: Chartered on September 7, 1891, El Centro Espanol was the first Latin club organized in Ybor City. As a mutual aid society, it provided early Spanish immigrants with a framework by which they maintained their identity and culture while supplying social privileges and death and injury benefits. Fiannaced by stock pledges of $10 each by the original 186 Charter Members, the society opened the first club building in June 1892 on land purchased by Ignacio Haya at 16th Street and 7the Avenue. The membership soon outgrew the original building. By 1909 club officers embarked on a building campaign to build two new clubhouses  one in Ybor City and one to accommodate members in West Tampa. Completed in 1912, El Centro Espanol de Tampa sits on the site of the original structure on 7th Avenue. The long two-story rectangular building houses a cantina and ballroom at its south end separated by a foyer and stair hall from the theater at its north end. The parapet of the stage house steps above the roof line of the main building at the north end of the site. The red brick edifice reflects the French Renaissance Revival style with Moorish and Spanish influence. In 1988 the Department of the Interior designated El Centro Espanol de Tampa a National Historic Landmark.
  

• Title: GERMAN-AMERICAN CLUB
  Location:2106 Nebraska Avenue
  County: Hillsborough
  City: Tampa
  Description: Organized in 1901, the German-American Club was one of the few non-Latin ethnic clubs in Tampa. Club embers laid the cornerstone for a building on the northeast corner of Nebraska Avenue and 11th Street on February 23, 1908, followed by a grand opening on January 1, 1909. Fine classical details and proportions marked the three-story building, with concrete bock molded to appear as tooled stone masonry. With a stage for speakers or theatrical productions, a swimming pool and a bowling alley, the building served Tampas German and Jewish population until its sale in 1919. From 1919 to 1924, it housed Tampas Labor Temple Association. The Young Mens Hebrew Association bought the building in 1924 and remained until 1944. Focusing on education and recreation for Tampas Jewish community, the association held gym, art, and music classes, and outdoor sports and leisure activities. Various groups including an insurance company and the Hispanic organization, Los Caballeros de la Luz, occupied the building after 1944.
  

• Title: L'UNIONE ITALIANA (ITALIAN CLUB)
  Location:1731 7th Avenue
  County: Hillsborough
  City: Tampa
  Description: The nucleus of Tampas Italian colony arrived from New Orleans and Sicily in 1887. Founded I 1894, the primary purpose of LUnione Italiana was to promote social and fraternal exchange among its members, and to provide medical benefits and burial expenses for its members. Health care benefits provided by Ybor Citys social clubs represent early examples o f Americas health maintenance organizations and one of the oldest examples of cooperative medicine in the country. LUnione Italiana is considered the forerunner of more than 1,400 Italian mutual aid societies founded in the United States. In 1914 fire destroyed the first club hose built on the northwest corner of Seventh Avenue and Eighteenth Street. By 1918 the Society built the present three-story Neoclassical building across 7th Avenue from the original site at a cost of $80,000. The structure embraces the Italo-Greco tradition embodied in the ancient Greek temples found in the province of Agrigento, Sicily. Its theatre, ballroom, library and cantina were always beehives of activity. It stands today as a source of pride and commitment to early Italian immigrants.
  

• Title: CENTRO ASTURIANO DE TAMPA
  Location:1913 Nebraska Avenue
  County: Hillsborough
  City: Tampa
  Description: Spanish immigrants from the province of Asturias formed the Centro Asturiano de Tampa in 1902 as a mutual aid society dedicated to meeting the recreational, social and medical needs of its members. In an effort to broaden the concept of cooperative medicine, the club operated a hospital, El Sanatorio del Centro Asturiano, until its closing in 1988. The society built the present three-story yellow brick and stone building on the corner of Palm and Nebraska Avenues in 1914 after a fire destroyed the original club house building. Designed in the Neo-Classical style, the building features stylized classical columns and a sweeping stone staircase leading to the main entrance. Major interior spaces include a grand theater, ballroom, and cantina with a 50-foot onyx bar. With a membership open to all Latins, El Centro Asturiano quickly became the center of Spanish theater and opera hosting some of the finest opera performers in the nation. The National Register of Historic Places listed the Centro Asturiano building in 1974.
  

• Title: SOCIEDAD LA UNION MARTI-MACEO
  Location:1226 7th Avenue
  County: Hillsborough
  City: Tampa
  Description: Afro-Cuban cigar makers founded this society in 1900 as Los Libres Pensadores de Marti y Maceo. Founders had been members of El Club Nacional Cubano, an organization of Black and White Cubans involved in Cuban independence. Afro-Cubans were forced to withdraw in response to racial segregation. Ruperto Pedroso, well-known Afro-Cuban patriot, was among the 23 original founders. Meetings of the organization began in the parlor of Pedrosos boardinghouse at 13th Street and 8th Avenue (present site of Marti Park). In 1904, medical benefits were added when the club merged with La Union, resulting in the new name, La Union Marti-Maceo. In 1909, members completed construction of a two-story club house at 11th Street and 6th Avenue. With an average membership of about 300, the club offered full medical benefits and a stipend for sick members, as well as social, cultural and educational activities. During the depression of the 1930s, many Afro-Cubans left Tampa. Membership declined and benefits wee reduced, but the club continued in operation. In 1965, Urban Renewal demolished the original building, and the members moved to the present location at 7th Avenue and 13th Street. By the late 1960s, there were few members left and it appeared that the organization would soon cease to exist. However, in the early 1970s, a large number of people who had left Ybor City as children during the depression returned as retirees. The size increased to over 100 members, reviving the organization.
  

• Title: HISTORIC TAMPA UNION STATION
  Location: 601 Nebraska
  County: Hillsborough
  City: Tampa
  Description: Built in 1912, Tampa Union Station (TUS) was designed by architect J.F. Leitner in Italian Renaissance style. TUS served both the Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line Railroad. The railroad companies contributed $250,000 to build Tampa Union Station at Nebraska and Twiggs Streets. The new station was placed under the management of the Tampa Union Station Company. By the height of the Depression, the earnings of the nation’s passenger railroads had dropped by half. WWII bought higher revenues than in pre-war depression hears. The high earnings were offset by heavy costs due to high usage during the war years. This meant the need for huge reinvestment, thus heralding the “Streamliner Era.” Some of the notable trains that served TUS during this era were the Meteor, Silver Star and Silver Comet. In 1971 Amtrak took over operating he nation’s passenger rail services and continues to run trains out of Tampa Union Station. The 1.97-acre terminal and baggage building was purchased in 1991 by the non-profit Tampa Union Station Preservation & Redevelopment, Inc., and was fully renovated in 1998. Ownership was transferred to the city of Tamp in 1999.
  

• Title: CENTRO ESPANOL DE TAMPA
  Location:
  County: Hillsborough
  City: Tampa
  Description: Chartered on September 7, 1891, El Centro Espanol was the first Latin club organized in Ybor City. As a mutual aid society, it provided early Spanish immigrants with a framework by which they maintained their identity and culture while supplying social privileges and death and injury benefits. Financed by stock pledges of $10 each by the original 186 Charter Members, the society opened the first club building in June 1892 on land purchased by Ignacio Haya at 16th Street and 7th Avenue. The membership soon outgrew the original building. By 1909 club officers embarked on a building campaign to build two new clubhouses – one in Ybor City and one to accommodate members in West Tampa. Completed in 1912, El Centro Espanol de Tampa sits on the site of the original structure on 7th Avenue. The long, two-story rectangular building houses a cantina and ballroom at its south end separated by a foyer and stair hall from the theater at its north end. The parapet of the stage house steps above the roof line of the main building at the north end of the site. The red brick edifice reflects the French Renaissance Revival style with Moorish and Spanish influence. In 1988 the Department of the Interior designated El Centro Espanol de Tampa a National Historic Landmark.
  

• Title: IL CIMITERO DELL’UNIONE ITALIANA
  Location:
  County: Hillsborough
  City: Tampa
  Description: L’Unione Italiana, founded in 1894 in Ybor City, institutionalized the Italian funeral in Tampa when in 1896 it purchased this property from the prominent African-American Armwood family and dedicated it as a cemetery. The first Italians were buried here in 1893. Also buried here is Blanche Armwood (1890-1939), a nationally known educator. The Italian cemetery includes a parcel belonging to the Societa de Mutuo Soccorso (Mutual Aid Society). Ceramic photographs on grave markers and tombstones inscribed in Sicilian and Italian pay homage to Sicily, where the stonecutters perfected their craft in granite and \marble. A cherished set of rituals governed the Italian funeral. Hundreds of people walked in a cortege, often pausing for a final tribute in front of the deceased’s house and the Italian Club where flags of Italy and the United States stood at half mast. A brass band led them to the cemetery followed by family and paesani (countrymen). This ritual celebrated the decedent’s service to the community. In the early years, each club member contributed one dollar to the bereaved family. Later, the club established a $300 survivor benefit.
  

• Title: W.T. EDWARDS HOSPITAL COMPLEX
  Location: 4014 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
  County: Hillsborough
  City: Tampa
  Description: The W.T. Edwards Hospital, erected in 1952, was one of three tuberculosis (TB) hospitals built in Florida after World War II, and was funded by a state cigarette tax and federal monies. The other hospitals were in Tallahassee and Lantana. The complex included 10 buildings, six of which were particularly significant: the hospital, laboratory, employee housing, laundry and heating plant, nurses’ quarters, and state medical director’s residence. The hospital, designed by Charles Kuhn, was a significant example of the International Style popular in the post-war years. It was a long, narrow, concrete building with many windows, designed to provide interior air circulation and sunlight. The buildings were steam heated, and air conditioned except in the patients’ rooms. At the time, air conditioning was thought to be unhealthy for TB patients. The Tampa hospital was the only facility in the state to treat children with TB and to be equipped to admit patients under Florida’s compulsory isolation law, which provided that, for public safety, those who refused treatment due to religious beliefs could be confined and treated against their will. With the decline in the occurrence of TB, the hospital closed in 1974.
  

• Title: TAMPA UNION STATION
  Location:
  County: Hillsborough
  City: Tampa
  Description: By 1902, the Seaboard Air Line [SAL] was formed and the Atlantic Coast Line [ACL] had taken over the rail system of Henry B. Plant. Tampa Union Station (TUS), built in 1912, was designed by architect J.F. Leitner in Italian Renaissance style, and served both railroads. The companies contributed $250,000 to build the station, which was managed by the Tampa Union Station Company. During the Depression, Americas passenger railroad earnings fell by half. Higher revenues during World War II were offset by the costs of overworking their stock to meet war needs. To increase profits, they reinvested in sleeker, more modern rolling stock, resulting in the Streamliner Era. Notable trains that served TUS then included the ACLs West Coast Champion, South Wind, the Southland and the SALs Silver Meteor, Silver Star and Sunland. In 1971, Amtrak began operating the nations passenger rail services and today runs trains out of Tampa Union Station. In 1991, the non-profit Tampa Union Station Preservation & Redevelopment, Inc. purchased the 1.97-acre terminal and baggage building, renovating in it 1998. Ownership was transferred to the City of Tampa in 1999. The station is on the National Register of Historic Places.
  

• Title: OLD PEOPLES HOME
  Location:
  County: Hillsborough
  City: Tampa
  Description: Opened in 1924, The Old Peoples Home was the largest publicly supported home for the elderly in Tampa and represented a major civic achievement. An all-woman Board of Managers founded the Home and the original by-laws stated that men could serve only as Trustees or Advisors. Designed and built by architect, A.H. Johnson (1857-1925), it was built on land donated by Peter O. Knight. The building is masonry vernacular with elements of the Colonial Revival style on its main façade. The Tampa Tribune stated: The building contains, besides the many bedrooms, four sun parlors, dining room, reception room and kitchen on the first floor, two large airy wards, an infirmary and baths on the second floor and a laundry in the basement. It is equipped with elevators and refrigerating plant, faucets of ice water in the upstairs halls and infirmary, and running water in every bedroom. The site includes Sarah Knight Park, named for Knights mother, and features a canopy of oak trees, gazebos, picnic benches and a shuffleboard court. The Old Peoples Home continues to operate as a non-profit agency providing a caring home environment for elderly Tampa residents. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.
  

• Title: RUSKIN COLLEGE PRESIDENT'S HOME
  Location:S.R. 674 and U.S. 41
  County: Hillsborough
  City: Ruskin
  Description: Ruskin College opened in 1912 as a coeducational industrial and liberal arts college. It was located on part of a large tract of land purchased by Dr. George McA. Miller beginning in 1907 for the purpose of establishing a cooperative college and a planned community modelled on the philosphy of British social thinker, John Ruskin. Ruskin believed in making education abailable for everyone. Dr. Miller had previously established two other Ruskinian colleges in the mid-West and was devoted to the educational principle of combining intellectual endeavors with manual labor. His wife, Adeline Dickman Miller, designed the Swiss chalet style structure located near this marker. It was constructed in 1914 and was the only one of Ruskin College's original buildings to survive a fire in 1919. By that time the cooperative college had declined due to loss of students during World War I. In 1940, the Miller House was deeded by that family to the Ruskin Woman's Club. This structure was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. It remains a symbol of the utopian origins of the community of Ruskin.
  

• Title: TAMPA BAY HOTEL
  Location:West Kennedy Boulevard, University of Tampa Campus
  County: Hillsborough
  City: Tampa
  Description: Henry B. Plant built this ornate Moorish structure at a cost of $3 million. Opened in 1891, it became the social and cultural center of early Tampa. During the Spanish American War it was headquarters for troops going to Cuba and house such visitors as Col. Theodore Roosevelt, Clara Barton, Richard Harding Davis and Gen. Nelson Miles. Purchased by the City of Tampa in 1905, it has served as the main building of the University of Tampa since 1933.
  

• Title: CELI'S EXPEDITION AND SURVEY OF THE HILLSBOROUGH RIVER APRIL 24-27, 1757
  Location:behind Curtis Hixon Hall on River Walk, downtown T
  County: Hillsborough
  City: Tampa
  Description: Don Francisco Maria Celi, Pilot of the Spanish Royal Fleet, and crew, entered the river, naming it Rio de San Julian y Arriaga. They halted at "El Salto" - The Waterfall in the Hillsborough State Park. Near the present dam they erected a cross in a pine forest, their "El Pinal de la Cruz de Santa Teresa." This is the earliest known recorded exploration of this historic river.
  

• Title: W.T. EDWARDS HOSPITAL COMPLEX
  Location:
  County: Hillsborough
  City: Tampa
  Description: The W.T. Edwards Hospital, erected in 1952, was one of three tuberculosis (TB) hospitals built in Florida after World War II, and was funded by a state cigarette tax and federal monies. The other hospitals were in Tallahassee and Lantana. The complex included 10 buildings, six of which were particularly significant: the hospital, laboratory, employee housing, laundry and heating plant, nurses’ quarters, and state medical director’s residence. The hospital, designed by Charles Kuhn, was a significant example of the International Style popular in the post-war years. It was a long, narrow, concrete building with many windows, designed to provide interior air circulation and sunlight. The buildings were steam heated, and air conditioned except in the patients’ rooms. At the time, air conditioning was thought to be unhealthy for TB patients. The Tampa hospital was the only facility in the state to treat children with TB and to be equipped to admit patients under Florida’s compulsory isolation law, which provided that, for public safety, those who refused treatment due to religious beliefs could be confined and treated against their will. With the decline in the occurrence of TB, the hospital closed in 1974.
  

• Title: KEITH CABIN
  Location:
  County: Holmes
  City: Pittman
  Description: In 1880, William Thomas Keith homesteaded ten acres upon which this house stands. In 1886 he filed a homestead entry with the U. S. Public Land Office and in the fall of that year, built this cabin that became home for himself, his wife, mother, and eight children. It became the focus of a cotton and tobacco farm that eventually grew to more than 190 acres. By 1893, improvements included a plaza, smokehouse, corn crib, enclosed shed rooms, and a well. The Keith Cabin was originally built as a one room, Louisiana Roof style split log structure with a wraparound porch, a fireplace, and a separate kitchen. This style of architecture is a rare form of 19th century construction found only in the Gulf States from east Texas to south Georgia. It is characterized by a front and rear porch formed by long logs that extend beyond the main block of the house at each gable end to support the broad roof overhangs. Keith served with the Confederate Army and was an accomplished farmer, lumberjack, mail carrier, store merchant, and medical practitioner. His life and home are excellent examples of the rural lifestyle of early Holmes County and Northwest Florida. The Keith Cabin is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
  

• Title: HOLMES COUNTY
  Location:Virginia and Oklahoma Streets, on courthouse groun
  County: Holmes
  City: Bonifay
  Description: Holmes County, noted for agriculture and timber, was created in 1848. The first county seat was at Hewett's Bluff, later known as Bear Pen. Cerro Gordo and Westville also served as county seat. Bonifay, the present site, was selected in 1905. Controversy surrounds the county's name. One claim credits a North Carolinian name Holmes who settled in the area around 1830. Another contends it was named for an Indian chief who had been given the English name of Holmes.
  

• Title: BIRTHPLACE FOR EQUAL SUFFRAGE FOR WOMEN IN FLORIDA
  Location:
  County: Indian River
  City: Fellsmere
  Description: The population of Fellsmere is of a high type of intelligence, with lofty ideals and wise execution. Progressive in all things, perhaps no better indication of the fact may be given than the unanimous vote of the town granting unrestricted suffrage to women. Fellsmere Tribune, March 8, 1916. At a February 1915 meeting at the Dixie Theater, Fellsmere citizens accepted the articles of incorporation unanimously. The charter included a unique proposal that women be granted full and equal privilege for suffrage in municipal elections. Local bills seldom received close scrutiny from legislators, and the equal suffrage provision went unnoticed. In signing the act that created the town of Fellsmere, Governor Park Trammell, in effect, gave women the right to vote in its municipal elections. In the June 19, 1915 city election, Mrs. Zena M. Dreier was the first woman to cast a ballot in Fellsmere, in all of Florida, and south of the Mason-Dixon Line. The town residents took much pride in this unique womans right, and urged neighboring municipalities to follow the Fellsmere Way to equal suffrage. In 1919, a U.S. Constitutional amendment granted suffrage to women. But history will note that Fellsmere led the way.
  

• Title: SEBASTIAN
  Location:U.S. 1 at Sebastian Inlet
  County: Indian River
  City: Sebastian
  Description: Settled in the 1870's, Sebastian became an important trading and fishing center during the era of the river steamers. To improve commerce and fishing, pioneers in 1886 attempted unsuccessfully to link the ocean with the river via the Sebastian Inlet. A channel was successfully cut in 1895, but a storm filled the inlet with sand shortly afterwards. In 1921, it was reopened only to be closed again by erosion. Jetties were constructed later to protect the channel permanently.
  

• Title: FELLSMERE GRADE
  Location:Fellsmere Grade adjacent to recreational area
  County: Indian River
  City: Fellsmere
  Description: Fellsmere, the northernmost town in St. Lucie County in 1919, had a population of over 800 people. The county built the first public road to cross the St. Johns River marsh in St. Lucie County (now Indian River County). Promote as the Fellsmere-Tampa cross state road, this road allowed travel between the interior and the coast. From 1919 until the 1940's, this road served as an important transportation route from Fellsmere, across the river to Kenansville, the sawmill at Holopaw, and the cattle markets of Kissimmee, but it never reached Tampa. During these decades it became a state road (SSR 170) and provided a corridor to Central Florida and a recreational access to the St. Johns River marshes. The town of Fellsmere was dependent on the sportsmen attracted to these resources. In the late 1940's the bridges burned across the river and the Fellsmere Grade ended in the marsh six miles from this site. Today this road serves the public as a recreational access.
  

• Title: SITE OF SURVIVORS' AND SALVAGERS' CAMP - THE 1715 FLEET
  Location:south of Sebastin Inlet State Recreation Area on A
  County: Indian River
  City: Orchid Island
  Description: Late in July, 1715, a hurricane destroyed a fleet of eleven or possibly twelve homeward bound merchant ships carrying cargoes of gold and silver coinage and other valuable items from the American colonies to Spain. About 1500 men, women, and children who survived the disaster and reached the shore made their camp along the barrier island near the place where the fleet's flagship had sunk. Governor General Corcoles sent a relief party composed chiefly of Indian auxiliaries from St. Augustine to provide subsistence for the survivors. These auxiliaries also gave protection and aid to the salvagers who used the campsite while working to recover the valuable cargo from the sunken vessels. Archaeological work at the site revealed that the salvagers seem to have erected some temporary structuresfor use as storehouses for the recovered gold and silver. While the salvage operation was in process, Henry Jennings, an English pirate, sailed to the site, drove off the guards and seized a large quantity of the recovered coins which he carried away to Port Royal, Jamaica. But the great majority of the treasure was safely regained and moved to Havana by the Spanish salvagers.
  

• Title: RIOMAR CLUBHOUSE - SAINT EDWARDS SCHOOL
  Location:on Club Dr. at Bay Oak Lane.
  County: Indian River
  City: Vero Beach
  Description: The Riomar Club chose this site for its clubhouse which was completed and opened in 1930. Ladies were attired in flowing formal gowns and the men in strikingly-starched white linen suits. A center for social activities for the area, the club drew many permanent residents and winter visitors to Vero Beach. The building is a Spanish-design clubhouse reminiscent of the style of Palm Beach. The exterior is stucco with interior pecky cypress beams. Purchased in 1965 for the purpose of starting an independent school, affiliated with the Episcopal Church, Saint Edward's School opened with 33 students in Grades 5-8. In 1972, the Upper School campus was opened on A-1-A south of here, and the Riomar building continued to house Grades Kindergarten through Grade 6, adding Pre-Kindergarten in 1983. The building was renovated in 1988 with the exterior maintaining the original character. On November 3, 1988, Bishop William Folwell dedicated the newly renovated building, and with his pastoral staff he marked the threshold with the sign of the cross and gave a blessing.
  

• Title: SITE OF FORT VINTON
  Location:S.R. 60 and S.R. 609 intersection, near I95 west o
  County: Indian River
  City: Vero Beach
  Description: A few miles southwest of this marker is the site of Fort Vinton. As white settlers moved into Florida, demands increased for the removal of the Seminole Indians to a western reservation. The Seminoles did not wish to leave, and in 1835 the conflict known as the Second Seminole war began. The 1838-39 campaign of that war was planned with the major objective of driving Indians away from settled areas and into the southern part of Florida. New posts were to be built where needed and others, such as Fort Pierce, were to be reoccupied. Supply outposts were needed for field campaigns, and early in April, 1839, such a post, called Fort or Post No. 2, was constructed about twenty miles northwest of Fort Pierce. This fortification was abandoned by or before 1842, when hostilities ended. Early in 1850, when another concerted effort to force the remnants of the Seminoles to emigrate got underway, it was reactivated as Fort Vinton. The post was named for Captain John R. Vinton, who had served in the area during the earlier conflict and had died in the Mexican War. Fort Vinton, an outpost of Fort Capron at Indian River Inlet, was soon abandoned (May, 1850) and is not known to have played a role in the hostilities of the later 1850's.
  

• Title: CITY OF VERO BEACH
  Location: 21st Street
  County: Indian River
  City: Vero Beach
  Description: The pattern of community development which occurred in Vero Beach provides insight into some important aspects of Florida's history. Although the coastal waters in the region attracted fishermen, settlement of this area did not occur until the 1880's. during that decade, the problem of lack of transportation which had deterred settlers was solved by railroad construction. In 1891, a post office named Vero was established at the home of Henry Gifford who had settled on the site in 1888. When the railroad was extended south to Lake Worth in 1894, a depot was built at Vero. With the railroad came tourism and a growing interest in the area. At that time, large scale drainage of swamp land such as that which surrounded Vero was being undertaken in Florida. An example of the way in which investors took advantage of the newly recognized potential of swampy areas may be found in the creation of the Indian River Farms Company. In 1909, Herman T. Zeuch of Davenport, Iowa visited the Vero area. He saw land that could be drained and sold to citrus farmers and cattle raisers. A corporation, the Indian River Farms Company, was chartered in 1912 with stockholders who were chiefly residents of Zeuch's home town. In 1913, the town of Vero was platted at the Company's direction. In 1915, the Vero Woman's Club was founded, an act which signified the vitality of the new community. A clubhouse, located near this marker, was built the next year on land donated by the Indian River Farms Company. The planned drainage program was completed in 1917. In that year, maintenance and extension of the drainage area was given over to the State of Florida. The name of the community was changed to Vero Beach in 1925, when the town became the county seat of newly created IndianRriver County. The Indian River Farms company was dissolved in 1936. Vero Beach has remained the center of this productive citrus growing region.
  

• Title: U.S. NAVAL STATION, VERO BEACH
  Location:
  County: Indian River
  City: Vero Beach
  Description: Site of the Main Hanger and Control Tower of the Vero Beach Naval Air Station (NAS) that was commissioned on 24 November 1942 to provide Navy and Marine flight training base for over 2700 men and 300 WAVES and women Marines. The previously city –owned airport expanded from 100 acres to nearly 2500 acres and contained self – supporting facilities for a population equal to the size of Vero Beach. The purpose of the NAS was constantly revised from originally training dive-bomber pilots to daytime pilots and ultimately to nighttime fighter pilots. Ingenuity of the maintenance crews was required to keep planes operational due to the shortage of repair parts. Almost 200 men received training on the Brewster SB2A Buccaneer and 1400 men on the Grumman F4F Wildcat, F6F Hellcat and F7F Tigercat. Although extensive safety procedures were established, records show over 100 lives were lost in flight training accidents. Training diminished after VJ Day (14 August 1945), but as of 2 September 1945, records show 237,102 hours of flight time had been provided since the first flight in December 1942. The Vero Beach NAS was placed in caretaker status in June 1946 and deeded back to the city.
  

• Title: VETERANS MEMORIAL ISLAND SANCTUARY
  Location:Near Riverside Park
  County: Indian River
  City: Vero Beach
  Description: River travel was vital to the early human activity of Florida and the Indian River area. In the early 1900s, efforts began to dredge the Indian River. By the 1930s, the U.S. Corps of Engineers routinely maintained this channel called the Intracoastal Waterway. After World War II the channel was once again slated for dredging and Alex MacWilliam, Sr., a veteran and member of the Florida Legislature, proposed a special project and persuaded the federal government to realign the existing Vero Beach channel to make way for a modern drawbridge (the first Merrill P. Barber Bridge) and to create a memorial island with the surplus dredging material. Lest We Forget are the words used in the dedication of this island on May 3, 1964. This one man and hundreds of citizens in Indian River County did not forget and 17 years later created Veterans Memorial Island Sanctuary. The Vero Beach Beautification Society and the Garden Club coordinated the beautification of the property. Today the Stars and Stripes wave proudly over this Island Sanctuary which can be seen from the deep channel of the Intracoastal Waterway and the two modern bridges now spanning the Indian River.
  

• Title: SAINT LUKE BAPTIST CHURCH
  Location:
  County: Jackson
  City: Marianna
  Description: This African-American church was founded under a brush arbor on the banks of the Chipola River in August, 1867 under the leadership of Rev. Samuel Brown. Shortly after organizing, one of the members who owned a blacksmith shop allowed his shop to be used as the first permanent home of the Saint Luke Baptist Church. In 1890, Rev. William King and congregation selected the present site and a wooden structure was erected. The years that followed were glorious years for the members of Saint Luke and the surrounding area. The church was used for religious and educational purposes. In 1921, under the leadership of Rev. King David Britt (1882 – 1959), the present brick structure was erected. The church was completed under the leadership of Rev. L. C. Herring, Rev. L. B. Brown, and Rev. Dr. A. H. Parker (1907 – 1995). The design of the building follows the Gothic Revival Style with its pointed, arch leaded stained glass windows and towers on either side of the central nave. The church is located on one of the highest points in central Marianna. Even though the building was vacated by the congregation in 1984, it continues to be a main focal point in Marianna.
  

• Title: GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON IN FLORIDA - 1818
  Location:Florida Caverns State Park
  County: Jackson
  City: Marianna
  Description: American desire for the acquisition of Florida grew after 1800 as U.S. frontiers expanded. Border incidents provided motivation for General Andrew Jackson's 1818 expedition against Florida's Seminole Indians. Jackson's army destroyed Indian stronghold in the Apalachee Region. On May 11, 1818, during a 12 day march from Fort Gadsden on the lower Apalachicola River to the Escambia River, Jackson crossed the Chipola River's Natural Bridge near here. Pensacola surrendered to Jackson later that month. This foray into Spanish territory created serious repercussions at home and abroad but paved the way for U.S. acquisition of Florida from Spain.
  

• Title: SYLVANIA PLANTATION
  Location:on C.R.164, 4.2 miles E. of its intersection with
  County: Jackson
  City: Marianna
  Description: Near this site stood "Sylvania", the plantation home of John Milton, Florida's Civil War governor, who settled in Jackson County in 1845. Milton's holdings consisted of 2,600 acres, a manor house, a school and family chapel, barns, blacksmith shop, and quarters for 50 slaves. Chief crops were cotton and corn. Here Gov. Milton, exhausted by his labors for the Confederate cause, took his life at the end of the war.
  

• Title: JACKSON COUNTY
  Location:U.S. 90, on Courthouse grounds.
  County: Jackson
  City: Marianna
  Description: On August 12, 1822, the year after the United States received possession of the Floridas, an Act of the Territorial Legislative Council divided West Florida into two counties - Jackson and Escambia. At that time, Jackson County included all territory between the Choctawhatchee and Suwannee Rivers, and area which now encompasses land in seventeen North Florida Counties. Jackson County is named in honor of Andrew Jackson, Governor of the Territories of East and West Florida. The county seat is Marianna, incorporated November 5, 1828.
  

• Title: SAINT LUKE BAPTIST CHURCH
  Location:
  County: Jackson
  City: Marianna
  Description: This African-American church was founded under a brush arbor on the banks of the Chipola River in August, 1867 under the leadership of Rev. Samuel Brown. Shortly after organizing, one of the members who owned a blacksmith shop allowed his shop to be used as the first permanent home of the Saint Luke Baptist Church. In 1890, Rev. William King and congregation selected the present site and a wooden structure was erected. The years that followed were glorious years for the members of Saint Luke and the surrounding area. The church was used for religious and educational purposes. In 1921, under the leadership of Rev. King David Britt (1882  1959), the present brick structure was erected. The church was completed under the leadership of Rev. L. C. Herring, Rev. L. B. Brown, and Rev. Dr. A. H. Parker (1907  1995). The design of the building follows the Gothic Revival Style with its pointed, arch leaded stained glass windows and towers on either side of the central nave. The church is located on one of the highest points in central Marianna. Even though the building was vacated by the congregation in 1984, it continues to be a main focal point in Marianna.
  

• Title: WHEN THE LIGHTS CAME ON
  Location:
  County: Jackson
  City: Graceville
  Description: On May 30, 1936 President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) signed into law the Rural Electrification Act which, 19 months later, would allow for the formation of West Florida Electric Cooperative (WFEC) and supply electricity for several hundred rural Graceville area residents. This federal act created the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which provided low interest loans to rural groups desiring to form their own electric cooperatives. On December 10, 1937, over 700 rural residents around Graceville joined together and formed WFEC. They borrowed $194,000 from REA to finance construction of the initial lines, related equipment and office facility. The first office was located in Marianna in 1938. In 1939 the office was moved from Marianna to Graceville and electricity came to these rural residents during that year. WFEC purchased this property in 1946 where the building now stands. Construction began on the building in 1948, and WFEC opened for business here in 1949. Over the years WFEC has expanded this building to its present configuration. This structure is a symbol of progress and a testament to those determined rural residents who, through electricity, helped bring this area into the modern age of the 20th century and provided a better quality of life for many.
  

• Title: GILMORE ACADEMY
  Location:
  County: Jackson
  City: Marianna
  Description: In 1922, Robert T. Gilmore (1879-1948), born in Monticello, founded Gilmore Academy, one of Jackson Countys first African-American high schools. Trustees of Mariannas African-American community purchased this three-acre site in 1907 and raised $2,500 of the $4,500 needed to qualify for a Rosenwald Fund grant to build a two-story, limestone, six-teacher school. Created by philanthropist Julius Rosenwald (1862-1932) and educator Booker T. Washington (1856-1915), the fund financed the building of 5,395 schools between 1912 and 1932 to address the dismal state of education for southern blacks. After graduating its first class in 1931, the Academy was renamed Jackson County Training School (J.C.T.S.) As enrollment grew, grades 1-6 moved to the nearby Baptist Academy. In 1952, 85 years after the Colored School Society petitioned the state to build a school for newly freed slaves, the County built an elementary school on South Street. A high school was built on the same site in 1956, and Gilmore Academy closed. In 1970, 16 years after desegregation, J.C.T.S. became Marianna Middle School. Although the schools were separate and unequal, principals, faculty and staff helped thousands of students become productive citizens.
  

• Title: BATTLE OF MARIANNA
  Location:U.S.90(E. Lafayette) & S.R.167(S. Jefferson) at Co
  County: Jackson
  City: Marianna
  Description: On September 27, 1864, Gen Asboth's force of 700 Federal calvary from Pensacola arrived in the Marianna area to forage and secure Negro recruits. Confederate forces of a few hundred home guardsmen barricaded the streets of Marianna and withstood the first assault but Confederate casualties were 26, Federal about 55. Marianna was spared, but St. Luke's Church, situated in the middle of the battle, was burned.
  

• Title: LAMONT COMMUNITY
  Location:Lot easst of post office
  County: Jefferson
  City: Lamont
  Description: Originally called Beasley's Store, Lamont was founded in 1848 as the site of a post office and stagecoach station on the Tallahassee to St. Augustine road. The settlement was called "Lick Skillet" after the Civil War, but in 1885 was named Lamont to honor Cornelius Lamont, Vice President during the first administration of President Grover Cleveland (1885-1889). The community thrived after the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad built a line through the town in 1926. Sawmills, turpentine stills, pecan growing and processing watermelon seeds for planting provided employment for the town's residents. Today Lamont's past is reflected by a former post office, built c. 1910, and several historic churches and houses.
  

• Title: ROSEWOOD
  Location:
  County: Jefferson
  City: Capps
  Description: This excellent example of a "Carpenter Classic" style farmhouse was probably built c. 1836 for Burwell McBride shortly after he moved to Jefferson County from South Carolina. He was the grandfather of Margaret McBride who married Asa May, a wealthy cotton planter. Asa and his wife received the house and land from Margaret's father in 1848. May was one of the wealthiest planters in North Florida, at one time owning more than 3,000 acres of land in Jefferson County alone. Rosewod was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
  

• Title: MONTICELLO COTTON MILL
  Location:U.S. Hwy. 90 East at Monticello
  County: Jefferson
  City: Monticello
  Description: Built on this site by General William Bailey in 1851, the mill was one of the first industrial experiments in Florida. It contained 1,500 spindles and forty looms and employed sixty-five white laborers. During the War Between the States he kept his products 50 percent below prevailing market prices, incurring an estimated $300,000 personal loss. Because of his patriotism, the mill was one of the few not commandeered by the Confederates. The enterprise collapsed during reconstruction.
  

• Title: THE TOWN OF MONTICELLO
  Location:U. S. 19, on grounds of Post Office.
  County: Jefferson
  City: Monticello
  Description: Jefferson County became Territorial Florida's 13th county in January, 1827. In December of that year, the town of Monticello, named in honor of Thomas Jefferson's famous Virginia home, was laid out and lots began to be sold. During the 1830s and 1840s, Monticello developed into the social, governmental, and economic center of Jefferson County. Post- Civil War fires destroyed most of the early commercial buildings, but a number of dwellings erected during those years survive. After the Civil War, economic adversity delayed further construction in Monticello until the 1880s. Most downtown commercial buildings date from the last quarter of the 19th century. The Monticello Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, contains over forty buildings dating from the 19th century. These structures reflect the typical development of a North Florida town of the period. Unlike other Florida towns of the same era, 19th century Monticello remains largely intact. The town provides fine examples of Greek Revival, Classic Revival, and Stick style architecture.
  

• Title: JEFFERSON COUNTY SESQUICENTENNIAL
  Location:U. S. 19 & U. S. 90 on Courthouse lawn.
  County: Jefferson
  City: Monticello
  Description: When Florida's Territorial Legislative Council established Jefferson County in January, 1827, settlers from the seaboard states already had begun to develop cotton plantations in this area. In December, 1827, the county seat received the name Monticello in honor of Thomas Jefferson's famous Virginia home. Jefferson County provided many of territorial Florida's most prominent leaders, including representatives to Congress and the Legislative Council, territorial judges, and the state's first elected governor, William D. Moseley. Jefferson County citizens were instrumental in establishing the Democratic party in Florida and in attaining statehood in 1845. As southerners who advocated states' rights and opposed the abolition of slavery, they took leading roles in Florida's 1861 secession from the Union and in the military service of the Confederacy. For decades after the Civil War, Jefferson County reflected north Florida's economic changes and problems, attaining prominence in agriculture and related light industries. In more recent times, the county has continued its significant participation in Florida's development in the political and agricultural arenas.
  

• Title: LAFAYETTE COUNTY
  Location: U.S. 27 betweem Fletcheer St. and Monroe St. on courthouse lawn.
  County: Lafayette
  City: Mayo
  Description: Lafayette County was created December 23, 1856, from Madison County. The county was named in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette, the French citizen who rendered invaluable assistance to the Colonies during the Revolutionary War. The famed Suwannee River forms the entire eastern boundary of the county. The county courts first met at the house of Ariel Jones near Fayetteville. The county seat was moved from New Troy to Mayo in 1893. Dixie County was created from the lower part of the county in 1921.
  

• Title: MAYO, COUNTY SEAT OF LAFAYETTE COUNTY
  Location: Lafayette County Courthouse grounds
  County: Lafayette
  City: Mayo
  Description: Established in 1874 by John B. Whitfield, Mayo was named in honor of James M. Mayo, a colonel in the Confederate Army and father of Nathan Mayo, who served as State Commissioner of Agriculture from 1923 to 1960. Mayo became the county seat of Lafayette County in 1892, after the courthouse in the previous county seat at New Troy was destroyed by fire. A two-story wood frame courthouse was completed in 1894 but was moved in 1907 to its current site at the corner of Fletcher and Bloxham Streets to make way for the present Classical Revival style courthouse which was completed in 1909. A small commercial district in the vicinity of the courthouses is noted for its historic turn-of-the-century architecture.
  

• Title: FORT BUTLER
  Location:two miles west of St. Johns River Bridge, S.R. 40
  County: Lake
  City: Astor
  Description: Located on the west bank of the St. Johns, Ft. Butler was built in 1838 during the Seminole Wars. It consisted of a crude log stockade and barracks for the garrison. The Fort was one of the military installations designed to protect the St. Johns River, which served as an important artery of communication with the garrisons in central Florida. On the opposite bank, near the frontier settlement of Volusia, stood Ft. Call.
  

• Title: Milner-Rosenwald Academy
  Location:
  County: Lake
  City: Mount Dora
  Description: Milner-Rosenwald Academy served African-American school children from 1926 to 1962. When fire destroyed the old school in 1922, parents and community leaders, led by Mamie Lee Gilbert (1886-1976) and Lula Butler, raised money for a new one. Seed money came from the Rosenwald Foundation, founded in 1913 by philanthropist Julius Rosenwald (1862-1932) to build black schools in the South. Matching funds came from Rev. Duncan C. Milner (1841-1928), Mount Dora, committed foe of racial injustice. Despite the inequity of segregation, Milner-Rosenwald was a source of community pride. Its graduates were leaders, scholars, writers and contributing members of society. Many today remember favorite teachers and activities--the marching band, the glee club, the Maypole Festival, the state championship girls' basketball team. As enrollment grew, a new Milner-Rosenwald Academy was built, at 1250 Grant Ave. The old academy housed the community's first kindergarten, the East Town branch library, the youth center and, later, the Head Start program. After integration in 1970 the Milner-Rosenwald Academy was renamed Mount Dora Middle School and the name Milner-Rosenwald Academy became a cherished part of Mount Dora's history.
  

• Title: WITHERSPOON LODGE OF FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS, No. 111
  Location:Mount Dora
  County: Lake
  City: Mount Dora
  Description: The Witherspoon Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, No. 111, is one of Florida’s oldest functioning African American lodges. Established in 1898, it followed the tradition of Prince Hall (1735-1807), who opposed racial oppression in Colonial New England and founded the first African American Lodge in the United States. The Witherspoon Lodge bought this frame vernacular style building in 1903 and has met here since then. Masonic rites require that meetings be held on the second floor. The building also houses the Order of the Eastern Star, the Masonic women’s auxiliary. The Masons, the world’s largest fraternal organization, are committed to community service, mutual aid and the pursuit of free thought. In Mount Dora, the Witherspoon Lodge has provided help and shelter to various community organizations. In 1922, fire destroyed the city’s one-room segregated school for African-American children (Public School No. 66, first established in 1886). The Witherspoon Building served as a schoolhouse until the construction of the Milner-Rosenwald Academy in 1925. The Witherspoon Building has also served as the temporary assembly place for two churches, the Weaver Memorial Church of Christ and the Holiness Church
  

• Title: FORT MASON
  Location:
  County: Lake
  City: Umatilla
  Description: During the Second Seminole War (1835-1842), troops under the command of Brig. Gen. Abraham Eustis left Volusia County headed toward the Withlacoochee River as part of a military action in response to the December 28, 1835 massacre of Major Francis L. Dade and his command near Bushnell. In March 1836 the troops camped nearby while a bridge was constructed over the Ocklawaha to the west. They built a fortified stockade about one mile south of this location, on the east side of Smith Lake. It was named Fort Mason, most likely to honor Lt. Col. Pierce Mason Butler who led the expedition and after whom Fort Butler, near Astor, was also named. After hostilities ended, Fort Mason became a supply base to support and encourage settlement in the area, which would later become Lake County. With the coming of the railroad in the1880s, a town on the north shore of Lake Eustis took its name from Fort Mason.
  

• Title: HOLY TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCH
  Location:on Spring Lake Road north of Fruitland Park.
  County: Lake
  City: Fruitland Park
  Description: Founded in 1886 by a group of young English men who came to this area to plant citrus groves, this church was opened in December, 1888. Earlier services were held at a barn on nearby Lake Geneva, midway between Fruitland Park and Chetwynd, a town two miles north of here no longer in existence. Despite severe economic and population losses following the freezes of 1894-95, this church remained open, and in 1976 descendants of the founders were still active in the congregation. The lych gate, rare in Florida, was added in 1889. The edifice is an unspoiled example of "carpenter gothic" architecture. In 1975, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
  

• Title: VILLA CITY
  Location: Lake Emma Road, 3 miles north of Groveland
  County: Lake
  City: Groveland
  Description: On this site in 1885, George Thomas King, founder of Villa City, built an estate that was the showplace of the area. By 1895, the town had a post office, school, church, hotel, photographic studio, dispensary and 35 homes. The citrus based community flourished until the Big Freeze of 1894-95. A warm spell, after a devastating Dec. 29 freeze, filled the trees with sap. Snow then fell in the evening of Feb. 7, 1895. The frozen trees exploded when the warming sun returned. Their hopes and dreams broken, the settlers left. The last original house, the Gano House, was demolished in 1968, but the beauty of the area remains.
  

• Title: JOHN P. DONNELLY HOUSE
  Location:Donnelly St. between 5th & 6th Ave.
  County: Lake
  City: Mount Dora
  Description: John P. Donnelly, a native of Pittsburg, came to Mount Dora in 1879. In 1881, he married Annie McDonald Stone, a prominent landholder in the community. Successful in a number of real estate and business ventures, Donnelly built this imposing Queen Anne style house in 1893. He was among the founders of the local yacht club, and served as the city's first mayor in 1910. In 1924, he sold the land for the park named for his wife, who had died in 1908. He died in 1930. The Donnelly House, now owned by Mount Dora Lodge #238, F&AM, was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on April 4, 1975.
  

• Title: ARMY POST FT. MYERS
  Location:S.R. 80 downtown Fort Myers
  County: Lee
  City: Fort Myers
  Description: (Below a map) Army post Fort Myers was established 14 February 1850 with 116 men and officers. Winfield Scott Hancock, Q.M. Captain was assigned in 1856. During the last years of the Seminole War there were 835 personnel in residence. The fort was deactivated in 1858, then reactivated in 1863 during the War Between the States. The long pier was near present day Hendry Street; the hospital was west of Fowler. The riverfront officers quarters were where Bay Street is now.
  

• Title: FIRST STREET, FORT MYERS
  Location:First Street,1/2 block west of Federal Building
  County: Lee
  City: Fort Myers
  Description: The post-Civil War era brought South Florida its first wave of settlers. In 1866, Manual A. Gonzalez and Joseph Vivas took up residence at recently abandoned Fort Myers. Arrival of other settlers led to the establishment in 1876 of a post office. First Street, delineated in the original 1876 town plan occupied a central position in community development. By 1901, frame buildings housing stores and offices lined downtown First Street. Banks, a theatre, a church, a school, and the Keystone Hotel, which first welcomed Thomas Edison in 1886, occupied locations along its route. Railroad construction and tourism, twin forces for growth in late 19th century Florida, contributed to community expansion. The paving of First Street to ease the way for tourists and automobiles and the construction of "modern" buildings replacing many frame structures reflected early 20th century attitudes among many Floridians. Electrification of the city street lights in the early 1920s symbolized the onset of Florida's Boom Period, an era of rapid growth especially significant in South Florida history. Fort Myers' palm-lined First Street has continued to embody the appeal of sub-tropical Florida.
  

• Title: THE ATTACK ON FORT MYERS
  Location:Lee County Library grounds
  County: Lee
  City: Ft. Myers
  Description: In December 1863, the Army post of Fort Myers, inactive since 1858, was reoccupied. The fort served as a supply depot for the Federal blockade squadron. Troops from the fort often raided Confederate supply depots in the state's interior, since Florida beef fed the Confederate army. To discourage these raids, Confederate Major William Footman led 275 men of Florida's "Cow Cavalry" from Fort Thompson (LaBelle) to the very gates of Fort Myers. Shortly after noon of February 20, 1865, Major Footman approached the fort under a flag of truce and gave the Federals 20 minutes to surrender. After Captain James Doyle, commander of the garrison which consisted of the Union 2nd Florida Cavalry, the 110th New York Infantry, and the 2nd U.S. Colored Infantry, refused, the Confederates bombarded the fort with their field piece. They were answered by Fort Myers' three cannons. The cannonade and musketry continued until after nightfall, when Footman and his Confederates withdrew under cover of darkness. Casualties on both sides were light.
  

• Title: SANIBEL LIGHTHOUSE
  Location:Lighthouse Park on Lighthouse Road at Island's S.
  County: Lee
  City: Sanibel Island
  Description: The first permanent English-speaking settlers on Sanibel Island arrived from New York in 1833 as part of a colony planned by land investors. Although that settlement was short-lived, the initial colonists petitioned the U.S. government for the construction of a lighthouse on the island. No action was taken on that proposal at the time. By the late 1870's, seagoing commerce in the area had increased in volume. The U.S. Lighthouse Bureau took the initiative in requesting funds for a lighthouse for Sanibel Island, and in 1884, construction of the tower began. The station was lighted for the first time in August, 1884. The significance of the Sanibel Lighthouse lies in the regular and reliable service it has provided for travellers along Florida's West Coast. Since 1950, the U.S. Coast Guard property at the lighthouse has been a wildlife refuge.
  

• Title: FORT MYERS
  Location:1st Street & Jackson Street on grounds of Federal
  County: Lee
  City: Fort Myers
  Description: In this vicinity, Caloosa Indian villages were located in ancient times. Around this site, in the Seminole War of 1841-1842, a fort was established and named for Lieutenant John Harvie. The fort was reestablished in 1850 and named Fort Myers, honoring Lieutenant Abraham C. Myers. This Seminole War ended in 1858. During the War Between the States, Fort Myers was once more re-activated as a base to round up wild cattle to supply beef to Federal gunboats patrolling the Gulf off Sanibel.
  

• Title: MILITARY CEMETERY
  Location:Fowler Street at 2nd Street.
  County: Lee
  City: Fort Myers
  Description: During the Seminole Wars, this was the site of a military cemetery for soldiers of Fort Harvie, 1841-42, and Fort Myers, 1850-58. The cemetery was located outside the breastworks of the respective forts which were in the vicinity of the present Federal Building in downtown Fort Myers. When Fowler Street was cut through, the graves were moved to the civilian cemetery on Michigan Avenue.
  

• Title: BILLY BOWLEGS
  Location:Marsh Street 1/2 mile S. of S.R. 80
  County: Lee
  City: Fort Myers
  Description: Seminole Chief Billy Bowlegs refused to move West in 1842 following the Second Seminole War. An 1853 State law making Indian residence illegal caused increased pressure against the Seminoles in the Big Cypress Swamp. In December, 1855, army surveyors from Fort Myers injured crops of Bowleg's plantation. This began the Third Seminole War often called the Billy Bowlegs War. He surrendered after three years when his people were promised financial aid. In March, 1858, Bowlegs and 165 Seminoles left peacefully for Oklahoma.
  

• Title: HARNEY'S POINT
  Location:Cape Coral Parkway
  County: Lee
  City: Cape Coral
  Description: Near here on the Caloosahatchee River a band of 160 Indians attacked the Fort and Trading Post at four o'clock on the morning of July 23, 1839. In the raid led by Chief Chekaika of the Spanish Indians, thirteen soldiers died and fourteen, including Col. William S. Harney in command of operations, escaped down river. A year later Col. Harney returned and destroyed Chekaika in the Everglades.
  

• Title: GASPARILLA INN & CLUB
  Location:
  County: Lee
  City: Boca Grande
  Description: The Gasparilla Inn, built by the Boca Grande Land Company, subsidiary of a national phosphate company that was an early major island land holder, opened in 1911. Under the leadership of company principal, Peter Bradley (1850-1933), the hotel provided an upscale winter destination for wealthy guests. Tampa architect Frances Kennard (1865-c. 1938) assisted in the hotels 1912 enlargement and again in 1915 when its size doubled. The grounds were landscaped by the nationally known landscape firm, the Olmsted Brothers, and included a bath house, band shell, greenhouse, tennis courts, golf course and staff dormitories. A New York firm decorated the interior with furnishings purchased in Philadelphia. The Inn drew wealthy fishermen and industry tycoons such as J.P. Morgan and Henry DuPont who enjoyed the Inns seclusion and impeccable service. In 1930, Florida land baron Barron Collier (1873-1939) purchased the hotel, adding a grand new entrance, an 18-hole golf course and several cottages. By the 1960s, the Inns condition had declined. Longtime Gasparilla Island resident and champion, Bayard Sharp (1913-2002), purchased the property, restored it and added modern amenities to ensure that the Inns traditions would continue.
  

• Title: EDISON & FORD WINTER ESTATES
  Location:Fort Myers
  County: Lee
  City: Fort Myers
  Description: In 1885 world-famous inventor Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) first visited Fort Myers. In 1886 he built his winter home, “Seminole Lodge,” a second home for a friend/partner, and a laboratory. He brought his bride, Mina Miller Edison (1865-1947), to honeymoon and vacation here in 1886. The homes were designed by Edison and pre-cut by two firms in Maine and shipped to Fort Myers. In 1916 industrialist Henry Ford (1863-1947) purchased the estate next door, “The Mangoes,” in order to spend more time with his good friend and mentor, Thomas Edison. These two prominent figures vacationed here until Edison’s death in 1931, and Mina continued to vacation here until 1947. The City of Fort Myers purchased the Ford estate in 1988 as an addition to the Edison Historical Site. Mina generously deeded the estate to the City of Fort Myers for $1.00. In her dedication ceremony on March 6, 1947, she stated: “My faith and belief in the sincerity of the people of Fort Myers prompts me to make this sacred spot a gift to you and posterity as a Sanctuary and Botanical Park in the memory of my honored and revered husband, Thomas A. Edison, who so thoroughly believed in the future of Fort Myers.”
  

• Title: "IN THE NAME OF HUMANITY" - Koresh
  Location:Koreshan State Park
  County: Lee
  City: Estero
  Description: Dr. Cyrus Read Teed, Founder of the Koreshan Unity and President of the Koreshan University of Chicago, established in 1892 his "College of Life" in Estero, Florida, as a cooperative community in the spirit of Christ's teaching. "We live inside the World," the Koreshans believe, as the Earth is the Universe, with life and the celestial bodies and spheres manifest inside the World. Measurements of the concave curvature of the Earth were derived by the Koreshan Geodetic Staff in 1897 at Naples. In "The Cellular Cosmogony" by Koresh, Universology is explained. This and other books, magazines, and newspapers were printed in the Guiding Star Publishing House at Estero. Through the Koreshan Nursery the garden came to fame for its subtropical plant life. Mechanics, arts, and music were taught, and sports cultivated. In 1961 the Koreshan Unity corporation deeded 305 acres of their landholdings to the State of Florida as "a gift to the people".
  

• Title: FORT THOMPSON
  Location:
  County: Lee
  City: LaBelle
  Description: LaBelle’s history begins here, along the Caloosahatchee River, on this old Fort Thompson site. Fort Thompson began c.1838 as a military post during the 2nd Seminole War, named for Lt. Colonel Alexander Thompson, who died in the battle of Okeechobee in 1837. The Confederates used the site during the Civil War to raise cattle for their troops. In 1879, former Confederate Captain Francis Asbury Hendry (1833-1917) acquired the property, making it his home in 1889. He established a cattle ranch and soon the town of LaBelle grew along its western boundary. In 1885, steamboat service carried passengers from Fort Myers to Fort Thompson, and in 1912, when LaBelle became a port on Florida’s Intracoastal Waterway, it became a river paradise. In 1905, Edgar Everett Goodno (1858-1936) purchased Fort Thompson and built an ice plant and an electric plant to serve a growing population. By the end of the decade, the former fort had become the cattle and citrus town now known as LaBelle. Thomas Edison was known to have visited LaBelle, staying at the Fort Thompson Hotel. In 1924, Henry Ford purchased part of Goodno’s property. It remained in Ford’s name until 1942 when he sold it to one of Captain Hendry’s cousins, Joseph B. Hendry.
  

• Title: WILHELMINA JAKES AND CARRIE PATTERSON: INITIATORS OF THE TALLAHASSEE BUS BOYCOTT
  Location:On the campus of Florida A&M University
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: On May 26, 1956, two Florida A&M University (FAMU) students, Wilhelmina Jakes and Carrie Patterson boarded a crowded Tallahassee city bus and sat in the only seats available, in the front next to a white female passenger. The bus driver ordered them to the back of the bus, but they refused. Outraged, the driver pulled the bus over and called the police. The two students were arrested and charged with “placing themselves in a position to incite a riot.” The next night a cross was burned on their lawn. In response, FAMU students, led by SGA President Brodes Hartley, held a mass meeting and voted to stop riding city buses. This sparked the ten-month-long Tallahassee Bus Boycott, the second major successful economic protest of the Civil Rights Movement. Other citizens embraced the boycott. Local religious leaders and community members founded the Inter-Civic Council (ICC) and elected Rev. C.K. Steele, pastor of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, as president. The ICC expanded the boycott, which ended in March 1957. Months of defiant walking, carpooling and legal battles and the fortitude of Jakes, Patterson and other FAMU Freedom Fighters, helped sustain America’s promise of equal rights and justice for all citizens.
  

• Title: OLD BRADFORDVILLE SCHOOL
  Location:3439 Bannerman Rd.
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: The Bradfordville School is a one-room school house built c. 1884-1893, where many generations of children, in elementary to eighth grade classes, received their primary education. It is an example of one-room schools once scattered throughout the area that gave rural children educational opportunities that would otherwise not have been available. The school is a wood frame vernacular structure with a whitewash exterior. The majority of the windows are six over six double hung sash wood. Now gone are two outbuildings used as restroom--one for girls and one for boys. The school was originally located at the intersection of Thomasville and Bradfordville Roads on property owned by the Lester family. In 1906 it was purchased by the Leon County Board of Public Instruction for the sum of $1.00. Declining attendance forced its closure in 1930. In 1940 ownership was transferred to the Leon County Commission. The building has been moved twice in an attempt to preserve it. The first move was in 1997 when a road expansion was planned for Thomasville Road. The second was in 2005 when the land was sold and it was moved to its present site. The building is currently used as a community center under the management of Leon County.
  

• Title: DALE MABRY FIELD
  Location:Tallahassee, Appleyard Drive
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: In October 1940, hundreds of laborers began clearing swampland for temporary quarters for Dale Mabry Army Air Base, named in honor of a young Tallahassee dirigible pilot who died in 1922 after serving in World War I. In 1941, America entered World War II. The need for a place to train pilots prompted the federal government to set a 90-day completion deadline. Eventually, the base became a nearly self-sufficient city, with several runways, barracks, officers’ quarters, mess hall, hangers, a hospital, a church and a bowling alley. Some sections of the base’s asphalt runway are still visible, as are several concrete tie-down pads. Over 8,000 pilots from Europe, China and the United States trained here in P-39s, P-40s, P-47s and P-51s. This marker is at the edge of the NW/SE runway near the point where planes took off or landed. Over a dozen pilots died in accidents while learning how to fire at targets such as a giant, plywood “bull’s eye” at Alligator Point to the south. During 1943, 79,000 family members came to Tallahassee, then a town of 16,000, to visit pilots-in-training. The base was deactivated in 1945 and served as a commercial airport until 1961, when Tallahassee Regional Airport opened.
  

• Title: PLANTATION CEMETERY AT BETTON HILLS
  Location: Tallahassee
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: THE PLANTATION CEMETERY AT BETTON HILLS The site is all that remains of a much larger cemetery for African Americans dating from the pre-Civil War era through the 1940s. It was the main burial ground for black slaves and servants from the Betton Plantation as well as other surrounding plantations. The plantation system grew in North Florida as cotton plantations to the north depleted their soil from overuse. Prominent early plantations in this region included Goodwood, Waverly, and Live Oak. Turbett Betton was a prominent Tallahassee merchant who purchased roughly 1,200 acres from the Lafayette estate, lying between Thomasville and Centerville Roads. Shortly after Betton’s death in 1863, the land was purchased by Guy Winthrop. The emancipation of the slaves ruined the cotton industry and many planters turned their land into quail hunting plantations. In 1945, the Winthrop family began subdividing the property for a new housing community called Betton Hills. Henry Watson, buried at the back of the lot with his wife, was one of Winthrop’s servants. However, most of the burials were marked with a simple wooden cross or flowers, and so no longer remain. Evidence of a burial site is marked by elongated depressions in the earth covered with altered vegetation. A FLORIDA HERITAGE SITE SPONSORED BY BETTON HILLS NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION, RILEY HOSUSE HEREITAGE MUSEUM, AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE Character count: 1,234 1999
  

• Title: FLORIDA A AND M UNIVERSITY
  Location:At Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. near Palmer Street
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: Founded in 1887 as the State Normal College for Colored Students, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) is the only historically state supported educational facility for African Americans in Florida. It has always been co-educational. In 1890, the second Morrill Act was passed. This enabled the school to become the Black Land Grant College for the State of Florida. In 1891, the college was moved from its original location west of town to its present location, which was once the site of “Highwood,” Territorial Governor W.P. Duval’s slave plantation. It is on one of the highest hills in Tallahassee. The school was known as Florida A & M College from 1909 until 1953, when it attained university status. On May 6, 1996, the historic Florida A and M College campus was listed in the National Register of Historic Places based on the school’s historic significance and the architectural style of its buildings. The designation also recognized the national achievements and contributions of FAMU students, alumni, faculty and staff. In 1997, in national competition, FAMU was named “College of the Year” in Time Magazine’s Princeton Review.
  

• Title: FIRST CHRISTMAS SERVICE
  Location:North of Tallahassee off U.S. 27 near Lake Jackson
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: In this vicinity was the Indian village of Anhayea. Here the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto and his men spent the fall and winter of 1539-40. Since twelve priests accompanied the Spaniards, it is probable that the first Christmas service in the United States was celebrated here.
  

• Title: LEWIS BANK
  Location:South Monroe St. at the Lewis State Bank Bldg.
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: Founded in 1856 by B.C. Lewis as a private banking business, the oldest bank in Florida has grown with the city and section, in size and services rendered. Since its founding, sons have followed fathers in the profession.
  

• Title: THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS
  Location: West end of Copeland Street, Westcott Building,
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: The Florida State University campus is the oldest continuously used site of higher education in the state of Florida. In 1851, the Florida Legislature authorized the establishment of two state seminaries, on east and one west of the Suwannee River. Eager to attract the western seminary, the city of Tallahassee, under the leadership of Intendent (Mayor) Francis Eppes, offered to donate four city lots on which to locate the school and provide $2,000 a year for its operation. The site chosen for the new institution was the crest of "Gallows Hill," located about a half mile west of the center of town. The West Florida Seminary opened in 1857, the first classes being held in a wood frame building erected by the city. Eppes, the grandson of Thomas Jefferson, served for eight years as president of the seminary's governing board. In 1901, the name of the school was changed to Florida State College and in 1909 it became the Florida State College for Women. The Florida Legislature transformed the college into a fully coeducational institution in 1947, creating The Florida State University.
  

• Title: LEON COUNTY
  Location:in front of County Courthouse, across street from
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: Originally part of Escambia and later Gadsden Counties, Leon was created by the territorial legislature in 1824. Named for Juan Ponce de Leon, discoverer of Florida, it became antebellum Florida's most prosperous and populous county, Cotton thrived in its fertile soil. Tallahassee, the county seat, has been the state capital since 1824. It is the home of Florida State University (1857) and Florida A&M University (1887).
  

• Title: THE JOHN GILMORE RILEY HOUSE
  Location:419 E. Jefferson St.
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: John Gilmore Riley was born in 1857, the son of Sarah and James Riley. He was not formally educated, but was instructed by his Aunt Henrietta. Riley became principal of Lincoln Academy, Tallahassee’s first local high school for African Americans in 1893 and served until retiring in 1926. He was a life-long member of St. James CME Church and Grand High Priest of the Royal Arch Masons of Florida. He owned a significant amount of property in Tallahassee near the Capitol Center. Riley died in 1954, the same year that the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision was rendered. Records indicate that the site on which the Riley House sits was sold to John Gilmore Riley by Aaron Levy on August 17, 1885 for $125. The two-story wood fame house was built in 1890. It was the home for the Riley family until 1973 when they sold it to the City of Tallahassee. The house was placed on t he National Register of Historic Places in 1978, and was restored with joint funding from the City of Tallahassee and the Department of the Interior. In 1982 the Florida NAACP partnered with the Riley Foundation to purchase the house.
  

• Title: KNOTT HOUSE
  Location:301 E. Park Ave.
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: Evidence points to George Proctor, a free black man, as the probable builder of this structure in 1843.The house was a wedding gift for Catherine Gamble, the bride of attorney Thomas Hagner. In 1865 the house was used as a temporary Union Headquarters by Brigadier General McCook. On May 20, 1865, McCook read the Emancipation Proclamation from the front steps of the house, declaring freedom for all slaves in the Florida Panhandle. After the Civil War a locally prominent physician, George Betton, bought the house, bringing with him a young buggy driver named William Gunn, a former slave. When Gunn expressed an interest in learning medicine, Betton funded his study at medical school and helped him establish a practice in Tallahassee. Gunn became Florida’s first black physician. In 1928 the Knott family acquired the house, had the front columns added and lived here until 1985. William Knott served the State of Florida for over 40 years as its first State Tax Auditor, as Comptroller, and Treasurer. His wife Luella Knott was an artist, musician, and poet. She named hr home “ The House That Rhymes,” and filled it with Victorian era furnishings. Almost every piece is adorned with a poem narrating history and moral lessons, written with charm and wit. Luella was also a political activist. The sale of alcohol was banned in the state’s capital for over fifty years, in part because of Mrs. Knott’s involvement with the temperance movement.
  

• Title: JOHN W. MARTIN HOUSE
  Location:1001 DeSoto Drive
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: John Martin was born in Plainfield, Marion County, Florida on June 21, 1884. He was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1914. He joined the Democratic Party and toured the state making speeches in support of President Woodrow Wilson before and during World War I. From 1917 until 1923 Martin served three terms as Mayor of Jacksonville. In 1924 he ran and was elected Florida’s 24th Governor, serving from January 1925 until January 1929, during the height and collapse of the Florida Real Estate Boom. Martin was the first candidate to solicit the women’s vote. At the bottom of his political advertisements was the phrase “The Ladies are Especially Invited.” During his administration he proposed a change in the state constutitujion to allow the state to provide direct assistance to public elementary schools. This was ratified by the voters in 1926. Wildlife conservation programs were also begun in the state, with the restocking of quail and deer and the establishment of fish hatcheries. Martin’s house, called Apalachee,” was constructed in the early 1930’s on his 27 acres. It is of the Georgian Revival style. In 1941, Martin sold the property to local developers who incorporated all but approximately six acres into a new subdivision called Governor’s Park. Martin moved back to Jacksonville where he lived until his death in January 1958.
  

• Title: DE SOTO WINTER ENCAMPMENT SITE 1539-1540
  Location:De Soto Drive
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: In 1539, a Spanish expeditionary force led by Hernando De Soto landed in the Tampa Bay area. Nearly 600 heavily armed adventurers traveled more than 4000 miles from Florida to Mexico intending to explore and control the Southeast of North America. The route of de Soto has always been uncertain, including the location of the village of Anhaica, the first winter encampment. The place was thought to be in the vicinity of present day Tallahassee, but no physical evidence had ever been found. Calvin Jones’ chance discovery of 16th century Spanish artifacts in 1987 settled the argument. Jones, a state archaeologist, led a team of amateurs and professionals in an excavation which recovered more than 40,000 artifacts. The evidence includes links of chain mail armor, copper coins, the iron tip of a crossbow bolt, Spanish olive jar shards, and glass trade beads. The team also found the jaw bone of a pig. Pigs were not native to the New World and historical documents confirm that the expedition brought swine. These finds provided the physical evidence the 1539-40 winter encampment, the first confirmed de Soto site in North America. From this location, the de Soto expedition traveled northward and westward making the first European contact with many native societies. Within two centuries, most of the southeastern native cultures were greatly diminished by the affects of European contact and settlement.
  

• Title: VILLAGE OF MICCOSUKEE
  Location:
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: In 1778 the British mapped this once thriving community, originally called Mikasuki, with sixty houses, a square, 28 families and 70 gunmen. The village was first settled by Native Americans of Creek descent who were often in armed conflict with white settlers. In 1818 Andrew Jackson and his men invaded, defeating the forces of village leader Kinhagee. Most of the Native Americans fled, but the areas fertile soil drew settlers and the area was soon resettled. A U.S. Post Office was built in 1831, as were churches, schools, and general stores. The town became a prime location for some of the areas largest cotton plantations. After the Civil War, agriculture remained the mainstay, and by 1887 a railroad served the community. In the 1890s, wealthy northern industrialists began purchasing large tracts of land to use as winter quail hunting estates, taking thousands of acres of land out of agricultural production. Yet the community continued to thrive until the boll weevil insect infestation of 1916 and the Great Depression (1929-1935) destroyed Leon Countys agricultural base. The rail line ceased operations by the mid-1940s, leaving the Miccosukee community of today rich in turn-of-the-century charm.
  

• Title: OLD FORT BRADEN SCHOOL
  Location:
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: Fort Braden was established in 1839 as a military outpost during the Second Seminole War (1835-1842). At the end of the war the fort was abandoned, but the small farming community that had developed nearby continued. A school in the Fort Braden area was first mentioned in an 1847 Tallahassee Floridian article reporting tax collections at the Fort Braden schoolhouse. Early education in rural Leon County was provided at small, one-room schools. The education these schools offered was inferior to that of urban areas. Yet over the next 80 years, many of these schools were built in Fort Braden and around the county. Consolidation of the schools was proposed at the turn of the 20th century, but did not start until the 1920s when motorized school buses and improved roadways made it possible to transport students to a centralized location. In 1926, the four-classroom Fort Braden School was constructed, featuring an inset entrance and double doors with molded accents. The school served as an education facility and community center for the next 66 years until 1993 when the new Fort Braden School replaced it. Today, the Old Fort Braden School continues to serve the citizens of Fort Braden as a community center.
  

• Title: JACKSONVILLE, PENSACOLA AND MOBILE RAILROAD
  Location:
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: The Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile Railroad Company Freight Depot, built in 1858, is one of the oldest railroad buildings in Florida and the oldest still used as a passenger rail station. The one-story depot was built when Tallahassee was the center of Floridas cotton trade. By 1885 the two-story addition was added. Middle Florida (now North Florida), with its rich agriculture lands, grew rapidly in the 19th century. By 1890, Leon County was the top producer of livestock, sweet potatoes, corn and cotton in the state. With cotton in great demand, Tallahassee was the regions commercial hub, shipping 16,686 bales of ginned cotton in 1860. Wagons brought the cotton from local plantations to be processed. It then went by rail to the coast for shipping. A new rail line between Pensacola and Jacksonville provided access to ports and made transporting both freight and passengers easier. In 1905 a passenger station was built across from the original one. It was used continuously until 1971 when, for the first time in 113 years, passenger service ended. Tallahassee was a freight only stop until 1992 when passenger services resumed, with the old freight depot used as the passenger station.
  

• Title: GOVERNOR W.D. BLOXHAM HOUSE
  Location: 410 North Calhoun Street
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: Side 1: This Federal-style building was constructed in 1844 by Richard A. Shine, a prominent builder and mason who constructed the south wing of Floridas Capitol in 1845. In 1881, Mary C. Bloxham, Governor Bloxhams wife, acquired the property. Governor Bloxham, the owner of a plantation west of Tallahassee, used the house as a town residence during his two terms as governor, 1881-1885 and 1897-1901. The house was used by Governor Edward A. Perry, 1885-1889. In 1911, when Governor Bloxham died, Gertrude M. Bloxham, his second wife, became its owner and in 1913 sold it. A number of ownerships and uses followed, including as a rooming house and hotel. In 1977, the Florida Heritage Foundation purchased the property and developed plans for restoration of the house, but was unable to raise sufficient funds. In 1979, one of its members, Frances Cushing Ervin, purchased the property and restored the house to its original architectural style and elegance. Side 2: Governor Bloxhams career of public service was extensive and included representing Leon County in the Florida House of Representatives, serving as Floridas Secretary of State and Comptroller and as United States Surveyor-General for Florida. He was a popular war veteran, having organized an infantry company in Leon County in 1862 and served as its commander throughout the Civil War. Governor Bloxham, Floridas first native-born governor, is remembered for founding the Florida Normal and Agricultural College for Colored Students, now Florida A & M University, and for restoring to fiscal solvency Floridas Internal Improvement Trust Fund by selling four million acres in the Everglades. He was governor during the Spanish-American War when Florida served as a principle staging area and its ports were major embarkation points for United States military activities in Cuba.
  

• Title: MISSION SAN LUIS
  Location: 2020 Mission Road
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: Mission San Luis, established by Spanish members of the Order of Friars Minor (the Franciscans), served the Apalachee Indians located in present day Leon and Jefferson Counties. Its name may have been a tribute to Luis Horruytiner, the governor who began the mission effort. San Luis was established shortly after 1633 at Xinayca near the present State Capitol and the Hernando de Soto winter campsite of 1539-40. The mission was moved in 1656 to Talimali, an important Apalachee town. For three generations, Mission San Luis was the religious and military administrative center for the Apalachee region. In addition to 1500 Apalachees, the Mission was home to the Deputy Governor, soldiers, friars and Spanish settlers. On July 31,1704, two days before Colonel James Moore and a column of Carolina militiamen and Creek warriors reached Talimali, the mission, town and fort were evacuated and burned to keep the enemy from using them. Colonel Moore destroyed many mission villages and enslaved thousands, forever ending Apalachees Fransiscan missions. Apalachee descendants now live in Louisiana and remain Roman Catholic. The State of Florida purchased the Mission San Luis site in 1983 to protect it for future generations.
  

• Title: CHAIRES HISTORIC DISTRICT
  Location:
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: The community of Chaires was established in the 1820s during Floridas Territorial Period (1821-1845). The community is named after Green Hill Chaires, who, along with his two brothers, Benjamin and Thomas Peter, came from Georgia and established vast plantations in Eastern Leon County. Chaires plantation eventually grew to 20,000 acres with a home on Lake Lafayette. It was later destroyed and his wife, two of his children and several of his slaves were massacred in 1839 during the Second Seminole Indian War (1835-1842). He then built a house called Evergreen and his brother, Thomas Peter, built a house called Woodlawn. In 1851, Green Chaires built the states first plank road, which connected upland plantations to the Gulf Coast shipping communities of Newport and St. Marks. The establishment of Railroad Station #1 in 1857 and the Chaires Post Office in 1858 contributed to the sense of community. By the turn of the century, Chaires was the commercial hub for the area, with a cotton gin and packinghouse, public schools, stores and churches. Today, Chaires retains much of its turn-of-the-century character. In December 2000, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
  

• Title: OLD CITY CEMETERY
  Location:Old City Cemetery between Call St. & Park Ave.
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: The present boundaries of the Old City Cemetery were established by the Florida Territorial Council in 1829. Many pioneers and their slaves are buried here, although some early Tallahasseans were buried several hundred feet east of this site. The cemetery also contains graves of Confederate and Federal troops (white and Negro), some of the fatalities from the Battle of Natural Bridge, 1865, which marked the end of the ill-fated Northern attempt to seize the capital during the War Between the States.
  

• Title: BELLE VUE
  Location:in storage, 4th Fl. of R.A. Gray Bldg.
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: Home of Prince and Princess Achille Murat, it was named for a hotel in Brussels where they spent many happy days. Prince Murat was the son of the King of Naples and nephew of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Princess Murat was the great grandniece of George Washington. Built about 1831 by Samual Duval, nephew of Governor Duval, for his bride Ellen Willis, sister of the Princess, it was later owned by Governor Bloxham.
  

• Title: UNION BANK
  Location:in storage - 4th floor of R.A. Gray Bldg.
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: Built circa 1830 for William Williams and owned briefly by Benjamin Chaires, the Union Bank Building was the probable site of two earlier banks. Their charters were purchased by the Union Bank, created February 13, 1833, by the Territorial Council and formally opened January 16, 1835, with John G. Gamble as president. It was capitalized at $1,000,000 and became territorial Florida's major bank. The Panic of 1837, Indian wars, and unsound banking practices led to its closing in 1843. It was purchased by William Bailey and Isaac Mitchell in 1847, then after the Civil War by the Freedmen's Bank. Its later uses were as a church and the site of various business enterprises.
  

• Title: THE TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT
  Location: remains of maker in storage - 4th fl., R.A. Gray B
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: Established March 3, 1905, by John G. Collins as "The Weekly True Democrat." Milton A. Smith bought the paper in 1908. On April 6, 1915, he made it "The Daily Democrat." Lloyd C. Griscom, became owner in 1929. It was purchased by Knight Newspapers, Inc., March 1, 1965. This, its third plant, was occupied in 1968. Earlier ones: 115 South Adams and 100 East Call. Tallahassee's first newspaper was the "Florida Intelligencer", founded February 19, 1825, nine months before city was incorporated. The Capital never has been without an alert, vigorous press. Vol. 1, No. 1 of The "True Democrat" explained the name showed dedication to "true and tried doctrines of The Old Time Democracy ... as distinguished from ... mischievous à fads and fallacies of the day."
  

• Title: BATTLE OF NATURAL BRIDGE
  Location: Natural Bridge State Historic Site, Natural Bridge
  County: Leon
  City: South of Tallahassee
  Description: The first two sessions of the territorial legislature were held at St. Augustine and Pensacola. The hazards of traveling between cities 400 miles apart prompted legislators in 1824 to locate a new capital at Tallahassee, between the two cities. Log buildings that housed the government made way in 1826 for a two-story masonry structure. This was succeeded in 1845 by what is now the core of the present historic capitol. A dome and wings were added in 1902, and further additions made in 1923, 1936 and 1947. The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and restored to its 1902 appearance in 1982.
  

• Title: PRINCE AND PRINCESS MURAT
  Location:on Call Street, St.John's Episcopal Cemetery.
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: Prince Achille Murat was the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte and the son of General Jochaim Murat, King of Naples. He settled in Florida in 1825, and as attorney, county judge, and director of Tallahassee's Union Bank, he played an active role in public life. Princess Catherine Willis Murat was the great grandneice of George Washington. Their plantations, "Lipona" and "Econchatti," were centers of social activity. Twin marble obelisks mark their graves in St. John's Episcopal Cemetery. The Murat seal is on the surrounding wall.
  

• Title: EASTERN BOUNDARY OF LAFAYETTE LAND GRANT n.e. corner 3 mi. north s.e. corner 3 mi. south
  Location: Former location: U.S. 90 near Lafayette Vineyards; now reported missing
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: During the American War of Independence, the Marquis de Lafayette came from France to the United States to offer not only his personal services as a major general in the Continental Army but also some $200,000 of his private fortune to the American cause. A few years after his return to France, General lafayette met with personal difficulties during the French Revolution which left him in dire financial circumstances. In gratitude for General Lafayette's generous aid during the American Revolutionary War, the U.S. Congress granted the French hero approximately $24,000 in 1794 and later, in 1803, some land in Louisiana. In 1824, Lafayette returned to America for a visit. Because he was still in financial difficulty, an appeal was made to the American nation for more assistance. The Congress and people of the United States remembered their debt to this man and recognized his continued support of the new Republic during recent decades. Therefore, he was presented with another $200,000 and an entire township (thiry-six square miles) of land to be selected at his discretion. General Lafayette decided upon land near this Tallahassee home of his new friend, Richard K. Call, Florida's delegate to the U.S. Gongress. Col. John McKee of Alabama, an experienced land buyer, was delegated to travel to florida and select a township. On July 4, 1825, President John Quincy Adams signed a warrant granting to Lafayette the chosen township, which lay adjacent to the new town of Tallahassee. It was bounded on two sides by the recently surveyed prime meridian and base line and was termed Township One North, Range One East. General Lafayette never visited his land in Florida. By 1855, all the land included in the Lafayette Township (over 23,000 acres) had been sold to individual buyers.
  

• Title: NORTHERN BOUNDARY OF LAFAYETTE LAND GRANT n.w. corner2.3 mi. west n.e. corner 3.7 mi. east
  Location:Former location along U.S. 319 -- now reported missing
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: During the American War of Independence, the Marquis de Lafayette came from France to the United States to offer not only his personal services as a major general in the Continental Army but also some $200,000 of his private fortune to the American cause. A few years after his return to France, General lafayette met with personal difficulties during the French Revolution which left him in dire financial circumstances. In gratitude for General Lafayette's generous aid during the American Revolutionary War, the U.S. Congress granted the French hero approximately $24,000 in 1794 and later, in 1803, some land in Louisiana. In 1824, Lafayette returned to America for a visit. Because he was still in financial difficulty, an appeal was made to the American nation for more assistance. The Congress and people of the United States remembered their debt to this man and recognized his continued support of the new Republic during recent decades. Therefore, he was presented with another $200,000 and an entire township (thiry-six square miles) of land to be selected at his discretion. General Lafayette decided upon land near this Tallahassee home of his new friend, Richard K. Call, Florida's delegate to the U.S. Gongress. Col. John McKee of Alabama, an experienced land buyer, was delegated to travel to florida and select a township. On July 4, 1825, President John Quincy Adams signed a warrant granting to Lafayette the chosen township, which lay adjacent to the new town of Tallahassee. It was bounded on two sides by the recently surveyed prime meridian and base line and was termed Township One North, Range One East. General Lafayette never visited his land in Florida. By 1855, all the land included in the Lafayette Township (over 23,000 acres) had been sold to individual buyers.
  

• Title: SOUTHERN BOUNDARY OF LAFAYETTE LAND GRANT S.w. corner 1.4 mi. west s.e. corner 4.6 mi east
  Location:Former location on the Apalachee Parkway -- now reported missing
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: During the American War of Independence, the Marquis de Lafayette came from France to the United States to offer not only his personal services as a major general in the Continental Army but also some $200,000 of his private fortune to the American cause. A few years after his return to France, General lafayette met with personal difficulties during the French Revolution which left him in dire financial circumstances. In gratitude for General Lafayette's generous aid during the American Revolutionary War, the U.S. Congress granted the French hero approximately $24,000 in 1794 and later, in 1803, some land in Louisiana. In 1824, Lafayette returned to America for a visit. Because he was still in financial difficulty, an appeal was made to the American nation for more assistance. The Congress and people of the United States remembered their debt to this man and recognized his continued support of the new Republic during recent decades. Therefore, he was presented with another $200,000 and an entire township (thiry-six square miles) of land to be selected at his discretion. General Lafayette decided upon land near this Tallahassee home of his new friend, Richard K. Call, Florida's delegate to the U.S. Gongress. Col. John McKee of Alabama, an experienced land buyer, was delegated to travel to florida and select a township. On July 4, 1825, President John Quincy Adams signed a warrant granting to Lafayette the chosen township, which lay adjacent to the new town of Tallahassee. It was bounded on two sides by the recently surveyed prime meridian and base line and was termed Township One North, Range One East. General Lafayette never visited his land in Florida. By 1855, all the land included in the Lafayette Township (over 23,000 acres) had been sold to individual buyers.
  

• Title: THE MISSION OF SAN PEDRO Y SAN PABLO DE PATALE
  Location:North CR-158 at the site of the Patale Mission.
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: In 1633, the province of Apalachee in Spanish Florida received its first full-time resident missionaries. The Franciscan Mission of San Pedro y San Pablo de Patale which was located about one hundred yards north of this marker was one of the first missions with a resident priest to be established in the region after that date. Like other Spanish missions in Florida, this outpost of Spanish domination was designed to convert and "civilize" the Indians. It also served as a center for the civil and military authority of Spain on the frontier. Archeological investigations at the site in 1971 revealed the structural remains of the mission church and other buildings and a cemetery for the burial of Christians containing some 64 graves. The mission of Patale evidently continued as an important segment of the mission system until its destruction in June, 1704. By that time, the colonial rivalry between Spain and England had become very keen. In 1703-1704, Colonel James Moore of South Carolina led an English expedition to destroy the Spanish Apalachee missions. On June 23, 1704, Patale was attacked and captured by the English who then used the mission as a base of operations. A counterattack by the Spanish and their Indian allies in July resulted in another victory for the English. After this, the Patale mission site seems to have been abandoned. But during the decades of its existence, it played an integral part in the military, political, and religious background of the Tallahassee area.
  

• Title: OLD PISGAH
  Location:on CR-151 (Moccasin Gap Road).
  County: Leon
  City: North of Tallahassee
  Description: Missionaries sent by the South Carolina Conference of theMethodist Episcopal Church held services for the Centreville community settlers at this site in the early 1820's. John Slade, known as the "Father of Methodism in Florida," organized the "Society" at Pisgah on May 3, 1830, with thirty-four charter members. During the Ante-Bellum period, Pisgah became one of the leading churches in Middle Florida. Charter members Jacob Felkel and his wife Rose Anne deeded seven acres to the church's trustees on December 12, 1858, for $125.00. Under the leadership of presiding elder Simon Peter Richardson and the pastor, Robert Hudson Howren, the present building was erected at that time at a cost of $5,200. Pisgah is one of the oldest remaining church structures in Florida. Architecturally significant, it is representative of early church design. Special features include hand-hewn box pews and galleries lighted by clerestory windows. The new sanctuary was dedicated on May 1, 1859, by the Reverend Richardson, who returned in 1863 to serve as pastor. While at Pisgah he was elected Captain of the Centreville "Old Guard" the local home defense unit. Pisgah has served as a cultural center for the community hosting political rallies, temperance meetings, musical programs and lectures as well as religious services. Since 1924, an annual homecoming has been observed on the first Sunday in May with state-wide educational, political, or religious leaders conducting the service.
  

• Title: TALLAHASSEE, CAPITAL OF FLORIDA
  Location:S.R. 263, Municipal Airport Tallahassee
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: DeSoto wintered here (1539-40). In 1633, the Spaniards established a chain of forts and missions to convert Apalache Indians. These were destroyed by the British in 1704 and the area reverted to wilderness. This site was selected as the capital of the Territory of Florida in 1824, and Congress granted Lafayette a township for his service during the Revolution. Tallahassee became the antebellum center of the Florida cotton belt and was the only Confederate capital east of the Mississippi not taken in the War. It is the home of Florida State University (1857) and Florida A.&M. University (1887).
  

• Title: BELLE VUE - HOME OF THE PRINCESS MURAT
  Location:Rankin Avenue on grounds of Tallahassee Museum of
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: Former home of Catherine Daingerfield Willis, great-grandniece of George Washington and widow of Archille Murat, Prince of Naples and nephew of Napoleon. During the Second French Empire she was recognized as a princess and financially assisted by Napoleon III, whose court she visited. She lived in this house from 1854 until shortly before her death, on August 6, 1867. The house, moved to this site in 1967 from its original location on the Jackson Bluff Road, is an excellent example of indigenous Southern architecture.
  

• Title: SAINT CLEMENT'S CHAPEL CHURCH OF THE ADVENT
  Location:Piedmont Drive
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: Built in the town of Lloyd in 1890, this Episcopal chapel was dedicated as St. Clement's Church on June 14, 1895, by Edwin Gardner Weed, 3rd Bishop of Florida. William Betton of Tallahassee designed and built the structure at a cost of $3,500. The furnishings are the original ones, including the pine pews and reed organ. The Bishop's Chair, oldest in Florida, dates from 1838 and is the only one in existence that the first five Bishops of Florida all used. The chapel was moved to this site and rededicated on November 29, 1959, by Edward Hamilton West, 5th Bishop of Florida.
  

• Title: THE TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT
  Location:Magnolia Drive in front of the Tall. Democrat Bldg
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: Florida's capital has never been without an alert, vigorous press. Tallahassee's first newspaper, the Florida Intelligencer, was founded on February 19, 1825, nine months before the city was incorporated. The Tallahassee Democrat traces its ancestry to March 3, 1905, when John G. Collins founded his Weekly True Democrat. He explained the name showed dedication to "true and tried doctrines of the Old Time Democracyàas distinguished fromàmischievousàfads and fallacies of the day." Collins sold the newspaper to Milton A. Smith in 1908. On April 6, 1915, Smith changed its name to the Daily Democrat. Lloyd C. Griscom became owner in 1929, and Knight Newspapers, Inc., purchased it on March 1, 1965. The structure you see is the newspaper's third plant, opened in May, 1968. Earlier plants were located at 115 S. Adams and 100 E. Call St.
  

• Title: SELECTION OF FLORIDA'S CAPITAL
  Location:Tallahassee, Monroe and Apalachee Parkway on Capit
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: Under Spanish rule Pensacola was the capital of West Florida, while East Florida's capital was St. Augustine. In 1821 the U.S. took possession and in 1822 William P. Duval succeeded Andrew Jackson as territorial governor. Dr. William H. Simmons, St. Augustine, and John Lee Williams, Pensacola, were appointed to select a central location for a capital. They explored the area around St. Marks and chose the old Indian village, Tallahassee. Shortly thereafter, the land was surveyed and the town incorporated.
  

• Title: THE APALACHEE MISSIONS
  Location: On Mission Road at San Luis Archaeological Site
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: From 1633 until 1704, Franciscan monks established and operated a chain of missions and attempted to convert Florida Indians to Christianity. Apalachee missions also served as Spanish Florida's western defense network. In 1633, about 10,000 Indians lived in Apalachee Province: present-day Jefferson, Leon, and Wakulla counties. There were eighteen Franciscan missions in Apalachee Province, though all did not exist at the same time. Each mission had two principal structures, a church and a convent, which were constructed of a wooden framework plastered with clay. The mission buildings were constructed by local Indian labor. A priest served each mission, and soldiers were garrisoned at the nearby fort of San Luis de Talimali. In 1704, Colonel James Moore led a force of 1,500 whites and Yamassee Indians from the British colony of South Carolina into Apalachee Province. This army killed several priests, destroyed their missions, and enslaved many Indians. Few people remained in the area after Moore's raid, and Spain soon abandoned her province of Apalachee.
  

• Title: THE FORT WALTON CULTURE
  Location:R.A. Gray Building, 4th Floor North Storage
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: Seven hundred years ago, the rolling country around Tallahassee was the seat of one of the most advanced Indian cultures of Eastern North America. The society was organized into classes, the highest of which consisted of chiefs and their families. The main chief lived at the place now called Lake Jackson Indian Mounds. Less important chiefs lived at smaller sites, one of which was located directly across the lake from here on Rollins Point. The Indians constructed large flat-topped earthen mounds at places like these, then built their important structures on top. The ordinary people in society were farmers, who grew corn, beans, and squash. They lived in houses near their fields, but they visited the chiefs from time to time in order to participate in religious ceremonies and to donate food or labor. The Indians of this area traded with people as far away as the Great Lakes. Chiefs used some trade items, such as embossed copper plates and carved shell pendants, as badges of office. The descendants of these people still lived nearby and called themselves Apalachee when Desoto passed through this area in 1539.
  

• Title: CAPITOL OF FLORIDA
  Location: Monroe St. and Apalachee Parkway, on Capitol grounds
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: The Capitol site was selected before Tallahassee was founded. Three log buildings housed the government in 1824. A wing of the permanent Capitol, financed by sale of city lots, was built in 1826 but was later torn down. Another building was completed in 1845. Added in 1902 were the Capitol dome and the north and south extensions. The east and west wings were dedicated in 1922, the north wing in 1937, and the south wing in 1947.
  

• Title: OLD CAPITOL OF FLORIDA
  Location: In front of Old Capitol on Monroe St. at Apalachee Parkway
  County: Leon
  City: Tallahassee
  Description: The first two sessions of the territorial legislature were held at St. Augustine and Pensacola. The hazards of traveling between cities 400 miles apart prompted legislators in 1824 to locate a new capital at Tallahassee, between the two cities. Log buildings that housed the government made way in 1826 for a two-story masonry structure. This was succeeded in 1845 by what is now the core of the present historic capitol. A dome and wings were added in 1902, and further additions made in 1923, 1936 and 1947. The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and restored to its 1902 appearance in 1982.
  

• Title: ATLANTIC TO GULF RAILROAD
  Location: S.R. 24 in Cedar Key at a wayside park.
  County: Levy
  City: Cedar Key
  Description: Florida was provided with its first cross-state railroad in 1861 when the Florida Railroad Company line reached Cedar Key. Overcoming early financial troubles, the line had begun construction from Fernandina, on the Atlantic, in 1856, but building was intermittent. It had been incorporated in 1853 with David L. Yulee as president. The railroad received land grants from Federal and State governments. Note: Marker being repaired as of 11-3-03
  

• Title: JOHN MUIR AT CEDAR KEY
  Location: on grounds of state museum at Cedar Key
  County: Levy
  City: Cedar Key
  Description: John Muir, noted naturalist and conservation leader, spent several months in Florida in 1867. He arrived at Cedar Key in October, seven weeks after setting out from Indiana on a "thousand-mile walk to the Gulf." Muir's journal account of his adventure, which was published in 1916, two years after his death, includes interesting glimpses of the quality of life in the post-Civil War south. "The traces of war," he wrote, "are not only apparent on the broken fields, mills, and woods ruthlessly slaughtered, but also on the countenances of the people." Florida deeply impressed the twenty-nine year old Muir. He remembered the "watery and vine-tied" land where "the streams are still young," which he had seen and sampled on his way from Fernandina. It was while recovering from a bout with malaria in Cedar Key that Muir first expressed his belief that nature was valuable for its own sake, not only because it was useful for man. This principle guided John Muir throughout his life. In early 1868, he left Cedar Key and eventually settled in California, where he helped establish the Yosemite National Park and, in 1892, the Sierra Club, which became one of our nation's best known environmental organizations. Note: Marker being repaired as of 11-3-03
  

• Title: THE CEDAR KEYS: PENCILS, LUMBER, PALM FIBER AND BRUSHES
  Location:
  County: Levy
  City: Ceder Key
  Description: Harvesting redcedars (a form of juniper) for pencil manufacturing, along with pines and baldcypress for lumber, was of great importance to the Cedar Keys and the early development of North Florida in the late 1800s and early 1900s. In 1849, German entrepreneur J. Eberhard Faber (1830-1884) arrived in New York hunting splinter-free wood for pencils. He found abundant redcedar in Florida’s Gulf Hammock/Waccasassa Bay area between the Suwannee and Withlacoochee Rivers. He bought land and timber, floated logs to the Keys, and shipped logs to the family factory in Germany. In 1858, Faber built a slat mill on Atsena Otie (Depot Key), directly south of this location, and shipped slats instead of logs. In 1862, he built the Faber pencil factory on New York’s East River (near the current site of the United Nations) and supplied it with slats from his Cedar Keys mill, a practice facilitated by the 1861 completion of David Levy Yulee's (1810-1886) Florida Railroad connecting the Keys and Fernandina Beach. The Eagle Pencil Company followed Faber’s lead, building its New York factory in 1868 and supplying it with redcedar slats from its own mill built on this site in 1876. This industry flourished on the Cedar Keys until the local resources were depleted and the slat mills were destroyed by a hurricane in 1896. Augmenting Cedar Key’s redcedar-for- pencils industry of the era were other forest-based products. Yellow pine and baldcypress lumber was milled on the Keys by Suwannee Lumber and Fenimore Steam and Planing mills on Atsena Otie and Way Key, respectively . Cabbage (sabal) palms were harvested and used for dock pilings locally and as far away as Key West. Later (1910-1952), the Standard Manufacturing Company developed a process, established a mill, and produced brush fibers and Donax® whisk brushes from young cabbage palms. Palm fibers were shipped nationwide and as far as Canada, Germany, and Australia. The rich and diverse forest resources of the Cedar Keys and surrounding area, and the entrepreneurial energy of many were central to the settlement and development of the “Cedar Keys.” They provided homes and livelihood for thousands, products needed and enjoyed around the world, and a proud legacy for Florida.
  

• Title: ROSEWOOD, FLORIDA
  Location: State Road 24, Rosewood
  County: Levy
  City: Rosewood
  Description: Side 1. Racial violence erupted in the small and quiet Rosewood community January 1-7, 1923. Rosewood, a predominantly colored community, was home to the Bradley, Carrier, Carter, Goins, and Hall families, among others. Residents supported a school taught by Mahulda “Gussie” Brown Carrier, three churches, and a Masonic lodge. Many of them owned their homes, some were business owners, and others worked in nearby Sumner and at the Cummer Lumber Mill. This quiet life came to an end on January 1, 1923, when a white Sumner woman accused a black man of assaulting her. In the search for her alleged attacker, whites terrorized and killed Rosewood residents. In the days of fear and violence that followed, many Rosewood citizens sought refuge in the nearby woods. White merchant John M. Wright and other courageous whites sheltered some of the fleeing men, women and children. Whites burned Rosewood and looted livestock and property; two were killed while attacking a home. Five blacks also lost their lives: Sam Carter, who was tortured for information and shot to death on January 1; Sarah Carrier; Lexie Gordon; James Carrier; and Mingo Williams. Those who survived were forever scarred. Side 2: Haunted by what had happened, Rosewood residents took a vow of silence, lived in fear and never returned to claim their property. That silence was broken seventy-one years later. In 1994 survivors, including Minnie Lee Langley, Arnett Turner Goins, and Wilson Hall, filed a claims bill in the Florida Legislature. A Special Master, an expert appointed by the Speaker of the House, ruled that the state had a “moral obligation” to compensate survivors for the loss of property, violation of constitutional rights, and mental anguish. On May 4, 1994, Governor Lawton Chiles signed a $2.1 million compensation bill. Nine survivors received $150,000 each for mental anguish, and a state university scholarship fund was established for the families of Rosewood and their descendants. A fund was also established to compensate those Rosewood families who could demonstrate property loss. This Historic Marker was dedicated by Governor Jeb Bush in May, 2004.
  

• Title: TORREYA TREE
  Location:Torreya State Park
  County: Liberty
  City: Rock Bluff
  Description: In this vicinity on the Apalachicola River, Hardy Bryan Croom, pioneer Florida planter and botanist, discovered one of the rarest of coniferous trees, Torreya taxifolia circa 1835, and named it for Dr. John Torrey, prominent American botanist. Only four other species exist, but they are in the widely separated areas of China, Japan, and California. Croom's promising botanical career ended in 1837 when he perished in the wreck of the steamship "Home" off Cape Hatteras.
  

• Title: FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH 1898 SANCTUARY
  Location:Orange & Pickney Streets.
  County: Madison
  City: Madison
  Description: This structure represents an adaptation of the Queen Anne style of architecture to local ecclesiastical needs and traditional building materials. Both the stimulus for constructing a new sanctuary and the idea for its basic design are attributed to the Reverend Stephen Crockett, an Englishman who served as pastor at the time. Crockett's design is unusual for the time and place; however, its most unusual facet remains hidden until the visitor enters: the interior plan is octagonal. The sanctuary was moved to this location in 1956. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
  

• Title: DIAL-GOZA HOUSE
  Location: In front of Dial-Goza House
  County: Madison
  City: Madison
  Description: This late Victorian mansion was built c. 1880 for Major William H. Dial (1830-1905), a Confederate veteran of the Civil War. Dial was a surveyor who moved from South Carolina to Madison, Florida in the 1850s. This house is one of the finest examples of the Italianate style in north Florida. The building features bay windows, a roof cupola and an unusual bow porch on the main facade. It is lavishly decorated with bracketed cornices, window pediments and other distinctive late 19th century millwork. The house was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
  

• Title: JOHN C. McGEHEE
  Location: C.R. 158 southwest of Madison.
  County: Madison
  City: Madison
  Description: Migrating from South Carolina, John Charles McGehee settled in this area of Madison County in the early 1830's. Shortly after his arrival, McGehee began acquiring property. By the outbreak of the Civil War his holdings consisted of nearly three thousand acres. In addition to his agricultural interests, McGehee was a shareholder in the Union Bank of Tallahassee. In 1838 McGehee was appointed to the St. Joseph Convention which drafted Florida's first Constitution. McGehee was nominated to serve as Judge of the Court of Madison County in 1841. As a wealthy slave owner, McGehee became involved in the Southern Rights Association, an organization which opposed federal interference with the rights of the States. A fervent secessionist, McGehee was elected permanent chairman of the Secession Convention which voted 62 to 7 to take Florida out of the Union. After the Civil War, McGehee was involved in railroad construction until his death in 1881. Judge McGehee was buried in the Oakland Cemetery located near the site of this marker.
  

• Title: THE FOUR FREEDOMS MONUMENT
  Location:City Park, U.S. 90. (Base & Range Street).
  County: Madison
  City: Madison
  Description: The Four Freedoms were stated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his Annual Message to Congress, January 6, 1941. Freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear everywhere in the world, became the ideals of American policy. The memorial, symbolizing these aspirations of mankind, was designed by Walter Russell, given by Women's National Institute, and dedicated to the memory of World War II hero, Captain Colin P. Kelly, Jr., June 14, 1944.
  

• Title: PIONEER HICKSTOWN BAPTIST CHURCH - FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF MADISON
  Location:along *U.S. 90.
  County: Madison
  City: Madison
  Description: Begun here for God's glory in 1835, the church was named Madison Baptist Church in 1854 and received its present name in 1922. Founders were Abraham Moseley and R.J. Mays. Early pastors were B. Fiddler, W.B. Cooper, H.Z. Ardis, and first deacon Elisha Smith. The Florida Baptist Convention formed the State Board of Missions here December, 1880. Members were S.B.Thomas, Sr., J.M. Beggs, B.F. Wardlaw, C.W. Stephens, J.F.B. Mays, W.W. Hall, C.V. Waugh, T.E. Langley and W.N. Chaudoin.
  

• Title: ST. JOHNS SEMINARY OF LEARNING
  Location:202 North Duval Street.
  County: Madison
  City: Madison
  Description: Madison Lodge Number 11, F.& A.M. founded the St. Johns Seminary of Learning on the southwest corner of this block in 1850. This institution became the basis for Madison High School in 1886. W.B. Cates established the Florida Normal Institute here as part of Madison High School in 1907. The building adjacent to this marker was the dormitory of the Florida Normal Institute. The Institute trained many teachers for all of Florida before closing in 1927.
  

• Title: THE FLORIDA MANUFACTURING COMPANY - world's largest sea island cotton processing plant
  Location:900 South Range Street.
  County: Madison
  City: Madison
  Description: Captain John L. Inglis began in this area The Florida Manufacturing Company in 1874. This plant ginned as many as ten thousand bales of Sea Island Long Staple Cotton in one year. The thread was widely used for general purposes and making English broadcloth. The plant was acquired by J.& P. Coats in 1890. The compression of seed was added later to ginning and baling of cotton. Activities ended with the coming of the Mexican Boll Weevil in 1916. This warehouse is the only remaining building of the manufacturing complex.
  

• Title: THE TOWN OF GREENVILLE (frontier sandy ford)
  Location:one block south of U.S. 90 in front of Baptist Chu
  County: Madison
  City: Greenville
  Description: Begun as Sandy Ford, 1850, Samuel Williams was the first postmaster in 1854. Called Station 5 on the Pensacola-Georgia R.R., the name Greenville, for Greenville, S.C., came in the 1860's. Elijah Hays helped its expansion after 1876. Incorporated in 1907, W.D. Griffin was the first mayor. An orange producing center prior to 1895, its chief supports now are timber, cattle, and flue-cured tobacco.
  

• Title: SITE OF SAN PEDRO - spanish mission and first county seat of madison county
  Location: on S.R. 360, near junction with S.R. 14.
  County: Madison
  City: South of Madison
  Description: In the mid 1600's San Pedro de Potohiriba, a Spanish mission, was established in this area on the Old Spanish Trail. The first courthouse of Madison County was erected at San Pedro, the county seat from 1828 to 1838. San Pedro, located about ten miles south of the present town of Madison, was on a post road from Tallahassee to Jacksonville. In 1833 the first post office was established with Archibald McNeil serving as postmaster.
  

• Title: MADISON OAK RIDGE CEMETERY
  Location:601 N.W. Washington Street.
  County: Madison
  City: Madison
  Description: An early community cemetery, Oak Ridge presents a profile of North Florida history. Located on approximately eleven acres, the cemetery was established on land donated by two pioneer citizens. Buried here are : William Archer Hammerly, Master Builder; Angus Paterson, former mayor of Madison and delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1885; Cary Augustus Hardee, Governor of Florida; Colin P. Kelly, Jr., World War II hero; and 31 Confederate Soldiers killed at the Battle of Olustee.
  

• Title: THE WARDLAW-SMITH HOUSE
  Location:U.S. 90 (Base and Washington Streets).
  County: Madison
  City: Madison
  Description: The Wardlaw-Smith House was erected in the early 1860's for Benjamin F. Wardlaw, a prominent local citizen. Following the Civil War Battle of Olustee in February, 1864, it served as a Confederate hospital. This fine example of Greek Revival architecture was acquired in 1871 by Chandler Holmes Smith in whose family it remained for a century. The architectural significance of the Wardlaw-Smith House has been recorded by the Historic American Buildings Survey and it is listed in the prestigious National Register of Historic Places.
  

• Title: CITY OF MADISON - frontier newtown or madison courthouse
  Location:South Rutledge at South Horry on City Hall grounds
  County: Madison
  City: Madison
  Description: Madison was founded on land secured from Madison C. Livingston, May 2, 1838, and established as the county seat after its removal from San Pedro. An early political center, it was along the escape route of Confederate Secretary of War John C. Breckenridge in 1865. The town played a prominent role in the development of tobacco, livestock raising, and conservation in North Florida. Home of the North Florida Junior College, the area's economy is based on agriculture and industry.
  

• Title: DREW MANSION SITE / THE TOWN OF ELLAVILLE
  Location:Vicinity of Suwannee River State Park on U.S. 90,
  County: Madison
  City: near Ellaville
  Description: Located approximately one-half mile to the northwest is the site of the Drew Mansion, home of George F. Drew, Governor of Florida during the difficult period of readjustment following Civil War Reconstruction, 1877-1881. Built in the late 1860's, the two story mansion with it's beautiful color-matched oak parquet floors was surrounded by formal gardens and was one of the first homes in the area to have modern facilities. This once elegant landmark of Florida's past was destroyed by fire in 1970. THE TOWN OF ELLAVILLE Closely related to the career of Governor George F. Drew was the sawmill and manufacturing complex of Ellaville, established by Drew in the mid-1860's. The present Route 90 led through this town of several hundred people. The ruins of the sawmill are on the west bank of the Withlacoochee River near its confluence with the Suwannee. Ellaville flourished as long as Yellow Pine lasted. It declined after 1900 and ceased to exist when the Post Office closed in 1942.
  

• Title: JOHN HICKS AND HICKSTOWN
  Location:on U.S. 90 West of Madison
  County: Madison
  City: Madison
  Description: The Miccosukee Indian chief, John Hicks, (English name for Tuckose Emathla) was a prominent Indian leader in the period between the First and Second Seminole Wars (1818-1835). It is believed that after General Andrew Jackson destroyed the Miccosukee towns to the west of here in the 1818 campaign against the Seminoles, John Hicks relocated his village near this site. This village, Hicks Town, was evacuated by the Indians by 1826 as Seminoles were removed to a central Florida reservation. John Hicks died in the winter of 1833-34 after a decade as a major spokesman for his people in treaty councils in which important decisions about the future of the Seminoles were made. White settlers occupied the site in the late 1820's, and in 1830, Hickstown Post Office was established. By the late 1830's, the village had disappeared as a center of population due to the Second Seminole War and the creation of an official Madison County seat at San Pedro.
  

• Title: CAPTAIN RICHARD G. BRADFORD
  Location:SW corner of Range & Basin Streets, in front of Co
  County: Madison
  City: Madison
  Description: Captain Richard G. Bradford of Madison was killed October 9, 1861, during the Battle of Santa Rosa Island. This battle was fought in an attempt to capture Fort Pickens which protected Pensacola Harbor. Bradford was the first Confederate officer from Florida to die in the War Between the States. In his honor the Legislature voted to change the name of New River County to Bradford County. Gov. John Milton signed the law December 6, 1861.
  

• Title: PALMETTO
  Location:Riverside Drive West
  County: Manatee
  City: Palmetto
  Description: S.S. Lamb came here with his family from Mississippi in a covered wagon and barouche and purchased this property on February 3, 1868. Lamb laid out and named Palmetto. The Lamb home, which stood about 100 yards west of here, was built by Juliann (Madam Joe) Atzeroth, who acquired the property in 1850. A log cabin under the six oaks about sixty yards southwest of the house was used as a store by Madam Joe. It later became Palmetto's first public school, and the first religious services were held there. The first post office, established September 15, 1873 stood at 319 Ninth Avenue. The first shipping dock was built at the foot of Ninth Avenue by Joel Hendrix several years after he came here in 1871. The narrow-gauge Palmetto Terminal Railroad was built in 1895 to haul produce from farms northwest of town to the dock. When the locomotive broke down, a flat car with canopy was pulled on the track by four horses. The town's first three stores stood just east of Ninth Avenue on Riverside Drive. The city was incorporated in June 1893. P.S. Harllee was the first mayor. Manatee County State Bank, the county's first, was established in 1899 at the northeast corner of this block in Palmetto's first brick building.
  

• Title: MAJOR ADAMS CEMETERY
  Location:3rd Street West
  County: Manatee
  City: Bradenton
  Description: This plot was donated by Major Alden Joseph Adams to the village of Manatee in 1892 "to be used as a burying ground forever." It was first called New Cemetery. Members of pioneer families, including Major Adams, are interred here. The property is now owned by the City of Bradenton. Major Adams moved into this area in 1876, and his homesite was on the Manatee River a few blocks northeast of here.
  

• Title: MANATEE BURYING GROUND
  Location:15th Street East
  County: Manatee
  City: Bradenton
  Description: This is one of the oldest organized burying grounds on the Gulf Coast of Florida. The property was deeded on May 30, 1850, and since 1892 only immediate members of families already interred here can be buried in the cemetery. The property is now owned by the City of Bradenton. Buried in this cemetery are members of Florida pioneer families, soldiers of the Seminole Indian Wars, and of the Confederate and Union forces. Numbered among them are three members of the Florida Secession Convention-Ezekiel Glazier, James G. Cooper, and Dr. John C. Pelot, temporary Chairman of the Convention-and Brig. Gen. John Riggin, aide to General Ulysses S. Grant.
  

• Title: FIRST MANATEE COUNTY COURTHOUSE / MANATEE METHODIST CHURCH-ESTABLISHED 1849
  Location:15th Street East
  County: Manatee
  City: Bradenton
  Description: Manatee County was created by legislative action signed January 9, 1855, from Hillsborough, St. Lucie, and Monroe Counties. Five years later, in 1860, Josiah Gates and Mary, his wife, deeded to Manatee County a parcel of land located here to be the county seat and a courthouse built thereon. The building was completed the same year at a cost of $700 and served as a courthouse and school until 1866 when the county seat was moved to Pine Level. MANATEE METHODIST CHURCH ESTABLISHED 1849 Oldest church of any denomination south of Tampa on Florida's west coast. Lot located here was sold to John W. Curry, Ezekiel Clazier and James G. Cooper in 1866 for the Manatee Methodist Church. It is believed that the church ownership of this represents the longest private ownership of land in Manatee County.
  

• Title: ATZEROTH HOME SITE
  Location:728 Bay Shore Drive
  County: Manatee
  City: Terra Ceia Island
  Description: This is the home site of Joe and Madam Joe Atzeroth, first permanent settlers of Terra Ceia Island. With their daughter Eliza, a physician friend, and dog Bonaparte, they arrive via Tampa April 12, 1843. Living first in a tent, then a palmetto thatched hut, they finally built a two-room log cabin. They grew tobacco and vegetables and sold them to the garrison at Ft. Brooke (Tampa). In 1880 Madam Joe received a $10 award for growing the first pound of coffee in this country. Terra Ceia Island was a dense jungle when the Atzeroths arrived to homestead 160 acres. Panthers and other wild animals abounded. Their log house was built of split cedar planks and moss and clay filled the cracks. The doors and glazed windows were imported from New Orleans. The family survived the many harsh rigors of frontier life. Mr. Joe participated in the 3rd Seminole War and Civil War. After his death in 1871, Madam Joe moved to Fogartyville.
  

• Title: PALMETTO BAPTIST CHURCH / DR. M.B. HARRISON
  Location:5th Street West
  County: Manatee
  City: Palmetto
  Description: The Palmetto Baptist Church was organized on January 5, 1892, and a few months later its first building was erected on this site. The Reverend R.H. Whitehead, under whose leadership the church was constituted, became its first pastor. Dr. M.B. Harrison and W.H. Harrison were elected deacons. They also were named trustees, together with John W. Mitchell, M.C.Davis, and W.M. Rowlett. There were 22 charter members, 18 of who transferred from the Benevolence Baptist Church, then located on Frog Creek several miles north of Ellenton. The original frame structure was replaced by the present brick building in 1926. DR. M.B.HARRISON Micajah Berry Harrison (1844-1912) was a native of Greenville County, South Carolina. He served 4 years in Hampton's Cavalry, CSA, and took part in 29 battles. He was a graduate of the South Carolina Medical College. Dr. Harrison moved to Alachua County, Florida, in 1875, to Oak Hill (Parrish) in 1880, and to Palmetto in 1889. He bought the house across the street in 1890, and resided there until his death. He was the first doctor on the north side of the river, the first Worshipful Master of the Palmetto Masonic Lodge, and President of the first Palmetto City Council.
  

• Title: MANATEE MINERAL SPRING
  Location:14th Street East at 2nd Ave.East on grounds of Ind
  County: Manatee
  City: Bradenton
  Description: Here flowed a spring which had been used by Indians and was found by Manatee's first white settler, Josiah Gates, who settled nearby in January 1842. It served Branch Fort, when the early settlers camped nearby for protection from the Seminole raid of 1856. During this encampment, the first child born (March 4, 1856) was Furman Chairs Whitaker, who became Manatee County's first native born doctor, practicing here from 1896, until shortly before his death in 1945. In the early 1900's the spring became the center of a small park which included a picnic pavilion.
  

• Title: GAMBLE SUGAR CANE MILL
  Location:S.R. 683 (Ellenton Gillette Road)
  County: Manatee
  City: Ellenton
  Description: In 1842, as the Second Seminole War drew to a conclusion, Major Robert Gamble, Jr. established a sugar cane plantation along the banks of the Manatee River, as did others including Hector and Joseph Braden, William Craig and William Wyatt. By 1850 Major Gamble's plantation included over 3,000 acres of land, one hundred slaves, and a sugar mill that housed the best sugar processing machinery then available in the south. During the 1840's and early 1850's, Gamble was the leading producer of sugar and molasses in Florida. Falling prices and steadily mounting debts finally forced Major Gamble to sell the plantation to two Louisiana planters in 1858. With the outbreak of the Civil War, these men terminated their operation, and after selling most of the slaves and machinery, they abandoned the plantation. In 1873, the Mansion and approximately 3,000 acres of land were purchased at public auction by George Patten but the sugar mill was not restored to operation at this or any subsequent time.
  

• Title: BRADEN CASTLE RUINS
  Location:Braden Castle Village, Braden Castle Drive
  County: Manatee
  City: Bradenton
  Description: Dr. Joseph Addison Braden, physician and native Virginian, came from Tallahassee to the Manatee River in the early 1840's. By 1850 he had acquired approximately 900 acres of land and built a steam operated sugar and grist mill. In that year using slave labor and local materials he constructed his "Castle" - a large two story structure. The walls were poured "tabby" composed of lime, sand, crushed shells, and water. In February 1856 the "Castle" was attacked unsuccessfully by Seminoles. Later abandoned it was destroyed by a woods fire in 1903. The ruins were purchased by the Camping Tourist of America in 1924.
  

• Title: GAMBLE MANSION AND PLANTATION
  Location:U.S. 301 on grounds of the Gamble Plantation State
  County: Manatee
  City: Ellenton
  Description: At the close of the Seminole War in 1842, this frontier was opened to settlement. Major Robert Gamble and other sugar planters soon located along the rich Manatee River valley, and by 1845 a dozen plantations were producing for the New Orleans market. The Gamble Mansion, built principally of native materials, 1845-1850, is an outstanding example of antebellum construction and stands today as a monument to pioneer ingenuity and craftsmanship. The plantation included 3500 acres, numerous outbuildings, slave quarters, and wharf from which sugar and molasses were shipped by schooner and steamboat. The Gamble sugar mill, one of the South's largest, was destroyed by Union raiders in 1864. Ruins are located 1/2 mile north on State Road 683. During the Civil War the mansion was the home of Captain Archibald McNeill, famous Confederate blockade runner. Judah P. Benjamin, Confederate Secretary of State, took refuge here during May 1865 while making his escape from Federal troops following defeat of the Confederacy. The mansion was rescued from decay in 1923 by the Judah P. Benjamin Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
  

• Title: "BEAN'S POINT" / EARLY LEGEND
  Location:North Bay Blvd., in Bayfront Park.
  County: Manatee
  City: Anna Maria Island
  Description: In May 1894, Anna Maria Island's first modern-day pioneer-George Emerson Bean-took up a homestead, signed by President Wm. McKinley, that embraced the island's entire north point. Other daring settlers, such as Samuel C. Cobb and John R. Jones, came shortly after, clearing the island's dense jungle to build homes. In 1913, George W. Bean, son of Anna Maria's first pioneer, founded the Anna Maria Development Company. This opened the island to its expansion as a uniquely appealing summer and winter resort for visitors as well as year round home for an increasing number of residents form almost every state of the union. EARLY LEGEND Earliest known dwellers of Anna Maria Island were indians of the Timucuan Tribe, whose burial mounds, filled with tribal artifacts, were found years later. According to tradition, Ponce de Leon in 1513 visited this key (then joined to what is now Longboat Key) and in honor of his sponsor King Charles II, gave the island his queen's name. In 1539, Hernando DeSoto is said to have made his first new world landing near here. Replenishing his ships' water casks, the explorer then passed around Anna Maria's north point and sailed to the Manatee River, launching his historic expedition to the Mississippi River.
  

• Title: PASSAGE KEY - GATEWAY TO HISTORIC TAMPA BAY
  Location:North Bay Blvd in Bay Front Park.
  County: Manatee
  City: Anna Maria Island
  Description: Less than a mile to the north lies Passage Key, marking the southerly entrance into Tampa Bay. Since Ponce de Leon explored this coast in 1513, this island has served to guide ships into the great bay beyond, called by early Spanish explorers "Bahia del Espiritu Santo." After being named "Isla de San Francisco y Leon" by the Spanish in 1757, and renamed "Burnaby Island" by the English in 1765, it was later called "Pollux Key," corresponding with the name "Castor Key" given to nearby Egmont Key. The island finally became known as "Cayo del Paseje" in 1783, during the second Spanish occupation. This is the origin of today's name - Passage Key. Formerly much larger than it is today, the island contained a fresh water lake surrounded by large trees. During the early 1830's Passage Key was the site of a fishing "rancho" operated by Baltimore sea captain, William Bunce. The island was later a haven for refugees seeking safety from marauding Indian war parties. The fresh water lake, probably spring fed, was a watering station for coastal voyagers. In 1836, the U.S. Schooner Grampus and Revenue Cutters Washington and Jefferson anchored close ashore while their guns and shore parties protected settlers from the Indians. Passage Key was designated a migratory bird refuge by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1905. The island thereafter served for a time as the home of Captain Asa N. Pillsbury, Jr., a National Audubon Society warden, who in 1910 reported 102 species of birds sighted on the island. Captain Pillsbury remained warden of the island until 1921 when, during the night of October 25-26, the island disappeared under a hurricane-spawned tidal wave. Since then the island has gradually re-emerged and is once again a sea bird sanctuary, having been declared a part of the National Wilderness Preservation System by the U.S. Department of Interior.
  

• Title: FIRST SETTLER'S HOMESITE
  Location:15th Street East, on grounds of Meadowbrook Manor,
  County: Manatee
  City: Bradenton
  Description: Located a few yards from this spot near the banks of the Manatee River is the site of the log home of Josiah Gates. Gates was the first Anglo-American settler in the entire Manatee area which at that time extended southward to the Caloosahatchee River and eastward to the Kissimmee River. After the Second Seminole War, the Armed Occupation Act of August 4, 1842, opened Central Florida to American settlers. Gates, a native of South Carolina, moved his family here from Fort Brook (Tampa) early in 1843. In 1851, Josiah Gates replaced his first dwelling with a twenty room, three story frame home located a few yards further back from the river on this same site. The "Gates House" served newly arrived settlers and visitors as a hotel in the wilderness. Josiah Gates became a prosperous farmer as well as a successful innkeeper. He was also active in local government after Manatee County was created in 1855. He died in 1871. Neither of the two structures built by Josiah Gates is still standing.
  

• Title: GILLETTE COMMUNITY
  Location:off Rt. 41, east on Moccasin Wallow Road or SR 683
  County: Manatee
  City: Gillette
  Description: This area, known originally as Frog Creek, received its first American settlers before the Civil War. Many of them came from Alabama, northern Florida, and Georgia. Among the Georgians was Daniel Gillett, who brought his family to Frog Creek in the late 1840s. Like many other area pioneers, Gillett raised cattle and citrus. He and his descendants were so closely identified with the Frog Creek settlement that it became known as Gillette, and a post office bearing that name existed here from 1895 to 1910. Benevolence, a Baptist church, formed the stable institutional backbone of the community. Formally organized in 1868, Benevolence loaned its facilities to other religious and secular groups in the area, emphasizing frontier cooperation rather than competition, and provided inspiration and leadership to nearby Baptist and other congregations. Gillette First Baptist Church is the present - day successor to Benevolence. Gillette has been known through the years as an agricultural community, producing winter vegetables, cattle, and citrus.
  

• Title: PALMA SOLA
  Location:end of 59th Street W. and Riverview Boulevard at b
  County: Manatee
  City: Palma Sola
  Description: In 1868, firearms manufacturer James Warner moved his family from Springfield, Massachusetts, to Manatee County, where he hoped to regain his health. He built a home on the shore of the Manatee River about half a mile east of this marker. The Warners were among the earliest northern families to settle in this area after the Civil War: Warner's Bayou bears their name. James Warner died about a year after his arrival, leaving his wife, Eleanor, and several children. In 1884, a son, Warburton S. Warner, founded a town, Palma Sola, on a portion of the family homestead. He promoted it as "the youngest and largest town in Floridaàmade up largely of New England people, where no liquor is sold." The name "Palma Sola" commemorated a single tall date palm that dominated the skyline on Snead Island, directly across the river from McNeil Point. The central section of town, which consisted of a huge sawmill and the homes of the men who operated it, was located on the point. The town also boasted the two-story Palma Sola Hotel, a general store said to be the largest between Cedar Keys and Key West, a long wharf, and an ice house large enough to hold a schooner-load of New England pond ice. Large quantities of pine and cypress lumber were shipped to New England, and the Palma Sola area also achieved some note as a shipping point for produce and livestock. Warburton Warner's hopes for Palma Sola were never completely fulfilled. He sought to sell land in an area extending from the Manatee River southward to Sarasota Bay, and from the range line starting at Shaw's Point, eastward to today's 34th Street, at prices ranging from five to twenty dollars per acre. Palma Sola grew and prospered for a time but began a gradual decline after the sawmill was destroyed by fire. Palma Sola's former central section is now a residential area. Warburton Warner's home, "Sans Terre," still stands on the shore of the Manatee River a short distance to the east, a reminder of Manatee County's pioneer days.
  

• Title: BRADENTON DEPOT
  Location:
  County: Manatee
  City: Bradenton
  Description: The Atlantic Coastline Railroad Company Passenger and Freight Depot Bradentown Florida, built c. 1925, became the Bradenton Depot when Bradentown dropped the w from its name. The historical significance on local and state levels was tremendous as its completion created a terminus of rail, road and water travel in Southwest Florida, connecting freight shipments from the piers on the Manatee River and shipping of agricultural products north, along with bringing passengers and tourists south during the expansion boom. The depot served the area from the time of the economic boom, through the depression, up to and including the great Florida growth period. Its era of significance was from 1925 to 1952. The 9,000-square-foot Mission/Spanish Colonial Style Revival building was constructed at a cost of approximately $80,000 and still stands on its original location. The building fell into disrepair in the 1990s, with the roof falling in and facing condemnation. It was purchased by Daniel B. Pope, M.D., of Bradenton. With a great love of railroad tradition, he brought the depot back to its original glory with red tiled roof, and white stucco trimmed in red brick.
  

• Title: MARSHALL PLANTATION SITE
  Location:
  County: Marion
  City: Ocala
  Description: A short distance north of here stood the sugar plantation of Jehu Foster Marshall, established in 1855. At the start of the Civil War in 1861, Marshall was named a colonel in the Confederate Army and soon commanded one of General Wade Hampton’s infantry units, the 1stSouth Carolina Rifles. Colonel Marshall was killed during the Second Battle of Manassas in August 1862. The plantation continued in operation under the supervision of his widow, Elizabeth Anne DeBrull Marshall, until March 10, 1865, when Union troops staged a surprise raid. The Marshall Plantation and the sugar mill were burned to the ground. The raid was conducted by elements of the 3rdUnited States Colored Infantry ,led by the black Sergeant Major Henry James. The Ocala Home Guard pursued the Union force and during the running battle, two of the home guard members were killed. After crossing the Ocklawaha River, the raiders set fire to the bridge. Company H, 2nd Florida Cavalry, lead by Captain J.J. Dickison, encamped at nearby Silver Springs, soon gave chase and succeeded in driving the Union troops into St. Augustine, and reclaiming all property seized during the raid.
  

• Title: THE OLD COURTHOUSE SQUARE
  Location: The city block bordered on the north by Silver Springs Blvd., on the east by SE 1st Ave., on the south by SE 1st Street and on the west by S. Magnolia Avenue.
  County: Marion
  City: Ocala
  Description: Designated as a Public Square in the original Ocala plat of 1846, this location was the site of Marion County’s first permanent courthouse built in 1851. It was a two-story frame building of Colonial design. The second courthouse was erected on this site in 1884, a two-story brick cube. Public dissatisfaction caused a third courthouse with more adequate space to be built in 1906. It was of Roman design with a clock dome and veneered walls of Indiana sandstone. In 1965, when public efforts to save it failed, it was demolished. This site was given by Marion County to the City of Ocala in a property exchange, becoming a city park, thus retaining its function as a Public Square as planned by the city’s founders.
  

• Title: SITE OF THE DISCOVERY OF PHOSPHATE IN FLORIDA
  Location:County Road 40, 1.2 miles west of U.S. 41
  County: Marion
  City: Dunnellon
  Description: One block to the south is the site of the discovery of hard rock phosphate in Florida by Albertus Vogt in 1889. It made Dunnellon a boom town and first center of the industry. The Tiger Rag, Early Bird and Eagle mines were among the most valuable. The Marion County Phosphate Co. was the first to operate extensively. Phosphates are still mined in the area, but since 1900 the center of production has shifted elsewhere.
  

• Title: OCALA DEMANDS
  Location:S.E. First Avenue, City Park Square in Ocala.
  County: Marion
  City: Ocala
  Description: In December, 1890, Ocala was host to a meeting of the National Farmers' Alliance. Sessions, attended by 88 delegates and hundreds of visitors, were held at the Opera House and the Semi-Tropical Exposition Building. A state-wide agricultural exposition was held in conjunction with the meeting. The delegates adopted the famous "Ocala Demands", a platform outlining political and economic reforms considered necessary by the Alliance.
  

• Title: FORT KING
  Location:S.E. 39th Avenue (Fort King Road), Ocala.
  County: Marion
  City: Ocala
  Description: On a nearby knoll stood Fort King, important military outpost during the removal of the Florida Indians. Adjacent to a Seminole Agency established in 1825, it was named for Col. William King and first occupied in 1827. Outside its stockade, on December 28, 1835, warriors led by Osceola ambushed and killed Gen. Wiley Thompson and four others. On this same day, troops marching to the fort's relief perished in the Dade Massacre. In 1844, after the Seminole War ended, Fort King became the temporary seat of newly created Marion County.
  

• Title: JONATHAN DICKINSON SHIPWRECK
  Location:Jonathan Dickinson State Park, at park entrance of
  County: Martin
  City: Tequesta
  Description: Three miles to the east on Sept. 23, 1696, the British barkentine Reformation foundered off Jupiter Island. The 24 survivors included a party of Quakers bound from Jamaica to Pennsylvania. Leader of the Quakers was Jonathan Dickinson who described the trials of the group in his book, "God's Protecting Providence", the first account of Indians on the southeast coast. Attacked by Indians and driven northward, the party arrived at St. Augustine in November, 1696.
  

• Title: TRAPPER NELSON INTERPRETIVE SITE
  Location:
  County: Martin
  City: Hobe Sound
  Description: When he arrived from New Jersey in the early 1930s, Vincent Natulkiewicz, also known as VinceTrapper Nelson found the area still teeming with wildlife. For decades he lived off the land, supplementing his diet of raccoon, gopher tortoise, opossum and with fruit from his citrus grove. In addition to trapping he made his living by developing a business that he called Trappers Zoo and Jungle Garden. His docks, cages, cabins and shelters were hand made from pine trees. While he lived there, Trapper introduced hundreds of tourists and local visitors to the rivers mystery and beauty, building the image of Eden in South Florida. Trapper Nelson lived in his camp until his mysterious death in 1968. The Trapper Nelson Interpretive Site is a rare survivor of a formerly common building type, exemplary of a vanished occupation and lifestyle, enhanced by its location in equally rare pristine woodland. Trapper Nelson actively engaged in efforts to preserve the Loxahatchee River and to protect his ownership of large tracts along its banks. Trappers estate was sold by his family to a developer. The Florida Park Service acquired the estate through a land swap and maintains and protects the site for future generations to enjoy.
  

• Title: JUPITER INDIANTOWN ROAD
  Location:
  County: Martin
  City: Stuart
  Description: From 1900 until the late 1950s, the Jupiter Indiantown Road connected the communities of Jupiter and Indiantown, giving residents access to resources. Dade County governed the area in 1899, when the new road was cut. In Indiantown about that time, brothers Joe and Dessie Bowers developed citrus groves and ran a trading post exchanging goods for hides with the Seminoles. Transportation of goods on the 16-mile road took two days by oxcart. The road was improved in 1912 using mules to haul shell rock from Jupiter. Around 1916 the St. Lucie Canal intersected the road near Indiantown. A hand winched ferry provided cross passage until a one-lane turning bridge was built in 1927. Homesteads, cattle ranches, and later the Davis and Jenkins sawmill were established along the road. Also known as the Jupiter Grade Road, the Jupiter Okeechobee Road and the Central Dixie Highway, in 1936 it became State Road 29. By the late 1950s nearby paved highways replaced the historic dirt road. In 1993 the road was declared a Scenic By-Way by Martin and Palm Beach Counties.
  

• Title: CAMP MURPHY SITE
  Location:JONATHAN DICKINSON STATE PARK
  County: Martin
  City: HOBE SOUND
  Description: In 1942 the federal government opened Camp Murphy. It was the home of the Southern Signal Corps School during World War II and served as a U.S Army base for instruction in radar operation in the early course of the war. The post was named in honor of Lieutenant Colonel William Herbert Murphy, a pioneer in the development of radio beams and equipment for military aircraft. Camp Murphy consisted of 11,364 acres and accommodated 854 officers and 5,752 enlisted men. The camp had close to 1000 buildings that included a bank, movie theater, church, and bowling alley. Camp Murphy was officially decommissioned in 1944 and used for migrant housing during the fall and winter of 1945. Buildings not already dismantled after the camps deactivation were sold and carted away beginning in 1946. On June 9, 1947, the property was transferred from the U.S Government to the State of Florida for a State Park. In 1950 Jonathan Dickinson State Park opened to the public.
  

• Title: STUART WELCOME ARCH
  Location:
  County: Martin
  City: Stuart
  Description: This Mediterranean Revival style monument typical of the pre-Depression Florida Boom was designed by Nat C. Hodgdon of Pfeiffer and OReilly Architects, constructed by A. L. Doenges and completed on February 20, 1926. The arch was built to celebrate the creation of Martin County with Stuart as the county seat. This gateway greeted southbound travelers on the Montreal to Miami Dixie Highway (formerly A1A) with the bronze-lettered caption, Stuart  Atlantic Gateway to the Gulf of Mexico, a reference to the cross-state canal connecting Martin County to Floridas west coast through Lake Okeechobee. Design and construction of the arch was funded through a Stuart Chamber of Commerce campaign organized by prominent leaders and supported by citizens of the City of Stuart and Jensen Beach. Continuous repair resulting from theft during the Depression, hurricane damage, natural deterioration, and vehicular accidents reflects this landmarks significance in both the local and countywide communities. The gateway is currently known as the Rio-Jensen Arch, and its restoration is a goal in the Rio Community Redevelopment Plan adopted by Martin County in April, 2001.
  

• Title: PIONEER BOAT BUILDERS' SITE -- 1947
  Location: 975 North West 95th Street
  County: Miami-Dade
  City: Miami
  Description: For thousands of years most water crafts were built of wood. The first reinforced plastic fiberglass boats in the southeastern United States were conceived and built here in 1947. Two hundred feet north of this marker is the former home and workshop of Troy Wollard, where his shop building still stands. He was an outstanding shipwright who was instrumental in building the durable high-performing crafts with visionary pioneers Arthur H. Siegel (1924-2003) and Dudley Whitman. Challenger Marine Corporation produced its first boats at this location which was the beginning of the boating revolution. This small manufacturing venture changed the yachting world forever. The 18-foot runabout speedboats had inboard engines that could reach up to 50 miles per hour. They had monocoque (egg shape) construction with full-length stringers that supported the hull and engine. An outline of excess resin used to make these boats is still visible on the floor of the shop. This enterprise was one of the first in the nation to use fiberglass successfully and was the forerunner of an important industry eventually leading to the development of large luxury yachts and commercial vessels.
  

• Title: OLD DAVIE SCHOOL
  Location:Davie
  County: Miami-Dade
  City: Davie
  Description: This historic structure was the first permanent school in the Everglades and is now Broward Countys oldest existing school building. The Davie School was designed in 1917 by August Geiger (born 1888), who came to Miami in 1905 from New Haven, Connecticut and later became one of South Floridas most well known early architects. The school opened its doors in 1918 to 90 students and was in continuous use as a school until 1980. The masonry vernacular, concrete structure is topped by a shallow hip roof behind a parapet. From the day it opened, the Davie School served as the areas source of education as well as a center for community gatherings. In 1988 the Davie School was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, the Old Davie School Historical Museum is a historic, cultural, social and artistic resource dedicated to providing information and learning opportunities for students and the community at large. The building represents an irreplaceable link with the history of early 20th century pioneering, settlement and education in Western Broward County.
  

• Title: MIAMI CITY CEMETERY
  Location:
  County: Miami-Dade
  City: Miami
  Description: In 1897 Mrs. William Brickell sold this 10-acre rocky wasteland to the City of Miami for $750. At that time it was located one half mile north of the city limits on a narrow wagon track county road. The first burial, not recorded, was of an elderly black man on 14 July 1897. The first recorded burial was H. Graham Branscomb, a 23-year-old Englishman on 20 July 1897. From its inception it was subdivided with whites on the east end and the colored population on the west end. In 1915 the Beth David congregation began a Jewish section. Two other prominent sections are the circles: the first to Julia Tuttle, the Mother of Miami buried in 1898; the second, a memorial to the Confederate Dead erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Sixty-six Confederate and twenty-seven Union veterans are buried here. Other sections include a Catholic section, American Legion, Spanish American War, and two military sections along the north and south fence lines. Among the 9,000 burials are pioneer families such as the Burdines, Peacocks and Dr. James Jackson. This site has the only known five oolitic (limestone) gravestones worldwide. These and the unique tropical plants make this a tropical oasis.
  

• Title: VIRGINIA KEY BEACH STATE PARK
  Location: Miami
  County: Miami-Dade
  City: Miami
  Description: Virginia Key Beach Park is an environmental and historic landmark on a barrier island in Miami. Its earliest recorded history is of an 1838 skirmish during the Second Seminole War in which three Seminoles were killed on this site. From the early 1900s onward, during the era of segregation laws, this location became a popular unofficial Colored recreation area known as Bears Cut. In response to a bold protest led by attorney Lawson E. Thomas and others demanding an officially designated beach, Virginia Key Beach opened for the exclusive use of Negroes on August 1, 1945. The new park, at first accessible only by boat, was an immediate success, attracting over 1,000 visitors on any given weekend. In addition to the baptisms and sunrise services which regularly took place, churches, organizations, and families gathered here for memorable picnics and social events. The park brought together all neighborhoods and social classes of the Colored community. By the early 1960s, another courageous protest brought segregation to an end. The beach park symbolizes the struggle of Black Miamians who persevered to bring about change for future generations.
  

• Title: CORAL GABLES GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB
  Location: Coral Gables
  County: Miami-Dade
  City: Coral Gables
  Description: The Coral Gables Golf and Country Club and the Granada Golf Course, once the Merrick familys vegetable field, were part of the original 1921 city plan by George Merrick and landscape architect, Frank Button. The golf course, designed by the nationally known team of Langford & Moreau, opened on January 15, 1923. Three months later, the clubhouse, designed by Hampton & Reimert, became Coral Gables first public building. The six original coral rock arches seen behind this marker reflect the Coral Gables Mediterranean style that helped set the tone for the Citys architecture. The Coral Gables Golf and Country Club quickly became the epicenter of the new community and played an important role in its development. Salesmen, including Merrick himself, entertained prospective buyers there and showed them home sites from its distinctive tower. Crowds flocked to the Clubs palm patio and danced to the nationally broadcast music of renowned bandleaders Jan Garber and Paul Whiteman. The Country Club of Coral Gables, as it is known today, received its charter on October 9, 1935. A devastating fire destroyed much of the building on July 11, 1983.
  

• Title: GREAT MIAMI HURRICANE OF 1926
  Location:
  County: Miami-Dade
  City: Miami
  Description: On September 18, 1926, the Great Miami Hurricane swept across South Florida with estimated winds of 131-155 mph. Before the era of satellites and computer models, warnings for tropical cyclones were often inadequate. A storm warning from Washington was posted by the Miami Weather Bureau Office (located on the third floor of the Old U.S. Post Office and Courthouse Building from 1914 to 1929) at noon on September 17. A hurricane warning went up only as the winds were rising at 11:25 P.M. Weather instruments on the roof of the building blew away around 3:30 A.M. The eye of the hurricane reached the coast at 6:00 A.M., lasting about 35 minutes with a lowest pressure measured at 27.61 inches. The second part of the hurricane produced the strongest winds and the highest storm surge up to 10 feet that completely flooded Miami Beach and several blocks inland on the mainland, causing the deaths of many who mistakenly thought the storm was over. The storm killed more than 370, made more than 25,000 people homeless, and caused millions of dollars in damage in South Florida. It continued across the state and moved into the Gulf of Mexico near Fort Myers, making a second landfall west of Pensacola on September 20, 1926.
  

• Title: ARCH CREEK MILITARY TRAIL
  Location:
  County: Miami-Dade
  City: Miami
  Description: The Arch Creek State Archaeological Site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. It contains a portion of the Military Trail, a wagon road, built during the Third Seminole War (1855-1859) by the U.S. Army. In 1856 Captains Abner Doubleday (1819-1893) and John Brannan and their troops constructed part of the Military Trail between Fort Dallas on the Miami River and Fort Lauderdale. It later became a portion of the first county road in 1892, passing over the Natural Bridge and Arch Creek. In 1915 it was renamed Dixie Highway. The road was designated a local historic site on January 18, 1995.
  

• Title: TROOP 7 LOG CABIN
  Location:
  County: Miami-Dade
  City: Coral Gables
  Description: When George Edgar Merrick (1886-1942) designed his idealistic City of Coral Gables in the early 1920s, he created a special area for scouts and built a rustic log cabin for his Troop 7 Boy Scouts on this site. Today, only the chimney remains. After the hurricane of 1926, Merricks Coral Gables Construction Company built the Troop 7 scout cabin largely from pine trees and telephone poles. Merrick deeded these two acres of land, now in the middle of the Granada Golf Course, to the scouts in perpetuity. Their first scoutmaster was Albert H. Bartle. As scoutmaster for the first three years, then a committee member, Mr. Bartle served Troop 7 for 16 years until 1938, setting the standard for excellence and longevity for others to follow. The old Troop 7 log cabin burned down on March 30, 1971, leaving only the chimney. The new building, finished in 1976, was dedicated to Scoutmaster Rex Hawkins, who kept the troop alive during the difficult WWII years when many adult leaders were away. The George Merrick Foundation continues to maintain the property, with help from the City of Coral Gables, the Kiwanis Club of Coral Gables and concerned citizens who appreciate the legacy of George Merricks scouting program.
  

• Title: WOMEN TAKE ACTION IN CORAL GABLES (The Roxcy O'Neal Bolton House)
  Location: Alhambra Circle and Madrid
  County: Miami-Dade
  City: Miami
  Description: Built in 1933, this Mediterranean Revival house is a contributing structure in the Coral Gables Plantation Historic District, one of the earliest developments in the city planned by George Merrick. Throughout the late 1960s and the 1970s, this house became a meeting place for those who campaigned for equal rights for women. Resident and pioneer feminist Roxcy O’Neal Bolton opened her home as headquarters to organize numerous rallies and marches and founded the Miami Dade Chapter of the National Organization for Women. In an effort to bring public attention to the special needs of women, organizational meetings were held in this house to establish Women in Distress, the first women’s rescue shelter in Florida, and the Rape Treatment Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Community meetings were also held here to create the Citizen’s Crime Watch of Dade County, one of the first of its kind in the country. Under Roxcy Bolton’s leadership, the perseverance of all those who volunteered their time here created a forceful voice for justice for those who would otherwise not be heard.
  

• Title: HAULOVER BEACH SPORT FISHING DOCKS
  Location:Baker's Haulover
  County: Miami-Dade
  City: Miami
  Description: Two sided marker: The originally known Lighthouse Dock, once at this site, marked the beginnings of this area’s fame as a sportsman’s paradise. Folklore and history relate that a man named Baker (c. 1810) "hauled over" fishing boats from the bay to the ocean. In 1926, Captain Henry Jones (1883-1968) built the first dock with a permit from the War Department. By 1937-1939, the Lighthouse Restaurant and the Ocean Bay Trailer Park shared this property. These early docks served as the foundation of an international sport fishing tourist industry as charter boat fisherman searched for marlin, sailfish and other big-game fish in Miami's abundant Gulf Stream waters. Adjacent to these docks was an official weighing station of the Metropolitan Miami Fishing Tournament, the oldest and largest fishing contest in the world. Many record catches were certified here. Captains navigated their charters beneath the hazardous Haulover Bridge with its treacherous currents. They also contended with the threat of enemy submarines, just outside the Inlet, from 1942 to 1943. Some captains assumed duties as sub-spotters. A Coast Guard vessel was moored here during World War II to ensure civilian safety, making this a strategic military site at that time. In 1944 the Lighthouse Dock became part of the Haulover Beach Park. The Dade County Parks Department assumed management and changed the name to Haulover Beach Docks. In 1951-1952 the docks were replaced by a marina, built farther to the north. Calling these docks home were the captains, their boats, and the only women working as mates for their husbands. The earliest pioneer captains at these docks were: Henry Jones, Henrietta; George Hamway, Popeye; Joe Reese, Ethel Lee; Slim Caraway (Marjorie) Lady Luck; John Sacon (nee Saconchik), Martha Mary; George Helker, Gremlin; Ralph Nemire (Iris), Seacomber; Harry Stone, Oke Doke; Ira Gregory, Lucky Strike; Elsworth Stone, Anhow; W.D. Murphy, Pat; Charles Smith (Mary), Interim; Harold Alford (Jeannette) Privateer; Otto Reichert, Restless; Robert Paterson, Huskee; Frank Kurek, Sportsman; Ernie Luebbers, Mystery; B.C. Millard, Surf King; and Paul Goerner, Vee Gee. Other individuals contributing to the success of the Haulover fishing fleet: Official Dock Photographer, Doris Barnes; Dock/Weigh Masters, Norton/Waggoner; and Taxidermist, Al Pflueger. They recorded the feats of tourists and such celebrities as Hollywood superstar Robert Mitchum and TV host Arthur Godfrey.
  

• Title: CORAL GABLES MERRICK HOUSE
  Location: Miami/Dade County
  County: Miami-Dade
  City: Coral Gables
  Description: In July 1899, Congregational minister Solomon Greasley Merrick (1859-1911) and his wife Althea (1859-1937) purchased sight unseen the surrounding 160 acres for $1,100. Several months later Merrick and his son George (1886-1942) came from Massachusetts to prepare an existing wooden cottage for the arrival of the family. Locals including Bahamians helped plant vegetables and grapefruit trees. The vegetables and existing guava trees were their only source of income until the grapefruit groves began to bear. In 1906 Althea designed a rock house including the original cottage that is still visible at the rear. Named “Coral Gables,” its limestone rock came from what is now the Venetian Pool. When his father died, George took over the groves, added land and dreamed of a planned community. It became a reality in 1921 when he sold the first lots. During the Depression, Ethel Merrick, George’s sister, made it a boarding house called Merrick Manor. Members of the Merrick family resided here until 1966, when W.L. Philbrick bought the home and created Merrick Manor Foundation to save it. The City of Coral Gables acquired and restored it in 1976. Coral Gables Merrick House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
  

• Title: CORAL GABLES WATERWAY
  Location: Coral Gables
  County: Miami-Dade
  City: Coral Gables
  Description: When developer George Merrick (1886-1942) and the Coral Gables Corporation conceived the master plan for Coral Gables in the 1920s, the city's boundaries encompassed waterfront acreage allowing access to waterways. The original city boundaries went from Key Biscayne, south to Soldier Key and then back to the coastal wetlands called Chapman Field Park. Merrick's promotional brochures advertised his new city as "Forty Miles of Waterfront" offering a ride in a gondola (narrow boat with curved ends used on the canals in Venice) from the Biltmore Hotel to Tahiti Beach (now part of the Cocoplum neighborhood). Although his grand vision was not realized due to the 1926 land bust, the Coral Gables Waterway has endured. The eight-mile-long waterway cuts west from Biscayne Bay to the intersection at Cartagena Plaza, then curves north, paralleling Riviera Drive on its way to the Biltmore Golf Course. It also connects the waterway's western loop through the University of Miami campus and the Mahi Waterway. The Coral Gables Waterway today has rugged limestone that rises up to 20 feet or more to the crossing beneath the LeJeune Road bridge.
  

• Title: ALHAMBRA WATER TOWER
  Location: Coral Gables
  County: Miami-Dade
  City: Coral Gables
  Description: This “lighthouse” which has never seen the sea, serves as a testament to Coral Gables’ early boom years, a time when everyday practical things could be turned into works of art. Built c. 1923, its design is credited to Denman Fink, artistic designer for Coral Gables. A steel tank was erected first, and then enclosed with a wood frame and reinforced concrete structure designed to resemble a lighthouse, thus concealing the less attractive water tank behind an aesthetically pleasing and architecturally playful face. Purchased by Consumers Water Company in 1926, the Alhambra Water Tower was part of the City’s domestic water supply system until 1931, when it was disconnected from the system and abandoned after the utility company started buying water from the City of Miami. In response to citizen outcry to save the tower from destruction in 1958, the City purchased it for a token sum, thus preserving this unique landmark. In 1993 the tower was extensively restored based upon 1924 photographs. The Alhambra Water Tower was listed in the Coral Gables Register of Historic Places in 1988.
  

• Title: CORAL GABLES HOUSE
  Location:907 Coral Way
  County: Miami-Dade
  City: Coral Gables
  Description: In 1899, Dr. Solomon Merrick, a Massachusetts Congregational minister, purchased a 160-acre tract of land located near Miami. Rev. Merrick and his son, George, settled in a log cabin already standing on the property and planted grapefruit and vegetables on their land. The rest of the Merrick family soon came to live on the Florida property, which they called "Guavonia" after the fruit that grew there. They lived in a newly constructed frame house which was incorporated into the larger home, completed in 1906. Called "Coral Gables", this house was built of native limestone rock quarried from a nearby site, now Venetian Pool. As Merrick's crops prospered, more land was acquired, bringing the plantation to about 1,600 acres where George Merrick envisioned and later developed a new, Mediterranean-style community. It was named "Coral Gables", after the home. In 1966, W.L. Philbrick purchased the house, which had become known as Merrick Manor, and created the Merrick Manor Foundation to maintain the building as a historic site. In 1976, the Foundation donated this home to the people of Coral Gables. Merrick Manor, now known as Coral Gables House, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
  

• Title: OLD CUTLER ROAD FORMER SITE OF THE TOWN OF CUTLER
  Location:Old Cutler Rd.
  County: Miami-Dade
  City: south of Coral Gables
  Description: The Cutler area, once an Indian hunting ground, was the scene in 1838 of a Second Seminole War skirmish. In 1847, horticulturist Henry Perrine's heirs selected a township of land in the area as the location of the federal grant made to him. Colonization of the Perrine Grant proceeded slowly. John Addison, the first settler, arrived at the "Hunting Ground" c. 1866. Around 1880, Dr. William Cutler and William Fuzzard of Boston visited the area. Fuzzard soon returned to settle near Addison's Landing. He cut a path to Coconut Grove which later became the Cutler Road. By 1884, a post office named "Cutler" had been established. For twenty years the settlement grew to include stores and wharves. A hotel, Richmond Cottage, was also the home of S. H. Richmond, agent for the Perrine Grant after 1896. Cutler's economy was based on the cultivation and shipping of tomatoes, pineapples, and other fruit. When the Florida East Coast Railroad bypassed Cutler in 1903, the town began to die. In 1915, Cutler became part of the Charles Deering Estate. All buildings were torn down except Richmond Cottage, which was incorporated into the Deering home.
  

• Title: TUTTLE HOME
  Location:vicinty of Fort Dallas on Miami River
  County: Miami-Dade
  City: Miami
  Description: On this site stood the home of Miami pioneer, Mrs. Julia D. Tuttle. Mrs. Tuttle came to Miami in 1890 and was responsible for much of the city's early development. She encouraged the Florida East Coast Railway to extend its line to Miami. Her home was a two-story stone building, originally officers' quarters for old Fort Dallas, constructed in 1849 for use against the Indians. The building also served as Dade County's first courthouse.
  

• Title: OLD CUTLER ROAD
  Location:entrance to Old Cutler Rd. south of Cartagena Plaz
  County: Miami-Dade
  City: Coral Gables
  Description: Old Cutler Road owes its name to the former town of Cutler, founded by William Fuzzard and named for Dr. William Cutler of Massachusetts who visited the area about 1880 and encouraged Fuzzard and others to settle here. In the mid-1880's, Fuzzard cut a path from his plantation to Coconut Grove, 4.5 miles to the north. This path was gradually improved and by 1902, there was a road with a crushed rock surface extending six miles south of Cutler. Although the town of Cutler declined, the road remained important to the region. The present Cutler Road, which follows a somewhat altered course, was declared a State Historic Highway in May, 1874, by the Florida Legislature.
  

• Title: THE PERRINE LAND GRANT
  Location:U.S. 1 at 16165 S. Dixie Highway
  County: Miami-Dade
  City: Perrine
  Description: In 1838, the United States Congress granted a township of land in the southern extremity of Florida to noted horticulturist Dr. Henry Perrine and his associates. This land was to be used in experiments aimed at introducing foreign tropical plants and seeds into Florida. Although Dr. Perrine did not select a township before his death in 1840, he indicated the area he preferred, and his family later selected the land which came to be called the Perrine Land Grant. Born in 1797, Henry Perrine was trained as a physician. During a visit to Cuba in 1826, he became interested in tropical plants which might be successfully introduced into the southern United States. As American consul in Campeche, Mexico (1827-1838), Dr. Perrine began to send Mexican plants to a friend on Indian Key in Florida and to seek government support for future agricultural experiments. Eager to find a way to utilize the tropical soils of the south, the leaders of Territorial Florida gave their support to Dr. Perrine in the efforts to obtain land for his project which culminated in the grant of 1838. Events of the Second Seminole War made it impossible for Dr. Perrine to settle on the Florida Mainland in 1838. He took his family to Indian Key to care for his plants and await the war's end. On August 7, 1840, Indians attacked the Key, killing Dr. Perrine and six others; his family escaped uninjured. Dr. Perrine deserves recognition as a pioneer whose efforts stimulated interest in tropical agriculture in Florida.
  

• Title: CAPE FLORIDA LIGHTHOUSE
  Location:Cape Florida State Recreation Area
  County: Miami-Dade
  City: Key Biscayne
  Description: Cape Florida, the southern tip of Key Biscayne, was discovered by John Cabot in 1497, less than five years after Columbus first landed in the West Indies. Cabot continued his voyage into the Gulf of Mexico, but returned to Key Biscayne the following spring, and named it "The Cape of the End of April." Juan Ponce de Leon landed on the key in 1513, and christened it "Santa Marta." Its present name "Biscayne" is derived from the Indian word "Bischiyano" which meant "the favorite path of the rising moons." After the United States received Florida from Spain in 1821, and at the urging of the Navy, plans were drawn for a lighthouse on the tip of the Cape. The tower was completed December 17, 1825, and is one of the oldest structures in South Florida. In July of 1836, shortly after the beginning of the Second Seminole War, the lighthouse was attacked by Indians. John W.B. Thompson, the lighthouse keeper, was injured, and his Negro helper Tom was killed, before the arrival of a rescue ship. A temporary army post, Fort Bankhead, was established on the Cape in 1838, and became the headquarters of the 2nd Dragoons, commanded by Colonel William S. Harney, the "old Indian Fighter." At the same time, the key was a main base of the Navy's "Florida Squadron," under Lieutenant Commander John T. McLaughlin. The lighthouse was raised to its present height of 95 feet in 1855, but the light was wrecked by southern sympathizers in 1861, and was dark for the duration of the Civil War. It was restored in 1867, and guided ships through the dangerous reef waters until 1878, when it was extinguished for the final time. Larger ships needed a light further out at sea, and the new Fowe