LINKS TO FLAGLER COUNTY'S
The Bulow Sugar Mill Ruins
|LINKS TO FLAGLER COUNTY'S
Flagler County's history is best understood within the larger context of Florida's history. To view an account of Florida's history from "Ice Age to Space Age"Florida Facts The brief comments below are intended to highlight a few of the specific events that occurred here using the same time frames as those of the Short History of Florida. These events make Flagler County the interesting and unique place that it is today.
EARLY HUMAN HABITATION 10,000 AD - 1513
While Florida's earliest inhabitants tended to settle in the state's interior, changing conditions enabled Timucuan Indians to settle here well before the arrival of Europeans. It is estimated that as many as 14,000 lived in the area between the St. John's River and Cape Canaveral. A visit to Tomoka State Park via the Internet will give you an overview of the Park's resources and information you will need to visit the site. An interpretive display there shows how the abundant natural resources of the area supported the long and highly developed culture of the Timucuan Indians.
If you visit the park, be sure to look for another display describing how the forces of nature have shaped our coastal environment. Ocean currents and wind have been building and changing our barrier island, marshes and forests for eons. It is still a work in progress. Washington Oaks State Park affords another opportunity to view and learn about the unique geography and ecosystems of our county. If you walk the beach there you will see outcroppings of coquina rock that will figure prominently in the construction of forts and plantations in the following eras.
As the hostilities between Spanish forces based in St. Augustine and French ones based near present day Jacksonville escalated, Flagler Beach became the scene for the dramatic part of the history. The inconclusive naval battle that was waged off shore took a strange turn as a violent storm overtook the French ships, pushing them south and wrecking them on the beach somewhere near Mosquito Lagoon (Ponce de Leon Inlet). The surviving soldiers and crew made their way north along the beach through today's Flagler County to the Matanzas River where they attempted to surrender to Menendez. The story of the brutal massacre that ensued is still recalled at Fort Matanzas National Park.
FIRST SPANISH PERIOD 1565-1763
|The Spanish were in St. Augustine for almost 200 years. Contact with the Europeans and their livestock took a terrible toll on the Indian population. Diseases to which they had no immunity soon decimated their numbers, until at the end of this period the Timucuan nation ceased to exist. Hostilities between the Spanish, French, English and Indians destroyed many of the artifacts of the Indian civilization. One result of these wars was the Matanzas massacre when shipwrecked French Huguenot soldiers walked north on the beach toward their doom in what is now northern Flagler County. The inlet south of Anastasia Island is now called Matanzas.|
|It was in 1766, following the Treaty of Paris, that the British extended King's Road from Georgia to Jacksonville, St. Augustine, through present day Flagler County and on to the Turnbull Colony at New Smyrna. Bridges were constructed over Pellicer Creek and the Tomoka River. It was in active use right up to the 20th Century and sections it remain as a primary North-South road through Flagler County today.|
General Joseph M. Hernandez was the regions must influential political leader during the period between Floridas statehood and succession. He served as the representative to the constitutional convention at St. Joseph and as the first appointed delegate to congress.
In 1844 Louisa Hernandez, the daughter of General Hernandez, married George Washington, a distant relative of the president. After Louisas untimely death, Washington bought the Bella Vista property. He used it primarily for hunting and fishing, and built a country home there for his son George Washington Jr. You can visit the Washington Oaks State Park today to learn more about the lives of these early residents. You can visit the website at Washington Oaks State Park and visit the State Park to learn more about their story.
Flagler County supported the Confederate cause through military service and the supply of timber, beef, citrus cotton and salt. Salt was in short supply and great demand as meat preservative. The salt works at the Mala Compra Plantation was an important source, but Union patrols made the area insecure and the operation was moved eastward to the coast. There the great iron vats from the St. Joseph sugar plantation were used to boil sea water in the production of salt. For an overview of the social upheaval that occurred here during this period use the link to Florida Facts
In 1886, wealthy industrialist Henry Cutting and his wife, Angela, built an elaborate hunting lodge on the Matanzas. There he hunted and fished during winter months with his frequent guests from prominent families in New England and Chicago. Like other northern visitors of the era, they arrived by steamboat. After Henry's death, his widow married an exiled Russian prince, Boris Sherbatow. They continued to winter on the estate. Flagler County is currently restoring the property, now known as Princess Place. It is located in the northern region of the county, on the unpaved section of Old Kings Road. Call the Department of Parks at 437-7490 for more information and visit this interesting site.
The coming of the railroad that connected Jacksonville and Ormond shaped the next chapter of Flagler's history. The route traveled through Windemere where settlers were already raising cattle. Rail transportation spawned tremendous growth in timber and turpentine production in this area, now known as Espanola. Tram railroads built by Utley J. White extended into remote areas of the county and served the expanding operations. Timber was exported and used locally for building railroads and making the barrels that would take potatoes to market. Potato farming grew in importance as rail transportation provided access to markets to the north. Life was harsh for those who labored in the Florida frontier. Those who built the railroads, logged the timber and worked the turpentine were most at risk. In later years author Zora Neale Hurston became the voice for these often forgotten and ignored. Look for her books in the library and visit the Agriculture Museum to learn more.
Henry Flagler purchased the narrow gauge railway that had served the area in 1885 and converted it to standard gauge, greatly increasing access for the cattle, timber, turpentine, potato and citrus producers of the interior. The county was named in his honor. The Historical Society of Flagler County has an interesting collection of photographs from this period at their museum in Bunnell.
An inland water route between Jacksonville and New Smyrna was begun in 1881 by the construction of a canal connecting the Matanzas and Halifax Rivers. This waterway would eventually extend to south Florida. We know it today as the Intracostal Waterway. A visit to Gamble Rogers State Park will provide access to the Waterway as well as the Atlantic beach. It is a popular spot for water sport recreation and wildlife observation.
In 1915 Dixie Highway was constructed as a narrow brick road from Jacksonville through St. Augustine, Hastings, Espanola, Bunnell and ending at Flagler Beach. Now tourists from the north would have a land route to Flagler's beach. When the newer highway was built 1926, the more direct route bypassed Espanola, and contributed to the decline of that community. Today Dixie Highway (US 1) is a major north-south route, but Old Dixie Highway still serves the community.
Flagler became a county in 1917 as a patchwork brought together from the southern portion of St. John's County and the northern portion of Volusia. The communities of Bunnell, Espanola, St. Johns Park, Haw Creek, Dupont, Korona and Ocean City (Flagler Beach) were the economic and population centers of the time. Bunnell became the county seat.
With the advantage of better transportation and infrastructure, Flagler County's development accelerated. Ornamental fern production replaced citrus as the latter moved south after the severe freezes at the turn of the century. Changing market conditions caused a gradual shift from potato to cabbage farming.
WORLD WAR II AND THE POST-WAR "BOOM" 1945-
The post war "boom" was a little late in arriving in Flagler County. It came
in the form of a highway known as I-95 and a corporation known as ITT. Once again, new
transportation routes and corridors of development went hand in hand. Plans made public in
1969 envisioned the development of a community of 700,000 souls in a place named Palm
Coast. The property covered about 68,000 acres, and was to have amenities including
hotels, restaurants, and waterfront and wooded home sites, golf courses, tennis clubs and
more. While the population density has not reached the original projections, Palm Coast is
today a thriving community.
To learn more about the history of the area, see the Short Bibliography of Florida.
Come to the Flagler County Library and see also:
Blount, Robert S. Spirits of Turpentine: A History of Florida Naval Stores 1528 to 1950. Tallahassee, Florida: Florida Agricultural Museum, 1993.
Clegg, John A. The History of Flagler County. Bunnell: John Clegg, 1976.
Derr, Mark. Some Kind of Paradise: A Chronicle of Man and the Land in Florida. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1989.
Hurston, Zora Neale. Stories. Northport, Maine: Audio Bookshelf,