EARLY PLANTATIONS IN THE AUCILLA RIVER AREA

By George M. Cole and John E. Ladson III Aucilla Research Institute

After the signing of the Adams-Onís Treaty resulting in the transfer of Florida from Spain to the United States, settlers rapidly began to migrate to the Aucilla River area with its rich soils. Among the earliest of such settlers were the Bellamy and Bailey families.

Civil Engineer John Bellamy, and his wife Margaret Bell Bellamy, moved from South Carolina to Spanish Florida about 1819. Together with John Bellamy’s parents – Abram and Clara Bellamy, and their children, they settled first in Cowford (what is now the City of Jacksonville). Bellamy became active in local affairs in Cowford and was contracted to lay out the streets of that community. In the early 1820s, they relocated to the area east of the Aucilla River.

William Bailey, a U.S. Army officer in the War of 1812, migrated to Cowford from a rice plantation in St Marys, Georgia about the same time as the Bellamy family and then also relocated to the Aucilla River area. In 1823, Bailey married Mary Elizabeth Bellamy, daughter of the Bellamys. That marriage marked the merger of two of the area’s most important families during that era. The newlyweds moved to a plantation on the Aucilla River, “The Cedars”, given to the bride by her father. Cedars Plantation is now part of the Dixie/Livingston Plantation.

The families became perhaps the most prominent of the early plantation society in that region. They created a joint family cemetery on Bellamy plantation land east of the river. The cemetery and the associated records today are a source of significant information on early plantation life in old Middle Florida.

Immediately after the Government Land Office in Tallahassee opened in 1825, both Bellamy and Bailey began to aggressively purchase tracts of land, including 80 acres onto which the City of Monticello was established. Both developed several plantations, not only along the Aucilla, but also in other areas in what is now Jefferson and Leon Counties.
In addition to establishing plantations, Engineer John Bellamy is known for the construction of the major portion of the Federal road from Pensacola to St. Augustine under a contract with the U.S. Army. That road, known as the Bellamy Road (or sometimes the Stump Knocker Road) was important to open up the area for settlement. He died on 20 Feb 1845 at his residence, the Cottage, on his plantation on the Aucilla River.
Among the plantations he developed, William Bailey spearheaded the first sugar cane operation in North Florida and established a grist mill on one of the creeks north of the Wacissa headwaters. During the Seminole Wars, Bailey was elected as a major general of the local militia. After the death of his wife, the Bellamy daughter, in 1849, He married Mary Eliza Branch Read, daughter of Governor Branch and widow of General Leigh Read, a local plantation owner. Then, after her death in 1858, he married a third wife, Grace Ware. Along with ownership of Cedars Plantation bordering the east side of the Aucilla, he owned Columns Plantation in Leon County.

General William Bailey’s nephew, William J. Bailey, moved to the area from Georgia in 1840. In 1844, he married Eliza Williams Bellamy, the widow of Abraham Bellamy, the son of John Bellamy. With the accumulated wealth, he bought land east of the Aucilla River and developed the 6,700 acre Lyndhurst Plantation. The beautiful home that Bailey built on the plantation is still occupied today.
Although the Lynnhurst Plantation was the largest at the time, a number of the early plantations were relatively large. As an illustration, following are some of the largest plantations listed in the 1860 Jefferson County Tax Book:
Name Acres
Wm. J. Bailey (Lynnhurst) 6257
Robert Gamble 5760
C.G. Young 5000
Bradley 4980
George Jones 4640
Thomas Randall 4080
Wm. Bailey 3700
Charles Henry Estate 3400
G.H. Ware Estate 3097

While many of the plantations in the area were large properties, others were considerably smaller in size. One example is William Snead’s place which was listed in Jefferson County’s 1860 tax role of being 560 acres. That plantation was located along the Aucilla River near where the Ashville Highway crosses it today. Snead’s name is immortalized with the name of Snead’s Smoke House given the “lake” formed by a widening of the river surrounding a sink hole in close proximity. That unusual name is based on the legend that Snead would send his plantation workers to the lake to catch fish in lieu of giving them a ration of meat from the smokehouse as was the local custom. Today, the lake is still known as an excellent fishing spot.

The early plantations typically developed as a complete community in themselves and basically self-sufficient. There were typically areas designated for the production of various fruit, nuts, vegetables, grains, beef, pork, and eggs as well as facilities for producing syrup, preserving meat, livestock production, blacksmithing, laundry, etc. In addition, as with the Bellamy-Bailey families, most of the plantation had cemeteries set aside for family members as well as slaves. In the case of the Bellamy-Bailey Cemetery, an area was set aside for slaves just outside the walls of the main portion of the cemetery. Interestingly, there are reported to be far more graves outside the perimeter compared with the fifty-seven marked graves within the walls of the cemetery proper.

The planters were well-respected in the community and were also the business leaders. As an example, General Bailey established a textile mill in Monticello as well as founding the State Bank of Florida in Tallahassee which was the oldest bank in the State.

A large portion of the wealth of all of the plantation owners was lost due to the Civil War. This was due to the substantial amount associated with the value of the slaves as well as with Confederate currency and bonds with which most were heavily invested. Yet,
Despite the outcome of the Civil War, some of the plantations in the Aucilla River area managed to survive and continue. This is evidenced by the following, somewhat exaggerated and insensitive by today’s standards article from the Florida Farmer and Fruit Grower, June 13, 1888 which was apparently referring to the Lyndhurst Plantation.

Sixteen miles south of Quitman is one of the finest plantations in the Southern country – The Bellamy Place. It is of 8,000 acres, with 6,000 under cultivation, requiring 150 plows. There are 2,000 negroes on the place, 600 of whom are able-bodied men. Major Bellamy, the owner, knows each of these negroes by name. he never meets one but what he has a pleasant word for him, and always leaves him in a good humor. The negroes are contented and satisfied. The land is very productive and the output of the plantation is immense.