Fort Van Swearingen, Indiantown, St. Lucie

[signal]

I was wondering if anyone had any information on Fort Van Swearingen and its location? I have the location from the book Forts, Camps and Batteries of Florida, which puts it at 27 14'N 80 '40W. I have also read where some believe it to be on either side of whats known as Van Swearingen Creek, which is at 27°13'12.00"N 80°38'30.97"W. On Google Earth it hardly looks like a creek these days however. I have also seen some say its near 27 12'36N 80 34'49W.

In the following publication:

[Letter]

Edward T. Keenan
The Florida Historical Quarterly , Vol. 39, No. 3 (Jan., 1961), pp. 298-302
Published by: Florida Historical Society
Article Stable URL: JSTOR: An Error Occurred Setting Your User Cookie

It mentions that its location is at Sec. 33, T-37-S, R-37-E, which I have to believe is some sort of Plat description, does anyone know how to convert this to GPS? Also the article says the following about the location:

"The post was in St. Lucie County. To reach the site today one may take a country road leading east from the Sherman R.R. Station, a few miles S.E. of Okeechobee, go about eight miles until one comes to a bridge. The fort was just across the bridge: Sec. 33, T-37-S, R-37-E"

So a few things. First those directions written in 1961 assume someone knows the location of the old Seaboard Air Line station called Sherman. I can find no information on this, no gps coordinates, and I am not sure if it exists still. I have located the rail line going through Indiantown, but not sure if its the same as may have existed in 1961. If anyone has any information on the Sherman RR Station in Indiantown please let me know. Without knowing the location of Sherman or being able to understand those plat coordinates, I am at a loss.

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[signal]

using this site: Township 37 South, Range 37 East, Tallahassee Meridian, United States - Histopolis
I was able to figure that Sec33 T37S R37E is likely

Latitude

27.2502462

27° 15' 00.9" N, Longitude -80.6290146 80° 37' 44.5" W

I do not see any bridge, country road, or body of water that may stand out, however I may take a drive out there.

[Jon Phillips]

Here you go.

[signal]

Here you go.

Jon, thanks for the post. So I deduce that this is a likely spot for Fort Swearingen, what do you think, it appears to match up with your map:



Now my next job is to figure out if I can find out the status of the site (private, public).

[Jon Phillips]

Yep. Looks about right.

Go to the Property Appraiser website for the county it is in. Use the GIS search. Identify the parcel, and it will tell you who owns it.

[JackInFlorida]

Hey signal,

Here is some information from my research a couple years back:

Second Seminole War Fort. Located about 18 miles west of today's town of Fort Pierce. To reach it, follow route 70 west 18 miles to Bluefield Road. Turn south on Bluefield and follow it 1 ½ miles (if it goes that far), to the crossing of Van Swearingen Creek. The fort was along the banks of the creek.

Don't have anything more detailed. Good luck.

[ECS]

Named for Capt J Van Swearingen,who was killed in the BATTLE of OKEECHOBEE,the post was located 6 mi northeast of Lake Okeechobee (near Zana) and 11 mi southeast of Fort Floyd in Okeechobee,and northeast of Indiantown.
Fort Floyd was erected in 1838,near Lake Okeechobee.