North Florida Fort Sites (now including Ft. Buckeye, Ft. White and Ft. Atkinson)

[goldcoastwayne]

I have recently been researching the history of Florida forts and came across one that may be of interest to the military relic hunters in the "Big Bend" area of Florida. Living in S. Florida, I don't get up to that area often. This is the site of Fort Buckeye that existed during the 2nd Seminole War - about 1840. It is located in Lafayette County(N30 00.09 W83 10.15). Further research will be needed as I don't know if this is state owned land or private.....but the ruins look very promising for the relic hunter. I have a number of other very promising sites in this area and the panhandle and will post them if I see there is an interest. I am primarily interested in the research and future publication of these forgotten fort sites and their historical significance. Good Luck!

goldcoastwayne

 

[Buck Rabbit]

Re: North Florida Fort Site

goldcoastwayne,

I went over the weekend and checked out this site since it is fairly close to where I live. It is a cemetery, the oldest grave was 1808.
This could have been the site for the fort because it is by far the highest elevation in the area. The surrounding land is owned by a timber company and is a private hunt club. It was very interesting to find this out in the middle of no where.

Buck Rabbit

 

[goldcoastwayne]

Re: North Florida Fort Site

Buck Rabbit,

First of all....welcome to the TNet!!
Thanks very much for checking the site. Yes, that is the site of Fort Buckeye.... That certainly explains why the grounds were so cleared from a satellite view. That is very interesting...a grave marker from 1808 in that area...considering that this is Florida and nowhere close to established areas in that era ! The perimeter outside the cemetary could still be a productive area for the relic hunter.
I have a number of other very promising sites that I can post here....just let me know what counties you are interested in hunting and I will supply everyone the information that I have accumulated, excluding active archeological sites or those being actively hunted by other THer's that have contacted me. Just keep in mind that maps of that early era are very rudimentary and my sites are quite obscure and off the beaten track. I have researched a number of fort sites and battlefields of a forgotten era in Florida along with many other promising areas for the relic hunter. Unfortunately, satellite pictures can't always tell you exactly what you will encounter.....

goldcoastwayne

 

[Buck Rabbit]

Re: North Florida Fort Site

goldcoastwayne,

I am still going to try to locate someone that belongs to that hunt club, I have a lot of friends in the area so maybe someone knows someone and I can get permission to MD. I live in Gilchrist County and work in Alachua County so I would be willing to checkout any sites you have in or around those counties. I located the site of old Fort White many years ago, I lived right across the river, but the site is now owned by the State and off limits to MDing. I'll let you know if I get permission to search around the cemetery.
Thanks for sharing the info.

Buck Rabbit

 

[goldcoastwayne]

Re: North Florida Fort Sites (Now including Ft Buckeye, Ft White, Ft Atkinson)

Buck Rabbit,

In a previous post, you mentioned Fort White...which is a very obscure "Second Seminole Indian War" fort. I have found very little about it's history, but can tell you the following:

Fort White (the actual military fort) was constructed during the Second Seminole War in 1836 to protect the Cow Creek settlement. Supplies were brought in by steamboat on the Santa Fe River and distributed to other area forts. Due to sickness, flooding along the river and rumors of the railroad coming to the area, the settlement was moved four miles east to its present location.

The town of Fort White was incorporated in 1884 and grew steadily following the arrival of the railroad in 1888. It is interesting to note that the town of Fort White is in Columbia County, but Fort White was on the opposite side of the Santa Fe River in Gilchrist County.

I have not been able to locate the exact site of Fort White (to date there is nothing in print in Florida archives that I have found), but from the information I have found it is located 4 miles west of the town with same name, on the west side of the Santa Fe. In my opinion, it is south of SW Bridge Lane and above the parallel Iowa Road, but on the west bank of the river. An aerial view of this area is below and is very close to the "Old Fort White Bridge", which the remnants can be seen in the river underwater from the satellite view:

The location of the fort should be 29 55'3.33"N, 82 46'17.84" W

Does this location seem right to you Buck Rabbit? I know you stated that it can't be hunted, but I would really like to know the area of the fort for my records....

The next time you venture back in the area of Fort Buckeye, I have a very obscure fort, Fort Atkinson, built in 1839 and is close by and would be extremely interesting to visit....the exact spot of this site is only known to be on the east bank of Lake Atkinson...I have marked the logical spots:

The location of the fort is likely 30 10'50.83"N, 83 18'16.43"W

Good Luck, Wayne

 

[Buck Rabbit]

Re: North Florida Fort Sites (now including Ft. Buckeye, Ft. White and Ft. Atkin

Wayne,

Your close 29 54'.484N 82 46'.324W will put you almost spot on. Another interesting fact is the cemetery from the fort is on the opposite side (Columbia County) of the river because of the disease there are several marked graves still visible. If you go a little north of the old bridge is where they crossed when the fort was there (Gilchrist County), at one time there was still some chain attached to the side of the river bank where their suspension bridge was. The river is very narrow at this spot and the banks steep and solid limerock which probably made it easier to cross on a suspension bridge. The old bridge you see in the sat. picture was a concrete bridge and there is another one about 5 or 6 miles down river. I was lucky enough to get a lot of info from and old gentleman in my Masonic Lodge he had done a lot of research on the fort, he lived just down river for his entire life, he was in his 90's when he passed. The State has trails thru the property that you can hike, there is no visible evidence of the fort left. I will check out the Fort Atkinson site next time that way and let you know what I find. Thanks for sharing your info.

Buck Rabbit

 

[goldcoastwayne]

Buck Rabbit,

Thanks very much for that information on Fort White. You did a great job in talking to a lifelong resident of this area that was in his latter years. It is amazing that these type of conversations can fill in the missing pieces to our historical puzzles. Hope to keep you busy up that way and I hope that you benefit from my locations. It will be awhile before I put these in print...I still have a number of other sites in your area and I hope you can hunt them. My only request are pictures of the site and pictures of your relic finds at these sites. My interests are more their historical significance to Florida.

Goldcoastwayne

 

[Buck Rabbit]

Re: North Florida Fort Sites (now including Ft. Buckeye, Ft. White and Ft. Atkin

Goldcoastwayne,

Glad to share info with you. I will be glad to get photos and share with you any finds. I hope the info on Fort White is useful to you. I will let you know if I get any info on Fort Atkinson.

Thanks,
Buck Rabbit

 

[architecad]

Re: North Florida Fort Site

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What are you doing here? I will go to that fort with a MFD.

Arch

 

[goldcoastwayne]

Arch,

Just let me know what counties you want to hunt. I noticed you are in Maryland...I can give you generalities in that area, but I am really concentrating on Florida. If you want to give the MD hunters in Florida a swift kick, I am all for it...what more could they want? Maybe local parks and the hunt for clad coinage is all they want.

I will supply Florida TH'ers with any interesting sites that I have studied. If you actively work a site that I give you, just let me know. At that point, everything is held in the strickest confidence and I will not post anything more about that site. (I currently have several sites that are in that category and a university is involved and studying one of them) I respect an active site, either for an active MD hunter or an archeological survey. All I ask is, supply me with pictures of the site and pictures of your finds for future publication. If you are proactive, I will keep you busy. Any other new counties...just post your interests and I will try to accomodate you. I have many untouched sites (to my knowledge) in the "panhandle area" of Florida. I am now working my way down the west coast of Florida...there are many interesting sites that I have found. Also with any of the forts anyone investigates, keep your eyes open for grave markers. With many of these forts I have found logs of the soldiers that resided there. Just give me the name and I will cross-match it to my rosters. That could be a very interesting study in itself. The Florida archives are full of this information, but you have to take the time to investigate it. Research involves reading hundreds of pages of information and finding pieces to some very obscure historical puzzles.

Good Luck and HH,

goldcoastwayne

 

[centfladigger]

you should contact Ken Hughes, hes down in Lauderdal area, he has done this very same thing years ago and tried to give the info to the state I believe with no luck.

 

[cheese]

Goldcoastwayne,

If you know of anything along the Fl/Ga border or within a hundred miles or so of Tallahassee, I might be interested in checking it out and taking pictures for you. I will have to wait until fall or winter when the temps cool down (105 today, 100% humidity) and my business slows enough to get away and concentrate on the effort as needed. I'm in Ga about 30 miles north of Tallahassee.

 

[goldcoastwayne]

Thank you all for your comments and input.

The archives of Florida are full of information! I can only tell you that the sites I supply to you are forgotten historical sites and should render some great relics. So far, I have had very good communications with historians and TH'ers on other sites that I haven't posted. A few are very active "digs" and relics are being found. When I eventually put everything in print, it will be unique in that I will supply the historical significance, pictures of the site, pictures of relics recovered and the GPS location, as well as aerial views.

"cheese", I have a number of sites in the Tallahassee area and on the border with Georgia that should be very interesting and I will post these soon. Just keep watching my posts and will try to share a few new ones every few weeks.

goldcoastwayne

 

[goldcoastwayne]

I have been reviewing sites near the Georgia border. I will post these shortly, but I am hesitant on some....they are really "in the woods or in some cases the swamp"..(in the northeast section of Florida is the Okefenokee and the Osceola National Forest) The Okefenokee is not a place I want to be . Unless you are really comfortable in this environment, I likely won't post them and obviously no sites that are National or State Parks. Just let me know and I will give you the information on a personal basis on presumed legal sites (my email button is listed to the left below my name), but I would personally be hesitant to go to some of the sites unless you are a real "outdoorsman" and I wouldn't even consider, unless it is in our "dry season".

Sites around Tallahassee and further west don't appear too dangerous, and I will start supplying those.
Also, I am coming across information of past campgrounds, etc. that were abandoned turn of the century. Some of these might be interesting......

Wayne

 

[Buck Rabbit]

Re: North Florida Fort Sites (now including Ft. Buckeye, Ft. White and Ft. Atkin

Wayne,

I sent you an email about The Okefenokee.

Buck Rabbit

 

[goldcoastwayne]

Re: North Florida Fort Sites (now including Ft. Buckeye, Ft. White and Ft. Atkin

Wayne,

I sent you an email about The Okefenokee.

Buck Rabbit

I hope the information I sent you works out.....that site is very promising and has probably never been hunted, except with guns and bows & arrows ....lol.

goldcoastwayne

 

[Buck Rabbit]

Re: North Florida Fort Sites (now including Ft. Buckeye, Ft. White and Ft. Atkin

Wayne.

Thanks I will send you some pictures from the site.

Buck Rabbit

 

[goldcoastwayne]

"Cheese"....please check my new postings under the title "More North Florida Fort Sites - Jefferson County". Also, "Chuck" in Thomasville, Ga. these aren't too far from you. Hope you both have successful hunts at the newly posted sites. These are both close to Tallahassee. More will be posted soon.

Goldcoastwayne

 

[jeff k]

http://www.treasurelore.com/florida/florida_forts.htm

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Also with any of the forts anyone investigates, keep your eyes open for grave markers. With many of these forts I have found logs of the soldiers that resided there. Just give me the name and I will cross-match it to my rosters. That could be a very interesting study in itself. The Florida archives are full of this information, but you have to take the time to investigate it.

Yes the soldiers and civilians, along with their occupation and family members, living at these forts, are available online from the census and geneology sites, if you know where to look...

Where you able to match up a name or anything that connected this cemetary with Fort Buckeye? I think its a good idea to check the names on the graves.