The
Newnansville Town Site was where the town of Newnansville was located. It is approximately 1.5 miles northeast of
Alachua, FloridaAlachua is a city in Alachua County, Florida, United States. According to 2006 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the city's population was 7,554. The city is part of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is home to 243,985 people....
, on S.R. 235 off of
US 441U.S. Route 441 is a spur route of U.S. Route 41. It currently runs for 939 miles from U.S. Route 41 in Miami, Florida to U.S. Route 25W in Lake City, Tennessee. Between its termini, US 441 passes through the states of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee...
. It was added to the
National Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
on December 4, 1974.
During the Second Seminole War, Newnansville remained the only settlement of interior Florida not abandoned to the indians; everything to the south was abandoned. It is described as a raw settlement of stumps and vegetable gardens.
The location was important.
The
Newnansville Town Site was where the town of Newnansville was located. It is approximately 1.5 miles northeast of
Alachua, FloridaAlachua is a city in Alachua County, Florida, United States. According to 2006 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the city's population was 7,554. The city is part of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is home to 243,985 people....
, on S.R. 235 off of
US 441U.S. Route 441 is a spur route of U.S. Route 41. It currently runs for 939 miles from U.S. Route 41 in Miami, Florida to U.S. Route 25W in Lake City, Tennessee. Between its termini, US 441 passes through the states of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee...
. It was added to the
National Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
on December 4, 1974.
During the Second Seminole War, Newnansville remained the only settlement of interior Florida not abandoned to the indians; everything to the south was abandoned. It is described as a raw settlement of stumps and vegetable gardens.
The location was important. The Santa Fe River rises in Newnans Lake southeast of the town, and the river is a physical barrier to travel. The river goes underground for several miles northwest of the town, and this "natural bridge" provided a dry route for wagons and military units. Newnansville lay on the major east-west route from the capital of east Florida at St. Augustine and that of west Florida at Pensacola. It also was the crossroads for roads from Jacksonville, Mandarin and Picolata, from the southwest to Tampa, the south to Spring Grove, Fort Clark, Micanopy and Fort King, and to the esat to Palatka and St. Augustine.
The surveys of the town are not accurate. The original survey was made with worn chains which were stretched. When a new survey was made in the 1930s, the surveyor failed to repeat the original errors, and as a result "moved" the town. In the 1970s, several landd owners physically moved their homes to correct their location according to the survey mess. In fact, the pave highway lies on the route of an original town street, and the old lane on the north side is the original main street. The town was laid out in blocks 400 feet square, with lots 100 x 200 feet, to allow room for gardens and stables.
Bellamy Road
In 1824, only five years after
FloridaFlorida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
became a
United States territoryUnited States territory is any extent of region under the jurisdiction of the federal government of the United States, including all waters . The United States has traditionally proclaimed the sovereign rights for exploring, exploiting, conserving, and managing its territory...
(and the same year that
Alachua CountyAlachua County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. The U.S. Census Bureau 2006 estimate for the county is 227,120. Its county seat is Gainesville, Florida. Alachua County is the home of the University of Florida and is also known for its diverse culture, local music, and artisans...
itself was created), Congress authorized the construction of its first federal highway. It would connect
PensacolaPensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2007, the estimated population was 54,283....
to
St. AugustineSt. Augustine is the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, in the United States. Founded in 1565, it is the oldest continuously occupied European established city, and the oldest port, in the continental United States. St. Augustine lies in a region of Florida known as The First Coast, which...
. The Territorial Council commissioned John Bellamy, a
MonticelloMonticello is a city in Jefferson County, Florida, United States. The population was 2,533 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 2,572
. It is the county seat of Jefferson County...
plantationA plantation is a large farm or estate, usually in a tropical or subtropical country, where crops are grown for sale in distant markets, rather than for local consumption. The term plantation is informal and not precisely defined....
owner, to build it. The project took two years to complete, at a cost of $20,000. The route would become known as the
Bellamy AvenueThe Bellamy Road was the first major U.S. federal highway in early territorial Florida.In 1824, only five years after Florida became a United States territory , Congress authorized the construction of its first federal highway. It would be a wide road, connecting Pensacola to St. Augustine...
. It was a major highway until the
Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
, when other roads became preferred routes. A few of the places it passed were: the town of
TraxlerTraxler is a ghost town located in Alachua County, Florida, United States.-History:William H. Traxler, son of settlers from South Carolina, was born near the natural bridge in Columbia County in 1854. In the 1880s he acquired property in Alachua County on the Bellamy Road, opened a general store,...
, the
Santa Fe Taloca Spanish MissionSanta Fé de Toloca was a Spanish mission established within sight of the Santa Fe River in what is now Alachua County, Florida, United States, between 1606 and 1616...
, and what would become Newnansville.
Newnansville
The Dell brothers, who had earlier (during the "
Patriot WarThe War of 1812, between the United States of America and the British Empire , lasted from 1812 to 1815. It was fought chiefly on the Atlantic Ocean and on the land, coasts and waterways of North America.There were several immediate stated causes for the U.S...
") visited the Alachua County area, came back to settle there in 1814. They constructed a post office on the Bellamy Avenue in 1826, called Dell's, which became the nucleus of the new settlement. In 1828, the Council named the small community Newnansville (in honor of a Patriot War hero, Daniel Newnan), and made it the
county seatA county seat is a term for an administrative center for a county or civil parish, primarily used in the United States. In the Northeast United States, the statutory term often is shire town, but colloquially county seat is the term in use there...
. From 1835 through 1842, the town and nearby Fort Gilleland were refugee centers for many displaced by the Second Seminole War.
Following that, the town flourished, becoming the center for
tradeTrade is the voluntary exchange of goods, services, or both. Trade is also called commerce or transaction. A mechanism that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and services. Later one side of the barter were the metals, precious...
and plantation life in the area. It mainly produced
cornMaize , is a herbaceous plant domesticated in Mesoamerica and subsequently spread throughout the American continents...
,
cottonCotton is a soft, staple fiber that grows in a form known as a boll around the seeds of the cotton plant, a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, India and Africa. The fiber most often is spun into yarn or thread and used to make a soft,...
, and, after the
Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
,
citrusCitrus is a common term and genus of flowering plants in the family Rutaceae, originating in tropical and subtropical southeast regions of the world. The most well known examples are the orange, the lemon, the grapefruit, and the lime. The Latin word citrus was borrowed from ancient Greek kedros...
. Not including a period between 1832 and 1839, Newnansville was the Alachua County seat until 1854. At that time, it was relocated to the new railroad town of
GainesvilleGainesville is a city in Alachua County, Florida, United States. It is the the county seat and the largest city in Alachua County. Gainesville is also home to the University of Florida, which is the largest university in the State University System of Florida and the third-largest university in...
. The
courthouseA courthouse is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America...
was moved to Gainesville as well in 1856. This was the beginning of the end for Newnansville.
Two major factors contributed to its continuing decline. In 1884 the Savannah, Florida, and Western Railroad bypassed it by a mile and a half to the southwest. A new town,
AlachuaAlachua is a city in Alachua County, Florida, United States. According to 2006 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the city's population was 7,554. The city is part of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is home to 243,985 people....
, grew up there. Then in the winter of 1886, a major freeze ruined the citrus crop. This, plus the lack of railway connections, led businesses and residents to move to the prospering communities of Alachua and Gainesville. By the middle of the twentieth century, all that was left of Newnansville were two cemeteries and the remains of a road.