Hickory Bluff Pioneers

After the Civil War, some soldiers stationed in Florida remained for the warm climate and for political and financial gain, becoming early pioneers in Hickory Bluff near the Charlotte Harbor post office established in 1872. Lieutenant Nathan H. De Coster and Captain John F. Bartholf, Union soldiers stationed at Fort Myers, married Florida women and homesteaded in the area. John Lomans, an African-American soldier also serving at Fort Myers, helped De Coster establish the first sawmill south of Tampa, later served as voter registrar, and De Coster became a county judge, postmaster, and customs inspector. Bartholf served as superintendent of public instruction when schools were established throughout the Peace River region, including Hickory Bluff in 1873, and the first schoolhouse was built from boards sawn at De Coster's Mill. Mathieu F. Giddens, a former Confederate soldier, owned a farm on Mill Creek, served as county commissioner, and donated land for the Charlotte Harbor Cemetery after his father-in-law, Joel Knight, died in 1879. Francis Durrance, Jr., owned a house and cattle in eastern Hickory Bluff, worked as a customs collector in Punta Gorda, and served as the local preacher. Around 1927, his son Cleveland Pasco Durrance built a Mediterranean Revival style home known locally as the Spanish House near this site, later moved his family next door, and rented the house to seasonal tourists.

Charlotte Harbor, Florida · United States