The pioneer Boyett(e), Gillett(e), Godwin, and Kersey families received land grants in the area in the 1840s, and a larger influx of settlers began around the War Between the States when the Stanleys and Coopers arrived. Originally called Double Branch for the twin creeks that flowed across the Boyette land, the community took its name from the Methodist chapel that stood on the northwest corner of SR 54 and Boyette Road, and it was also popularly nicknamed Gatorville. Since its founding in 1878, the Double Branch Baptist Church, now the First Baptist Church, has served as a focus for community life, with Henry Ryals as pastor in the first building in 1880, Ed Bryant in the second in 1935, and Lynn Foster in the third in 1970. Early industries included a turpentine still and sawmill, while cattle ranching and hog farming on the then open range, crop farming, and citrus growing predominated; in hard times, people turned to charcoal making and even moonshining to survive. Construction of I-75 and the 1979 opening of the Saddlebrook Resort marked the beginning of the community's current growth.