Joseph Martin Hernandez (1788-1857) purchased and worked Mala Compra Plantation, originally a Spanish land grant, from 1816 to 1836. Its name means “bad bargain” or “bad purchase” in Spanish. It was the center of the largest plantation system in Northeast Florida until the Seminoles burned it in 1836 during the Second Seminole War (1835-1842). Hernandez served as Brigadier General through the Second Seminole War and part of the Wars of Indian Removal, but he did not revitalize the plantation after the war. Mala Compra was one of many coastal plantations in the Southeast that grew long-staple cotton. The physical remnants of the main house, well, and kitchen provide evidence of a coastal plantation, and the building remains provide rare structural evidence of coastal plantation layout and residential construction in Florida during the early 19th century. Its relatively undisturbed setting gives it a legacy of national importance, and its lack of development offers the opportunity for further research about coastal plantations. Flagler County purchased the Mala Compra Plantation property in 1989.