Early Settlers on This Land

The area around Pellicer Creek was granted to Spanish citizens as early as the late 1770s, though the creek had been known as Cano del Noroeste during the First Spanish Period from 1565 to 1763. During the British Period from 1763 to 1783, a plantation economy was introduced, and within today’s park boundaries were the plantations of John Moultrie and James Hume, while to the west John Hewitt built a sawmill on the creek that furnished lumber for regional construction. In the Second Spanish Period from 1783 to 1821, many land grants were issued to encourage agriculture: in the 1790s William McHenry received 800 acres along the creek, Hepworth Carter received 1,800 acres at Hemming Point, and Francisco Pellicer was granted 1,100 acres south of the creek, which then took his name. The only intact early land grant is now Princess Place Preserve, a public park. In 1802, plantations across the river were burned and looted by Seminole Indians; Carter sold his acreage to land speculator Samuel Betts for $500, while Hispanic settlers retreated to St. Augustine. In 1812, an American invasion of Spanish Florida became the Patriot’s War, leaving rural settlers in danger from armed patriots. In 1817, Joseph Hernandez, the first Hispanic to serve in the U.S. Congress, received 455 acres that he named Buena Suerte; he was a local leader, owned many plantations, and captured Osceola. During the Second Seminole War of 1835, Seminoles rampaged throughout the region, and after the war plantation land lay fallow until the late nineteenth century.

Florida · United States