The interior of Central Florida opened for settlement by whites in the mid-1840s after the Second Seminole War, and with no roads or railroads, coastal and inland waterways became essential for farmers to market crops and receive supplies. Bayport, at the mouth of the Weekiwachee River, arose in the early 1850s as a supply and cotton port. During the War Between the States, Union naval squadrons blockaded Florida’s coasts, and by 1863 the East Gulf Blockade Squadron had effectively closed the larger Gulf Coast ports, making small rivers such as the Weekiwachee important trade routes. Shipping at Bayport drew the Union Blockade Squadron, which intercepted eleven blockade runners nearby between 1862 and 1865. After the war, Bayport became Hernando County’s main outlet for lumber and agricultural products and remained its transportation center until railroad service reached Brooksville in 1885.