Rollestown was the site of the colony of Denys Rolle, an English philanthropist. Founded in 1767, the settlement was composed of 200 indentured servants from the streets of London, but it did not prosper and the settlers scattered. Negro slaves were imported to tend cattle, cultivate citrus, and extract turpentine. The colony was abandoned in 1783 when Britain ceded Florida to Spain. Rolle returned to England, and the Negroes resettled in the Bahamas.