The Florida Cracker Trail is an east-west route across Florida that has existed since approximately 1850 and was designated by the Florida State Legislature in 1987. Used by Florida's early settlers to traverse the state, it primarily served to drive cattle from Florida's heartland to coastal ports for shipment mainly to Key West and Cuba. The Confederate Army relied on cattle from this area and other Florida sites to feed its troops stationed throughout the South. The term "Cracker" came from the sound of early cowhunters' cracking whips as they moved cattle along the trail, and later "Florida Cracker" came to mean a Florida native. One of the last major cattle drives along this route occurred in 1937. The trail runs through five counties from Bradenton to Ft. Pierce along portions of State Road 64, U.S. Highway 17, State Road 66, U.S. Highway 98, County Road 68, and U.S. Highway 441.