Instructions:
1....Print this file.
2....At its end, click on "rules" to see a copy of the trail rules, print it, and then click where indicated at the end of the 3-page rules and patch order form to get back to the list of Florida trails.
3....If you want a hand-drawn map shwoing the locations of all of the sites, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to Steve Rajtar, 1614 Bimini Dr., Orlando, FL 32806.
4....Hike the trail and order whatever patches you like (optional).
WARNING - This trail may pass through one or more neighborhoods which, although full of history, may now be unsafe for individuals on foot, or which may make you feel unsafe there. Hikers have been approached by individuals who have asked for handouts or who have inquired (not always in a friendly manner) why the hikers are in their neighborhood. Drugs and other inappropriate items have been found by hikers in some neighborhoods. It is suggested that you drive the hike routes first to see if you will feel comfortable walking them and, if you don't think it's a good place for you walk, you might want to consider (1) traveling with a large group, (2) doing the route on bicycles, or (3) choosing another hike route. The degree of comfort will vary with the individual and with the time and season of the hike, so you need to make the determination using your best judgment. If you hike the trail, you accept all risks involved.
The original bridge was swept away during the Great Hurricane of 1878. It was replaced by a private ferry service operated by William H. Willingham until C.B. Lightsey built a new, sturdy 600-foot long wagon bridge in 1883-85.
The present bridge was dedicated on February 13, 1931, and is named after a county commissioner who served from 1927 to 1931.
Louis Lanier opened a general store in the second fort commissary building in 1858, and acquired 160 acres here in September of 1859, with its center at the bridge and extending westward to the present-day Hendry Ave. His home was approximately here, and in it, he opened an inn.
Lanier acquired an army commissary store completed during the last month of the war, and made goods available to settlers who previously had to travel to Alafia to buy them. In January of 1860 he opened a sawmill and the following month became the postmaster of the settlement.
The homestead was later owned by F.A. Hendry, who sold it to William H. Willingham in 1869.
The first Fort Meade was a collection of wooden buildings on the western bank of the river, with the Tampa-Fort Pierce military road running through it. It was not a traditional blockhouse or palisaded enclosure. The first fort was established in December of 1849 and was used into 1850.
The fort was named after Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade. He later led a successful campaign to find the lost site of Fort Clinch, near Frostproof, and commanded Federal troops in the battle of Gettysburg in the Civil War.
A.J. Bulloch lived here, and hosted Fort Meade's first Episcopal service in his home on September 26, 1886, conducted by Rev. C.S. Williams of Palatka.
Owen H. Dishong & Company opened a store here in 1875. He moved to Arcadia after about a year. This area was "downtown" in the days before the railroad drew the center of activity a mile and a half to the west.
Sherod E. Roberts and Cornelius B. Lightsey opened a general store here in 1869. Later that year, the Methodists began meeting in a store, likely the same one.
William A. Roberts opened a drug store on this site in 1877.
Albion H. Adams opened the Adams House hotel in a four-acre orange grove in 1884. It burned down after a fire started in its water heater. This stretch of Broadway, between Washington and Orange Aves., was the main business district of Fort Meade during the 1880s, with most of the commercial activity on the south side of the street.
Fort Meade's first town hall, a two-story frame building with a market downstairs, opened here in 1885.
A building on this corner began as the home of James M. Manley, then in 1872 was acquired by Eli English and converted to a general store. Two years later, English moved with his stock to Wauchula. Manley had owned a barroom and store on the north side of Broadway, between Church and Hendry Aves. It was operated by Arthur Keen.
The graves in the oldest section of this cemetery date to the 1850s.
It is said that in good weather, Frank Boggess taught the first school classes here under the shade of a huge oak tree. The home here was later owned by Charles Speight.
Methodists in 1869 began meeting in a store, then the schoolhouse, and then they built a sanctuary here in 1881-82 for $1,200. It had a tall spire with a 700-pound bell provided by J.N. Hooker. Later, it was donated to St. Paul's A.M.E. Church. Mrs. C.W. Rockner donated the land. The building's formal dedication took place on May 7, 1881. Their first parsonage was built in 1892. Rev. George W. Mitchell was the first pastor, beginning in 1878.
This home was built in 1886, and has been substantially remodeled. Recent owners include Tom and Pat Downs.
This large home with the striking columns was built in 1913.
The second Fort Meade was built in December of 1851, about a mile west of the first one. It was most important as a military outpost while commanded by Harvey Brown in 1852 and 1853. The fort was abandoned in 1854, then reoccupied in 1856-57 by the U.S. Army and the Florida Mounted Volunteers.
This fort, as well as Forts Hartsuff, Green, Blount and Fraser, provided shelter for the settlers and helped create a sense of community. By the end of the war, the settlement stretched from the river to the fort.
During the Civil War, the Union army burned the fort. The fort property was later acquired by Cuthbert Rockner. He sold half of it, extending from Oak to Orange Ave. and from Broadway to NE 6th St., in 1871 to Confederate veteran James M. Manley. Manley sold it in 1883 to Lewis W. Hooker, and the fort and barracks were demolished in about 1890.
This memorial was erected to honor Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, who served at Fort Meade as a lieutenant in 1851. It was placed here by the Gen. E.M. Law Camp, sons of Confederate Veterans, on July 4, 1983.
This home was built by the then-mayor of Fort Meade in 1904.
The first Episcopal service was held on September 26, 1886, in the home of Mr. and Mrs. A.J. Bulloch. Many English settlers increased the membership by 1887, necessitating a move to the Methodist church building.
The present sanctuary was built in a Frame Vernacular style with Gothic Revival elements in 1889 by Thomas A. Atkins, based on the design of architect J.H. Weddell. It began with one room and a three-story bell tower, and is likely the oldest religious structure remaining in Polk County. It is unusual in its use of horizontal drop siding. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 6, 1976.
The first attempt at organizing a Baptist church occurred in 1874, but disbanded in about 1882.
A church was built here in 1907 on land donated by Dr. O.B. Lewis. The present sanctuary was erected in 1952.
The Fort Meade High School building started with the brick east wing, constructed in 1912. In 1915, the west wing was built. An arcade and second floor hall connected the two, and the combined structure was dedicated here on March 2, 1916. A large bell was installed in the connecting corridor in November 1919. All 12 grades attended here until Lewis Elementary School opened in 1926. It was later replaced by a new facility on N. Edgewood Dr.
The congregation moved from the corner of Church Ave. and NE 3rd St. to this lot. Note the original cornerstone embedded in the wall for the original First Methodist Episcopal Church. The stained glass windows were made in 1911.
The first public library was opened in 1885. H.D. Hester served as its secretary.
In the 1910s, J.J. Barden operated a grocery store here.
This 24-room hotel was built in 1905 as the first hotel in the newer (post-railroad) section of Fort Meade. It was originally built south of Broadway, and was run by Mr. and Mrs. Reif. The kitchen had a huge wood stove, central counter, large pots and pans, and other amenities which made it a model for its era. It had a good reputation throughout the south.
The main business district, nearly two miles to the east of here near the river in the 1880s, was connected to the railroad station here by a horse-drawn street railway.
The first State Bank of Fort Meade opened on July 1, 1890, with A.A. Parker as its president. This new brick bank building was constructed in 1916.
Fort Meade originally incorporated in 1884 or 1885, with William Thompson serving as the mayor. It reincorporated in 1909 with Dr. O.B. Lewis as mayor. The city hall was completed here on March 3, 1927, at a cost of $41,903.
This church was established in 1903, and its first pastor was Rev. C.H. Wright. The sanctuary was dedicated on September 18, 1911, while Rev. E.J.W. Day was the pastor. The present sanctuary was dedicated on June 26, 1960.
This church was established in 1894 by Revs. C.C. Brown and George W. McClendon, who served as its first pastor. Their first meeting place was in a small log house about one-half mile southeast of this site, and in 1893 they erected a small frame building. This site was purchased in June of 1908 from Deacon Thomas Sims and the church was rebuilt. The present sanctuary was rebuilt in 1943.
Philip Dzialynski, C.B. Lightsey and R.C. Langford owned a school here, which opened during the summer of 1885. Its construction was overseen by teacher J.F. Marsh. With two stories, older and younger students could be separated.
For a time in 1886, the building housed two schools, a public one upstairs taught by Winfield S. Thompson, and a private one downstairs taught by Lula B. Marsh. After ten days of classes, Thompson withdrew and his school was combined with the more popular private one.
This is now the site of Lewis Elementary School, first called Lewis Grammar School (named after Dr. O.B. Lewis) when it opened in 1926.
During the 1860s, the International Ocean Telegraph Company established a road along its telegraph wire for maintenance access. It came to this settlement from Homeland at approximately the intersection of Palmetto Ave. and 9th St. It then ran to this point and turned to run easterly across the river, then south to Punta Rassa. This road was first called Wire St., then Main St., then Broad St., then Broadway. In other portions of the state, the maintenance road called Wire Rd.
In 1884, a wooden school was started at this intersection with lumber furnished by R.C. Langford and E.B. Lightsey. Construction was finally completed by the installation of ceilings in 1905. Classes were taught by Prof. John Marsh and his sister, Lula Marsh. This road, then known as Broad St., was first paved in July of 1893. It was bricked in 1916.
This frame house was built in 1914.
Seth French of Sanford built a hotel here in 1883-84, and named it the French House. For 18 months, it was managed by J.L. Bettis. In late 1885, Mrs. A.J. Bulloch took over the management and it was renamed the Fort Meade Hotel.
In August of 1907, Dr. W.F. Zander began publishing The Fort Meade Observer newspaper at this corner. The town had been without a local newspaper for several years, since The Fort Meade Exponent had gone out of business. The Observer printing plant burned down on September 5, 1909, and Dr. Zander traded what remained for E.L. Hockersmith's drug store. Hockersmith relocated the paper to the Canter and Lewis Building and continued publishing into 1910.
In 1883, Philip Dzialynski opened a livery stable here. He had opened the Dzialynski House hotel in 1881, and also was the vice president of the Tampa & Fort Meade Telegraph Company, which connected to Tampa by wire in 1877-78.
J.C. Rockner & Company established a general store here in 1870.
A school opened here in 1868, adjacent to the Rockner Store. The building also became the early temporary home of the Methodist Church.
In 1878, on land which is now the southern extension of Church Ave., a store was established by Hooker & Snodgrass, a firm composed of James N. Hooker and Cyrus Adams Snodgrass. In less than a year, Howard Acree Snodgrass bought out his father's interest, and sold it in 1882 to Hooker. As J.M. Hooker & Company, the business operated until the 1890s.
An important Seminole War battle occurred on June 14-16, 1856, on and near the property of Willoughby Tillis. His house was surrounded by Seminoles who fired at the openings between the logs of the cabin then occupied by Tillis, his wife, their three children, and Thomas Underhill. The Indians killed the 12 horses but were unable to burn down the house.
Two nearby boys heard the shooting and ran to the fort, with seven soldiers returning to confront the Indians, one of which was killed. On the next day, Lt. Streaty Parker and his men moved against the Indians and discovered them on June 16. Five of the 19 soldiers died in the battle, along with as many as 20 of the Seminoles. Lt. Alderman Carlton, William Paker, Lott Whidden, George Howell, and Robert F. Prine are buried here in a common grave.
Although the Seminoles were unsuccessful in burning the property, the Union army was not, leaving the homestead in ashes by the end of the Civil War.
A Guide to National Register Sites in Florida, (Florida Department of State 1984)
The Billy Bowlegs War, 1855-1858: The Final Stand of The Seminoles Against the Whites, by James W. Covington (The Mickler House Publishers 1982)
Century In the Sun: A History of Polk County, Florida, by Ed McNeely and Al R. McFadyen (Polk County Centennial Committee 1961)
Florida Historic Stained Glass Survey: Sites of Historic Windows in Public Facilities in the State of Florida, by Robert O. Jones (Florida Members of the Stained Glass Association of America 1995)
Florida Historical Markers & Sites, by Floyd E. Boone (Gulf Publishing Company 1988)
Florida's Fabled Inns, by Louise K. Frisbie (Imperial Publishing Company 1980)
Florida's History Through Its Places: Properties in the National Register of Historic Places, by Morton D. Winsberg (Florida State University 1988)
Florida's Peace River Pioneers, by Canter Brown, Jr. (University of Central Florida Press 1991)
Fort Meade 1849-1900, by Canter Brown (The University of Alabama Press 1995)
Guide to Florida's Historic Architecture, (University of Florida Press 1989)
History of Polk County, Florida, by M.F. Hetherington (The Mickler House 1971)
History of the First South Florida Missionary Baptist Association (1888-1988), by Altermese Smith Bentley (The Mickler House 1988)
Peace River Pioneers, by Louise K. Frisbie (E.A. Seeman Publishing, Inc. 1974)
Yesterday's Polk County, by Louise K. Frisbie (E.A. Seeman Publishing, Inc. 1976)
Click here for a copy of the trail rules.