I discovered this cool bit of history from Atlas Obscura. Look for it on the side of the road on Old Dixie Hwy, two miles north of Tomoka State Park.
Built in 1825 the Dummitt Sugar Plantation was once owned by Colonel Thomas H. Dummitt, an...
Read MoreI discovered this cool bit of history from Atlas Obscura. Look for it on the side of the road on Old Dixie Hwy, two miles north of Tomoka State Park.
Built in 1825 the Dummitt Sugar Plantation was once owned by Colonel Thomas H. Dummitt, an officer in the British Marines turned planter. He purchased it from the plantations of John Bunch who built the houses and buildings and John Addison. Dummitt named the plantation Carrikfergus and in its hey day the Dummitt Sugar Plantation once harvested 20,000 acres of sugar cane to be distilled into rum. Interestingly it had the first steam powered cane crushing mill built by an Irish engineer at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. It provided four times the power of water fueled mills.
During grinding season 100 slaves and 40 Native Americans would heat the sugar cane juice and process it into molasses. It was stored in three cisterns before being processes into rum. Area Native Americans would then trade game for rum. The Dummitt family lived on the plantation in a log house with palmetto thatched roof until they fled during the war for St. Augustine where Colonel Dummitt passed away in 1839 at the age of 64.
The plantation was burned down during the Second Seminole War in early 1836 after the Dummitt family had already left. At that time the United States government was attempting to forcibly remove all Native Americans out west under the Indian Removal act. Those who refused to go stayed and fought in the Second Seminole War. All that is left of the old sugar mill is the ruins of an irregular brick and coquina wall and twin chimneys. I was disappointed to see it was fenced off but there are other sugar mill ruins in the area like the Bulow Plantation that I hope to explore soon.
Restaurants
Hotels
Services
Stores
Lawyers
Health
Things To Do
Churches
Transportation
Walmart