February 13 Friday Field Trip- 4 Markers at Green Cove Springs Florida, Clay County

First was the Old Clay County Courthouse, which is actually part of a complex of old Buildings when Green Cove Springs was the county seat, before it moved. This structure is also on the National Register of Historic Places.  














Inscription. When Clay County was created in 1858 by the Florida Legislature, Middleburg was named as temporary county seat. As a result of an 1859 election, Whitesville (Webster), became the official county court site. Clay County's 1st courthouse was located there. In 1871, Green Cove Springs was chosen as the new county seat. Courts met there in 1872, but it was 1874 before a 2 story frame courthouse was completed. In 1889, a new, large 2-story brick building was ready for use. The Old Clay County Courthouse served as the seat of county government until 1973. This structure was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.  

Next marker was The Village Improvement Association Woman's Club, which was across the street from the Post Office on Palmetto Boulevard.  

Inscription. On February 20, 1883, the Village Improvement Association (V.I.A.) of Green Cove Springs was organized. Meetings were held in members’ homes. Money was raised to beautify the town, most of which was used for boardwalks, and 70 feet of clay pavement was laid. In 1888, the V.I.A. formed a children’s auxiliary known as the Star Branch, and ran the first public library until December 1961, when the Clay County Public Library was formed. A kindergarten was maintained from 1900 to 1904 in the public school building, with the V.I.A. assuming most of the expenses. In 1889 the V.I.A. was incorporated. In 1895, a member of the Borden Milk Company family, Mrs. Penelope Borden Hamilton gave the V.I.A. its first permanent home and the lot where the present building stands. That same year, the V.I.A. became a charter member of the Florida Federation of Woman s Clubs and acquired membership in the General Federation in 1898. The present building, designed by Architect Mellen C. Greeley (1880-1981) of Jacksonville, was built in 1915 at a cost of $4,589.49 and formally dedicated on February 18, 1915. The V.I.A. continues as an important unit of the community, devoted to social, educational, and beautification projects.
A Florida Heritage Site


On the way into town, at the bridge on Florida 16 at the St. Johns's River, are two markers:
First, on the way in, is one of the series of markers about William Bartram, the site of his Plantation:

In 1766 on the banks of the St. Johns River at Little Florence Cove, William Bartram attempted to farm a 500-acre land grant. Bartram had spent much of the previous year exploring the new British Colony of East Florida with his father, John Bartram, the Royal Botanist for America under King George III. When John Bartram returned home, near Philadelphia, the younger Bartram stayed in Florida. He hoped like many other settlers to make a fortune exporting cash crops such as indigo and rice. Using six enslaved Africans, Bartram cleared the forest and planted, but within a year he abandoned his farm and returned home. Bartram was known in England for illustrating his father's botanical specimens. Between 1773-1777 patrons financed Bartram's further exploration of the American Southeast. In 1791, he published his observations in Travels Through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida, one of the most influential travel accounts of the American frontier. Rather than write a mere scientific catalog, Bartram produced a joyful and tender portrait of a virgin land "with an infi

nite variety of animated scenes, inexpressibly beautiful and pleasing" which inspired the poets of England's Romantic Movement.A Florida Heritage Site sponsored by the St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners and the Florida Department of State. 

In 1773, he embarked upon a four-year journey through eight southern colonies. Bartram made many drawings and took notes on the native flora and fauna, and the Native American Indians. In 1774, he explored the St. Johns River, where he had memorable encounters with aggressive alligators, and also visited a principal Seminole village at Cuscowilla, where his arrival was celebrated with a great feast. He met Ahaya the Cowkeeper, chief of the Alachua band of the Seminole tribe. When Bartram explained to the Cowkeeper that he was interested in studying the local plants and animals, the chief was amused and began calling him Puc Puggy (the flower hunter).  Bartram continued his explorations of the Alachua Savannah, or what is today Payne's Prairie. William Bartram wrote of his experiences exploring the Southeast in his book Travels through North & South Carolina, East & West Florida, the Cherokee Country, the Extensive Territories of the Muscogulges, or Creek Confederacy, and the Country of the Chactaws, Containing an Account of the Soil and Natural Productions of Those Regions, Together with Observations on the Manners of the Indians, published in 1791 and which is today simply known as Bartram's Travels. Ephraim George Squier and Edwin Hamilton Davis, in their book, Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, name Bartram as "the first naturalist who penetrated the dense tropical forests of Florida."

Across the River, on the Clay County Side, is a marker for and old Fort: Fort Francisco de Pupo:

Inscription. Pupo is first mentioned in 1716 as the place where the trail from the Franciscan Indian missions and the Apalachee (present-day Tallahassee) to St. Augustine crossed the river. The Spanish Government built the fort on the St. Johns River some time before 1737. Pupo teamed with Fort Picolata on the Eastern shore. These forts protected the river crossing and blocked ships from continuing up stream. In 1738 after an attack by the British-allied Yuchi Indians, the fort was enlarged to a 30-by-16 blockhouse, surrounded by a rampart of timber and earth. During General James Oglethorpe's 1739-40 advance on St. Augustine, Lt George Dunbar unsuccessfully attacked Pupo on the night of December 28th. On January 7th and 8th, Oglethorpe himself took two days to capture the Spanish blockhouses. Oglethorpe reinforced the fort with a trench, which is still visible. Upon the British retreat from Florida, Fort San Francisco de Pupo was destroyed. Though the fort was never rebuilt, the site remained a strategically important ferry crossing. In the 1820's Florida's first federally built road, the Bellamy Road, used the river crossing on the route between St. Augustine and Pensacola.

A Florida Heritage Landmark

Lots of good history stuff here!