A civilian community coalesced at Fort Meade under the pressures of the Billy Bowlegs War of 1855-58. Quickly the village developed as a cattle industry center, which was important to the Confederacy until its destruction in 1864 by homegrown Union forces. In the postwar era the cattle industry revived, and the community prospered. The railroads arrived in the 1880s, bringing new settlers, and the village grew into a town. Among the new settlers were well-to-do English families who brought fox hunts, cricket matches, and lawn tennis to the frontier.

Irishman George Fleming arrived in Spanish East Florida in 1783. He established Hibernia on an island in the St. Johns River that is known today as Fleming Island. Hibernia became home to George's children and grandchildren, and in the course of over two hundred years, seven generations of the Fleming family have called it home. Among his descendants are Southern planters, soldiers, and statesmen most notably Francis Philip Fleming, the fifteenth governor of Florida. In the mid-nineteenth century, the Fleming family transformed Hibernia into a winter hotel that became a celebrated destination in the early days of Florida tourism and into the twentieth century. Today, Hibernia is a small residential enclave where a few remnants of the Fleming family's rich history still stand to remind us of days gone by. Author Scott Ritchie is part of the Fleming family by marriage. George Fleming is the fourth great-grandfather of Ritchie's children, who were all born in their home of Hibernia.

A Land Remembered has become Florida's favorite novel. Now this Student Edition in two volumes makes this rich, rugged story of the American pioneer spirit more accessible to young readers. Patrick Smith tells of three generations of the MacIveys, a Florida family battling the hardships of the frontier. The story opens in 1858, when Tobias and Emma MacIvey arrive in the Florida wilderness with their son, Zech, to start a new life, and ends in 1968 with Solomon MacIvey, who realizes that his wealth has not been worth the cost to the land. Between is a sweeping story rich in Florida history with a cast of memorable characters who battle wild animals, rustlers, Confederate deserters, mosquitoes, starvation, hurricanes, and freezes to carve a kingdom out of the Florida swamp. In this volume, meet young Zech MacIvey, who learns to ride like the wind through the Florida scrub on Ishmael, his marshtackie horse, his dogs, Nip and Tuck, at this side. His parents, Tobias and Emma, scratch a living from the land, gathering wild cows from the swamp and herding them across the state to market. Zech learns the ways of the land from the Seminoles, with whom his life becomes entwined as he grows into manhood. Next in series > > See all of the books in this series

Katherine Scott Sturdevant shows you how to use social history -- the study of "ordinary people's everyday lives" -- to add depth, detail, and drama to your family's saga. Book jacket.

Elias Fort was born before 1646 and died in 1677/1678.

Although best known as the winter home of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, Fort Myers has one of the most engaging and extraordinary histories of any city in Florida. The spawn of a hurricane, Fort Myers began as a U.S. Army post during Florida's Seminole Wars. During the Civil War, it became a battleground between Confederates and Yankees for cattle and, after the war, a gun-slinging cowboy town. New York cartoonist Walt McDougall blew into the area on a fishing trip, and his glowing description lured down other wealthy Yankee sportsmen who helped turn this isolated frontier town into a modern tourist destination. Historian and author Cynthia Williams explores the hidden stories behind the growth of this beautiful city.