BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Clay County’s Historic Preservation Board continued work on bringing two new state historic markers to the Lake Region.
The board met in Green Cove Springs on September 5 to discuss a state marker for the City of Keystone Heights, coinciding with the municipality’s 100th anniversary next year. The panel also addressed a plaque marking the site of Fort 11, a Second Seminole War barracks near the city’s current city hall that guarded the road between Palatka and Ocala.
Board member and Keystone Heights resident Dierdre Murphy said she plans to ask the city council for permission to erect the state marker about the municipality on city property during the council’s next meeting.
Board member Jerry Casale told his colleagues that based on research he had done documenting Army orders during the war, General Zachary Taylor was at Fort 11 when it was dedicated.
Casale said his research challenged some of the earlier narratives about the outpost, including its exact location. He stated that the consensus on the fort’s location could be a block to the north of the actual site.
The board member also questioned the prevailing theory that the fort was healthier than other forts because of its proximity to Lake Geneva’s fresh water.
Casale said he uncovered several requests from the post’s commanders asking for replacements for sick soldiers and one requesting volunteers to replace the fort’s entire muster because of illness.
Casale also said he found an order from Colonel William Worth, the last commander of the Army of Florida. The order turned over possession of the fort in 1842 to a group of settlers moving into the Lake Region from the Black Creek area.
Casale added that according to Worth, Fort 11 had strategic value because of its proximity to the Etoniah Scrub, a known route for Indian raiding parties. After Fort 11, along with several other outposts, were closed due to a change in strategy, Seminole raids re-emerged, including an attack in Jacksonville’s Mandarin area and an ambush on settlers traveling to St. Augustine.
The board is also working on historical markers to educate the public about the Middleburg Colored School, the Branan Field Outlying Landing Field, the Middleburg Museum and Civil War Center, and St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Green Cove Springs.
