Kat Sack here! Sometimes Katastrophic Sackrilege to the running community, but most definitely The Mountain Lioness to those who follow and join my adventures. I currently call Tallahassee, FL home. The mountains are my favorite place to be and explore but given my location, I dive into other types of rad places too!

I created this blog as a personal project to document my adventures. Photos are great, but I love text describing more of the story and to recall what I have learned. I am no expert at outdoorsy activities, but I learn as I go! If you end up here, I hope you can get something out of it.

My original focus was on backpacking, hiking, camping, kayaking, and mountain biking. I have thus shifted the scope as I discovered my love for National and State Parks. I have the National Parks Passport and the Florida State Parks passport which have allowed me to discover places I originally would never have seen. Now I write about national monuments, history, run-cations, etc.

At some point I hope to dive into personal growth as well with topics including self-sufficiency and improvement, turning boredom into adventure, steps to heal my body and mind, and overcoming social adversities.

Life is an adventure. Go outside. Pay attention to all that is around you. Get lost in the moment. Everything has a story. Listen for it, even if you do not speak the same language.

Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Historic State Park [FL]

Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Historic State Park

FL State Parks Quest [33/175]

Homosassa, FL

30 September 2018 [My 27th Birthday!]


Introduction

Not all state parks are a large oasis filled with bountiful hiking trails and cool freshwater spring for swimming. Some are created for the purpose of maintaining historical structures that are a part of Florida history. Established as a Florida State Park in 1953, the sugar mill was later added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 12, 1970.

Now for a brief history lesson with information from:
- FL State Parks: Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Historic State Park - History [1], and
- Wikipedia: David Levy Yulee [2]

David Levy Yulee - the owner of this once thriving sugar plantation

  • June 12, 1810 (St. Thomas, under British control) - October 10, 1886, of Jewish ancestry [Source 3]
  • Member of Florida's first constitutional convention (1838-1839, 1841) [Source 1]
    • See my blog post on the Constitutional Convention Museum State Park for more information about this convention [Coming Soon]
  • Member of the Florida Territorial Legislative Council prior to Florida's statehood [Source 1]
  • After FL became a state, he was selected as Florida's first U.S. Senator [Source 1].
    • The first person of Jewish ancestry to be elected to and serve on the Senate [Source 2].
  • Founded the Florida Railroad Company, among having high rankings in other companies, receiving the nickname 'Father of Florida Railroads' [Source 2].
  • After the Civil War - 
    • As a white supremacist, he supported slavery and the secession of Florida from the Union [Source 2].
    • He served an imprisonment of nine months at Fort Pulaski [GA] for assisting Jefferson Davis's escape [Source 2].
      • My blog post on Fort Pulaski: [Coming Soon]
    • Pardoned by President Andrew Johnson and then moved back to Florida to keep working the railroad and other businesses [Source 2].
  • Recognition in Florida [Source 2]:
    • Yulee, FL - Named after him.
    • Levy County, FL - Named after him.
    • A statue of Yulee in Fernandina Beach, FL

The Sugar Plantation

  • 5,100-acres [Source 1].
    • Sugarcane, citrus, cotton [Source 3]
  • The steam-driven mill operated 1851-1864 [Source 1]
    • Produced sugar, syrup and molasses - the molasses was used to make rum! [Source 3]
  • 1851 - The mill consisted of expensive machinery from New York [Source 1]
  • American Civil War
    • 1861 - Beginning of the Civil War [Source 1]
    • Mill became a sugar product supplier for Southern troops [Source 1]
    • The mansion transformed into a supply stockpile [Source 1]
    • May 1864 - A Union Naval force burned the home. The mill wasn't harmed but also never reopened [Source 1]
Current remnants include a forty-foot limestone masonry chimney, iron gears, and a cane press [Source 1].

Park Profile

  • Region: Central West
  • Year Established: 1953
  • Location
    • Physical Address: SR 490 Homosassa, FL 34446
    • GPS: 28.784252, -82.607922
    • Google Maps
  • Phone: 352.795.3817
  • Fees: FREE
  • Hours: 08:00 - Sundown, 365 Days/Year
  • FL State Parks Website
  • FL State Parks Brochure: N/A
  • FT Ranger on Duty: No
  • Passport Stamp Location: Available in 3 other parks
    • Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park
    • Crystal River Preserve State Park
    • The Museum at Crystal River Archaeological State Park

The Gear


The Story

September 30 is my birthday! My present to myself was the Keeper Tour at the Big Cat Sanctuary during the morning, and then some chill adventuring on the journey back to Tallahassee. We first visited Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park since it has specific closing hours, and then we drove the five minutes to check out and get the full experience of Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Historic State Park.

The park is essentially in two parts - one on each side of the road. If you drive on the correct road, do not look for a park sign. Look for the ruins. Yulee doesn't have the privilege of having one of the big, formal park signs. It's just got a small one. A dinky sign for a dinky park I guess.

Park Part I - The Mill

The mill's ruins are the reason this exists as a state park. 

There are signs that mark the locations of the various mill processes, beginning with where he machinery would remove the juice from the sugarcane. The next sign [depicted below, and also could use a cleaning] describes the steam engine and gears.


Kettles and Operation

The mill consisted of five kettles built into the furnace. The cane juice flows from the settling vats into the largest, coolest, and farthest away kettle - the "grande". The furnace fire is under the "batterie" kettle, where the chimney draft pulled this heat to the other four kettles through the shared furnace. The cane juice makes its way from largest/coolest kettle to to the smallest/hottest, hand dipped all the way, and finally resulting syrup. 

Then begins the "strike" (sugar) stage. The syrup is ladeled into a trough, then poured into large wood vats, and sugar crystals would start to form as the liquid cooled. Once hardened, it was carried to the "purgery" where it would be cured and packed in hogsheads.


Curing Room "Purgery"

This room is not part of the remains, but the sign for it is placed at the likely location. They stored the hogsheads (barrels) for 20-30 days until "all the molasses had dripped from the sugar into a cistern in a recess under the room". They sold off the molasses for rum-making. They then refilled the partially emptied hogsheads with sugar and kept them stored until shipment.

Park Part II - The Park

After checking out the ruins, we crossed the street back to where the truck was parked. This side boasts some very large, very beautiful live oak trees. There is a decent-sized picnic pavilion that I believe can be reserved.

I love taking pictures of trees so check them out along with this interesting water fountain.

Even though this is a little park, it does have restroom facilities.

Pictured here is a canal immediately East of the park that leads to the Homosassa River.

Old Mill Tavern

While we were exploring and learning, there was a live band playing. Feeling the need to sit down and relax before continuing the journey, we checked out Old Mill Tavern. I was in the midst of a personal challenge of going 30 days without alcohol, and this was Day 28/30. I ALMOST gave in, until we saw the "Kid's Specialty Drinks" part of the menu. I ordered a Shirley Temple + Pineapple ?= Pineapple Temple.

Another state park down - now back to Tally town.
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Location: Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Historic State Park, Co Rd 490, Homosassa, FL 34448, USA

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