Horseshoe Plantation

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Horseshoe Plantation was a small cotton plantation located in northern Leon County, Florida and established around 1840 by Dr. Edward Bradford, a planter from Enfield, North Carolina.^[1]

It is currently owned and maintained by Frederic C. Hamilton.

Contents 1 Location 2 Plantation specifics 3 The 1900s 4 References

[edit] Location

Horseshoe Plantation bordered Edward Bradford's other property of Pine Hill Plantation to its south and was on both east and west sides of the road to Thomasville.

[edit] Plantation specifics

Also see Pine Hill Plantation

[edit] The 1900s

In 1901, Clement A. Griscom, a businessman and shipping magnate from Philadelphia whose family gained much wealth after the American Civil War purchased 978 acres (3.96 km²) and plantation house in the horseshoe bend of Lake Iamonia for $5300 from R. E. Lester, the son of Capt. William Lester of Oaklawn Plantation.

From 1902 through 1903 Griscom purchased land from heirs of Burgesstown Plantation, the Whitehead family, and many other owners retaining the "Horseshoe Plantation" name. The plantation eventually was more than 10,000 acres (40 km²) in size with over 25 miles (40 km) of woodland drives. The plantation house had a 700-foot (210 m) long piazza.

Griscom, an owner and breeder of Jersey cattle on his Pennsylvania farm, 'Dolobran,' brought 75 head to Horseshoe. Griscom also fancied pecans and had 75 acres set aside for their cultivation. In 1911 There were 80 tenant farmer families at Horseshoe Plantation. One-third of Horseshoe was cultivted by these tenant farmers with 1,200 acres (4.9 km²) in cotton and 1,500 acres (6.1 km²) in corn. The remainder of the plantation was put to use for bobwhite quail. ^[2]

On October 19, 1916, and after Clement Griscom's death, the eastern part of Horseshoe was sold to New Yorker George F. Baker, Jr. for $170,000. Baker was the son of George F. Baker, a wealthy financier and banker who was a financial associate of J. P. Morgan.^[3]

The western part of Horseshoe was divided into two separate plantations. Clement Grisom's son, Lloyd C. Griscom, established his 4,000-acre (16 km²) Luna Plantation, a winter residence in the east. It extended along the southern shores of Lake Iamonia westward to the Ochlockonee River. Frances C. Griscom, sister to Lloyd, established her Water Oak Plantation on the remaining 7,000 acres (28 km²) naming it for the antebellum plantation belonging to Richard H. Bradford.^[4]

[edit] References

1. ^ Bradford Genealogy (Crowell)
2. ^ Paisley, Clifton; From Cotton To Quail, University of Florida Press, c1968.
3. ^ Paisley, Clifton; From Cotton To Quail, University of Florida Press, c1968, p. 84.
4. ^ Paisley, Clifton; From Cotton To Quail, University of Florida Press, c1968, pp. 83-84.

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