Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins

Beneath a dense canopy of old live oaks, the Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins are a familiar landmark to anyone driving through Old Homosassa.

CR 490 snakes past it on the way to the river. However, it takes a brief stop and a walk around the interpreted site to understand its significance to this area.

The mill stands in a grove of live oaks along Yulee Dr

Resources

Resources for exploring the area

Central Florida Orlando Explorers Guide book cover

Hikers Guide to the Sunshine State book cover

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Overview

Location: Homosassa
Length: 0.2 mile loop
Trailhead: 28.78429,-82.607662
Address: CR 490, Homosassa
Fees: Free
Restroom: None
Land manager: Florida State Parks
Phone: 352-795-3817

Open 8 AM to sunset. Leashed dogs welcome.

Directions

From the intersection of US 19 and SR 44 in Crystal River, drive south on US 19 for 7.1 miles. Turn right on Halls River Rd. Go 0.6 mile and make a left on Fishbowl Dr. Continue 1.6 miles, passing through Homosassa Springs State Park, before the road jogs left and becomes Yulee Drive. Continue 0.4 mile to the parking area across the road from the prominent ruins.

About the Park

Serving as Florida’s first senator in the U.S. Congress in 1845, David Levy Yulee was a significant force in the early growth of the state.

In 1855, he became president and prime stockholder of the Florida Railroad Company, which built the Florida Railroad built from Fernandina Beach to Cedar Key.

It was the first significant railroad in Florida prior to the Civil War, opening up cross-state transfer of goods to ships headed towards the Caribbean and New Orleans.

Noted conservationist and author John Muir followed the route by foot in 1867 as part of his “Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf.”

Forest with a faint trace of an old linear railroad

Florida Railroad route at John Muir Ecological Park in the town of Yulee, west of Fernandina

Among his many interests in Florida, Yulee established a 5,100 acre plantation along the Homosassa River in 1851.

Born on St. Thomas in the Caribbean, he was brought to Florida as a child and grew up on his father’s vast holdings near the St. Johns River.

His father Moses Levy, for whom Levy County was named, intended to establish a colony for Jewish settlers.
When elected, Yulee became the first Jewish member of the U.S. Senate.

He later converted to Christianity and altered his name after marrying the daughter of a governor of Kentucky.

Yulee resided with his wife at Cotton Wood Plantation in Archer, a village west of Gainesville along his rail line

The timing of Yulee’s political career enabled him to build his railroad based on a framework for development our young state had just established.

In 1855, the Florida Internal Improvement Act set up the “Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund” to oversee draining swamps and cutting forests for farmland.

Both the Act and the Trustees still exist. The Trustees are now the Governor’s cabinet, and they hold title to all public lands in Florida.

Using the Act, Yulee received state land grants to acquire lands on which to build his railroad. Not just a linear right-of-way, but tracts of land to be sold once “improved.”

The Florida Railroad ended at Cedar Key

Laborers included immigrants and slaves. Enslaved workers tended Yulee’s Homosassa plantation, cultivating the sugar cane and grinding it for production at this mill.

Yulee argued for slavery in the U.S. Senate and worked with fellow senator Stephen Mallory of Key West to build up armaments at Florida’s coastal fortresses.

In January 1861, as part of a constitutional convention, the state’s General Assembly voted to seceded from the Union.

Narrowly escaping a bombardment of Fernandina on his railroad once the Union struck back, Yulee actively supported the Confederate cause with sugar sales and raw product.

Interpretive sign in front of large gears

The sugar mill used gears run by a steam boiler

In May 1864, a Union raiding party landed along the Homosassa River, burning Yulee’s home on Tiger Tail Island. Operation of the mill ceased.

In addition to the short interpretive walk around the structure, there is a picnic grove and picnic shelter adjoining the parking area.

Having assisted Confederate President Jefferson Davis in his escape after the war’s end, Yulee was arrested and imprisoned for treason.

Pardoned nine years later, Yulee returned to railroading. He did not reopen the mill. What you see is interpreted from its 1864 use.

Interpretation at the ruins

A paddle trip down the Homosassa River into Chasshowitzka National Wildlife Refuge lets you circle Tigertail Island, where Yulee’s plantation home once stood.

Its chimney was obvious to passing boaters until the palm hammock reclaimed the island.