A Walk Through the History of Fort George Island

Time Periods in Florida and Fort George Island history:

FLORIDA READMIITTED TO THE UNION (1868)
THE CIVIL WAR (1861-1865)
FLORIDA BECOMES THE 27 STATE IN THE UNION (MARCH 3rd, 1845)
UNITED STATES TERRITORIAL PERIOD (1821-1845)
PATRIOTS REBELLION (1811-1814)
SECOND SPANISH PERIOD (1783-1821)
BRITISH PERIOD (1763-1783)
FIRST SPANISH PERIOD (1565-1763)
NATIVE AMERICAN PERIOD (500 B.C.-A.D. 1565)

National Events
February 16, 1988 President Ronald Reagan establishes the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve through the efforts of Florida Congressman Charles E. Bennett

1964 Civil Rights Act passed by Congress making racial discrimination illegal
1941-1945 World War II

1929-1941 Great Depression

1917-1918 U.S. involvement in World War I

May 3, 1901 Great Fire of Jacksonville

1898 Spanish-American War

1880s- 1890s Henry Flagler develops the Florida East Coast Railroad

1868 Florida readmitted to the Union

1865-1876 Reconstruction of the South.

1865 Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution passed banning slavery in the United States

February 20, 1864 Battle of Olustee, Florida

January 1, 1863 The Emancipation Proclamation given by President Abraham
Lincoln abolishing slavery in the Confederacy is enacted

January 10, 1861 Florida secedes from the Union to become the third state to join the Confederacy

1850s Third Seminole War

March 3, 1845 Florida joins the Union

1835-1837 Second Seminole War

July 10, 1821 Spanish Governor Jose Coppinger formally transfers control of Florida to the United States through U.S. Army Colonel Robert Butler in a St. Augustine ceremony

1819 Adams-Onis Treaty makes Florida a United States territory

1818 First Seminole War

1817 Pirates Gregor MacGregor, and later Luis Aury, capture Amelia Island from the Spanish. U.S. Army troops return the island to the Spanish

1811-1814 War of 1812; Patriots Rebellion in Florida

1783 Second Treaty of Paris returns Florida to Spanish control from the British

1775-1783 American Revolution

1763 The Treaty of Paris makes Florida a British possession, removing it from Spanish control

1756-1763 The French and Indian War

1740 British troops under General James Oglethorpe lay siege to St. Augustine

1738 Spanish Governor Manuel de Montiano established the free Black settlement of Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose (Ft. Mose) two miles north of St. Augustine

1702 South Carolina Governor James Moore burns the city of St. Augustine

1672-1695 Castillo de San Marcos constructed in St. Augustine

1619 A Dutch ship lands in Jamestown, Virginia and sells twenty African captives -- the first Africans in North America.

1565 French Fort Caroline destroyed by the Spanish under the leadership of Pedro Menendez. Menendez established the city of St. Augustine.

1564 French Huguenot captain Rene de Laudonniere builds the fort and
settlement of La Caroline.

May 1, 1562 Frenchman Jean Ribault establishes contact with the Native Americans in Northeast Florida, near the mouth of the St. Johns River, which Ribault called the River of May.

1518 The Spanish crown authorizes the direct shipment of slaves from Africa to the Americas

1513 Juan Ponce de Leon claims “La Florida” for Spain.
.
Fort George Island Local Events

National Park Service acquires Kingsley Plantation. 1991

Florida Park Service acquires Kingsley Plantation 1955

Ribau!t Club built on the site of the former Fort George Hotel. 1928

Admiral Victor Blue buys the plantation grounds from the Rollins
family and organizes the Army-Navy Club of Fort George Island. 1923

Fort George Hotel burns 1889

Saint George Episcopal Church built. 1877

Fort George Hotel built. 1875

Anna Kingsley dies in Jacksonville, Florida. July 1870

John Rollins owns Fort George Island, converting it from
agricultural to recreational uses. 1869-1895

Charles Barnwell owns Fort George Island 1860-1869

Charles Thomson owns Fort George Island. He has the tabby
house constructed at the south end of the island 1854-1855

John Lewis owns Fort George Island. 1853-1854

Anna Kingsley returns to Jacksonville, Florida, from Haiti 1847

George Kingsley dies while at sea returning to Jacksonville, Florida, from Haiti. 1846

Zephaniah Kingsley dies in New York City at age 78. September 13, 1843

Zephaniah Kingsley’s nephew, Kingsley Beatty Gibbs, owns Fort George Island 1839-1853
Anna Kingsley and her sons, George and John, move to Haiti and establish the plantation of Mayorasgo de Koka 1837

Youngest son of Zephaniah and Anna Kingsley, John Maxwell, born at Kingsley Plantation November 22, 1824

Zephaniah Kingsley owns Fort George Island. He has the kitchen house, barn and slave cabins constructed and operates a sea island cotton slave plantation. 1814-1839

John Houstoun McIntosh owns Fort George Island. He operates a sea island cotton slave plantation and becomes a leader of the Patriots; Rebellion 1804-1814

Zephaniah Kingsley marries a slave from Senegal, West Africa
named Anta Majigeen Ndiaye (Anna) in Havana, Cuba 1806

Zephaniah Kingsley immigrates to Spanish Florida. 1803

John McQueen (Don Juan Reyna) owns Fort George Island. He builds the plantation house and operates a Sea Island cotton slave plantation 1791-1804

Naturalists John and William Bartram visit Fort George Island. 1766

Richard Hazard owns Fort George Island. He operates an indigoslave plantation. 1765-1771

James Oglethorpe builds British Fort Saint George on Fort George Island. 1736

San Juan del Puerto destroyed by Carolina Governor James Moore. 1702

Spanish mission San Juan del Puerto established on Fort George Island by Franciscan friars. 1587

Jean Ribault claims Fort George Island for France. 1562

Last updated: February 1, 2018

Park footer

Contact Info

Mailing Address:

12713 Fort Caroline Road
Jacksonville, FL 32225

Phone:

904-641-7155

Contact Us