Cedar Tree Kingsley Plantation

Title

Cedar Tree Kingsley Plantation

Artist

D Hackett

Medium

Photograph - Digital

Description

Cedar Tree Kingsley Plantation by D Hackett

Florida's Oldest Plantation Home Built by slaves in 1798 as the centerpiece of a massive plantation on Fort George Island, the Kingsley Plantation house is the oldest plantation house in Florida.

Florida was then a Spanish colony and the plantation was symbolic of many such that developed in the extreme northeast corner of the future state. American planters came across the border from Georgia looking for rich lands where they could grow cotton, tobacco, sugar cane, corn and other crops.

A unique structure, the Kingsley Plantation House actually shows that considerable thought went into its design and construction. Built with numerous angles and numerous windows, the house was designed so that windows could be opened in all directions to let breezes blow through to bring comfort to the residents inside.

The front of the home faces the Fort George River, a common feature of many plantation houses. The river, not the road, was then the focal point of the farm and the primary route of transportation and communication for the farm. Schooners and barges were loaded there with Sea Island cotton and other crops for transport to market.

In 1814 the plantation became the home of Zephaniah Kingsley and his African wife, Anta (Anna) Madgigine Jai. A planter who came to Florida in 1803, Kingsley married Anna after purchasing her as a slave in Cuba in 1806. He legally freed both her and their children in 1811.

The Kingsley family prospered under Florida's Spanish government. Anna was her husband's partner in the operation of the farm and she also owned land and slaves of her own.

Things changed in 1821 when the United States gained possession of Florida. Laws were implemented greatly restricting the activities of both slaves and free blacks. Zephaniah Kingsley fought against such laws. Despite the fact that he owned slaves, he was an early proponent of treating people according to their abilities, not their color.

He debated with lawmakers over the civil liberties of free blacks and even wrote a major treatise on the subject. By the 1830s, however, the situation became intolerable for the Kingsleys and they decided to leave the country.

Giving 50 of his slaves their legal freedom, Zephaniah Kingsley relocated them along with Anna and their two sons to Haiti, which had become a free black republic following a bloody revolution. He died in 1843, but was long survived by Anna who eventually came back to Florida where she died in the 1870s.

The Kingsley Plantation is now maintained by the National Park Service as part of the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve. The park preserves not only the main house and kitchen, but thousands of acres that were once part of Zephaniah and Anna Kingsley's farm.

Dotting the landscape can be seen many features of the plantation, including an original barn, the waterfront, a garden where samples of Sea Island cotton, indigo and other crops can be seen and the ruins of the slave cabins.
The slave quarters of the farm, one of which has been restored, were actually not very different than the homes lived in by most average Floridians of the time. Each had two rooms, one of which included a fireplace for cooking and heat, while the other served as a bedroom.

The cabins are uniquely arranged in a long semicircle, similar to the design of many African villages. Visitors actually approach the house via the slave cabins and barn, since the front of the home faced toward the river.

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October 5th, 2020

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