Kingsley Plantation Research Paper

In 1814, during Florida 's plantation period, a man named Zephaniah Kingsley moved to Fort George Island where he began purchasing many acres of land for plantations. He had owned plantations in White Oak, Laurel Grove, San Jose, Twelve Mile Swamp, and Drayton Island. Owning over 32,000 acres of this east Florida area, it was later renamed the Kingsley Plantation where he had a work force of over 60 slaves. Kingsley was a wealthy planter and slave owner who fought for fair treatment of free blacks and slaves and for this reason the Kingsley Plantation is saved as symbol of freedom and changing land. Despite his efforts, he failed at minimizing their harsh treatment and eventually left Florida to settle in Haiti with his wife and three sons in the 1830 's. The plantation was then sold to Kingsley 's nephew Kingsley Beatte Gibbs around 1839. However, by the end of the Civil War, the plantation are shifted from being mainly agricultural to a recreation. This recreation era started when the Rollins Family moved into Kingsley Plantation, remodeling it and renaming it the Homestead. They started selling the land and creating hotels and clubs; country clubs Ribault Club and Fort George Club were built in the 1920 's and are now part of Florida 's state park.

The National Park Service has decided to preserve the Kingsley Plantation and its huge acres of land as public national park. Many of the clubs, hotels, and buildings that remain standing are made of a unique cement-like mixture called Tabby. Tabby was made by mixing cooked whole oyster shells in a kiln, adding water to slake the shells so that they broke down into a cement mixture. This mixture was used to make bricks, slave quarters, buildings, barn, kitchens and much more. Because the mixture was so unique, being that it was left by the Timucuan Indians, the National Park Service uses it to repair old torn buildings to save this historic