Palatka, Florida

==History==

[[File:Bird's-eye View of Palatka, FL.jpg|thumb|left|Palatka c. 1880]]
The area was once the domain of the [[Timucuan]] peoples, two tribes of which existed in the Palatka region under chiefs [[Saturiwa]] and [[Agua Dulce people|Utina]]. They fished [[bass (fish)|bass]] and [[mullet (fish)|mullet]], or [[hunting|hunted]] [[deer]], [[turkeys]], [[bear]] and [[opossum]]. Others farmed [[beans]], [[Maize|corn]], [[melons]], [[Squash (fruit)|squash]], and [[tobacco]]. However, [[infectious disease]] that came with European contact and war devastated the tribes, and they were extinct by the mid-18th century. The last people evacuated with the Spanish to [[Cuba]] in 1763, when Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain after the [[Seven Years' War]].

During the late eighteenth century, Creek tribes made their way to Florida.  In a process of [[ethnogenesis]], the [[Seminole]] tribe was formed.  They called the location ''Pilo-taikita'', meaning "crossing over" or "cows' crossing". Here the [[St. Johns River]] narrows and begins a shallower, winding course upstream to [[Lake George (Florida)|Lake George]] and [[Lake Monroe (Florida)|Lake Monroe]].

In 1767, [[Denys Rolle (1725–1797)|Denys Rolle]] (1725–1797), an English gentleman and philanthropist, established Rollestown on the east bank of the St. Johns River at the head of deep-water navigation. His {{convert|78,000|acre|km2|adj=on}} [[plantations in the American South|plantation]] was a  commercial experiment, recruiting settlers off the streets of [[London]], including paupers, vagrants, pickpockets and "penitent prostitutes". Two hundred [[indentured servants]] arrived to clear wilderness for agriculture and livestock. Unaccustomed to either hard work or a subtropical climate, however, they left. Rolle next purchased slaves from West Africa, using them to tend chickens, hogs, goats and sheep, or produce cotton, indigo, citrus and turpentine for export to Europe.

He built a mansion and laid out a village, but trouble beleaguered the "ideal society". In 1770, a disgruntled overseer sold over 1,000 of his employer's cattle and disappeared with the money. Rolle hired new overseers and bought more slaves, but the plantation failed to prosper. When Spain resumed control of Florida in 1783, Rolle abandoned the colony and chartered a ship to carry his household belongings, livestock and slaves to a {{convert|2,000|acre|km2|adj=on}} estate on [[Exuma|Great Exuma]] in the [[Bahamas]]. The point, in East Palatka, is still called Rollestown.

With control by different powers in Florida came  changes of ownership in Pilo-taikita, now contracted to ''Pilatka''. In 1774, naturalist [[William Bartram]] noted an [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indian]] village on the west bank, but it was abandoned later . The current existence of Palatka can be traced to the settlement established there in 1821.<ref>''Columbia-Lippincott Gazetteer'', p. 1413.</ref> After the United States acquired Florida in 1821, Nehemiah Brush established a [[ferry]] and bought a {{convert|1,200|acre|km2|adj=on}} tract in 1826 and another of equal size the next year. The site became a distribution point, where goods were shipped by a [[New York (state)|New York]] company to supply immigrants at the Grant of Arredondo, which lay to the west.

The arrival of land-hungry American settlers created confrontations with the resident Seminole. When the government attempted to relocate the tribe to the west of the Mississippi as part of [[Indian Removal]] starting in 1833, the [[Seminole War|Second Seminole War]] began. The Seminole attacked and burned Pilatka in 1835. Recognizing the site's strategic importance for control of the St. Johns River, the main artery into [[Central Florida]], the US Army in 1838 established Fort Shannon, named for Captain Samuel Shannon. It included a [[garrison]], supply depot and hospital. By 1842 most of the Seminole had moved to Indian Territory, and consequently Fort Shannon was abandoned by the army in 1843. Settlers made use of the military piers and buildings, including eight blockhouses, to develop the town. By 1847, it was growing rapidly. In 1849, Putnam County was created, with Pilatka the county seat. With the help of Judge Isaac H. Bronson, it was incorporated as a city on January 8, 1853.

[[File:Larkin House, Palatka, FL.jpg|thumb|left|Larkin House c. 1880]]
[[File:Front Street, Palatka, FL.jpg|thumb|left|Second Street c. 1880]]
During the 1850s, Florida in general and Pilatka in particular gained a reputation as a haven for invalids escaping northern winters. Steamboats carried them up the river in increasing numbers. One visitor wrote that amusements included "sailing, fishing, rowing, walking, riding in buggies and on horseback, whist, euchre, backgammon and hunting".

The tourist trend was interrupted by the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], when [[gunboat]]s cruised the waters and Pilatka was destitute and largely deserted. On October 7, 1862, the [[USS Cimarron (1862)|USS ''Cimarron'']] fired several [[shell (projectile)|shells]] over the town after seeing some [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] [[cavalry]]. Mary Boyd pleaded with [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] Commander [[Maxwell Van Zandt Woodhull|Maxwell Woodhull]] to spare Pilatka, assuring him that the horse soldiers were not residents. He complied.

Among the notable residents of Pilatka during the war was Confederate spy [[Lola Sánchez (Confederate spy)|Lola Sánchez]] and her sisters. Sánchez became upset when their father was falsely accused of being a Confederate spy by the members of the Union Army and imprisoned. Officers of the Union Army then occupied their residence in Palatka, Florida. On one occasion Sánchez overheard various officers’ planning a raid and alerted the Confederates forces. As a result, the Confederate forces, led by Capt. [[John Jackson Dickison]], surprised and captured the Union troops on the day of the supposed raid in what is known as the Battle of Horse Landing.<ref name="LE">"The Latino Experience in U.S. History"; publisher: Globe Pearson; pages 155-157; {{ISBN|0-8359-0641-8}}.</ref><ref name="SS">[http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art40197.asp "Hispanic Confederate Heritage – The Sanchez sisters"] by Rebecca M. Cuevas De Caissie.</ref>

Following the war, the tourists returned, and new accommodations were constructed including the Putnam House, built by [[Hubbard L. Hart]], and the Larkin House, which could accommodate 250 guests. Steamers ran up the [[Ocklawaha River]] to [[Eustis, Florida|Eustis]], [[Leesburg, Florida|Leesburg]] and [[Silver Springs, Florida|Silver Springs]], or the St. Johns River to [[Enterprise, Florida|Enterprise]] and [[Sanford, Florida|Sanford]]. Industries included logging, raising cattle and hogs, and orange groves. On May 24, 1875, the post office changed the spelling to Palatka.

By the 1880s, several competing [[railroad]]s crossed the community, which became an important [[railroad junction|junction]]. These included the Florida Southern Railroad, the [[Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railroad]], the St. Augustine and Palatka Railway, and the [[Georgia Southern and Florida Railroad]].  On November 7, 1884, Palatka suffered a devastating fire. Guests arrived that season to find no accommodations, and so continued on the train south; this was the beginning of a gradual shift of tourism elsewhere. The city lost trade, shipping and transportation preeminence to Jacksonville, on the coast. With its downtown rebuilt in brick to be fireproof, Palatka emerged a finer place.

In 1893, A. E. and H. S. Wilson of [[Saginaw, Michigan]] bought the Noah J. Tilghman & Son sawmill, which processed cypress lumber. Renamed the Wilson Cypress Company, it expanded operations and became a major employer. At its peak, it was the second largest cypress mill in the world, but closed in 1944. The [[Great Freeze]] of 1894 and 1895 destroyed Palatka's citrus groves for five years, which were formerly a major attraction. The ill-fated [[Cross Florida Barge Canal]] was once intended to pass the city. Today, tourism remains important.