4/14/2012
Ellaville
Ellaville, FL
Located where the Suwannee and Withlacoochee Rivers merge, Ellaville is a ghost town.
The town was founded in 1861 by George Drew. George built a mansion on the bank of the Suwannee River and named the town after his servant Ella.
The town started out with a mill and after the Florida Railroad built a line through Ellaville, the town started booming. In the mid 1870's the town had a train station, a couple of schools and churches, commissary, sawmill, masonic lodge and a steamboat dock. Industrial output from the town included railroad car manufacturing, logging and turpentine production.
In 1876 George became the 12th governor of Florida. The saw mill later burned down and the town started to decline. With most of the pine logged from the area, there was not much left for Ellaville to produce. A bridge was built over the river in 1925. Soon after the rivers both flooded, the great depression set in, and the final hit was the post office closure in 1942.
The mansion was abandoned and finally burned to the ground in 1970. In 1986 a new bridge was built over the Suwannee river, leaving the old bridge abandoned.
Currently you can park in the area, walk across the bridge, and if you're adventurous enough, you can hike through the woods and find the old remnants of the mill and even an old cemetery.
There is one remaining resident of Ellaville, who happily talks about all things past. The house he lives in has a gruesome past as well. I will have to dig up the stories we wrote down from this adventure and write a blog article about it.
Located where the Suwannee and Withlacoochee Rivers merge, Ellaville is a ghost town.
The town was founded in 1861 by George Drew. George built a mansion on the bank of the Suwannee River and named the town after his servant Ella.
The town started out with a mill and after the Florida Railroad built a line through Ellaville, the town started booming. In the mid 1870's the town had a train station, a couple of schools and churches, commissary, sawmill, masonic lodge and a steamboat dock. Industrial output from the town included railroad car manufacturing, logging and turpentine production.
In 1876 George became the 12th governor of Florida. The saw mill later burned down and the town started to decline. With most of the pine logged from the area, there was not much left for Ellaville to produce. A bridge was built over the river in 1925. Soon after the rivers both flooded, the great depression set in, and the final hit was the post office closure in 1942.
The mansion was abandoned and finally burned to the ground in 1970. In 1986 a new bridge was built over the Suwannee river, leaving the old bridge abandoned.
Currently you can park in the area, walk across the bridge, and if you're adventurous enough, you can hike through the woods and find the old remnants of the mill and even an old cemetery.
There is one remaining resident of Ellaville, who happily talks about all things past. The house he lives in has a gruesome past as well. I will have to dig up the stories we wrote down from this adventure and write a blog article about it.
