How To Walk Around At Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Historic State Park

The Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins is just down the street from Homosassa Spring and a great place to add if you are around the area visiting the other Springs in the area.

It is a great place to have a picnic or a walk around the learn about the history.

The historical value is unbelievable. There is limited parking at the place but unless your having a picnic, it only take about a half an hour to an hour to visit.

The park has a great pathway with lots of signs about the history and the way the sugar mill works. The ruins are great to show the inter workings.

Brief History

The Sugar Mill was owned by David Levy Yulee who was one of Florida’s prominent Jewish businessmen and the first Jewish U.S. Senator.

In 1851, Yulee started the Margaria Plantation which was 5,000 acre and had over 1,000 enslaved people. This was his mill that process sugar cane into syrup, molasses, and rum which was a large cash corp at the time.

But the Civil War brought a change to the plantation and the mill. The blockade stopped the movement of sugar. Yulee was imprisoned by the Union Army who burned the plantation and his home on Tiger Island for aiding in the escape of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. But the Union did not find the mill.

After the war and his release from prison, he would help develop a railroad across Florida. He would be remember with the town of Yulee and Levy County named after him, a statue in Fernandina Beach, and the WWII Liberty Ship SS David L. Yulee.

Books

Note: The links in this article for products are through the Amazon affiliate program. The Amazon affiliate program is no extra charge to you but if you buy something while going through the link, then you are helping me keep this site going.  Thank you in advance.

The Sugar Hand Book is a great bit of history. If you are really interested, please feel free to check it out for free or get a copy at Amazon above.