Miccosukee, Florida


Miccosukee is a former small unincorporated community in northeastern Leon County, Florida, United States. It is located at the junction of County Road 59 and County Road 151. Miccosukee was a major center of the Miccosukee tribe, one of the tribes of the developing Seminole nation, during the 18th century.

Geography

Miccosukee, like other unincorporated areas in northern Leon County, is an area of rolling hills dotted with ponds and lakes. The large, swampy Lake Miccosukee borders the eastern edge of the community.

History

The town of Miccosukee or Mikasuki was settled by members of the Miccosukee tribe, a group of Creek origin who had settled in Florida and become part of the developing Seminole nation. The Miccosukee often fought armed battles with white settlers. It was mapped by the British in 1778 and originally called Mikasuki with 60 homes, 28 families, and a town square. Some 70 gunmen protected the town. It was the capital of the short-lived State of Muskogee.
At the time he visited on his voyage of destruction in 1818, "Andrew Jackson and his men were stunned by the sheer size of the Miccosukee town. Having been occupied since before the American Revolution, it was a town of long-standing permanence." Jackson burned over 300 homes before departing on April 5, 1818. Whites estimated there were up to 500 warriors, and "the town was the largest in Florida at the time".
In 1831, a U.S. Post Office was built along with schools, churches, and stores. Eventually the area became a center of cotton plantations, as was most of Leon County. Prior to the Civil War Miccosukee had three cotton plantations nearby, Miccosukee Plantation, Ingleside Plantation and Blakely Plantation.
After the Civil War, the area reverted to farms and by 1887, the Florida Central Railroad served Miccosukee. During the 1890s, wealthy industrialists bought large tracts of land for quail hunting plantations or estates removing thousands of acres of land from agricultural production. Miccosukee thrived until the boll weevil infestation of 1918. The Great Depression destroyed Leon County's agriculture and the railroad pulled out in the mid-1940s.

Historical places

During the Civil War, soldiers from Miccosukee enlisted in Company K, 5th Florida Infantry and Company B, 1st Florida Cavalry. The following soldiers are interred at Runners Cemetery and other locations.

Community Facilities

Groups and organizations