The Wandering Disciple

These tabby ruins are all that remain to the slave cabins of the Kingsley Plantation. These provide a reminder to a period of history with many painful memories. These 25 cabins were home to up to 80 slaves that worked on the plantation. But unlike the antebellum slaves, these slaves were from the Spanish occupation in Florida. Today the ruins of the cabins have been preserved to help tell the story of all the early settlers of the region, from the plantation owners all the way to the plantation slaves. (Photo: December 30, 2020)

  Much is known about horrors of slavery in the southern United States, but did you know that slavery existed in Spanish ruled Florida.  While the labor was still intensive, Spanish slavery had more rights and even a pathway to freedom.  The Spanish Florida had three classes of people;  whites, free people of color and slaves.  Slaves could earn their freedom though tasks on plantations like the Kingsley Plantation near the mouth of the St Johns River.  Here the plantation was partially run by a freed slave Anna Madgigine Jai.  You can learn about life as a Spanish slave and plantation life at the restored Kingsley Plantation on Fort George Island near Jacksonville.  (Photo: December 30, 2020)