Evergreen Hills Plantation was a large

cotton plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

of 6700 acres (27 km²) located in eastern

Leon County, Florida Leon County is a county in the Panhandle of the U.S. state of Florida. It was named after the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León. As of the 2020 census, the population was 292,198. The county seat is Tallahassee, which is also the state cap ...

, United States established by Green H. Chaires.

Location

Evergreen Hills was located in 2 tracts. The first tract was bordered Joseph John Williams'

La Grange Plantation La Grange Plantation was a large cotton plantation of located in central Leon County, Florida, Leon County, Florida, United States established by Joseph John Williams. Location La Grange Plantation was located just east of Tallahassee in 2 tracts ...

on the north and the

Francis Eppes Plantation The Francis Eppes Plantation was a cotton plantation of 1,920 acres (8 km2) situated in east-central Leon County, Florida, United States and established by Francis W. Eppes in 1829. Location The Francis Eppes Plantation bordered Evergreen ...

to the east. The second tract was at the east end of

Lake Lafayette, Florida Lake Lafayette is a prairie lake located in the coastal lowland in eastern Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida with US 27 / State Road 20 running close on its south side. History Prehistoric Originally known as Prairie Lake, Lake Lafayette is ...

and bordered a 2nd tract of Chemonie Plantation on the east. Green's Evergreen Hills Plantation, with Benjamin's Vendura Plantation and Thomas Peter's Woodlawn Plantation, would form the community hub of

Chaires, Florida Chaires (pronounced as ) is an unincorporated community located just east of Tallahassee in Leon County, Florida, United States. It is located near the intersection of Chaires Cross Road and Capitola Road, northeast of Lake Lafayette and the E ...

. In 2000 the community of Chaires was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. Today the Chaires-Capitola Community Park, the neighborhoods around Chaires Cross Road, Green Oak Drive, Boykin Road, Boyette Lane, Bucklake Road, Farraway Farms and others occupy the land.

Plantation specifics

The Leon County Florida 1860 Agricultural Census shows that the Evergreen Hills Plantation had the following: * Improved Land: 3600 acres (15 km²) * Unimproved Land: 3100 acres (13 km²) * Cash value of plantation: US$53,600 * Cash value of farm implements/machinery: $900 * Cash value of farm animals: $11,460 * Number of persons enslaved: 135 * Bushels of corn: 6000 * Bales of cotton: 350

The owner

Green Hill Chaires' brother was Benjamin Chaires who laid out and named the area of

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

in 1822. Green Hill Chaires had a son named Green Averitt Charles. Chaires is also listed as a voter in First Florida Election of 1845. During Florida's Territorial Period (1821–1845). Green Hill Chaires along with brothers Benjamin of Vendura Plantation and Thomas Peter of Woodlawn Plantation moved to Leon County establishing very large plantations. Green Hill Chaires' first plantation started large and eventually grew to 20,000 acres (80 km²) and had a large home on

Lake Lafayette Lake Lafayette is a prairie lake located in the coastal lowland in eastern Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida with US 27 / State Road 20 running close on its south side. History Prehistoric Originally known as Prairie Lake, Lake Lafayette is t ...

. During the

Second Seminole War The Second Seminole War, also known as the Florida War, was a conflict from 1835 to 1842 in Florida between the United States and groups collectively known as Seminoles, consisting of Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans and ...

of 1835–1842, Chaires' wife and two of his children along with several slaves were massacred and the home was destroyed. Aside from being a plantation owner, Green Chaires built the state's first plank road, which connected Leon County plantations to the Gulf Coast shipping communities of Newport and St. Marks. Also on the transportation end, Chaires was on the 1861–1865 Board of Directors of the

Tallahassee Railroad The Tallahassee Railroad, headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida, was one of the first two railroads in Florida, starting operations in 1836 or 1837. It did not successfully use steam locomotives until 1855, with trains being pulled by mules for mo ...

References

Rootsweb Plantations1845 voters
*Paisley, Clifton; ''From Cotton To Quail'', University of Florida Press, c1968. Seminole Wars Plantations in Leon County, Florida Cotton plantations in Florida {{Florida-plantation-stub