Freemanville is a section of Port Orange,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

that was settled by freed blacks after the

U.S. Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states t ...

. John Milton Hawks brought freed blacks to the area to work at his sawmill, but a variety of issues caused it to fail and the colony struggled. Some colonists remained in the area and settled the area that later became known as Freemanville. The Mount Moriah Baptist Church (constructed in 1911) is believed to be the area's last remaining remnant building. A commemorative plaque and an annual Freemanville commemoration celebrate the area's heritage. Esther Hill Hawks established what may have been Florida's first integrated school to serve the area.

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