The Florida and Georgia Plank Road Company was one of five such

plank road A plank road is a road composed of wooden planks or puncheon logs. Plank roads were commonly found in the Canadian province of Ontario as well as the Northeast and Midwest of the United States in the first half of the 19th century. They were oft ...

companies incorporated by the

Florida legislature The Florida Legislature is the legislature of the U.S. State of Florida. It is organized as a bicameral body composed of an upper chamber, the Senate, and a lower chamber, the House of Representatives. Article III, Section 1 of the Florida Cons ...

in 1850, but was the only one built. (The

Jacksonville and Alligator Plank Road Company 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 ...

, incorporated 1851, only constructed part of its route, now Old Plank Road near Jacksonville.) Joseph and Green Chaires,

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 ...

owners, were granted a charter for the company. The original plan was for the road to start near Newport, Florida and run to near

Thomasville, Georgia Thomasville is the county seat of Thomas County, Georgia, United States. The population was 18,413 at the 2010 United States Census, making it the second largest city in southwest Georgia after Albany, Georgia, Albany. The city deems itself the "C ...

with spurs to

Tallahassee Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2020, the population ...

Monticello Monticello ( ) was the primary plantation of Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, who began designing Monticello after inheriting land from his father at age 26. Located just outside Charlottesville, V ...

and Quincy. By 1852, the plank road was completed to Old St. Augustine Road and the spur to Tallahassee was completed by 1855. The Plank Road intersected Old St. Augustine Road and it was near that intersection that during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, Captain Patrick Houston's father, Edward Houston, built the small "Old Fort" with earthworks still to be seen in a small city park in the Woodland Hills subdivision. The Plank Road was used into the 1890s, but eventually became disused. Although the "Old Fort" or Fort Houston was built during the Civil War and is associated with the

Battle of Natural Bridge The Battle of Natural Bridge was fought during the American Civil War in what is now Woodville, Florida near Tallahassee on March 6, 1865. A small group of Confederate troops and volunteers, which included teenagers from the nearby Florida Mil ...

, Captain Houston and his Kilcrease Light Artillery were nowhere near there during that battle. Rather his artillery was positioned near the center of the

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

line at the Battle of Natural Bridge.

References

Myers Park Neighborhood

Apalachicola Region Resources
History of Leon County, Florida History of Florida Florida in the American Civil War Historic trails and roads in Florida 1851 establishments in Florida Plank road {{Florida-stub