Kinhega Lodge was a hunting and fishing plantation located in northern Leon County,

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 ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Lake Iamonia Lake Iamonia is a large, subtropical prairie lake in northern Leon County, Florida, United States, created during the Pleistocene epoch. History Forming Iamonia Lake Iamonia's base was established during the Early Pleistocene through submerg ...

. From the 1830s through 1866 the land was part of the cotton plantation known as

Water Oak Plantation Water Oak Plantation was a small cotton plantation of located in northern Leon County, Florida, United States established by Richard Bradford. Location Water Oak was located in the general area of Bradfordville. Adjacent plantations: *Pine H ...

owned by Richard Bradford.

Horseshoe Plantation

In 1901, Clement A. Griscom, a businessman and shipping magnate from

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

whose family gained much wealth after the

American 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 th ...

with the

American Line The American Line was a shipping company founded in 1871 and based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It began as part of the Pennsylvania Railroad, although the railroad got out of the shipping business soon after founding the company. In 1902, it ...

and

Red Star Line The Red Star Line was a shipping line founded in 1871 as a joint venture between the International Navigation Company of Philadelphia, which also ran the American Line, and the Société Anonyme de Navigation Belgo-Américaine of Antwerp, Belgiu ...

purchased and plantation house in the horseshoe bend of

for $5300 (~$ in ) from R. E. Lester, the son of Capt. William Lester of Oaklawn Plantation. From 1902 through 1903 Griscom purchased land from heirs of

Burgesstown Plantation Burgesstown Plantation was a large cotton plantation, forced-labor farm of in northern Leon County, Florida, United States established by Frederich R. Cotten between 1850 and 1855. Cotten used the forced labor of Slavery in the United States, en ...

, the Whitehead family, and many other owners retaining the name of

Horseshoe Plantation Horseshoe Plantation is an cotton plantation located in northern Leon County, Florida and established around 1840 by Dr. Edward Bradford, a planter from Enfield, North Carolina. It is currently owned and maintained by Frederic C. Hamilton. M ...

. The plantation eventually was more than in size with over of woodland drives. When Clement A. Griscom died on October 19, 1916,

was divided up and part sold.

Lloyd C. Griscom Lloyd Carpenter Griscom (November 4, 1872 – February 8, 1959) was an American lawyer, diplomat, and newspaper publisher. Early life Lloyd Griscom was born on November 4, 1872, at Riverton, New Jersey. He was the son of shipping magnate Clement ...

received on the west side naming it

Luna Plantation Luna Plantation was a quail hunting plantation located in northeastern Leon County, Florida, United States established by Lloyd C. Griscom. Lloyd C. Griscom was the son of Clement A. Griscom from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Clement was a shippi ...

while

Frances C. Griscom Frances Canby Griscom (19 April 1879 – March 30, 1973) was an American amateur golfer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States and part-time resident of Tallahassee, Florida. Griscom won the 1900 U.S. Women's Amateur held at Shinnec ...

, a sportswoman, received of the old plantation to the east and named it

. Frances Griscom was the 1900 United States Women's Amateur Golf Champion.History of the McBride School
/ref> Kinnega Lodge 2009

Becoming Kinhega

In 1951 Frances Griscom sold a large part of Water Oak Plantation to J.C. (Bull) Headley, a recent transplanted from

Kentuckian Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

. Griscom retained Water Oak with a few hundred acres of land. Headley turned his property into

Bull Run Plantation Bull Run Plantation was a private estate owned by Julien C. (Bull) Headley (Heed-Lee) located in Leon County, Florida, United States. History Originally a large part of Water Oak Plantation owned by Frances C. Griscom, Headley purchased all but ...

, a luxurious farm which grew in agricultural output. Headley ran several hundred head of

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...

and continued with operations as a hunting plantation. In 1964 Headley sold his hunting lodge and to

Gillis Long Gillis William Long (May 4, 1923 – January 20, 1985) was an American politician and lawyer who served as a U.S. representative from Louisiana. He was a member of the Long family and was the nephew of former governors Huey Long and Earl Long a ...

, a Congressman from

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

and assistant secretary of the

Office of Economic Opportunity The Office of Economic Opportunity was the agency responsible for administering most of the War on Poverty programs created as part of United States President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society legislative agenda. It was established in 1964 as an i ...

under President

Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

. A group of hunters, golfers, and fishing enthusiasts also got involved and the property became Kinhega Lodge. The lodge was more a

water fowl The Anatidae are the biological family of water birds that includes ducks, geese, and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all the world's continents except Antarctica. These birds are adapted for swimming, floating on ...

and fishing lodge and supplied members with four man-made lakes, including nearby

Lake Monkey Business Lake Monkey Business is a private park and lake not opened to the public located in northern Leon County, Florida and within the planned private community of Killearn Lakes Plantation. History Though the lake was created by Julian C. "Bull" Head ...

, a lake for

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...

s, plus

. Though some

quail hunting Quail hunting is a hunting sport. There are 21 subspecies of northern bobwhite, a ground-dwelling bird native to the United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Many of the common larger species are hunted as game birds. History The archaeological ...

took place, it was not as prevalent as the quail hunting plantations nearby. In 1963 Kinhega was reorganized and took in members from

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

among others. Membership was at 100 with Gillis Long still involved. Another prominent member was Jack Ladd, a vice-president of Holiday Inns of America in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

Photo gallery

File:Lake Iamonia gallery002.jpg, View of Lake Iamonia File:Kinega Lodge grounds01.jpg, Live oaks at Kinega File:Kinega Lodge grounds03.jpg, South lawn File:Kinega Lodge grounds02.jpg, Lake view through trees Adjacent plantations: *

to the east *

to the west *

Ayavalla Plantation Ayavalla Plantation was a quail hunting plantation located in northwest Leon County, Florida, established by John Henry Howard Phipps, son of John Shaffer Phipps of the prominent Phipps family. Ayavalla was the Indian word used by Ellen Call Long ...

to the south Kinega would eventually become Kinhega Lodge Estates, Limited. In the early 1970s the property sold again to investors who developed the property into Killearn Lakes Plantation, a development of 4,500 homes.

References

{{coord, 30.581, -84.226, display=title Historic buildings and structures in Leon County, Florida Plantations in Leon County, Florida