Oaklawn Plantation was a large plantation of 5326 acres (21½ km²) in northern Leon County in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

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 ...

. It was established around 1850 by Captain William Lester (born December 24, 1790) of

Burke County, Georgia Burke County is a county located along the eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia in the Piedmont. As of the 2020 census, the population was 24,596. The county seat is Waynesboro. Burke County is part of the Augusta-Richmond County, GA- ...

Location

Oaklawn Plantation was located on two tracts of land. The first and northernmost tract would become what is now parts of Killearn Lakes Plantation and the private hunting preserve 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 ...

and extending south to Bradfordville. The second and southernmost tract would become properties on Ox Bottom Rd and edge Thomasville Road.

Plantation statistics

The Leon County Florida 1860 Agricultural Census shows that Oaklawn Plantation had the following: *Improved Land: 1200 acres (5 km²) *Unimproved Land: 4440 acres (18 km²) *Cash value of plantation: $26,720 *Cash value of farm implements/machinery: $600 *Cash value of farm animals: $5,925 *Number of slaves: 156 *Bushels of corn: 5000 *Bales of cotton: 300

Plantation home

The plantation home was known as The Lester-Lauder House. The house was an

antebellum Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to: United States history * Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern United States ** Antebellum Georgia ** Antebellum South Carolina ** Antebellum Virginia * Antebellum ar ...

I-house The I-house is a vernacular house type, popular in the United States from the colonial period onward. The I-house was so named in the 1930s by Fred Kniffen, a cultural geographer at Louisiana State University who was a specialist in folk archit ...

with Carolina type porch and enclosed rear shed rooms.

The owner

In 1834, prior to coming to Florida, Lester became the head of

vigilante Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without Right, legal authority. A vigilante (from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese “vigilante”, which means "sentinel" or "watcher") is a pers ...

committee called "The Regulators" during the funeral of a Mr. Roundtree. In May 1846, the Florida Superior Court the grand jury investigated the deaths of two

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

citizens at the hands of The Regulators. Judge Scarborough instructed the grand jury not to indict The Regulators for murder, but to issue a warning that they would be indicted the next time. The grand jury called on the officers of The Regulators to dismiss the body that was no longer needed for the purpose it was organized. William Lester was a signee to the Southern Rights Association of Centreville District on secession from the Union for the protection of Southern interests and the vindication of Southern rights to preserve and protect the Constitution in its purity as the basis of Federal compact, and the only foundation on which the Union of the States was made, or on which that Union should be preserved. By 1870, he owned 5,000 acres (20 km²) of land in

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 ...

, and Florida. Lester Cemetery had an ornamental iron fence. An obelisk marked the location of Captain Lester and his wife Rhoda. A total of 11

interment Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

s with brick vaults were at this cemetery before its removal. Pieces of pearlware sherd were found around the graveyard. In 1997, the Lester-Lauder house was razed to the ground to make way for a commercial interest called Bannerman Crossing.Bannerman Crossing
/ref>

References

{{coord missing, Florida Plantations in Leon County, Florida Cotton plantations in Florida