Pine Level is a

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...

in DeSoto 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. Pine Level was founded in the 1850s and had bars, saloons, courthouse, jail, stores, churches and homes. Gunfights were considered a common sight on the streets. In 1866, the site of what became Pine Level was chosen as the new county seat of

Manatee County Manatee County is a county in the Central Florida portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 US Census, the population was 399,710. Manatee County is part of the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its county s ...

to replace the

Manatee River The Manatee River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 18, 2011 river in Manatee County, Florida. The river forms in the northeastern corner of Manatee County an ...

village of Manatee (now the eastern section of

Bradenton Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698. History Late 18th and early 19th centuries A settlement established by Maroons or escaped sl ...

). Ostensibly Pine Level was chosen for its more central geographic location, but it may have been chosen to punish Manatee for its

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 ...

sympathies in 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 ...

.Pine Level, DeSoto Co, Florida in Desoto Co FLGenWeb Project
In 1887, Pine Level was included in the new DeSoto County carved out of Manatee County and it became the county seat of the new county and the seat of Manatee County was returned to Manatee. In 1889, however, the county seat of DeSoto County was moved from Pine Level to

Arcadia Arcadia may refer to: Places Australia * Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Arcadia, Queensland * Arcadia, Victoria Greece * Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese * Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...

. The

East and West Coast Railway The East and West Coast Railway was a railroad line running from Bradenton on the west coast of Florida southeast to Arcadia in the Peace River valley. Despite its name, the line never went all the way to the east coast of Florida. The line was ...

began construction of a route from Bradenton east to Arcadia in July 1913. The nearly 50 mile long line was completed and opened for operation on May 3, 1915. Pine Level was located on this line, 41 miles from its starting point in Bradenton. Pine Level had a depot, a 1,348' railroad siding and a 524' spur track. The railroad served a large saw mill at Pine Level. In July 1933, the Interstate Commerce Commission authorized the East & West Coast Railway to abandon the tracks from Bradenton to Arcadia. Most of the abandonment actually then took place in September 1934. Compiled in the late 1930s and first published in 1939, the Florida guide listed Pine Level's population as 30 and described the folklore associated with nearby Horse Creek: Today, all that remains of Pine Level is the Pine Level Methodist Church, the Indian Mound Cemetery, and the Pine Level Campground Cemetery. The site is marked by a State of Florida bronze marker.

References

External links

*http://www.fl-genweb.org/decole/desoto/desoto.htm ,FGenWeb Project,Inc.
ghosttowns.com - Pine Level
(photos) Ghost towns in Florida Former populated places in DeSoto County, Florida Former county seats in Florida {{DeSotoCountyFL-geo-stub