The William Bailey Plantation was a large

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 ...

of 2510 acres (10 km²) located in central

Leon County, Florida Leon County is a county in the Panhandle of the U.S. state of Florida. It was named after the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León. As of the 2020 census, the population was 292,198. The county seat is Tallahassee, which is also the state cap ...

, United States established by William Bailey.

Location

The William Bailey Plantation had 3 tracts of land. The first tract bordered the William A. Carr Plantation on the north and east. It bordered the second tract 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 ...

on the west. Today, this land would edge the west side of N. Meridian Road near Gardner Road on the north and south including eastern parts of Miller Landing Road, the black neighborhoods on Louis John Lane, China Doll Drive, Paremore Road, Sandy Springs Lane and Thompson Circle to and including eastern

Elinor Klapp-Phipps Park Elinor Klapp-Phipps Park is an open natural park located in northern Tallahassee, Florida, United States and operated by the City Of Tallahassee. The property is owned by Northwest Florida Water Management District. History The land was original ...

. The second tract to the east bordered

Oaklawn Plantation Oaklawn Plantation may refer to: *Oaklawn (Huntsville, Alabama), listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) *Oaklawn Plantation (Leon County, Florida) *Oaklawn Plantation (Natchez, Louisiana), listed on the NRHP *Oaklawn Manor Oak ...

on the north side and the William A. Carr Plantation on the west. Today this land encompasses parts of Killearn Estates and other developments on the east side of Thomasville Road and the eastern Ox Bottom Road on the west side of Thomasville Road. The third tract was the farthest south and east of the capitol. Today this land encompasses Hillaman Golf Course, Governor's Square Mall, western Apalachee Parkway, and western Old St. Augustine Road.

Plantation specifics

The Leon County Florida 1860 Agricultural Census shows that the William Bailey Plantation had the following: * Improved Land: 825 acres (3 km²) * Unimproved Land: 564 acres (2 km²) * Cash value of plantation: $42,670 * Cash value of farm implements/machinery: $945 * Cash value of farm animals: $4817 * Number of slaves: 80 * Bushels of corn: 4,000 * Bales of cotton: 352

William Bailey

William Bailey was a Georgian that came to Jefferson County in the 1820s. His acquisition of Leon County land began in 1850 with the tracts displayed. By 1860, Bailey still owned plantation property in Jefferson Co. on the

Aucilla River The Aucilla River rises in Brooks County, Georgia, USA, close to Thomasville, and passes through the Big Bend region of Florida, emptying into the Gulf of Mexico at Apalachee Bay. Some early maps called it the Ocilla River. It is long and ha ...

. The Union Bank building in Tallahassee was purchased in 1847 by William Bailey and Isaac Mitchell after it closed in 1843 due to the

Panic of 1837 The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis in the United States that touched off a major depression, which lasted until the mid-1840s. Profits, prices, and wages went down, westward expansion was stalled, unemployment went up, and pessimism abound ...

Second Seminole War The Second Seminole War, also known as the Florida War, was a conflict from 1835 to 1842 in Florida between the United States and groups collectively known as Seminoles, consisting of Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans and ...

, and unsound banking practices. William Bailey also served on the Tallahassee Railroad Board of Directors 1861–1865. William Bailey was also a general 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 ...

. He died in 1867.

References

Rootsweb PlantationsFlorida Historical Markers Program
*Paisley, Clifton; ''From Cotton To Quail'', University of Florida Press, c1968. Plantations in Leon County, Florida Cotton plantations in Florida {{Florida-plantation-stub