Italia is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in Nassau 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, located near the center of the county. It is a ''Florida Heritage Site''.

Geography

Italia is located at (30.6164, -81.7172). It was built nearly 20 miles north of the historical center of

Jacksonville 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 ...

History

The village of Italia was founded in 1882 by Irish-born entrepreneur William MacWilliams (1840-1887). It was located at milepost 18 on the Florida Transit Railway, which ran from Fernandina on the Atlantic coast to Cedar Key on the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

. The owner of the railroad, former Senator David Yulee, convinced MacWilliams to build a brick manufacturing facility here, and promised to buy the first million bricks. Bricks made at Italia were used in residential and commercial buildings in Fernandina and other locations in northeast Florida. Italia soon included a depot, post office and general store. MacWilliams continued to promote the development of the village. Some Italians moved to live in the small village. In 1883, Nathan Levan built a wood-shingle mill that produced shingles for the roofs of homes and businesses throughout Nassau and Duval counties; Andrew J. Higginbotham built a sawmill. By 1885 the thriving village had over 300 inhabitants from Georgia, South Carolina, Maryland and Pennsylvania and a few Italian families from

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

. MacWilliams named the place "Italia" after a then-current Florida marketing campaign which promoted the state as "America's Italy" for its temperate climate and peninsular shape. In 1905, Thomas J. Shave moved from

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 ...

and built a turpentine still. Within five years, turpentine was the primary product of the area. Shave later sold the turpentine still to Joseph P. and Frederick H. Higginbotham, son and grandson of the first sawmill owner. Italia's main asset was always the railroad which carried the brick, lumber, shingles, turpentine and rosin to market. The fatal blow came in the 1920s when the railroad was diverted from Callahan to Gross, bypassing Italia. The businesses of Italia were no longer competitive and were forced to close or move to better locations. In the 1930s a new highway, State Route 200, was built through Italia, paralleling the old railroad from Yulee to Callahan, but it came too late to revive the economy of Italia. Today, Italia is one of the many "ghost towns" that dot the landscape of Florida, but since the 1990s it is officially a ''Florida Heritage Site''.

Geography

History

References

See also