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History Precolumbian
The first Paleoindians arrived in the area near Brevard county between 12,000 and 10,000 years ago. The Paleoindians were semi-nomadic people who lived in smaller groups. At that time, the earth was warming from its most recent ice age. The climate of the area then was very different from now; it was similar to that of Great Britain today. The area which today is Brevard County was probably not coastal at this period in time. The coast of Florida was about 100 miles (160 km) wider and the Indian River was simply a lower point on dry land.
After a few thousand years, perhaps by around 3000 B.C. peninsular Florida resembled the land of today; in shape, climate, fauna, and flora. The ocean had risen enough to flood the Indian River with salt water.
About this time, a new group of settlers appeared known as "the archaic people." These people were primarily fishermen, as opposed to the hunting and gathering way of life which characterized the Paleoindians. It is believed that these were the ancestors of the Native Americans who would come in contact with the Europeans when they arrived.
From Spanish rule to statehood
The Ais and the Jaega were the dominant tribes in the area when it is thought that Ponce De Leon landed on the shores near Melbourne Beach in 1513. There were about 10,000 of these natives in the area.
In 1565, French survivors from Jean Ribault's Fort Caroline whose ship the Trinite wrecked on the shores of Cape Canaveral and from whose timbers, a fort was built.
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés gave an early account of the Ais Indians in 1570 when he was shipwrecked off of Cape Canaveral. He faced hostile natives but though the use of a bluff was able to escape from them and get back to St. Augustine.
In 1605, Alvero Mexia was dispatched from St. Augustine to the Indian River area on a diplomatic mission to the Ais Indian Nation. He helped establish a "Period of Friendship" with the Ais Caciques (Chiefs) and made a color map of the area.
Heavy mosquito infestation and the threat of Indian attacks kept the area from having any permanent white settlements. The Spanish quickly left the area, but left a deadly reminder of their visit: European diseases. In 1763, the Spanish took the last 80 natives to Cuba. Within 200 years, almost the entire precolumbian population of Florida had died out. Creek Indians from the north quickly swept down from Georgia and the Carolinas to fill the void. These Indians became known as the Seminole. Their activity in Brevard County was intermittent and usually not permanent.
Throughout the 18th century, the great European powers Spain, Great Britain and France vied for power in Florida. Their interest in the peninsula was more strategic than for building any real settlements. In contrast to today, where living in Florida means comfort and the "good life" to many people, Florida in the 18th century was seen as a hostile place with dangerous fauna such as venomous snakes, alligators and panthers. Death by malaria was a possibility and death at the hands of angry Indians seemed even more likely. After being under Spanish, French, British, and then Spanish rule again, Florida finally became a United States territory.
In 1837, Fort Ann was established on the eastern shore of the Indian River on a narrow strip of land on Merritt Island. During the construction of the Hernández–Capron Trail, General Joseph Hernandez and his militiamen encamped near present-day Mims. These settlements were short lived and were abandoned shortly thereafter.
Statehood to 1900
Boundaries of Brevard County in 1855, when it was renamed from St. Lucie CountyIn 1845, Florida became the 27th state of the Union.
During the 19th century, the state of Florida was constantly changing the names and borders of counties. St. Lucie County was split off from Mosquito County in 1844. St. Lucie County was renamed Brevard County in 1855 after Theodore Washington Brevard, who served as Florida Comptroller from 1854 to 1860. This "Brevard County" contained very little of present-day Brevard County. Most of present-day Brevard north of Melbourne was part of either Volusia or Orange counties. Brevard County in 1856 extended as far west as Polk County and as far south as coastal Dade County. Complicating the discussion of Brevard County in the 19th century is that the boundaries have shifted such that the southernmost parts of present-day Brevard, were originally the northernmost parts. The original county seat was located at Susannah, an early name for present day Fort Pierce. Later the southern part of Brevard split off to form a new county, St. Lucie County in 1905.
Gradually, the borders of Brevard County were shifted northward while the county got "pinched" eastward. The portions of Brevard County in present-day Broward and Palm Beach counties were given to Dade County, western areas of the county were given to Polk and Osceola County, and parts of Volusia and Orange Counties were given to Brevard including the eventual county seat of Titusville. Later, the southern portion of the county was cut off to form St. Lucie County, which in turn spawned Martin and Indian River County.
The first permanent settlement in present-day Brevard was established near Cape Canaveral in 1848. After the establishment of a lighthouse, a few families moved in and a small, but stable settlement was born. Gradually, as the threat of Seminole Indian attacks became increasingly unlikely, European Americans began to move into the area around the Indian River. In the 1850s a small community developed at Sand Point, which eventually became the city of Titusville. Unlike other areas of Florida, the American Civil War had little effect on Brevard County, other than perhaps to slow the movement of settlers to the area.
In 1864, the county seat was moved to Bassvile, an area presently in Osceola County on the southeast shore of Lake Tohopekaliga. In 1874, the county seat was moved to Eau Gallie. Then in 1875 the seat was moved to Lake View.
In 1870, the Barber–Mizell feud erupted due to resentment over Reconstruction, a boundary dispute with Orange County, and cattle taxation.
Boathouse, Titusville, Florida 1885.
By the 1880s, the cities along the Indian River included Melbourne, Eau Gallie, Titusville, Rockledge, and Cocoa. Unlike cities further inland in Florida, these cities did not have to rely as heavily on roads. The primary way of transversing the county was by water. In 1877 commercial steamboat transportation became a reality as the steamboat Pioneer was brought to the area.
The first real boom to the area occurred with the extension of Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railroad into the area. The railroad reached Titusville in 1886 and Melbourne in 1894. With the railroad came increased settlement and the first tourists.
In 1895, the first library in Brevard County was established in Cocoa as a community effort undertaken by the women of Cocoa. In 1959, after five libraries had been established in Brevard County, Florida Statute 150 was put into effect to provide public funding to these libraries in recognition that they would serve all residents in Brevard County. In the 1960s, the number of libraries in the county increased to 9. Further funding was secured for the Brevard County Library System in 1972 through a public vote establishing a Library Tax District. As the area's population grew, the number of libraries in the county nearly doubled in the following 50 years.
20th century to present
Crane Creek, Melbourne circa 1900
The advent of the automobile age brought accelerated growth to Brevard County as resorts and hotels were developed all around the county. As the automobile became increasingly important as a means of transportation, roads were built connecting Brevard County to the rest of Florida, and ultimately the rest of the nation. Ferries provided the first connections across the rivers, and were replaced by wooden bridges in the early 20th century. They had gates to allow the passage of boats through the waterways.
The first major land boom began in the 1920s after the end of World War I. People flooded into the state of Florida, both tourists from northern winters and new full-time residents, and land prices soared. The Great Depression temporarily stopped growth in Florida. Before the start of World War II, the largest industries in Brevard were commercial fishing, citrus, and tourism.
In 1940, the government built Naval Air Station Banana River (now Patrick Air Force Base). This military installation was the first of major federal investment in projects to aid the development of Brevard County. The federal government also funded construction of what is now Florida State Road A1A, paralleling the ocean and providing vehicle access to the NAS. It funded the replacement of the three wooden bridges connecting the mainland to the barrier island with concrete ones. The wooden bridges had still accommodated both horses and wagons, and automobiles. The Melbourne-Eau Gallie airport was given $5 million in upgrades to become a major regional airport.
As in the rest of the state and most of the South, African Americans in the county were largely disenfranchised and oppressed by Jim Crowconditions, but beginning to organize to restore their constitutional rights. Beginning in the 1930s, Harry T. Moore was a civil rights leader, teacher, and founder of the Brevard County NAACP. After the war he became president of the state NAACP. After the Supreme Court had ruled in 1944 that white primaries were unconstitutional, he conducted voter registration drives and succeeded in registering 31% of black voters in Florida, a higher percentage than in any other southern state.
The white establishment resisted, firing both him and his wife Harriette in 1946 from their teaching positions as economic blackmail against them because of their activism. On Christmas night, 1951, a bomb exploded under their home, fatally injuring both of them. The murders were racially motivated and believed committed by members of the Ku Klux Klan. Four separate investigations were conducted, including the first by the FBI in 1951-1952, and the last in 2005 by the state. No one was ever prosecuted.
In the late 1950s, the government opened the Long Range Proving Ground. This later became the Kennedy Space Center. This helped stimulate development in the county; where Brevard had once been considered a "backwoods" area of Florida, it attracted more educated workers and scientists associated with the program. What had once been a primarily low-tech farmer/fisherman economy was transformed into a high-tech engineering and computer economy.
New residents in the 1960s found local retailing unappealing and drove to nearby Orlando to shop. Locals were concerned that the construction of malls would draw off business and lead to the disintegration of the Cocoa, Melbourne and Titusville downtowns. This did happen, but the downtown areas have been revived in the 21st century based on their historic assets and pedestrian scale.
While the county was technically habitable, it was overrun by mosquitoes much of the year in the wet areas covering a great portion of its territory. Mosquitoes were controlled in 1950 by widespread use of the insecticide, DDT, which was banned in the late 20th century because of its adverse environmental effects. Reducing mosquitoes resulted in more residents being attracted to the county. When DDT became illegal, more environmentally-friendly insecticides and other mosquito-control methods were used.
Beginning in the 1960s, new bridges constructed across the waterways were designed as high-rise steel, designed to be high enough to allow passage of boats underneath.
In 1982, Windover Archaeological Site was discovered.
As the county was long, people in the southern, more populous side of the county complained about being so distant from the county seat. The county seat of Titusville was 50 miles (80 km) from Palm Bay, the most populous city in the county. Residents in the southern end of the county talked of creating a new county to serve them. The county decided to build a new county administration complex at Viera, near the geographical center of the county. This complex was started in 1989. Residents in the north also threatened secession.
Their proposal to form a new county, to be called Playalinda, had some momentum in the early 90s. The county made a few concessions to the people in the northern part of the county, and agreed not to officially move the county seat. Since construction of the new center, Viera has been for all intents and purposes the de facto seat of Brevard County.
During the summer of 1998, some of the worst brush fires on record broke out and could not be controlled.70,000 acres (280 km2; 110 sq mi) were burned. Prior to property managers instituting controlled burns, the county forests and pastures had burned for months during the dry season.
But from the 1940s to the 1970s, the state assumed control of burning in order to prevent uncontrolled fires. It also developed a policy of controlled burns based on more understanding of fire's role in the state's environment. In 2006, the state burned a record 72,065 acres (291.64 km2; 112.602 sq mi) in the county. Because of Florida's dry winters and lush vegetation, the fire threat is always high. Only California surpassed Florida in the number of fires fought by the state Forest Service, and none set so many controlled fires.
Job growth
In 2004, Brevard County ranked 13th out of 318 largest counties in the US for increase in the number of jobs. The county moved from 70 to 31 out of the top 200 metropolitan areas "Best Performing". This improvement was driven mainly by job growth. The 2004 hurricane recovery helped the area achieve high employment.
In 2004, Brevard had its best October and November tourism season until then, despite widespread hurricane damage and the loss of five beachside hotels. Four of these hotels were restored by 2006.
The Milken Institute ranked Brevard number one, out of 200 largest metropolitan areas, in overall job growth for 2005.
Real estate data
The National Association of Realtors reported in the third quarter of 2005 that existing homes prices in Brevard rose 33% annually, making it the metropolitan area in the nation (out of 147) with the sixth-highest rate of increase. There was a slight decrease in existing home prices during the last quarter of 2005. In January 2005, CNN/Money ranked the homes in "Palm Bay", perhaps referring to all of the Space Coast, as "49% overvalued", and within 10% of the most overvalued homes in the United States.
In 2005, the Sunrise Bank of Cocoa Beach became the first bank in the state to have a mobile branch.
In early 2005, Forbes ranked the area as 27th in job growth out of 150 metropolitan areas in the country. The county ranked 18th in the nation for mid-sized areas in 2006.
Manpower Employment Outlook Survey said the hiring outlook in Brevard for the last quarter of 2005 was the 19th-best in the nation among the 470 communities participating in the survey.
Nearly 44,943 new houses were built from 2000 through 2009. This was enough to house 112,000 people. However, only 60,000 people moved into the county, leaving the remaining homes vacant and helping to precipitate bursting of the United States housing bubble. In 2000, there were 198,195 households in the county and 222,072 units for an occupancy rate of 89.1%. Between 2000 and 2009, more than twice as many houses were built than were needed. Nearly 47,000 houses were built, but the number of households increased by 22,000, dropping the occupancy rate to 81.9%.
In 2005, Inc. magazine voted the Space Coast as the best place to do business in Florida and sixth in the country.
The county's median home price reached a high in August 2005 at $248,700. New home permits fell in 2007 to 1,894, the lowest since 1982. Sales of existing homes fell 19% in 2007 from the prior year to 373 monthly. The median drop in home prices was 50% from 2005 to 2008, from $248,700 to $125,200. However, when choices for smaller homes was eliminated, prices on individual homes fell 25%; down 33% for individual condos. In 2000, the median sale price of homes in Brevard was $100,000.
With the collapse of the housing bubble, homes now are often about the same price, with median homes in 2009 selling for $89,400. In November 2010, the number of sales and prices of existing homes rose from the previous year. This was the first rise in 4½ years. The average house sold for $87,700 in February 2011.
In a separate study, a consulting firm determined that house prices in the county were 46.1% overvalued in 2005 at $212,000 average. The same firm determined that prices were 19.3% undervalued in 2008 at $129,400. The average price in December 2009, fell to a new recent low of $104,100. In January 2010, sales dropped to 434 monthly, also a recent low.
The housing vacancy rate hit a high of 18.8% in 2007. The number of households renting hit a low of 48,528 in 2005. Median monthly rent hit a high of $907 in 2008. In 2009, 73% of Brevard households owned the house they lived in. The national rate was 65.9%.
In 2008, a number of mortgage insurers blackmarked Brevard, along with a quarter of the total nations zip codes. This was intended to thwart potential buyers who wish to pay less than 20% down on a home.
In 2009 an economist said that the Brevard housing market would not recover until at least 2011. A later analysis in 2009 seemed to agree, saying that the market would fall 41.4% to bottom out by the end of 2010.
Annual foreclosures rose from a low of 1,144 in 2005 to 9,228 in 2008. From 2007 to March 2010, there were 25,600 foreclosure filings.
In 2010, it was found that 1/3 or more of real estate sales were due to foreclosures.
Effects of hurricanes
Hurricane Matthew, which passed east of Brevard in 2016, caused about $38 million in damage.
In 2017, nearly all county residents were left without power as the result of the effect of Hurricane Irma, which struck the county with tropical stormforce on September 10-11, 2017. This was largely rectified by September 19. Irma resulted in $157 million in damage.
Most residents were left without potable water after the storm passed, when electric power failed to maintain the necessary 20 pounds per square inch (140 kPa) pressure to keep out potential contaminants, plus water main breaks, and stress on the system from the extra water from subsequent heavy rainfall.
Demographics
In 1966, the population was 200,700. There were 73,624 licensed drivers, 16,612 registered Republicans, 49,261 registered Democrats, 1,545 independents. There were 4,291 births, 1,018 deaths, 94,500 in the civilian labor force, and 1,800 unemployed.
In 2016, the population was 561,716. There were 470,993 licensed drivers, 164,663 registered Republicans, 127,430 registered Democrats, 101,721 independents. There were 5,299 births, 6,693 deaths, 255,465 in the civilian labor force, and 12,981 unemployed.
Economy
In 1966, the county produced 2,880,000 boxes of oranges; in 2016, 382,000 boxes.
Orange production dropped 87% from the 2008-9 season to the 2016-7 season.
The decline was mostly due to canker, citrus greening disease, and hurricane damage. Unless a cure can be found for greening, the outlook is dim for improved production.
Source: Revolvy.com
Brevard County Boundaries
(1821 - present)
by Betty Eichhorn
It is essential to know the county boundaries when doing research so as to look in the right courthouses or censuses.
1821-1844- Florida Territory. Brevard was part of Mosquito County.
14 Mar 1844- The county called St. Lucie was created. (The 1850 census of Brevard is under the title St. Lucie. Do not confuse with the present day St. Lucie County.)
3 Mar 1845-Florida became the 27th State.
6 Jan 1855- St. Lucie renamed Brevard.
Brevard County covered a vast area with boundaries that changed several times. It included the eastern half of Polk, Highlands, Glades and Palm Beach Counties and all of present day Martin, St. Lucie, Okeechobee, and Indian River Counties, and some to all of Osceola County and sometimes a part of Orange County. The northern part of Brevard would be in Orange and later Volusia County.
8 Feb 1861- Polk County created, making the Kissimmee River Brevard's western boundary.
8 Dec 1866- Dade County created. Brevard lost all territory south of a line paralleling the northern shore of Lake Okeechobee, including most of Martin County except for a small portion in the northeast corner.
19 Feb 1874- Brevard lost Highlands County and most of Glades County.
11 Mar 1879- Northern boundary of present day Brevard County established. Prior to this time, the northern boundary (including present day Osceola County) moved up and down over the years.
11 July 1887- Osceola County established. Brevard lost the territory of present day Osceola and Okeechobee Counties.
1 July 1905- St. Lucie County was created which established the southern boundary of Brevard County.
3 Nov 1959- Brevard lost a small coastal area south of Sebastian Inlet to Indian River County.
Source: Florida Atlas of Historical County Boundaries, John H. Long, Editor. Charles Scribner and Sons, New York. 1997.
The First Settlers
10,000 BC to 1820
by Vera Zimmerman
Wave after wave of settlers have washed over the place we now know as Brevard County. Ancient stone spear points found on the shores of Lake Hell 'n' Blazes tell archaeologists that the earliest inhabitants were here about 12,000 years ago. (Bense 1990) They left no family photos of women and children gathering palm berries and coco plums. They left no stories of hunters waiting in ambush for herds of mastodon.
By 8000 years ago there were villages of people living a more settled life along the river we now call the St. Johns. Excavations at the Windover Site uncovered evidence of people who wove fine cloth, shaped tools of bone and shell and buried their dead in mortuary ponds. (Purdy 1988)
About 5000 years ago ocean level rose enough to flood the Indian River lagoon with salt water. Oysters and clams flourished and Native American populations increased. The first pottery in North America was made 4000 years ago along the east coast of Florida and Georgia. Broken pieces of that pottery, known to archaeologists as Orange fiber-tempered pottery, were first found along the St. Johns River at Orange Mound, just west of today's Orange-Brevard County line. (Bense 1990, Dickel 1992)
The St. Johns and Indian Rivers were highways for Indian dugout canoes. Trade routes connected the people here to other Native American populations. Shell mounds grew along the Indian River as generation after generation of families feasted on the rich harvest of the lagoon.
The arrival of the Spanish in the 1500s found the Native Americans living much the same as their ancestors had for thousands of years. The Spaniards called the people along the Indian River the Ays or Ais (pronounced Ah EES) for the chief of the largest village near today's Vero Beach. Ponce de Leon's first landfall is believed to have been in Ais territory somewhere south of Cape Canaveral. (Griffin and Miller, 1968)
Our best description of the Ais comes from Englishman Jonathan Dickinson who was shipwrecked near Jupiter Inlet in 1696 and made his way through Ais territory to the Spanish settlement at St. Augustine:
"They had their hair tied in a roll behind in which stuck two bones shaped, one like a broad arrow, the other a spearhead." They wore "a piece of plat-work of straw wrought of divers colors and of a triangular figure with a belt of four fingers broad of the same wrought together, which goeth about the waist and the angle of the other, coming between the legs, and strings to the end of the belt; all three meeting together and fastened behind with a horsetail, or a bunch of silk-grass exactly resembling it, of a flaxen color, this being all the apparel or covering that the men wear..." Jonathan Dickinson (Andrews, 1975)
European diseases and raiding by the English and their Indian allies reduced the number of Ais. By 1715 when the Spanish set up a salvage camp near the Rio San Sebastian to recover treasure from their shipwrecked fleet, they mentioned seeing only a few Ais fishermen. (Rouse 1951, 1981)
Most of the remaining Ais left with the Spanish when the British took control of Florida in 1763. What is now Brevard County was then part of British East Florida. Creek Indians from Alabama and Georgia began to move south into the peninsula. The British called this new wave of settlers Seminoles after the Creek word for Wild Ones or Separatists. (Gannon 1993) The Panton, Leslie Company set up trading posts along the St. Johns River to trade with the Seminoles.
Loyalists fleeing the American Revolution caused the population of British East Florida to swell from 3,000 in 1776 to 17,000 a few years later. There were some land grants in today's Brevard county during the British period, notably one grant of 10,000 acres on the west side of the Indian River across from the Haulover to Thomas Bradshaw and one of 20,000 acres to Col. William Faucitt at the head of the Indian River. (Seibert, Loyalists in East Florida, 1929) The Bisset plantation was located near the current boundary of Brevard and Volusia Counties. Bisset worked about 30 slaves on his grant, clearing about 137 acres and growing indigo. (Adams,1987)
When the Spanish returned to Florida in 1784, the population fell to under 2,000 and most plantations were abandoned, but some of the people remained. An oath of loyalty to the Spanish government was the only requirement for land ownership and the British Panton, Leslie Company continued trade with the Indians. The population during the second Spanish period included Spanish, Minorcan, Indian, Anglo, and Black, both free and slave. (Adams, 1987)
The Spanish encouraged settlement by making land grants. The Pouchard, Fontaine, Garvin, Acosta, and Segui Grants were north of what is now Mims. The Reyes Grant was on the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. The Delespine Grant covered an area south of Titusville. Merritt Island was granted to John H. McIntosh and the Fleming Grant was in the area of the San Sebastian River. (WPA, 1941, Land Grant map)
From 1803 until 1835 Domingo Reyes planted sugar cane and operated a sugar mill at his plantation. He was the inspector and overseer of the Spanish Royal Hospital at St. Augustine. The ruins of the mill are on the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. The Delespine Grant was one of the largest ever granted by the Spanish. Governor Jose Coppinger conceded the 43,000 acre tract to Joseph Delespine, a French physician, in 1817. It was located at what was later called Indian River City. (WPA, 1941)
Spanish East Florida became a haven for runaway slaves and Seminole Indians. Mosquito Lagoon and the Indian River provided a setting for contraband trade and slave smuggling. English freebooter, William Augustus Bowles, who declared himself Prince of the Muscogees, is reported to have used the Indian River as a center for contraband dealings. (Adams 1987)
Indian, Spanish and British settlement in the area that would come to be known as Brevard County left little evidence. The subtropical plant growth slowly covered Native American shell mounds, and palm thatched houses. When Andrew Jackson raised the United States flag over Florida in 1821, the banks of the Indian River did, indeed, appear unsettled..
Source: Vera Zimmerman
Place Names
by Vera Zimmerman
The Indian River was the Rio de Ays or the Laguna de Ays to the Spanish. The English called it the Hes and Jece and maps after 1820 labeled it the Indian River.
Cape Canaveral is the oldest place name in Brevard County. It is sometimes translated as "place of canes." Marjory Stoneman Douglas wrote "The name 'Canaveral,' meaning 'cane bearer' for the great reeds then in the swamp at the southward bight of the cape, appeared on Florida maps after 1520". She believed it was Spanish ship captain Francisco Gordillo who named the cape for the Ais indians who used arrows made from cane to repel Spanish invaders. (Gill, 1975)
Spanish soldier Alvaro Mexia came from St. Augustine to meet with the Ais chief in 1605. He drew a rough map of the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River with place names of Surruque, Urribia, Urruya, Suyagueche, Potopotoya, Ulumay, Saboboche, Savochequeya, Pentoaya and the Baya Grande de Ays. (Rouse 1951, 1981) Only the name Ulumay has survived as the name of the Ulumay Wildlife Refuge on Merritt Island, named by naturalist and local historian Johnnie Johnson.
The St. Johns River was called Welaka or Illaca meaning String of Pearls by the Indians. The French called it the River of May. The Spanish first called it San Mateo and later San Juan. The English translated that to St. John and the 's' was added by early map makers. It was the first highway into the area for the Native Americans and later European settlers.
Sebastian and St. Lucie
The St. Sebastian and St. Lucie Rivers were both named by the Spanish. A settlement was attempted by Governor Pedro Menendez near the Rio San Sebastian, but conflicts with the Ais soon caused them to move south to the Rio Santa Lucia. This settlement was also soon abandoned. (Rouse, 1951, 1981)
Pineda
Some sources say the name Pineda comes from the stands of piney woods in the area, but it is hard to believe that the person suggesting the name was unaware of the Spanish explorer Juan Pineda who made the first map that showed Florida to be a peninsula and not an island.
New Smyrna was named by Scottish physician Dr. Andrew Turnbull for Smyrna, Turkey, the birth place of his wife. Turnbull's plantation was on the northern boundary of what is now Brevard County. In 1766 he brought about 300 families from Minorca, Greece, and Italy as indentured laborers. Turnbull's indigo plantation was a failure and the surviving settler's fled to St. Augustine.
Merritt Island
The Spanish referred to Merritt Island as Isla de Punta de Piedra or Stoney Point. The tip of Merritt Island has a distinctive outcropping of coquina rock eroded by water into fantastic shapes.
Merritt Island was referred to as Merritt's Island as early as 1803 and as recently as 1930. The post office was commissioned as Merritt Island on June 1, 1935. In John McIntosh's grant it is described as "An island in the Rio Ais, known by the name of the Isla de Punta de Piedra or by the Isla de Marrat, which name was given by the memorialist having a man of the same name residing thereon." (Spanish Land Grants in Florida, vol. IV, Con. M28b-c, M29) Some believe Marratt may have been Captain Pedro Marratt, head surveyor of the Spanish governor in East Florida from 1791-1800. McIntosh was said to have 250 people on his grant including five white men, two of them with their families. (Certificate of Grant, May 18, 1803) The earliest map on which Merritt's Island is named is the 1823 Tanner map.
Source: Vera Zimmerman
