Mount Hope / Beecher Point (Site 19) – Bartram Trail Society of Florida

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John and William Bartram

The Route

On December 28, 1765, John Bartram’s party left their campsite at Johnson’s Bluff and continued south up the St. Johns. They “came in a few miles” to Mount Hope, an actual distance of 2.85 miles from the bluff at Welaka Spring where it is likely that they had camped the previous night. After exploring the Indian mound that gave this location its name, they continued up-river to Mount Royal; the location of another Indian Mound, 4.11 miles farther south (Figures 1A and 1B).

It is interesting to note that no mention whatsoever is made of having seen the Ocklawaha River, the largest of the many St. Johns River tributaries, which enters the St. Johns opposite Beecher Point on the west shoreline. Either they were totally distracted by the impressive mound they called Mount Hope, and failed to look to the west, or they purposely avoided what they called the “Indian Shore” due to that land being owned by the Creek Indians and therefore outside of the bounds of their area of exploration (Figure 2). This omission also leads additional credence to the notion of their having predominantly hugged the eastern shoreline during their trip up the River.

Almost equally noteworthy is the lack of any mention of Mud Creek and its source Mud Spring which enters the River on eastern side of Little Lake George between Beecher Point and Orange Point. This suggests that instead of hugging the shoreline of Little Lake George, they undoubtedly made a direct crossing from Mount Hope to Orange Point without bothering to examine the shoreline of Mud Creek Cove. This may well have been due to the northeast wind mentioned in John’s Journal, or their desire to reach Mount Royal as soon as possible (Figure 3).

The Site

Mount Hope is present-day Beecher Point. Beecher Point extends out into the St. Johns River from the east shoreline and forms a portion of the north shore of Little Lake George. When the Bartrams visited this site on December 28, 1765, there was an impressive Indian mound for which this location was named. The mound no longer exists as the shell-laden material was removed by a less enlightened Florida Department of Transportation and used for road construction during the mid- 20^th Century. Consequently, it is impossible to say where the Bartrams actually went ashore and how much of Beecher Point they explored during their brief visit.

On their return trip, the Bartrams passed by Mount Hope again on January 25, 1766 but made no mention of the site as they traveled from Mount Royal to Spalding’s Lower Store.

Bartram Trail Site Marker 19 is located on the east side of the River, mounted on the southern end of the dock of the Beecher’s Point Condominiums at the end of Beecher’s Point Drive in Welaka. The docks and the site are on private property so the marker can only be seen from the River. However, the site of what was Mount Hope can be seen from the road where it terminates at the Condominium complex entrance. The most convenient access to this Site Marker is the public boat ramp at the end of Elm Street in downtown Welaka which is 1.2 miles north of the Marker or Welaka’s Bryans Landing soft launch a hundred yards farther north (Figure 4).

William Bartram

William Bartram passed by Mount Hope and noted his passing in his Travels. He does not mention a stop but mentions that it received its name “Mount Hope” from his father during their 1765-66 trip. However, in his Report, he says that he “called at the indigo plantation” and describes the plantation house erected on the site and that it was under the ownership of Mr. Tucker. Consequently, though Travels does not mention the stop, he undoubtedly did make a landfall at this site in 1774.

December 28, 1765 Journal Entry

“Set out from Johnson’s Bluff; foggy morning, wind N.E. thermometer 56. Came in a few miles to Mount Hope, at the entrance of a little lake, the east and south-side of which is pine-land, reaching to Johnson’s Bluff, except a point of good swamp: Mount Hope is 50 yards long and 30 wide; near 20 foot high, composed all of fresh water snail and muscle-shells of various dimensions, the small ones drove into the large, and the broken and powdered ones into the interstices of both; these are very fertile soils as far as the shells reach, and if not the only, yet the common planting grounds of the former Florida Indians, as is proved by the numerous pieces of broken Indian pots scattered all over all these shelly bluffs, and the vestiges of the corn hills still remaining, although many pretty large live oaks, red-cedars, and palms, now grow upon them: the west wind hath a long and full stroke against this mount, which perhaps raised it to that height: Saw many alligators, and killed one; ‘tis certain that both jaws open by a joint nearly alike to both: Here and near the river’s bank grows the short-poded gleditsia, elm and black-ash, with most of the South-Carolina plants[.]

“Landed at Mount-Royal, where there are 50 acres of cleared old fields, fine oranges in the woods, and a fine spring issuing out above a mile from the river, making a stream big enough to turn a mill, on the back of which the pine-lands begin: the bank and for 50 yards back is composed of sandy soil mixed with snail-shells, which for a foot or more thick is indurated to a soft rock, from which a fine south prospect opens to the great lake (the river here is above half a mile wide) near the entrance of which is a large island[.]

“Encamped on the east-side of the river opposite to the island, from whence we heard a bear roaring in the night; we lay on a low bluff of snail-shells, amongst plenty of bitter-sweet oranges, next in goodness to the China, and here the woods are full of them; we walked back over a dry kind of rich swamp full of shells mixed with black tenacious mud, under which is a white tenacious clay or marl, and in about 400 yards came to rising ground, pretty rich, and good corn-land, then to palmetto yet blackish soil, then to whitish, in which grew pines, then savannahs and ponds, which are interspersed generally in the pine-lands in most part of the southern provinces, together with the cypress and bay-swamps, and have for the most part good feeding round their borders. This rich swamp terminated at the bend of the river where the pine-land reaches close to its banks; so that the banks of this fine river are a continual alternate change of pine-land, bluffs, cypress, swamps, marshes, and rich ash, and maple-swamps: the hammocks of live-oaks and palmettos are generally surrounded either with swamp or marsh; sometimes the deep rich swamps are 2 or 3 miles deep from the river to the pines, and reach along the river from one mile to 4, 5, or 6 at uncertain depths. These swamps are supposed to be the best rice-grounds, as neither the dry weather nor wet can hurt them so much as where there is no water in dry times, and in wet there is too much, for this is rarely overflowed but in spring-tides, and these will always keep them wet enough in the dryest seasons, especially below the great lake.”

Bartram's Travels Journal Entry

Page 98

THE company for Alachua, were to set off in about a month. That to Little St. Juan, in July, which suited me exceedingly well, as I might make my tour to the upper store directly, that part of the country being at this season, enrobed in her richest and gayest apparel.

ABOUT the middle of May, every thing being in readiness, to proceed up the river, we sat sail. The traders with their goods in a large boat, went ahead, and myself in my little vessel followed them; and as their boat was large, and deeply laden, I found that I could easily keep up with them, and if I chose, out-sail them; but I preferred keeping them company, as well for the sake of collecting what I could from conversation, as on account of my safety in crossing the great lake, expecting to return alone, and descend the river at my own leisure.

WE had a pleasant day, the wind fair and moderate, and ran by Mount Hope, so named by my father John Bartram, when he ascended this river, about fifteen years ago. It is a very high shelly bluff, upon the little lake. It was at that time a fine Orange grove, but now cleared and converted into a large Indigo plantation, the property of an English gentleman, under the care of an agent. In the evening we arrived at Mount Royal, where we came to, and stayed all night: we were treated with great civility, by a gentleman whose name was—- Kean, and had been an Indian trader.

FROM this place we enjoyed a most enchanting prospect of the great Lake George, through a grand avenue, if I may so term this narrow reach of the river, which widens gradually for about two miles,

Bartram's Report Page 85

The next day having repaired my little Vessell, & procured some necessaries, sat off up the river S’. Johns, having very little wind & a pretty strong cur-rent against me, got about twelve miles[,] call’d at an Indigo Plantation belonging] to Mr. Tucker a Gentle-man in England; The house stands near the River On a high shelly bank, just by it is an Indian [86] Mount having a broad streight High way leading from the Mountain to the Pine Forests.

Resources and Links

Travels

Bartram, William. Travels Through North & South Carolina, Georgia, East & West Florida, the Cherokee Country, the Extensive Territories of the Muscogulges, or Creek Confederacy, and the Country of the Chactaws; Containing An Account of the Soil and Natural Productions of Those Regions, Together with Observations on the Manners of the Indians. Embellished with Copper-Plates. James and Johnson Publishers. 1791. Electronic Edition.

http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/bartram/bartram.html

Harper, Francis, ed. The Travels of William Bartram, Naturalist’s Edition. Yale University Press. New Haven. 1958.

Report

Bartram, William. Annotated by Francis Harper. Travels in Georgia and Florida, 1773-74; a report to Dr. John Fothergill. Annotated by Francis Harper. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, n.s., Vol. XXXIII, Pt. II. Philadelphia, PA, 1943.

http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015021105773#view=1up;seq=7

The Journal

Florida History Online “John Bartram’s Travels on the St. Johns River, 1765-1766.” May 2013.

http://www.unf.edu/floridahistoryonline/Projects/Bartram.html

http://www.unf.edu/floridahistoryonline/Bartram/December_1765/28dec1765.htm

Bartram, John. Diary of a Journey through the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida, from July 1, 1765, to April 10, 1766, annotated by Francis Harper. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, n.s., Vol. XXXIII, Pt. I. Philadelphia, PA, 1942.

Additional References

Florida History Online. New World in a State of Nature; British Plantations and Farms on the St. Johns River, East Florida 1763-1784. May 2013

http://www.unf.edu/floridahistoryonline/Projects/Plantations.html

Bruce, F.W. Assistant Engineer, US Army Corps of Engineers. St. Johns River to Lake Harney, Florida. 1908. The Portal to Texas History. University of North Texas. Nautical Chart of the St. Johns River.

http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth187523/m1/1/zoom/

Florida Museum of Natural History. Florida Naturalists. William Bartram. Book of Travels. May 2013

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/naturalists/bartramw03.htm#f

Coordinates: 29° 27.975’N 81° 41.102’W

The coordinates given for this site are for the end of the dock at the privately owned boat ramp at Beecher Point.

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