Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1897-07-01

! vance River. lie eowned more than
three thousand acres of arabic
land. and hs arnual yield of sugar
and indigo vas not exceeded by
that Of any other planter in FIori-
da.
rhsszs II &. ssst.d bs by
about one hundred negroes 5orn on
the plantation, and who labofed
without fear of the traditional cruel
overseer-for Colonel Bulow was a
kind master, and treated all his
"hanas" well.
Colonel Bulow had purchased his
plantation at the time of the Span
ish cession, in 1921, of a rich old
SpaDiard named Don Sebastian de
Hernandez, to whom it mad come
down from the first Hernandez,
who had been among the early col
onists to the New World.
There were many signs of Span
ish occupation visible about the
plantation. The last owner had
spent fortune ip fitting up the
place as a home for his old age.
The larger part of this money
had been expended in the erection
of beautiful gothic structure with
towers and embattled walls.
He began this castle-like resi-
dence, hoping to reproduce in the
wilds of America the old Herman
dez home on the Guadalquiv:r; but
only one wing had been completed
when the sudden cession of the pc
ninsula destroyed all Don Sebasti-
ans desire to remain in the land
of flowers, and he sold his estate
to the first purchaser that he could
find.
There being an insufiiciency of
roofing on the place, the uncom-
pleted gothic manor house had late
ly come to be used as a storage
house for sugar and indigo, and for
the tools employed by the field
hands in their several avocations.
As this structure is to be prom
inent feature in our narrative it
may be we'll to detail in this place
its general plan and location.
The "sugar-house" or "castle,
as it was unfortunately called,
covered an area of about forty by
sixty feet, and was three stories in
height. At the northwest corner
an octagon tower rose up higher by
another story. In the second and
fourth stories of this tower were
windows, and there we're windows
in all the stories of the main part,
but those of the lower story were
small and high up, and all were
protected by "a network of stout
iron bars.
The main entrance was approach
ed by a stairway of twelve steps,
and was wide and lofty, with dou-
BILE doors. The rear entrance was
smaller. and was approached from
the river, the carrent Of which ran
not dozen rods away. On the
lower floor were a long hallway and
two large rooms. The other stories
were unfinished. but all we're floor
ed. The material used in the con-
struction Of the house was coquina,
a natural conglomerate of lime and
shells, and the whole edifice was as
strong as bona fida castle.
The hacienda stood some forty
rods distant on high elevation,
and was of oak, two stories, and
with extensive wings. 1t had for
merly been surrounded by moat /:
but this was now iilled up, and, a
piazza had been constructed along
the whole of the western front. Ii
| was thickly embowered in a grove
of native trees, as magnolia, red
bay, live oak, mulberry and several
species of palmetto. rhe banks of
the river, too, were thickly fringed
by the same tropical foliage.
The Colonel had hoped to escape
any conflict with the Indians. He
was on friendly terms with several
of the chiefs aud had often enter
tanned them at his hacienda, but
after the massacre of Major Dade's q
command and the savage work at
Fort King in December, 1885, he
was aroused to the sense Of the in
security Of his position.
He Immediately put the sugar
house. as being the safest place oi
refuge, in q state of defense. The
hacienda was deserted, and not car.
| ing 10 have Mrs. Bnlow undergo
any of the horrors OF an Indian