Historic Butler Road

This is a view of historic Butler Road as it leads west from Lake Seminole. This road is one of the oldest publicly constructed roads in Jackson County and (as you can see here) it hasn't changed much in the last 175 years or so.

The road was originally built in the 1830s to connect the Chattahoochee River settlement of Brownsville with the new county seat of Marianna. The name "Brownsville" only remained in use for a few year's before it was changed to Brown's Ferry.

Located on the river adjacent to the reservation established by the Treaty of Moultrie Creek for the Native American chief Econchatimico ("Red Ground King") and his followers, the ferry was one of the primary landing sites where passengers and commerce coming and going to Marianna caught the paddlewheel riverboats that steamed up and down the Chattahoochee and Apalachicola Rivers. A flatboat ferry also crossed the river to the Georgia bank at the site.

The Butler Road (then called the Brown's Ferry Road) was constructed to replace the originally woods trail that led from the landing to Marianna. It is clearly shown on survey plats dating from the late 1830s and early 1840s. Heading west from the landing, it passed Cowpen Pond before merging with the Blue Springs Road just west of today's Dellwood Community.

The name "Butler" came into use because Butler Landing was the final incarnation of the old Brownsville Settlement. Over time the landing site migrated slightly south and went through a series of names - Brownsville, Brown's Ferry, Port Jackson and finally Butler Landing.

Jackson County's Indian Reservations

This field on the shore of Lake Seminole north of Sneads has been farmed since it was first cleared by Native Americans more than 180 years ago. In around 1818 or 1819, a party of Creeks led by Econchatimico ("Red Ground King") moved to a new village site here on the Chattahoochee River after their town at present-day Neal's Landing was destroyed during the First Seminole War.

By 1823, they had managed to clear fields, build homes and settle in at the new location, about 10 miles north of Sneads. In the Treaty of Moultrie Creek, signed that year, the U.S. Government reserved a four square mile piece of land surrounding the new village for Econchatimico and his people. A second, smaller reservation was also established on the Apalachicola River near the present Jackson County Port Authority site for a second chief, Mulatto King, and his followers.

The rest of the land in Jackson County, however, was opened to settlement and the last few hundred Native Americans living there were confined to the reservations.

Econchatimico remained on his land until 1838 when, based on prior agreement, he and his followers were removed by U.S. Army troops commanded by future President, Colonel Zachary Taylor.

The reservation was immediately occupied by white settlers, who began farming the newly abandoned fields and the communities of Brown's Ferry, Port Jackson and Butler Landing eventually grew here. Most of the old reservation was flooded when Lake Seminole was created during the 1950s, but a few small portions remain above water level and can still be seen in the vicinity of the Apalachee Wildlife Management Area along River Road north of Sneads.

Jackson County in 1840

This map from the National Archives, published in 1840, shows Jackson County as it appeared during the final days before Florida. Based on surveys done during the 1830s, the map is especially interesting because it shows a couple of communities that no longer exist. One of these, Webbville, can be seen just to the left and above Marianna (near the center of the image).

Also visible are Campbellton (misspelled as Cambleton), and Mt. Vernon (today's Chattahoochee). Brown's Ferry, visible in the upper right corner of the map, is mislocated at Neal's Landing. The community actually was lower down the river. The large lake visible just below the caption for "Mt. Vernon" on the right side of the map is Ocheese Pond.

This is but one of a number of early maps of Jackson County on file in the National Archives. Looking through them provides a fascinating vew of the growrth of the county.