Orchard Pond Plantation was a large cotton plantation originally of 8754 acres (35½ km²) located in northwestern Leon County

Leon County, Florida

Leon County is a county located in the state of Florida, named after the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León. At the 2010 Census, the population was 275,487. The county seat of Leon County is Tallahassee which also serves as the state capital. The county seat is home to two of Florida's major...

, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, USA established by Richard Keith Call.

Location

The exact boundaries of Orchard Pond Plantation are not available. What is known is that Orchard Pond lay between Lake Jackson

Lake Jackson (Tallahassee, Florida)

Lake Jackson is a shallow, prairie lake on the north side of Tallahassee in Leon County, Florida with two major depressions or sinkholes known as Porter Sink and Lime Sink....

 and the Ochlockonee River

Ochlockonee River

The Ochlockonee River is a fast running river originating in Georgia and flowing for before terminating in Florida.- Background :The Ochlockonee originates south of the town of Sylvester in Worth County in southwest Georgia emptying into Ochlockonee Bay, then into Apalachee Bay, in Florida...

 to the west. The land is bisected east to west by Orchard Pond Road, a rural county dirt road

Dirt road

Dirt road is a common term for an unpaved road made from the native material of the land surface through which it passes, known to highway engineers as subgrade material. Dirt roads are suitable for vehicles; a narrower path for pedestrians, animals, and possibly small vehicles would be called a...

.

Plantation specifics

The Leon County Florida 1860 Agricultural Census shows that Orchard Pond Plantation had the following:

• Improved Land: 1300 acres (5 km²)
• Unimproved Land: 2544 acres (10 km²)
• Cash value of plantation: $
  United States dollar
  The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
  
  31,000
• Cash value of farm implements/machinery: $300
• Cash value of farm animals: $4000
• Number of slaves: 118
• Bushels of corn: 4500
• Bales of cotton: 167

Orchard Pond Plantation eventually reduced in size down to 2644 acres (11 km²) and Call turned over his other plantation, The Grove

The Grove Plantation

The Grove was a modest cotton plantation located in central Leon County, Florida and established by Richard Keith Call in the 1830s. Call was also owner of Orchard Pond Plantation....

, to his daughter. Call began turning his attention to agricultural experiments such as Florida hemp

Hemp

Hemp is mostly used as a name for low tetrahydrocannabinol strains of the plant Cannabis sativa, of fiber and/or oilseed varieties. In modern times, hemp has been used for industrial purposes including paper, textiles, biodegradable plastics, construction, health food and fuel with modest...

 and livestock improvements.

The owners

Richard Keith Call was born October 24, 1792. Call was a friend and assistant of General Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...

 and accompanied him to Florida. His capital was made in the land office and he promoted land in Leon County to northerners.
Call, a Democrat

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

, was Governor from 1836 to 1839. He later became a Whig

Whig Party (United States)

The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic...

.
The Grove, Richard Keith Call's home, is on the National Register.

Orchard Pond would be purchased by John H. Phipps and later become the home of John H. Phipps. Upon his death it became combined homes and interests of Colin Phipps and grandson John E. Phipps who was given 2100 acres (8.5 km²) on Ox Bottom Road.

See: Ayavalla Plantation

Ayavalla Plantation

Ayavalla Plantation was a quail hunting plantation located in west central Leon County, Florida established by John Henry Phipps, son of John Shaffer Phipps of the prominent Phipps family.Ayavalla was the Indian word used by Ellen Call Long for Lake Jackson...

Orchard Pond is currently owned by Ayavalla Land Company and contains some of the most diverse wetland

Wetland

A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....

s the Red Hills Region

Red Hills Region

The Red Hills Region is a unique 300,000-acre area of the southeastearn United States overlapping parts of southwestern Georgia and north Florida.-Location:...

 with flowing stream

Stream

A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...

s, isolated lake

Lake

A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...

s, and river floodplain

Floodplain

A floodplain, or flood plain, is a flat or nearly flat land adjacent a stream or river that stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls and experiences flooding during periods of high discharge...

 and swamp

Swamp

A swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a large number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp...

s.

Photo gallery

Various views of Orhard Pond's plantation house, a 2-story brick home with 8 support columns, 4 for each floor.