Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Historic State Park is a Florida State Park

Florida State Parks

The Florida State Parks encompass the majority of the lands that fall under the authority of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. There are 160 such entities, including nature reserves, recreation areas, and historic sites, which can be found in every corner of the state...

 located in Homosassa

Homosassa, Florida

Homosassa is a census-designated place in Citrus County, Florida, United States. The population was 2,294 at the 2000 census.-Historic:...

, off U.S. 19

U.S. Route 19

U.S. Route 19 is a north–south U.S. Highway. Despite encroaching Interstate Highways, the route has remained a long-haul route, connecting the Gulf of Mexico with Lake Erie....

. It contains the ruins of a sugar plantation owned by David Levy Yulee

David Levy Yulee

David Levy Yulee, born David Levy was an American politician and attorney from Florida, a territorial delegate to Congress, the first Jewish member of the United States Senate, and a member of the Confederate Congress during the American Civil War...

. Yulee was a delegate of the Territorial Legislative Council. After Florida became a state, he was elected by the legislature in 1845 to the US Senate, becoming the first Jewish American to serve there. After Florida seceded from the Union, Yulee served in the Confederate Congress. He is credited with having developed a network of railroads that tremendously boosted the state's economy.

At Homassa, Yulee established a sugar cane plantation, which was destroyed during the American Civil War. The original plantation covered more than 5,000 acres (20 km²), and was worked by approximately 1,000 enslaved

Enslaved

Enslaved may refer to:* Slavery, the socio-economic condition of being owned and worked by and for someone else* Bottom , people playing the 'slave' part in BDSM* Enslaved , a progressive black metal band from Haugesund, Norway...

 African Americans. They raised sugar cane, citrus

Citrus

Citrus is a common term and genus of flowering plants in the rue family, Rutaceae. Citrus is believed to have originated in the part of Southeast Asia bordered by Northeastern India, Myanmar and the Yunnan province of China...

, and cotton

Cotton

Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....

. The mill (which was steam-driven) ran from 1851 to 1864. It produced sugar

Sugar

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...

, syrup

Syrup

In cooking, a syrup is a thick, viscous liquid consisting primarily of a solution of sugar in water, containing a large amount of dissolved sugars but showing little tendency to deposit crystals...

 and molasses

Molasses

Molasses is a viscous by-product of the processing of sugar cane, grapes or sugar beets into sugar. The word molasses comes from the Portuguese word melaço, which ultimately comes from mel, the Latin word for "honey". The quality of molasses depends on the maturity of the sugar cane or sugar beet,...

, the latter used in making rum

Rum

Rum is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from sugarcane by-products such as molasses, or directly from sugarcane juice, by a process of fermentation and distillation. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in oak barrels...

. At the park, the stonework (foundation, well and chimney) of the mill, a cane press, and some of the other machinery remain. The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

on August 12, 1970.