Old King's Road

In 1763, Spain transferred control of Florida to Britain. This area was part of East Florida, Britain’s fourteenth American colony, with its capital at St. Augustine. The first governor, Colonel James Grant, arrived in 1764 and quickly made improving transportation in the colony a priority. Grant’s goal was to attract settlers southward by connecting the St. Mary’s River in Georgia with the New Smyrnea settlement in East Florida. Founded in 1768, New Smyrnea was Britain’s largest single attempt at colonization in the Americas. Following an earlier Native American trail and Spanish route, construction began in 1765 on the highway, later named the King’s Road. The full length of the road was completed in 1775. During the Revolutionary War, the American and British forces vied for control of the route. When the tide of the war turned in 1777, thousands of British loyalists used the road to escape the advancing Continental Army or guerilla raiders, and to seek asylum in East Florida. In the late 1700s, the King's Road crossed at this location, and continued to be a principal southern highway throughout the 1800s and early 1900s.