FLORIDA'S FIRST CROSS-PENINSULA RAILROAD

In 1855, construction began in Fernandina on the first railroad in Florida to connect the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. The final tracks were completed in Cedar Key in March 1861 just a month before the start of the Civil War. Named the Florida Railroad, it spanned 156 miles and was the longest railroad in Florida prior to the Civil War. It was intended to streamline shipments between the east and west coasts. In 1862, however, the USS Hatteras raided Cedar Key and destroyed the railroad depot, seven freight cars, and several other buildings. That same year, a Union squadron seized Fernandina. In 1864, the Confederacy dismantled the Florida Railroad in order to build a new line from Live Oak, Florida, to Lawton, Georgia, to facilitate troop and supply movements. The president and chief stockholder of the Florida Railroad, who oversaw its initial construction, was Florida’s first U.S. Senator David Levy Yulee. In honor of his role in the development of Florida’s early transportation network, Yulee was nicknamed the “Father of Florida’s railroads,” and the town just due east of this location was named for him. Though the Florida Railroad no longer exists, its bed forms the foundation of portions of this trail.