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Difficulty:
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Size: 
(regular)
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Themed cache...treasure chest of jewels (no diamonds,
gold or silver please)
just costume and handmade jewels.
Do not plunder...pirates will be hung
from the yardarm!!! Give as much as you take.
Aaarrrgggh!!
The Bellamy Road was the first major U.S. federal highway in
early territorial Florida. In 1824, only five years after Florida
became a United States territory (and the same year that Alachua
County itself was created), Congress authorized the construction of
its first federal highway. It would be a 25-foot (7.6 m) wide road,
connecting Pensacola to St. Augustine.
The Territorial Council commissioned John Bellamy, a Monticello
plantation owner, to build it. The project took two years to
complete, at a cost of $20,000. The route would become known as the
Bellamy Avenue. It was a major highway until the Civil War, when
other roads became preferred routes. A few of the places it passed
were the town of Traxler, the Santa Fe Taloca Spanish Mission, and
what would become Newnansville.
Captain Daniel E. Burch of the U.S. Army was appointed to supervise
the surveying and construction of this new Federal Highway in the
Florida Territory. To survey the route, Burch with a detachment
marched from Pensacola beginning Oct. 22, 1823 and reached St.
Augustine November 25, 1823, a distance of 445 miles. Governor
William F. Du Val recommended John Bellamy as the best equipped to
build the eastern part of the road. Bellamy's contract was to
construct the road from the Ochlockonee River to the St. Johns
River. He began construction on December 21, 1824.
Construction was delayed by heavy rains and Indian attacks. Tree
stumps were cut within one foot of the ground to allow wagon axles
to clear them. Sometimes one lone stump would be a bit higher and
would strike the floorboard of a wagon, sometimes jarring it
completely apart, resulting in the road receiving the ominous
nickname "Stump-Knocker". The roadbed was typically not built up
over wet areas. Instead, logs were placed in the path that resulted
in a frequently bumpy ride.
The original road crossed Alachua County along the route of the Old
Mission Trail, a trail widely used by Indians and Franciscan
missionaries, running from near Santa Fe Lake through a swampy,
forested hammock between present-day O'Leno State Park and River
Rise Preserve State Park. It is here where the Santa Fe River
disappears underground and travels three miles (5 km) before
re-appearing. This area became a perfect natural crossing for the
road.
The route through our area came across the Natural Bridge over the
Santa Fe River in Columbia County, a bit southwest of O’Leno
State Park. It came through Newnansville (near current day
Alachua), Fairbanks, to Melrose, then through Clay County to the
St. Johns near Bayard, across to Picolata and on to St. Augustine.
When Melrose was plotted in 1877, Bellamy Avenue became the major
East – West thoroughfare.
Today, it is known as State Road 26. In the mid-1960s, the
Department of Transportation upgraded the highway, installing
sidewalks, curbing and gutters. In the process, many old trees were
removed. To improve the appearance of the Bellamy Road through
Melrose , the Melrose Business and Community Association received a
DOT grant and planted additional trees and shrubbery with
assistance from Alachua and Putnam Counties.
CONGRATULATIONS TO HOGGETOWNE HUNTERS
FOR THE FTF!!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ohfujunpxvat abg erdhverq.