When we first moved to this neighborhood in 1985, there was a house at this location, still being occupied (albeit, by cash-poor college guys), dating from the very early 1900s. A remnant of a very large post-Civil War community set aside for freed slaves, this home had survived developement for some unknown reason. Eventually, it became so unsafe that it was condemned and removed. The property now sits vacant.
The community, which once encompassed a very large area, reaching from the Butler developement area all the way up to Santa Fe College, has now shrunk to only a couple small pockets of hidden homes "back in the woods", 5 churches, and 2 cemeteries (of which anyone is aware), and the building that is the oldest school house in Alachua County (at Greater Liberty Hill).
Greater Liberty Hill United Methodist Church
Historic Liberty Hill United Methodist Church has served as the religious home of many area families since the 1850s. It was the home of the Farmer's Aide Society, a group of pioneer African American farmers including Joe Duncan, Peter Jonas, the Rev. Chatman Haile and Johnny Roundtree. When families did not have money for health care and burials, this group pooled funds to establish an active association that today still provides scholarships and financial support during illness and loss of life. Mr. Duncan is buried in the Liberty Hill Cemetery. The present church was built in the 1950s. Liberty Hill School (NR), adjacent to the church and cemetery, is one of the oldest educational institutions for black students in the area, listed in Alachua County records as a school in 1869. The present one-room, wood-frame schoolhouse was built by the Alachua County Board of Public Instruction in 1892. [Reprinted from Visit Florida website.]