Evergreen Hills Plantation was a large cotton plantation of 6700 acres (27 km²) located in eastern

Leon County, Florida Leon County () is a County (United States), county in the Florida Panhandle, Panhandle of the U.S. state of Florida. It was named after the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population w ...

, United States established by Green H. Chaires.

Location

Evergreen Hills was located in 2 tracts. The first tract was bordered Joseph John Williams' La Grange Plantation on the north and the

Francis Eppes Plantation The Francis Eppes Plantation was a cotton plantation of 1,920 acres (8 km2) situated in east-central Leon County, Florida, United States and established by Francis W. Eppes in 1829. Location The Francis Eppes Plantation bordered Evergreen ...

to the east. The second tract was at the east end of Lake Lafayette, Florida and bordered a 2nd tract of

Chemonie Plantation Chemonie Plantation was a forced-labor farm of in northern Leon County, Florida, United States, established by Hector Braden. By 1860, 64 enslaved people worked the land, which was primarily used to produce cotton as a cash crop. Location Chem ...

on the east. Green's Evergreen Hills Plantation, with Benjamin's Vendura Plantation and Thomas Peter's Woodlawn Plantation, would form the community hub of Chaires, Florida. In 2000 the community of Chaires was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. Today the Chaires-Capitola Community Park, the neighborhoods around Chaires Cross Road, Green Oak Drive, Boykin Road, Boyette Lane, Bucklake Road, Farraway Farms and others occupy the land.

Plantation specifics

The Leon County Florida 1860 Agricultural Census shows that the Evergreen Hills Plantation had the following: * Improved Land: 3600 acres (15 km²) * Unimproved Land: 3100 acres (13 km²) * Cash value of plantation: US$53,600 * Cash value of farm implements/machinery: $900 * Cash value of farm animals: $11,460 * Number of persons enslaved: 135 * Bushels of corn: 6000 * Bales of cotton: 350

The owner

Green Hill Chaires' brother was Benjamin Chaires who laid out and named the area of

Jacksonville Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

in 1822. Green Hill Chaires had a son named Green Averitt Charles. Chaires is also listed as a voter in First Florida Election of 1845. During Florida's Territorial Period (1821–1845). Green Hill Chaires along with brothers Benjamin of Vendura Plantation and Thomas Peter of Woodlawn Plantation moved to Leon County establishing very large plantations. Green Hill Chaires' first plantation started large and eventually grew to 20,000 acres (80 km²) and had a large home on

Lake Lafayette Lake Lafayette is a Prairie Lake, prairie lake located in the coastal lowland in eastern Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida with U.S. Route 27 in Florida, US 27 / State Road 20 (Florida), State Road 20 running close on its south side. History P ...

. During the

Second Seminole War The Second Seminole War, also known as the Florida War, was a conflict from 1835 to 1842 in Florida between the United States and groups of people collectively known as Seminoles, consisting of Muscogee, Creek and Black Seminoles as well as oth ...

of 1835–1842, Chaires' wife and two of his children along with several slaves were massacred and the home was destroyed. Aside from being a plantation owner, Green Chaires built the state's first plank road, which connected Leon County plantations to the Gulf Coast shipping communities of

Newport Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia *Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay * Newport (Vietnam), a United States Army and Army of t ...

and St. Marks. Also on the transportation end, Chaires was on the 1861–1865 Board of Directors of the

Tallahassee Railroad The Tallahassee Railroad, headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida, was one of the first two railroads in Florida, starting operations in 1836 or 1837. It did not successfully use steam locomotives until 1855, with trains being pulled by mules for mo ...

References

Rootsweb Plantations1845 voters
*Paisley, Clifton; ''From Cotton To Quail'', University of Florida Press, c1968. Seminole Wars Plantations in Leon County, Florida Cotton plantations in Florida {{Florida-plantation-stub