Blakely Plantation

Blakely was a small cotton plantation of 900 acres (3½ km²) located in extreme northeast Leon County, Florida and established by Miles Blake.

Location

Blakely was bounded on the east by Susan's son's Ingleside Plantation and would have been bound on the west by what is now County Road 59 (Veterans Memorial Drive). Blakely's northern boundary would now be Cypress Landing Road and to the south it would have bounded by the streets of Leland Circle and Indigo Lane.

Plantaton specifics

The Leon County Florida 1860 Agricultural Census shows that the Blakely Plantation had the following:
*Improved Land: 500 acres (2 km²)
*Unimproved Land: 400 acres (2 km²)
*Cash value of plantation: $9,000
*Cash value of farm implements/machinery: $300
*Cash value of farm animals: $2,000
*Number of slaves: unknown [Blakely and Ingleside may have used the same slaves.]
*Bushels of corn: 3,000
*Bales of cotton: 40

The owner

Blakely Plantation came into existence when Miles Blake came from North Carolina in 1826. Miles' wife, Susan Parish Blake, was 53 years old in 1860 and took over ownership sometime prior to 1860. Susan's son Joel Blake established Ingleside Plantation east of Blakely.

Isham, Walter, and Joel Blake, Susan's sons, served in the Civil War with Company K of the 5th Florida Infantry (see Leon County in the Civil War).

As of 1980, J. A. Cromartie, a Blake great-grandson, owned the proerty.

Notes

References

* [http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/fl/leon/census/1860agri.txt Rootsweb Plantations]
* [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~ajac/flleon.htm Largest Slaveholders from 1860 Slave Census Sschedules]
* [http://www.flheritage.com/services/sites/markers/markers.cfm?ID=leon Florida Historical Markers Program]
*Paisley, Clifton; "From Cotton To Quail", University of Florida Press, c1968.