Sunny Hill Plantation

Sunny Hill Plantation was a large hunting plantation in northern Leon County, Florida.

Plantation

Sunny Hill Plantation was established by Lewis S. Thompson in 1913 and was created from the former W. G. Ponder Plantation. Just before World War I, Thompson purchased land to the north swelling the plantation to around convert|20000|acre|km2|0.

Adjacent plantations:
*Foshalee Plantation to the west
*Horseshoe Plantation to the southwest
*Norias Plantation to the east

Owners

Lewis S. Thompson

Thompson was a resident of Red Bank, New Jersey. His father was William P. Thompson, an oil man from West Virginia had become treasurer of Standard Oil under John D. Rockefeller. [Paisley, Clifton; From Cotton To Quail, University of Florida Press, c1968.] Lewis was a prominent Republican in New Jersey and was a delegate to Republican National Convention from Brookdale, Essex County, N.J. [ [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/thompson6.html Political Graveyard: Thompson] ] Thompson was also a member in good standing with the Boone and Crockett Club founded by Theodore Roosevelt. [ [http://www.fullbooks.com/American-Big-Game-in-Its-Haunts6.html American Big Game - The Boone and Crockett Club] ] Having inherited much of his fortune, Thompson enjoyed outdoor activities of marksmanship, hunting, fishing, and raising dogs. Lewis Thompson died in 1936. [Paisley, Clifton; From Cotton To Quail, University of Florida Press, c1968, p. 88]

Geraldine L. Thompson

Lewis' wife, Geraldine Livingston Thompson co-owned Brookdale Farm, a thoroughbred horse training facility in Lincroft, New Jersey. [ [http://www.monmouthcountyparks.com/parks/thompson.asp Brookdale Farm, Lincroft, New Jersey] ] Brookdale became Thompson Park in Monmouth County. Mrs. Lewis hosted Ava Alice Muriel Astor as a guest. Miss Astor was the daughter to John Jacob Astor IV who died during the sinking of RMS Titanic in 1912. [ [http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/item/3627/ Encyclopedia Titanica] ] Mrs. Thompson was also active in Republican politics and was a member of the Republican National Committee from Monmouth County, New Jersey and alternate delegate Republican National Convention from New Jersey in 1940, 1948, and 1952. Geraldine died September 9, 1967 and was buried at St. James' Churchyard, Hyde Park, New York. [ [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/thompson4.html Political Graveyard: Thompson] ]

2nd owner

In 1937, Sunny Hill was purchased by Walter E. Edge who had sold his portion of Norias Plantation the year before. The transaction required nineteen pages of deeds and records. Edge spent more time at Sunny Hill after completing his 2nd term as Governor of New Jersey from 1944-1947.

In 1966, Mr. Camilla Edge kept a herd of 100 Black Angus cattle. Out of convert|6000|acre|km2, convert|780|acre|km2 out were set aside for growing corn, 14 for cotton, and 27 for peanuts.

John W. Mettler, Jr. of New Brunswick, New Jersey, son of John Wyckoff Mettler the founder and president of Interwoven Stocking Company of Somerset County, New Jersey, purchased convert|6000|acre|km2 of Sunny Hill totaling convert|6000|acre|km2. [Paisley, Clifton, From Cotton To Quail: An Agricultural Chronicle of Leon County, Florida, 1860-1967, University of Florida Press, 1968. p. 107. ISBN 13: 978-0-8130-0718-2

By 1967, the land once known as Sunny Hill was purchased by other concerns and became Loveridge Plantation and Welaunee Plantation.

Current

Today, Sunny Hill is listed as part of the Audubon Society's Important Bird Areas Of Florida as a conservation easement along with Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy, Horseshoe Plantation, Chemonie Plantation, Foshalee Plantation, and Woodfield Springs Plantation. [ [http://www.audubon.org/bird/iba/florida/entire_ms.pdf Audubon Society, IBA, Florida] ]

References