The Failed Sugary Dream: New Smyrna Sugar Mill Ruins

The New Smyrna Sugar Mill Ruins, located in New Smyrna Beach, Florida at 600 Old Mission Road, a mile west of the Intracoastal Waterway, were added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on August 12, 1970. In 1830, William Kemble constructed a steam-operated sugarcane mill and a saw mill at the site, financed by investors who bought the land from Ambrose Hull. The masonry buildings were constructed of coquina, a sedimentary rock.

The crushing house contained the steam-driven machinery that extracted the juice from the sugarcane. The ruins were initially financed by Eliza Cruger and others who bought the land from Ambrose Hull. The land belonged to the original grant made to Andrew Turnbull by the British during their occupation of Florida during the Second Spanish period. However, the masonry buildings, including the crushing house, were destroyed by Native Americans during the Second Seminole War on Christmas Day in 1835. Only the walls were left standing, with the machinery inside undamaged. The site was later used by soldiers stationed there to watch the Seminoles. The machinery inside the mills was made by the West Point Foundry of Cold Spring, New York.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons