The REAL Orange Park

Laurel Grove was 'real' Orange Park

By Mary Jo McTammany
County Line correspondent, 

Laurel Grove has been a popular name with developers in the Orange Park area for over two centuries.

In 1803, slave trader Zephania Kingsley sailed a small fleet into Doctors Lake and began development of over 1,000 acres purchased from Rebecca Pengree in the northeast corner of what is today Clay County. He named the plantation Laurel Grove, a tribute perhaps to the stands of laurel oak abundant in the region.

Kingsley's development of the property over the decade-and-a-half he was in residence was extensive considering that all Florida was the prize in a ragged game of keep away between England, Spain and the still-wet-behind-the-ears United States.

Entrance to the plantation was from a wharf on Doctors Lake. On the shore to the west stood the shipyard where highly skilled slaves constructed the large vessels to support Kingsley's vast trading enterprise. To the east, stood a huge storehouse and cabins for slaves newly arrived from Africa.

Laurel Grove was self-sustaining and produced large quantities for export. A sawmill, a water-powered gristmill, blacksmith and carpentry shops and cotton gin were part of the complex. Along with buildings for warehousing products for transport to northern markets were chicken coops, equipment storage sheds, barns and stables.

Exported crops included Mandarin oranges from a grove of over 700 trees, Sea Island cotton planted on close to 200 acres, corn and field peas. Separate fields were set aside for production of potatoes, corn, peas, okra and other crops for consumption by residents of the plantation and sale to neighbors.

Kingsley later left Laurel Grove in ruin and shambles for his plantation on Fort George Island. Repeated attacks from Indians and so-called patriots, actually opportunistic, renegade slave-catchers out of Georgia, left only burned-out shells for buildings. Even these remains lasted only a few years in Florida's moist climate and were soon reclaimed by wild vegetation.

Until Orange Park was incorporated in 1879, the area continued to be referred to as Laurel Grove, both in everyday conversation and official records. Some say Orange Park's founder, Washington Benedict, considered using the name, but one of his partners pointed out that their potential customers for land were already infected with the notion of getting rich selling oranges - not laurels.

In the 1950s, Laurel Grove was revived by developer-builder William Hall and architect Robert Broward along Plainfield Avenue between Milwaukee Avenue and the curve that marks the beginning of East Holly Point. Things in Orange Park and the county were still slow in those days, just winding up to the building frenzy that continues to the present.

In fact, Laurel Grove was Orange Park's first real introduction to a housing development or subdivision. Before then, folks had no recollection of two houses under construction in Orange Park at the same time. It really caused quite a stir because these were not traditional houses that the sleepy little town was accustomed to. The designs were different, cutting edge, with carports in front. Actually, a carport anywhere was a radical concept because most people had garages - detached from the house not hooked on, right at the front door. But add to that serpentine brick walls, decorative cut-out concrete block, steeply pitched roofs and totally flat roofs, and put them all on the same house. They were radical structures indeed.

People were amazed but also intrigued. Come the weekend, cars slowly cruised up and down Laurel Grove and Fatio lanes, their occupants staring and commenting. Visiting relatives would be loaded up and taken to see ''the houses.'' Even the street signs, the sign proclaiming ''Laurel Grove,'' and the little sales office with a tiny porch and steep roof on Plainfield Avenue, were designed to conform to the unifying yet subtle color scheme.

Now there is another Laurel Grove in Orange Park on Gano Avenue. But it has not been there long enough to be history.

Acknowledgements: Jack Araneo, George Hambrick, Gretchen Murray and ''Anna Kingsley'' by Daniel L. Schafer.

Clay County resident Mary Jo McTammany writes an occasional column for The County Line.