Travel Before Railroads
How Florida Moved — and How Slowly — Before the Iron Rails Changed Everything
A letter moved at the speed of whoever carried it.
Before the railroads, a trip across Florida was measured in days and sometimes weeks. A rider moved faster than a wagon, and a wagon could carry a family and its goods, but both depended on roads that ranged from passable to poor and on river crossings that changed with the season. Lodging might be a tavern, a settler’s house or a camp. Cargo on the rivers moved with the current going down and with great labor going up. A letter moved at the speed of whoever carried it.
Many Ways of Moving
Travel in pioneer Florida was not a single network but a set of overlapping ways of moving. Short trips between neighbors, to a spring or to church were made on foot. Riders on horseback went faster than wagons and could go where wagons could not, and mounted riders also carried the mail on many routes. Wagons moved families and freight at the pace of the animals pulling them. Rivers carried bulk cargo and passengers more easily downstream than up.
Stages and the Mail
A Florida Memory article describes Florida’s stage lines as beginning as U.S. Postal Service routes and later being run by private companies, with travel that was slow and rough and trips that commonly lasted several days. Historian Richard J. Stanaback found that after the United States took over Florida in 1821, the territory had almost no communication links between settlements. By 1845 it had about fifty post offices and 2,920 miles of post roads.
Cattle on the Hoof
Cattle were moved on their own feet. Florida Memory’s ranching exhibit describes early cowmen spending weeks or months driving cattle across marshes and dense scrub, with drives from central Florida sometimes reaching Jacksonville, Savannah and Charleston. It says trade with Cuba was renewed in the 1830s, making shipping from Gulf ports such as Punta Rassa, Tampa and Charlotte Harbor more common, and that exports boomed after the Civil War.
The First Railroads
Railroads arrived in stages and in several places. The Tallahassee Railroad was chartered in 1834 and ran its first trains in 1837 between Tallahassee and St. Marks, with mules pulling the cars at first. Sources differ on its length, 22 or 23 miles, and on when steam arrived, so no claim of being first is made here. The Florida Railroad, chartered in 1853, reached Cedar Key in 1861 and was built largely by enslaved laborers. The University of Florida reports that the South Florida Railroad reached Port Tampa by the end of 1883. The Flagler Museum says Henry Flagler’s railroad reached Daytona by spring 1889 and Miami in 1896.
What the Rails Left Behind
Railroad routes were set by engineering, finance and company decisions, not by earlier roads. A community on an older road but off the new line could be passed over. Newnansville, whose county seat moved to Gainesville in 1854, was deserted by about 1900, according to a state marker. Older roads, rivers and local trade continued to serve communities away from the rails.
Quick Facts
Wagon travel
Commonly cited 10 to 15 miles a day on the western trails (National Park Service); no Florida figure located
Mail growth
About 50 post offices and 2,920 miles of post roads by 1845 (Stanaback)
Tallahassee Railroad
Chartered 1834; first trains 1837, Tallahassee to St. Marks; mule-drawn at first
Length dispute
22 or 23 miles, depending on the source
Florida Railroad
Fernandina to Cedar Key, about 156 miles, completed 1861
South Florida Railroad
Reached Port Tampa by the end of 1883 (University of Florida)
Flagler’s line
Daytona by spring 1889; Miami in 1896 (Flagler Museum)
Cuba cattle trade
Renewed in the 1830s; boomed after the Civil War (Florida Memory)
What continued
Older roads, rivers and local trade served communities beyond the rails
Did You Know?
- The Tallahassee Railroad’s first cars were pulled by mules.
- Florida had about 2,920 miles of post roads by 1845.
- Early cattle drives from central Florida sometimes reached Jacksonville, Savannah and Charleston.
Vocabulary
Post road: a road designated for carrying the mail.
Drive: to move a herd of cattle over a long distance on foot.
Relay station: a stop where tired horses were exchanged for fresh ones.
Discussion Questions
1. How did slow travel make neighbors more important to one another?
2. Why might a town on an old road decline when a railroad bypassed it?
Related Articles
- FLH-0109 — Military Roads
- FLH-0110 — Wagon Travel
- FLH-0112 — River Travel
- FLH-0114 — Stage Routes
- FLH-0164 — Cow Hunters and Cattle Traders
Sources
Stanaback, Richard J. “Florida’s Disrupted Mail Service, 1821–1845.” Florida Historical Quarterly 53, no. 1 (1974) (abstract reviewed; full article not independently examined)
Florida Memory. “Photo Exhibits: Ranching.” floridamemory.com; and “The Old Stagecoach Line,” item 321981
Florida Heritage Marker Program. “Tallahassee to St. Marks Railroad,” marker 346; Florida State Parks, “History of the Tallahassee–St. Marks Railroad”
University of Florida Libraries. “South Florida Railroad,” Ingraham Everglades Expedition pages. uflib.ufl.edu
Henry Morrison Flagler Museum. “Florida East Coast Railway.” flaglermuseum.us (museum source)
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