Richard E. Stone Historic District

121-304 Stone Street

The district is named for Richard E. Stone, who invented and patented the Directional Signal Light for automobiles in 1935. Stone established the first recreational center building, Cocoa's first black professional baseball team, and helped start the Cocoa-Rockledge ...

Malissa Moore Home (Private)

Built beside the Indian River in 1890, the home was moved to its current location and became a restaurant and then a boarding house. Mrs. Moore helped establish the Mount Moriah AME Church.

Information provided by Florida Department of State.

Harry T. Moore Center

This is the site of the first black school in Cocoa and the only original black high school now standing in Brevard County. Built in 1924 as Cocoa Junior High School, when classes were moved to a new facility in ...

Community of Royal/Ebenezer African Methodist Episcopal Church

When slavery was abolished in 1865, the Royal community was founded by former slaves from the old Green Plantation located near the Withlacoochee River. Moving further inland to farm for themselves, the former slaves built log cabin homes and dug ...

Dade Battlefield State Park

Every January, under the oaks of Dade Battlefield State Park, history lovers gather to commemorate the battle that started the Second Seminole War, the most protracted and costly of the nation's Indian wars.

On December 28, 1835, Indian warriors ambushed 108 ...

St. James African Methodist Church

Organized in 1867, the church purchased land on the corner of East 9th Street and South Cypress Avenue. Sanford's oldest church founded by blacks, St. James is a red-brick English Gothic Revival style building with four matching stained glass windows. ...

John H. Hurston House (Private)

The Reverend John Hurston was the father of noted author and anthropologist, Zora Neale Hurston. Reverend Hurston and his wife, Mattie, lived in this Second Empire style residence.

Information provided by Florida Department of State.

Photo of Reverend John H. ...

Hopper Academy

Built between 1900 and 1910, this frame vernacular two-story T-shaped building served as Sanford High School. One of the few remaining early black high schools in Florida, the facility now houses an educational community service center.

Information provided by Florida ...

St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church

This AME church started as a small wooden structure in 1894 and has grown to encompass an entire corner. It is all that remains of a once thriving African American district.

Information provided by Florida Department of State.

Photo courtesy of St. ...

First Providence Missionary Baptist Church

Organized in 1856 as the Colored Providence Baptist Church, the congregation is the oldest black church in Polk County. Known today as the First Providence Missionary Baptist Church, it is located in one of Polk County's oldest settlements of West ...