Built and run by slave labor, the Yulee Sugar Mill was one of many essential industrial operations in Florida that supported the Confederacy during the Civil War.

The Yulee Sugar Mill near Homasassa was part of a 5100-acre plantation owned by David Levy Yulee. It was built in 1851.

Throughout the war the mill provided sugar, syrup and molasses to southern troops. In 1864, a Union raid burned Yulee’s plantation mansion and although the mill itself wasn’t destroyed, production stopped for good.

The site is now a state park and many remnants of the mill including the virtually-intact chimney stack are still standing.

In 1997 archaeologists from the Gulf Archaeology Research Institute documented the mill’s boiler, wells, grinding machinery and sugar cane-processing kettles.

Their research has added tremendously to the interpretation of the site, which is open to the public.

Written and Produced by the University of West Florida, the Florida Public Archaeology Network and the WUWF Public Media.