State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory
Doctor Joseph Addison Braden, native Virginian, came from Tallahassee and moved to the Manatee River in the early 1840s. By 1850 he purchased approximately 900 acres of land and began construction of his "Castle." The "Castle" was unsuccessfully attacked by the Seminoles in 1856, but was later abandoned and destroyed through fire in 1903.
In 1866, Captain Hugh Black settled on the Ocklocknee River, near Fort Braden, after he had served in both the Third Seminole War and the Civil War. His political career began here when he was elected a clerk in the legislature in 1868. He was also a Leon County Commissioner for District 4.
Fort Braden had a school, a blacksmith shop, a grist mill, and a cotton gin. This country store is reputedly from the region.
Fort Braden was named for Virginia Braden, formerly Virginia Ward. Virginia married Dr. Joseph Braden, a prominent citizen of Tallahassee. Virginia was the daughter of Leon County plantation owner George T. Ward.
One of Fort Braden's first schoolteachers, Mrs. Lizzie Black Stoutamire.