Community Trail Markers

Established on December 3, 1839, as a military outpost during the Second Seminole War, Fort Braden's military past is an important part of the community’s history. The official military fort was located on Highway 20, roughly where Vause’s Landing Road stands today. Notably, Native peoples called the area home for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans. The Apalachee Indians lived in and around what is now Tallahassee, and interested readers should visit Mission San Luis to learn about the rich Apalachee society.

In 1821, Florida was established as a new territorial government, bringing many people to the area—settlers, enslaved peoples, and formerly enslaved people.

One of these newcomers was Dr. Joseph Braden, a Virginia native, who moved to the area in 1821 and established a cotton plantation worked by enslaved people brought from Virginia. Fort Braden was named for his wife, Virginia Ward Braden, a Tallahassee socialite and the daughter of prominent Leon County resident and Southwood and Waverly Plantation owner George T. Ward. Early buildings included the Fort Braden School House (now the Fort Braden Community Center), a blacksmith shop, a Baptist church, a Methodist church, a grist and gin mill, and a cotton gin.

Information sourced by Fort Braden Community and 20 Faces and Places: A History of the People of Highway 20 and the Ochlockonee River Area, Edited and Compiled by Susan Rudd Galloway with excerpts from The 20 Times Newspaper

The Ochlockonee River has always played an important role in the Fort Braden and larger Big Bend region. The name Ochlockonee more than likely derives from the Hitchiti/Mikasuki Oki (water) and Lagana (yellow). On older maps, the Ochlockonee River is simply called the yellow river.

In 1927, the West Florida Power Corporation was licensed to construct the 60-foot Jackson Bluff Dam, which would dam the Ochlockonee River to produce hydroelectric power. Today, the dam no longer produces electricity and is managed by the State of Florida. The water held back created the 14.5-mile-long, 12,000-acre Lake Talquin, a name derived from the cities it's near—Tallahassee and Quincy.

In 1970, Florida Power Corporation donated 20,000 acres of land that became Lake Talquin State Park. The property not only included the high bluffs on the south side of the lake but also the property in which the dam is located and most of the land managed by the Florida Forest Service as Lake Talquin State Forest.

Lake Talquin and the Ochlockonee River support a rich and diverse wildlife such as beavers, bats, and alligators, to name a few, as well as a lush variety of trees and other plants. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, Lake Talquin is nationally recognized for its black crappie fishery.

Information sourced from Florida State Parks and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Fort Braden has a rich history of education with the Fort Braden School House (now the Fort Braden Community Center) being mentioned as early as 1847. One of the earliest schoolteachers, Mrs. Lizzie Black Stoutamire, shared with the Daily Democrat in 1948 some of her memories of a vastly different time. There were no school buses, heated classrooms, or even paper! Students back then used slates and blackboards to do their schoolwork.

A student, Jessie Collins, who attended Fort Braden school was the granddaughter of prominent plantation owner, Hugh Black. She started school in 1901 and recalls that one teacher taught all grades. Many of the schoolhouses at that time were one room and could be full of children of all different ages and education levels. At that time, schools only taught students through the 9th grade, because farming was so prominent. Students would go to school in between planting seasons and school would dismiss during harvesting season, meaning many students would attend school during some of the hottest summer months.

Information sourced by Fort Braden Community and 20 Faces and Places: A History of the People of Highway 20 and the Ochlockonee River Area, Edited and Compiled by Susan Rudd Galloway with excerpts from The 20 Times Newspaper

Although still a rural community, modern technology, such as automobiles, cellphones and computers, have physically and virtually closed the distance between Fort Braden and other communities within Leon County. Recognizing the significance of education to the community, Leon County was awarded a grant from the Florida Department of State to renovate the old Fort Braden School in 1996. The building now operates as the popular community center, and can be seen to the west of this trail.

The building was built in 1927 and was used as a consolidated schoolhouse to replace numerous other small schoolhouses in the area such as New Hope School, which was located at the western corner of Vause’s Landing Road and Highway 20. In 2004, the building was designated as a Florida Heritage site. You are invited to learn more by reading the nearby historic marker. If you are further interested in Fort Braden history, the Jane G. Sauls Fort Braden Library and Fort Braden Community Center have reference books and archival material.