Fort Christmas Historical Park is a wonderful place to take your family on a picnic and spend sometime learning all about the history to the area. Prior to 1930 the area was used for picnics, reunions, and special occasions. The locals would call this place "The Picnic Grounds". When Emmett O. Tanner became an Orange County Commissioner he negotiated with the landowner Mike M. Smith who eventually deeded ten acres to the county to be used as a community park. The W.P.A. constructed a pavilion around 1935 and eventually the park expanded to 25 acres to date. 

The fort that stands within this parks gate was built but the Orange County Parks Department in 1975. It serves as a museum and displays pioneer tools, farm equipment, household furnishings, quilts, toys and pictures from the Fort Christmas Days. Some of these items belonged to early settlers or were part of when the original fort Christmas stood. 

If you want to know a little deeper history about the area it was in the 1820s and 30s that many small farms and towns grew within the area. As the amount of population increased so did the demands to rid the Seminole Indians who lived off the land moving them to a reservation west of the Mississippi. When the efforts to convince them to move failed a second Seminole War broke out in 1835. 

Major General Thomas S. Jessup the commander in Florida in charge of second Seminole war in 1837 had to make preparations to defeat the Indians. Some of them preparations included opening a road to on the west side of the St. Johns River and along that road to form many depots or rather forts. He felt the more south he went the more hostile Florida would become with the Seminole Indians. 

In 1837 under the command of Bri. Gen Abraham Eustis established Fort Christmas on the North side of a Christmas Creek in Dec. By Jan Jessup and his men stayed here for about a month till they abandoned the fort because they were receiving supplies by water from the St. Lucie River and no longer had a need to stay at this fortification. The town eventually formed all around the fort when it became abandoned. 

The fort that stands today is a reproduction and dates from the Bicentennial year 1976 when Orange County built the recreated fort a mile south of the orginal location. Very few of Jessups forts have survived to present day. The fort Christmas one is a recreation however it is one of the few that show what living conditions were like back in the 1830s.

As far as the the more in depth history goes General Eustis Left Fort Mellon (Sanford) on foot which consisted of the Artillery Regiment and four companies of the fourth and third Dragoon, four companies of the Alabama Volunteers, plus 50 wagons, and 20,000 rations. Many of the horses that were pulling equipment died as they journeyed through swamps and open prairies. In some areas that were dry the wagons sank in sand. In the swamps the horses sank up to there bellies. The men would lose there shoes in the mud and were walking barefoot with bloody feet. Along there journeys there would be some stray Seminoles watching them as they marched. It was a very harsh journey even though they did not have to go to far.

Eustis and his men met up with four more companies led by Major Lomax. In later December they reached the Econlockhatchee River to the north of Christmas and built a 50' bridge. This would be the first of about 20 bridges they would built. The following day they crossed and followed an old Indian Trail. On Christmas Day they reached the Indian Village called Powell's Town where they found 30 to 40 lodges in a pine barren along this small stream known today as Christmas Creek.

That same day Lomax's men began construction of two 20' square blockhouses and a 80' stockade which would become the fort. During the building of the fort Captain N.S. Jarvis a surgeon with a small amount of soldiers crossed the stream to look over Powell's town. His horse and his himself made a fast retreat as they encountered a giant swarm of fleas. 

The fort was completed only two days after Christmas and was named Fort Christmas the day it was complete. It was only intended to be used a temporary dept for the arm containing a supply of equipment necessary to keep Eustis's army in the battlefield and to fight the Seminoles. It was also used as the Army headquarters in Florida for a very short time. During its peak it encamped roughly 80 soldiers who would remain here.

In March 1838 Fort Christmas was ordered to be closed and all its property to be taken to Fort Lane. If you look at an earlier investigation you will see that we investigated Fort Lane Park which also has much history to it. The Alabama Volunteers were garrisoned as Fort Mellon and eventually after the warm they went home. The fort only stayed open for about 2 and half months but without an army to encamp here it would become useless against the Seminoles and its black allies.

Near the fort replica is the actual fort site where thick foliage today is. But their are no signs remaining that a fort even existed back here in the woods. Today all that remains is the park and various pieces of history from the past. There is alot of energy to the area being that the cemetery is nearby, old wagon trails, and the site of an old Indian Village.

Of course in closer due to the development of Fort Christmas the small town eventually was built around it such as cow camps, farming communities, citrus growers, and cattle herders. The area today is still very underdeveloped and over the years the entrance to the town greets people with a decorated Christmas tree which is lit year around. 

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Lord Rick-AngelOfThyNight