Newnansville was originally settled by an early pioneer family called the Dell Brothers and was called the Dell's Post Office around 1818. The town became the county seat for Alachua by 1824 with a new name given called Newnansville rather then Dell. That county seat only lasted till about 1854.

When the town was booming there was a post office, hotel, courthouse, church and the very defamed Fort Gilleaud. Eventually a railroad was put in from Fernandina to Cedar Key it stopped back then in Hog Town which later was renamed to Gainesville home of University Of Florida.  The courthouse moved to Gainesville eventually. The railroad came near Newnansville but still quite a distance near another town nearby called Alachua. Alachua absorbed the town of Newnansville everybody locally started moving to their because the railroad went roaring right through town.  Those businesses along with the residents remaining in town moved near the rail road causing Newnansville to die out. 

The railroad only missed the town by a mile and half perhaps if it didn't Newnansville today would have been a very large thriving town. 

Also the Citrus freeze of 1889 did not help the situation either considering the town was at one time thriving on its cotton, citrus, corn and other crops. When the great citrus freeze happened many towns in Florida became ghost towns all roughly the same time. 

The town became disserted by 1890 the new post office helped lesson the visitors to town that opened up in Alachua in 1887. Their was a few houses in the area remaining in the 1970s  but the original town itself was eliminated as of current. The only sign that this town existed is the old Newnansville Cemetery which has graves of those early pioneers who lived in this town and died in this town. Their is also a black cemetery in the back not sure if it was in the woods or just some of the older stones along the tree line. 

Before this area was a settlement it was inhabited by the Seminole Indians. Most of those Indians were moved to reservations in the early 1800s freeing up land that is when plantations were built and towns like Newnansville.  Newnansville was actually named at the Patriot War Hero Daniel Newnan. When the Dell Brothers visited the area the Patriot War was still occurring so they came back later to settle. 

The town had many trails extending out from it and rumor has it that one of the first federal roads ever built came through the center of this town. It also served as a refugee center for hundreds of settlers displaced by the Second Seminole War of 1935-42. After these troubles the town grew actually as a commercial center. The refugees could build businesses here and live in peace. 

Their is a historical marker which marks where the town was located but we did not find it. However we found a stone in the cemetery which stated the location of the church which one stood in the cemeteries walls. One of the earliest birth dates on the stones within the cemetery is that of a Man by the name of Samuel Pyles born in 1788. 

In my opinion the cemetery is rather peaceful but alot of the trees are very dark and their is some level of activity here. Of course enthusiast who dare to enter this old pioneer cemetery have rumored to have heard whispers of the dead and seen shadows. Its one of the oldest cemeteries in north central Florida in my opinion.  

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Lord Rick-AngelOfThyNight