Sinking Sites: Kingsley Plantation
Nestled back into the waterways and marshlands of the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve on Fort George Island is the remains of Kingsley Plantation. It was first established as a plantation in 1804 under John Houston McIntosh before renting and then eventually selling the property to Zephaniah Kingsley in 1814. At its height, under the Kingsleys, the plantation produced Sea Island Cotton as well as a variety of foodstuffs. The oldest part of the property is the main house built by the first owner of the land, John McQueen, in 1798. The property also contains a barn and the remains of twenty-five slave cabins. The cabins that remain on the property are the real showstopper piece at the plantation. The material used to build them is called Tabby which is made from a mixture of oyster shells, sand, and water that is then poured into layers. Because of the durability of the material the cabins have stayed standing for hundreds of years which have allowed historians and archeologists to learn how enslaved peoples actually lived in Florida. 
However, those are just the above-ground pieces of architecture that can be seen and explored at the site. Some things that are not as obvious are the remains of a sugar mill by the barn as well as a cemetery where at least six enslaved peoples are buried. The people buried there are not able to be identified but they range in ages from six to sixty (possibly eighty). What is important about this cemetery site is not only the fact that it is a final resting place for those who were forced to endure slavery but also that it is as undisturbed as possible. No items have been removed from the burial site in respect of the dead and for the living descendant communities.
Today, the fate of the remains of Kingsley Plantation is yet to be determined. While it is protected by the National Parks system it faces environmental threats due to climate change and sea-level rise. Kingsley Plantation’s positioning directly on the water puts it at a unique risk of being damaged or destroyed by storms and storm surges. This risk will only increase as hurricanes and storms get worse due to climate change. Sea level rise is also a major concern for the site as the ecosystem around it is a fragile marshland. This concern comes from the fact that not only does sea level rise bring issues of flooding but also of coastal erosion. Evidence of rapid erosion is seen right at the edge of the plantation, in the main house’s back yard. As a method to mitigate these issues there has been an artificial sea wall built along the edge of the backyard to help support the soil. So, dear reader, why should you care about all of this? You should care because not only is Kingsley Plantation a picture of what once was life in North Florida but because it is a reminder of what our past was. The slave cabins show the conditions that people were forced to live in: homes that could really only fit two people inside comfortably. It is also the final resting place for at least six enslaved people and potentially more that no one has yet to find. It is also home to thousands of species of plants and animals that reside at the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve. The exact extent of the ecological damage that can occur with sea-level rise is unknown, but it is likely that those species will be forced to move out of their habitats and into ours. It is in everyone’s best interest that we protect places like Kingsley Plantation so that future generations can learn from it and it can remain a safe area for the species that call it home.
For more information on Kingsley Plantation click here.
For more on our Heritage Monitoring Scouts (HMS Florida) program, click here.
Words and images by Emily Hulet, FPAN intern.