Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Historic State Park

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Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Historic State Park is a Florida State Park near Homosassa in Citrus County. The park preserves the ruins of a 19th‑century sugar mill and a large farm worked by enslaved people, owned by David Levy Yulee, a prominent politician who helped Florida grow and later served in the U.S. Senate and the Confederate Congress. On about 5,000 acres, the farm used about 1,000 enslaved people to grow sugarcane, citrus, and cotton. The steam-powered mill operated from 1851 to 1864, making sugar, syrup, and molasses (used for rum). The farm supported Confederate soldiers and was largely destroyed during the Civil War. At the park you can see remains such as the mill’s foundation, a well, a 40-foot chimney, iron gears, a cane press, and other machinery. The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 12, 1970 and is managed by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.