Page 131 - John Anderson

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Early writings reveal that “it took a traveler four days by rail to reach
Jacksonville from Boston in 1882. At Jacksonville they went on board
a steamboat on the St. Johns River bound for Tocoi, which cost each
traveler one dollar (including dinner). At Tocoi there was a narrow
gauge railroad to St. Augustine, and the cost of the fare was $2.50.
After spending the night in St. Augustine, the travelers hired a team
of two mules, a wagon and driver to travel to Ormond at a total cost
of $21 each. They travelled over the Old King's Road, and the first
day covered twenty-five miles with some of the travelers walking
part of the way. The first night out they would stay at Virgil
Dupont's, and their $1.00 breakfast the next morning consisted of
fried sweet potatoes, fried hominy, bacon, eggs and coffee.
The travelers started out the next morning at eight o'clock, and that
evening arrived at the Tomoka River near Ormond. However, the
lighter (flat bottom boat) that should have been on their side of the
river had already been taken by the mailmen, and was left on the
opposite shore. The driver of the wagon offered to swim across the
river and get the lighter, but the passengers would not permit him to
do this as they were afraid that the alligators, which were plentiful,
would devour him. He then set out in the darkness to find the home
of James Bennett, whom he thought might have a boat he could
borrow. The driver returned about half an hour later and told the
anxious travelers that he could not find the trail to the Bennett’s, and
had been lost in a swamp. One of the travelers suggested spending
the night at Buckhead Bluff on the Tomoka River, but as one of the
other travelers was ill, they decided to try and find a house and get
help.
Armed with a revolver, and carrying an axe, the driver and a traveler
set out through the woods and eventually came upon Mr. Bennett, a
Tomoka settler, sitting around a campfire with his family, and cooking
beef stew. Mr. Bennett told his son, Isham, to take his boat and row
the driver and traveler to the lighter. When the men reached it they
gave Isham seventy-five cents for his trouble, and then rowed across
the river and picked up the other travelers. The team and wagon
were also brought across, and the weary travelers arrived at Ormond
at two o'clock in the morning.”

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