Page 76 - John Anderson

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The Old Chimneys
The only documented plantation development during the Eighteenth
Century, in what is now Granada Blvd. (shown in the map above) was
that constructed by Richard Oswald. Oswald's most important
development after Mount Oswald was his sugar plantation at the
"Swamp Settlement." By late 1765, Oswald had sugar planted at
Mount Oswald. However, a severe freeze in January 1766, killed the
crop, and Oswald was forced to turn to indigo. Nevertheless, his
dreams of sugar production continued and with Mount Oswald in
indigo and rice, the Scotsman decided to make another major
investment in a new settlement near a freshwater swamp "about 6
Miles" south of Mount Oswald (now called “The Three Chimneys”.
According to the "Memorial of Mary Oswald", in the Public Records
Office in London, England, the "Swamp Settlement" was a
considerable development. It consisted of "300 acres cleared, 100 of
which is good back swamp. The buildings consisted of an overseers’
house, grain houses, sugar house and distillery works, sugar mill
proper for carrying on the business of a sugar plantation.” British
loyalist Robert Payne testified in a deposition regarding the Mount
Oswald Plantation, after the Revolutionary War, that at the “Swamp
Settlement” there "was a large sugar house and every building he
believes necessary for a sugar plantation; they were built of very good
materials and good workmanship and when he saw them in
1781/1782 they were in perfectly good repair."
Former Lieutenant-Governor of East Florida John Moultrie
commented that the "Swamp Settlement" contained "Several
Considerable Buildings for the Sugar works." Lieutenant-Colonel John
Douglas, Oswald's last plantation manager, noted that the "Swamp
Settlement" was located "about 6 Miles to the Southward of Mount
Oswald" and that "The back swamp had been used as a Sugar
Plantation about 3 or 4 years before he saw it in 1782 and buildings
had been erected and were standing there when he came upon it...
There was a very large Overseer's House framed and shingled,
floored and weather boarded one story high with some very good
Negro Houses. The Sugar House might have been converted into a
very good barn... cow pens and all utensils for a Sugar Plantation

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