A Brief History of Ellenton, Florida

A Brief History of Ellenton, Florida

Until the late 19th century, the Village of Ellenton was little more than a rural outpost in Southwest Florida. Today the village is at the crossroads (some would say “crosshairs”) of some of the most consequential residential and commercial development in the Sunshine State, if not the entire U.S.

Situated along the Manatee River, in Manatee County—where U.S. Rte. 301 intersects with Interstate 75—interest in Ellenton has only intensified as the region continues to experience unprecedented growth. Mention the town’s name and most people are likely to recall little more than power shopping at Ellenton Premium Outlets, ice skating at the Ellenton Ice & Sports Complex or dining alfresco at Wally’s River Roo, a popular gathering spot on the Manatee River.

Civil War buffs, however, will remember Ellenton as the site of the Gamble Plantation, the only surviving antebellum plantation house in South Florida. At war’s end, the plantation played a pivotal role in sheltering Judah P. Benjamin, who had served in three different cabinet positions—Attorney General, Secretary of War and Secretary of State—under Confederate President Jefferson Davis. As a high-profile fugitive with a bounty on his head after the Confederacy was defeated, Benjamin fled Richmond and stealthily made his way to Florida. To deflect attention along the way, he often masqueraded as a Frenchman seeking land upon which to settle. He even spoke in broken English, as might be expected from a person whose primary language was supposed to be French. At other times, he pretended to be a farmer from South Carolina

Occupied at the time by a Confederate officer sympathetic to his plight, the Gamble Plantation provided safe sanctuary for Benjamin as its riverfront location offered multiple means of escape. From his room, Benjamin could cast a wary eye up and down the Manatee River should federal troops or bounty hunters come calling from any direction.

Twenty years before the war, in 1843, the region was a frontier far removed from civilization. It was then that Major Robert Gamble Jr.—a hero of the Second Seminole War—took advantage of a federal program called the Armed Occupation Act of 1842. Provisions of the act granted 160 acres of undeveloped land in South Florida to settlers willing to claim, populate, cultivate, and hold on to them—by force, if necessary.

From his original allotment, Gamble managed to piece together over 3,000 acres of prime riverfront acreage in the fertile Manatee River Valley. Here on his massive new plantation, he grew and processed sugar cane which was then shipped downriver, across the Gulf of Mexico and into the port of New Orleans. Gamble’s sugar mill, one of the South’s largest, was destroyed by Union raiders in 1864. (Fenced-in ruins of the mill are located on State Road 683, one-half mile north of Rte. 301.)

During the late 1840s and early 1850s, Major Gamble was the leading producer of sugar and molasses in Florida. That is, until falling sugar prices and mounting debt forced him to sell the plantation in 1858 to two planters from Louisiana. At the outbreak of the Civil War, the new owners apparently ceased operations and abandoned the plantation.

During the Civil War, the mansion fell into the hands of Captain Archibald McNeill, a famous Confederate blockade runner, and his family. By March 1865, with the Confederate army nearing defeat, fugitive Benjamin took refuge on the property while he plotted his escape to England. With McNeill’s help, he eventually escaped to the Bahamas, then to Cuba and finally on to England where he arrived virtually penniless. An accomplished attorney before the war, he successfully established a second distinguished legal career in London, where he was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1872.

In 1873, the mansion and approximately 3,000 acres of land were purchased at auction by Major George Patten and his wife Mary, for $3,000. Patten, who had lost his Savannah home and business during the war, sub-divided the large parcel of land and gifted each of his 13 children with a lot. He then named the new settlement “Ellenton,” after his daughter Ellen.

By 1902, the mansion’s thick walls and massive columns—completely constructed using a native Florida material called “tabby”—had deteriorated badly. In 1923, the local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy began to raise money to rescue the home from destruction. By 1925 the UDC had purchased the mansion and sixteen acres, which they eventually donated to the State of Florida in exchange for its preservation. The state completed the restoration in 1927.

Its place in American History thus secured, the Ellenton of today is a thriving community of lovely established neighborhoods and retirement communities, many of them situated directly on the Manatee River. With residential growth spreading ever inward from the Gulf Coast and south from Tampa Bay, Ellenton is now home to numerous new bedroom communities whose residents commute to Bradenton, Sarasota, Lakewood Ranch, or across the Skyway Bridge to Tampa and St. Petersburg. To serve their daily needs, major retail, recreational and restaurant establishments have sprung up along every road and byway leading in and out of town. One of them, Ellenton Premier Outlets—with more than 130 prestigious name brand outlets—is a prime destination for tourists and shoppers from throughout the entire Gulf Coast region.