Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Sylvania Plantation - Home of Governor John Milton


Located a few miles south of Two Egg is the site of Sylvania Plantation, the home of Florida's Confederate Governor, John Milton.
The plantation property is located in the vicinity of Sylvania Plantation Road and Blue Springs Highway, just up the hill from Blue Spring. The road leads northeast from the old plantation site and crosses Highway 69 just west of Two Egg crossroads.
Milton lived here during the years leading up to the War Between the States. A tutor, brought in to educate his younger children, wrote in her journal that the home was not a classic Southern mansion, but instead was a large home with a low, overhanging roof and verandas running around it. It was situated in a pleasant grove of trees.
It was here that Milton planned his successful campaign for governor and that he spent many hours during his brief trips away from Tallahassee during the war. At the end of the war, after hearing of the fall of Petersburg, he came here to consider the situation. He died from a gunshot that many believe was suicide, although there is also tradition that it might have been an accident.
The home no longer stands, but a state marker can be seen at the site.

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