A Plantation in early Florida

A Plantation in early Florida. Mala Compra Plantation Archaeological Site. Plantations lined the banks of tidal waterways and freshwater rivers in northeast Florida by the late 1700s. Planters sought wealth from rice and indigo and later sea island cotton. , , Florida’s Spanish government offered free ownership of land to settlers after ten years of homesteading. But repeated raids and invasions destroyed most homesteaded plantations. Josiah Dupont and then Miguel Crosby, owned Mala Compra (Spanish for Bad Bargain) and were plagued by raids and thefts. , , When Joseph and Ana Maria Hernandez purchased the plantation in 1816, they could not know that later events would prove the appropriateness of the name and continue the cycle of struggle, loss and abandonment. , , The Ruins of Mala Compra , (1816-1836) . , Mala Compra was one of the barrier island plantations. The waters of the Atlantic Ocean washed its eastern shore; on its west, the saltwater Matanzas River. , , These waterways offered the best way to travel among the Hernandez properties and to St. Augustine where a variety of goods were available and religious services, festivals, and political rallies were held. , , When Joseph and Ana Maria Hernandez purchased the plantation in 1816, they could not know that later events would prove the appropriateness of the name and continue the cycle of struggle, loss and abandonment.